guys. first and foremost, just want to express how grateful i am for all of you. you guys have all worked really hard and i'm really proud of the ensemble. the concert was really good stuff, in all aspects (ticket sales, music, spirit, etc) good job guys (:

okay anyway, most of you would have received calls about interviews over the last few days. details:

friday, 1st june 2pm-6pm
lt5, waiting room a404

you have each been given slots of forty minutes. please take note that the forty minutes is not solely for one person, but that slots are in blocks of three people. nevertheless, you will still need to be there as stated, for expediency sake.

if you have forgotten your time slot, please call me to clarify. if you are one of the three who are uncontactable, please call me once you see this announcement.

most importantly, please do not be late for the interviews.

elections:
monday, 4th june, 9am-12nn

thats all for now guys. rest up well and reward yourselves!

lenard

Basse-Danse

• In general, crack, crack, crack. Violins, especially so during all your running quaver scales. Then for viola and cello, during your minims. I know the bowing is down-down-down, very verty hard. But then its like jumping off a high ledge and landing with your legs bending. If you land with your legs straight you're gonna screw you knees and your spine. Same thing with the bow and the fingers.
• Bar5: Violins, this is one of the very very crashed scales. This is contemporary but in baroque style (the suite is a set of baroque dances, FYI), so please, think Bach and not wieniawsky.
• Bar 8: Cello and Viola super disgusting crashing.
• 2 Bars before A: vibrate that G string. or D if you're not going Sul G
• Bar 1 of A: (violins) oh no, that's not gonna. Short, yes but then vibrato? Brush more than bite.
• 3rd Bar of A: (violins) Same thing.
• 2nd Bar of A. Everyone except 1st violins is gonna do a dim right? Then write that down now now now. No one did that. Same for 10th Bar of A and 10th Bar of C.
• 4 Bars before B. Chord. Don't crash, EVERYONE.
• 2 Bars before B, some violins and violas rushed the quavers. Messy.
• 1st Bar of B, (violin 1) crash crash crash. After the chord, get your bow ready. It's like taking aim with a sniper rifle, you don't put it on your shoulder and pull the trigger straight away. You needa aim and get your muscles ready first. Same with your bow.
• 1 Bar before C, we're pushing and its not together. Practice slow slow slow.
• 4 Bars before the end is too dry please make it ring with more bow and left hand.
• 2 Bars before the end, haha, don't crash too.

Pavane

• Bar 1: (viola) wavering intonation. Practice getting the note right (with a tuner if you have, and if you don't, learn perfect pitch in the next 24 hrs) form the first one. Your big (boring) solo.
• Bar 6-7: (violins) oh my. Practice this one. Intonation.
• Bar 9-19: (viola) Intonation, intonation! Easy notes must get it right!
• 9 Bars before A: (viola) Holy Shit.
• Whole of A: (VIOLIN ONES) HOW COME SO LOUD? Say so many times already! We want to hear more cello, not you! WRITE! "PPPPPPPPPP" NOW. *glares*
• Then Letter A how come only one cellist playing. Practice more high notes please! :P
• LETTER B, first 3 bars: (VIOLAS) OH MY. Please tune. Thank you.
• 1 Bar before Poco piu lento: Everyone, please tune. Violas.
• Bar 3-4 of Poco piu lento: violas out of tune, tsk tsk.
• Bar 6 of poco Pit lento: cellos out of tune, tsk tsk.

Tordion

• Bar 1: (viola and cello) All the short accompanying crotchets, cha-cha. Please vibrate more! It won't carry far in VCH then we'll have a very bland Violin 1 solo.
• 4th Bar: (viola) holy shit. Your one and only solo in this whole movement, do something about it!
• Bar 5-8: Cello solo. Oh my. Practice!
• Letter A: Cello solo again, oh my. First running scale upwards is nice, but the one coming down need more work!
• 2nd Bar and 4th Bar of A: (violins) Tune and don't crash!
• 3 Bars before B: (violas) tune this bar!
• 3rd Bar of C: (violins and viola) Argh! Tune!
• 1st Bar of D: (viola) Tune!
• 5-6 Bars before end: (Viola) Tune!! ARGH!

