May 21, 2006

so take these words and sing out loud

last night, joie de vivre II came to an end as our screams and cheers rang out through the vaults of victoria concert hall.

joie de vivre II marked the finale to my band life. it drew my avid participation in band as a member for six years to a close. it was probably my final performance in the band scene, and i'm glad i enjoyed myself.

it would be hard to type this entry with an air of detachment because band has been, after all, an integral part of my life. since my secondary school days, i can boldly say that being in band was an involvement i couldn't do without. now that i have to do without band, i'm afraid that i wouldn't be able to cope.

but that is beside the point, because i know i WILL have to cope since moving on is part and parcel of life.

i'm glad i ended my journey in band with MJCSB. like how ms lai puts it, MJCSB is 'no ordinary band'. it is the band which watched me grow, brought joy and happiness into my life, and gave me beautiful memories. and these beautiful memories were bestowed upon me by wonderful people who make up MJCSB.

all the moments we've all shared as a band: the hard toil (sweat, blood, tears and buckets of saliva), the remarkable triumphs (gold & gold with distinction), the company (ms sia & friends) - they are simply irreplaceable.

THANK YOU to all who left me with these memories, brought smiles to face, and made a difference in my band life. all the times we've shared will be fondly remembered :)


ATP: we were formed with an ill intent to ostracise, and it was perhaps the most regrettable mistake i've made, because our decision to make ATP exclusive suffered serious repercussions. my section was split into two, mainly ATP members and non-ATP members. the very decision also resulted in politics, which was certainly undesirable in a growing band. eventually things among us went awry, and we became divided as a clique.

i've never mentioned ATP in depth after making it into exco, because i know it will result in discomfort amongst us - knowing that four of us are from ATP, and the other four aren't. it was indeed difficult for us to bond as a committee initially, but i'm glad we overcame this huge obstacle after we thrashed things out. things among us in the section were terrible, i believe those who are not in ATP shunned us completely, and everything was simply scattered. it didn't help that i became the asl because it only meant that i had a bigger part to play in bonding the section.

it was disheartening to know how things turned out. ATP was just a group of very good friends. i guess we made a serious faux pas by branding ourselves, and that really took a turn for the worse. yes, i've deeply regretted but the consequences were irreversible. however, it is very heartening to know that things improved tremendously from how it all began. i have a very close-knit exco, and a happy and bonded section now.

setting aside the depressing happenings, i'd just like to thank this group of people for the fondest memories we've experienced together. these people made my life in band an absolute joy. we may already disbanded unofficially (judging from the way things are), but all the memories we've had will never be erased. sarah, soo kun, fabian, kin lok, kenny, donovan, xuan wei, zheng yi, yosua, paulina and tsz yan - i love yu guys forever.

clarinet section: thank yu for all the times we've made music (or maybe even noise, haha) together, laughed, made vincent angry, had breakfast/lunch/dinner together, and survived through the hellish sectionals vincent didn't spare us from :) i'm happy that we overlooked each other's differences and bonded towards to end. we finally have a full section photo :) vincent, kin lok, bryan, zheng yi, sarah, chelsea, shi yi, felicia, james, lisa, marlina, yosua, charity, abigail, teresa, wei jie, melissa and jing jing - yu guys will always be remembered.

clarinet juniors: yu people really made an impact! i enjoyed all of your company tremendously, especially bryan's! thanks bryan, for being my fellow stand partner, clarinet holder, file and stand keeper, and occasional toilet-goer. yu're my closest junior and a fantastic friend! your constant and incessant chirping kept things interesting and fun, haha. thanks so much, for being so genuine and true. yu're truly God's blessing to me :) i'm glad yu're my successor because i know the band will be in good hands, haha! :)

the exco: is a group of absolutely amazing people. we might not have impressed people because i've been hearing negative feedback, but i know we have always done our utmost in tasks completion. yu people are incredibly fun to be with, and i've never regretted joining exco :) thanks for everything - i can't thank yu people enough for all the enjoyable and exciting experiences we had :) i'll miss the countless meetings we held and the sparse outings we had, haha. yijun, kai ling, zheng yi, jie ying, hong wei, xuan wei and yosua - i heart yu guys too!

joie de vivre was a real blast. it ended the six years of my life in band nicely with a exhaustive yet fabulous repertoire. i had a couple of embarrassing moments because my playing is screwed but that aside, i had fun!

rehearsal was excruciating for me because i slept at 6.30am. but as the start of the concert drew nearer, it got my adrenaline going and i regained my energetic self. subsequently, everything was just photos, photos and photos. i won't forget the last few moments before we stepped onto the stage for our very first piece. i was about to get drown in my excitement and nervousness, but thank God for those who TRIED to help calm my nerves. kenny wanted to slap me for saying "i'm so excited i could burst!" 7328490 times, haha. yirong was as usual as cool as a cucumber though she had to handle 7384 oboe and english horn solos. haha, damn seyy. bryan was surprisingly less anxious than i was! haha, kin lok was his usual "don't worry, God will bring us through" self. vincent was, needless to say, cool and confident. haha so basically i was the only idiot freaking out. justin's well wishes didn't help too.

i wouldn't say the concert was fantabulously superb because i'm well aware of all the screw-ups we made. even so, i think we totally rocked the house because we just rock! hahaha. OH! and justin played the noah's ark solo in the end :) haha i'm glad he played for the concert because it was my last and i wanted it to be absolutely memorable!

thanks much to all who turned up to give us your support! thanks for the flowers and gifts too! it was great seeing xiuyu, legend and friends! :)

i thought the concert ended perfectly with all that cheering (though i heard people were telling justin to control me)! haha it was one of the rare times i could feel so much for MJCSB! yu know, the sense of achievement and triumph after syf kind of feeling. aah, all these little details will be tucked nicely into that pea brain of mine.

back in school, it was more cam-whoring and i almost went blind with all the camera flashes. supper until one subsequently, where i got drained almost completely. till now, i'm still a little on a concert-high! haha :)

after last night, i wished i won't have to step down. i will then be able to experience all these with MJCSB once again. but i know life must go on. so let go, we must. i'll miss every bit of this magnificent band. this entry will thus close the chapter of my life in band. thank you, MJCSB :)

Thoughts Aloud at 2:22:00 am