Bransles

• Just practice this whole thing with a metronome and slowly and in tune, while watching dynamics, its quite a mess.
• Bar 1: Everyone is a damn mess! Metronome time!
• 4 bars before A: (violin is the main culprit but everyone is guilty) CRASH.
• 4th Bar of A. Abit rushed. So it sounds more like a hiccup more than anything
• B: (everyone) not a lot of dynamic change is there. Please watch the Dim.
• First 4 bars of B: (everyone) Messy.
• 4 Bars before B: (everyone) Chaos.
• D: (violins) Messy. Rushing. Metronome.
• D: (violas) Mega out of tune.
• 4 Bars before F: (everyone) Mess.
• 4 Bars Before G: (pizz) out of tune -.-
• 5-6 Bar of G: (everyone) messy. Violas in particular, please don't resort to rushing after those quavers. Keep time!
• 4-5 Bars before J: (violins) out of tune..
• 4th bar of J: (cello and viola) please don't crash the last note.
• Last 4 bars of K: (violin 1) don't scream!! vibrate and don't crash anymore.
• Letters L,M, and N: (lower strings) don't crash. Vibrate.
• Letter N: (violins) Tend to crack as your notes get higher. Especially last 13 bars or so. Also very very messy. Metronome PLEASE!

Pied-ed-l'air

• violas tune.
• violin ones tune.
• violin twos tune.
• cellos tune.
• basses dunno what you playing so won't say anything. you can't practice at home without a bass anyway. =P
• Seriously this movement is all about harmony harmony harmony, melody melody melody, counterpoint counterpoint counterpoint. Everyone's line is important and the texture is almost all the same. There's some intonation to pick-on at virtually every bar, so please practice this more conscientiously and slowly, making sure that every note is really in tune, ok? It's not that long a movement anyway.

Mattachins

• Bar 1: (cello) errr. Can vibrate?
• Practice the laste 4 bars of this. Get the counting right, by drawing in lines for every crothet/quaver beat. Then of course the last chord was terribly choked, like slaughtering chicken.

Ok ok, sorry for this really really late post. If you notice the last 3 mvts are really really crappy cuz I needa run off to sectionals now. All the best, all of you. Don't think I'll be posting anymore such stuff anymore. Good day! =) See you all later. LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN LAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-tiap the manly man.

Tchaik

1st mvt:

• Andante. I suspect middle players (violin 2, viola) are highly highly out of tune.
• Bar 6-7, the semiquaver-chord is not together
• Bar 11: Cellos, what on earth was that?
• 15 bar: Please split this chord! Didn’t we agree that? Write it down now!!
• 16 bar: violin scale not together!
• Also, from here onwards, violas can’t really be heard and that shouldn’t be the case. FF, please. Oh, and don’t crack while you’re at it!
• 4 bars before Allegro Moderato: WHY GOT OPEN E STRING???
• 7 bar of B, I think only here the cello spiccato not too clear.
• 7 bars before C till C: (Violin 2 / Viola) As usual, not really together. Practice the scales with your best friend, the metronome.
• At C, everyone is guilty of flying fingers. Unevenness of the semi-quavers. Practice SLOWLY. And with dotted rhythm, if you know what I mean.
• 7 before D: please let the notes ring, it sounds pretty dry!
• 8th bar of D: (violin 1, viola) where’s the dim?? Last note sounds choked. CRASH!
• Directly after that, the violin spiccatos are not very pleasant… Practice those high notes, and vibrate more, make the notes come alive! Cellos also out of tune haha..
• 4th bar of E, viola rushed. Very dangerous.
• 5th bar of E, violin scale not together…
• After that the cello viola scale also not together.
• Do you see now why violists rushing at 4th bar of E is a bad idea? Scenario: violas rush. Violins think: "Oh my, we’re getting faster! Banzai!" Yingtse says: "Follow me you dimwits!" then violas and cellists catch on the rush fever, and like dominoes, we all descend into a chaos of rushed and out of tune scales. Moral of the story: violists should not rush.
• F, violins, sing more! Just the bow is not enough.
• 5th bar of F, violas and cellos don’t so meng can. Eee.
• 8th bar of F, this scale sounds very precarious, like any moment will break out into anarchy kind. Just don’t rush and use metronome.
• 2nd bar of G, violist pizzicato, bring that out, please!
• At H, get ready immediately after the scale! The show’s only just started!
• K, violists, please pluck together.
• Same thing at K, violins please do the dim. And also don’t crash that last note.
• 4th bar of L, oh my screeching violin 1.
• 9th bar of L, violists don’t rush.
• 5th of M also, too ugly. (violas/cellos)
• 10th of M, issit just me or cellos not counting?
• Scale before Andante non troppo, crash.
• VIOLA SOLO is NON-EXISTENT. Use 3rd position, C-string. Spam. But no crashing. Write down. Now. Glares.
• Chord. Again, divide it, right?

2nd mvt

• From Bar 1, the boom-cha-cha is not very nice… cello not in tune and then violin2 and violas sound dead. Let the notes ring! (vibrate)
• 15th bar of A, violas, your minim sounds crashed. Not too short please, land the bow nicely and use more left-hand.
• Bar before B, violin 1 very nice arpeggio but then the trill after that pity was outta tune.
• 8 bars before C, violin 1 as usual tsk tsk :P stay together, use a metronome!
• 2nd bar of C, violas more vib please and divide if you can’t hit the notes.
• 12 bars before E, viola, that high note is once again not there. Practice slowly like we did in sectionals, please. :)
• 10 bars before F, I suspect violas aren’t really in tune here. Practice slowly and accurately!
• F, 1st bar, what was that awful crash??!
• 10th bar of F, violas crash.
• 14 from the end. Violas. Aiyo.

3rd mvt

• Bar 5-8: (violas): DAMN outta tune
• Bar 13-16 (violins): Out of tune.
• Bar 9-10 of Poco Piu Animato (violin 1): The slide. Eeee.
• Bar 18-19 Chord (Cellos or Basses) : Never wait for chord
• Viola and Cello Solo: Shaky. Keep time. Practice with metronome.
• 1 Bar before A (violas): Yuck.
• Whole of A (violin 2 and violas): Tune pls. Pls.
• 5 bars before B: (violins) What was that??
• 4 bars before B: (violas) HOLY SHIT. Don't crack, more vibrato. Try 4th position, on D string.
• B, during viola solo (both violins): very choked high notes and spiccato
• 12th bar of B (viola): EEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Tune. Practice the whole semi quaver passage with metronome.
• Same passage (Cello and Violins): Wah lao. Aim before you jump high notes and practice more by shifting very slowly and accurately.
• 1 Bar before C all the way through C (viola): Don't hide behind violins arh. Think people cannot hear out of tune meh.
• 6 bars before Tempo 1 (violin 1): HAHA. =P
• 13th bar of Tempo 1: We're always dragging.
• D: Basses, keep time and tune a bit. Violin 1, intonation shaky. Violin 2, don't saw the violin!
• Last chords: quite ugly, everyone, please write "fingerboard " on your score.

4th mvt

• Andante, in general: Sounds dead. Practice with vibrato. Everyone should watch intonation this part is super exposed especially at the last pp part.
• Allegro, from Bar 1: (viola and cello) the short quavers are super dry and bad. They don’t ring enough, please don’t crack your sound and use more vibrato.
• A: (viola) Crash crash crash. Doesn’t sound that great.
• Bar 9 of A: Everyone, pushing as usual. Don’t rush.
• B: (viola) Not your solo but still must be in tune. You are the bass instrument here.
• 18 Bars before B: (violin 1) OH MY. Practice more arpeggios please!
• 4 Bars before D: (violins) Spiccato not equals crash! Practice short and slow first, with vibrato.
• D: Where’s my viola solo?? Find the right depth of which to play into your instrument. Coax out as much sound as possible, it sounds really anti-climax here. But whatever you do, DO NOT crash it’ll be worse.
• 9 bars before E: this unison scale, is not together. Use metronome. Same thing with viola and cello 5 bars later.
• 17 bar of E: (violas) holy shit!! Do something! The horror lasts till 8th bar of F.
• G: Violas, the same problem we just can’t hear you. Really get to know the right amount of pressure and bow speed to get the most sound from your instrument.
• Before H: Nice, we’re not rushing but violins make the chords ring a bit more?
• K: Violas, same problem. But this time its only bottom note’s fault. HA!
• 17 bars before L: (violins) gasps.
• 5 bars before M: (violas) we want more sound here. Please dig more and use more bow. Bow on string, string on viola, viola on shoulder, shoulder on torso, torso on ass, ass on chair, blah blah. But a nice job at M :)
• 10 bars before Molto meno mosso, scale is almost there but not quite yet, metronome!
• Molto meno mosso: oh my, come in together, please.
• 3 bars before marcatissimo: the CHORD. We decided to divide it, right? Then divide it!! And please don’t choke it, the whole first theme before this was so nice then this chord ruined it all.
• Directly after that, the violin triplets. Practice the triplet motion slowly first, let your muscles get the hang of it.
• 5th bar of Piu Mosso, please write in your score if you haven’t already done so, subito piano, and crescendo to FFF again, 4 bars later.
• 12th bar of piu mosso: This note is terrible! (violin one, Viola)
• 8 bars before end: everyone. Going to end soon le, can stop playing your instruments already, so don’t crash. DON’T CRASH DON’T CRASH!!!

Just my two cent's worth, everyone, hope I haven't offended anyone. :)

Sorry basses I absolutely have no clue about your score so I didn't mention you guys at all, except maybe once in the 3rd movement.

To the violists, I'm sorry this came one hour late, and its only one piece. It took much longer than I expected. Damn it.

Anyway, it's been nice preparing this concert with all of you. Really enjoyed it alot, and appreciate all the hardwork you all put in... Hope we have a good concert k? Jiayou all of you.

Goodnight, -tiap.

Hi all,

Please kindly check the gmail account for the concert day action plan 2705. Hard copies will be provided during tomorrow's rehearsal.

A few things to take note:

1) Those who are reporting to school - please report in strings room at 2 pm.
2) The rest please report at VCH at 3.30 pm.
3) At the end of concert, please clear all your personal belongings before leaving.
4) Helen will have a short demo session titled 'how to wear the halter top 101' after rehearsal tomorrow! For those - who still have no idea how to wear the halter top - please hang around in strings room. All guys please refrain from loitering in the strings room after 7 pm.

That's all - and see all of you tomorrow! :)

<3 yibing aka sforzo

Hey. Announcements.

1. There will be no cutting of anybody after interviews, everyone will be running for the two posts they have indicated on the application form. This change applies to the president and vice-president candidates, in case you guys were still assuming that we'd be narrowing down the choices after doing a round of interviews. We won't.

2. SLs please call/msg your section guys (ie males) to make a list of their shirt sizes and message me by tonight. Very important. The gauge used will be Lenard wearing a size L - try to get everyone to estimate what their sizes would be based on that.

Thanks (: Helen.

heya, mr foo has sent today's recordings using yousendit to the strings gmail account. login id is hcstrings; get the password from me on msn. the mp3s will be available for download for 7 days i think.

kevin.

Hey. Keeping in view the impending deadline for handing in this year's 0708 EXCO ELECTIONS APPLICATION (which is tomorrow, 16 May), I'd just like to remind everyone again to please fill in all blanks in your NEATEST and MOST LEGIBLE handwriting. (This is especially for the guys haha.) You know what they say about first impressions.

Also, don't forget to bring your form tomorrow. PACK THEM IN YOUR BAGS NOW!:D
All the best.

Helen.

hey guys.

lenard here. firstly, sorry i said ten but this came in later. just got home, sorry if you made an empty trip. just want to say some stuff, let me start with announcements.

1) Arts Fest 2007
this is a school project, this year on the 23rd of may (next wednesday). please keep yourselves free as we have to perform at full force on this event. its in the evening, around seven to maybe nine plus. we're obliged to make this event a success, and as a school cca it shouldnt prove much of a problem for us to commit. so lets do this together okay, take it as a chance to showcase our syf to more than the 5 judges, and also as mental preparation for our 2 hour concert a week later.
ATTENDANCE IS COMPULSORY

2) Scores
guys, i told the principals of each section to get scores bound by this weekend. ie, saturday afternoon. please coorporate if they ask you for your help in compiling stuff or anything. its important that we get the scores organised neatly as concert preparations, we all know it is important for the event. please be understanding and take responsibility and initiative for your ensemble k? (:

3) Elections
deadline for the elections form is wednesday! (16th May) i'm really glad that most, if not all of you guys are enthusiastic about it. its been quite a fruitful year for me in terms of doing stuff for strings, and given the choice i'd still take what i did. but what you guys must remember is that the committee cannot be 20+ man strong, and that very often, the people not in the committee have as much influence than those within.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

okay, thats roughly the announcements i need to make. guys, concert is in 14 days time. you know your own standard much better than anyone else, so i urge you, to reflect your commitment to the ensemble in the effort you put into practising. we're honestly a strong college ensemble, but this short period before the concert, please do not lose focus and keep on track with what we've been doing all this while. dont disappoint your peers and friends who've been putting in all the hours to put a repertoire together. lets make the concert a memorable one so my batch can step down proudly. (: its been quite a eventful year so far, really. syf was truly a respectable performance, lets not let ourselves down, yes?

Hi,

With the concert coming up in two weeks time and elections soon after that, many of us are/will be facing considerable stress. I would like to bring your attention to the welfare committee, which was set up with the sole purpose of making your life in strings as enjoyable as possible.

The welfare committee is independent of the exco. You can raise any concerns, complaints, queries or suggestions to any member of this committee. Anything you tell us can be kept strictly confidential or anonymous at your request. We will then do our best to resolve whatever issues you might have, or if we need to, bring them up with the exco or teachers.

Please find below the contact details of all welfare committee members; you can approach them in person, through the phone, or maybe set up an anonymous email address and email them. So if there is anything you are unhappy about or wish to see changed/improved, don't keep them to yourself okay?

Yep that's all. All the best for concert/elections and eat your fruits!

Kevin

Welfare Committee 06/07
Dunjie, 96981490, jellypop2000@hotmail.com
Wai Peng, 96395457, leong_wai_peng@hotmail.com
Yan Min, 97370253, dwellerz@hotmail.com
Yingtse, 96161526, yingtse.co@hotmail.com
Kevin, 82047439, liewkaiyang@hotmail.com

PHOTOS GALORE!!

ugh, being subjected to manual labour. mopping is sooo fun.

aha! helen and her "BLEHHH" face. bp looks away in embarrassment.