 |
 |
 |
|
Today, I went to the NYCO concert. It was definitely fabulous, and I would like to talk about a few of the songs my opinions on it.
The concert was entitled "si1 zhu2 qing2 yun4" and held at NYGH's Siew May Auditorium. We, the CHSCO members who went decided to meet at the Nanyang bus stop at 7.00p.m so that we can go into their auditorium at the same time. This waas the second time that I had been in NYGH, the first being the time when thier English drama put up the play, "Alice?". As expected, the atmosphere was filled with excitment and a big crowd was gathering outside the auditorium. So at around 7.30p.m, the supposed time when the concert starts, we went into the auditorium. However, since many seats were already taken up (free seating), I sat somewhere in the second row, right at the corner. Even though it was not a very good seat, it was quite fine and did not really affect my view, even though I was unable to see any of the performers behind. The first song was "yao2 zhu2 wu3 qu3". Even though this song is fairly simple, and I have heard if it numerous times, the melody still sounds attractive. The next was a song called "dong1 nan2 xi1 bei1 zhong1", followed by two tan2 bo1 qi2 zou4, "da4 li3 qing2 feng1" and "san1 liu4". Personally, I liked "da4 li3 qing2 feng1" quite much. After that, was the main attraction for the whole of our xianyue --"hong mei2 sui2 xiang2 qu3", by NYCO's Chairman and Xianyue Section Leader, Hui Ling. For me, I have long loved this song since the first time I heard it, and after hearing so many times, the melody stilled kept playing in my heart. According to Zhang lao shi last year, Hui Ling's skills in this song is superb that it can almost be comparable to his own. This alone can prove how good she is since Zhang lao shi would never praises anyone to this state. So when we heard her play this song with the orchestra as accompaniment, naturally many of us became very zi4 bei1. Of course, a few mistakes is unavoidable, and I spotted one or two inaccurate notes, but the effect was really extremely good. After this was the interval of 15 min. During this period of time, many people, expecially us, the Sec 2 Erhu people were complaining about how zi4 bei1 we were. Personally, I was a little surprised at how good the standard of NYCO's are. (No offence!) I mean I knew they were very good all along, but today was really excellent performance. However, my Sec 3 senior Rui Hong was a little disappointed because he expected better. Well... Then, I finally saw Yue Yang, who is in Pipa. I was uanble to spot her because of erm, my seating... When we finally reaturned back to the auditorium after the interval, the two songs were by their gu zheng group (or known as orchestra? since it was "gu3 zheng1 tuan2). It was just as marvelous, and the quality of the sound was good. It was followed by yet another attraction for us, xianyue -- "zhu2 ying3 yao2 hong2" and "jiang1 nan2 chun1 se4". This time, I got even more zi4 bei1 till it was unbearable. Since we were also practising "zhu2 ying3 yao2 hong2", where us, the Sec 2s were playing worse than shit, I was utterly upset. Not only their song quality and feelings within the song was present, their "unity" in playing together was excellent. As for "jiang1 nan2 chun1 se4", they played equally well, but since we did not practise it, the sense of zi4 bei1 was not as strong. The next song was a zhongruan solo piece entitled "shan ge". This song was alos played during the HCJC CO concert held at Victoria Concert Hall. According to someone, this was the Grade 9 piece for zhongruan. This song was quit unique, but I shall not elarborate much since it is quite hard to describe. But someone commented that it sounded somewhat like an electric guitar during the HCJC CO concert. But even though I sort of agree, this peice nevertheless still contains zhongruan flavour. Then, a song called "huang2 he2 zhi1 shui3 tian1 shang4 lai2" was the next on the list. The title was taken from Li Bai's famous poem, "Jiang1 Jin1 Jiu3" (first line). This song was also magnificantly played. The characteristic of the song is its difference in loudness and feelings. Since this song aims to portray huang he, the song really shows the river as calm and violent at different times. Finally, the last song is served as a finale. This song is relatively a "normal" type of song unlike many of the others. Nevertheless, it was still played very well. So after this, I went home. On the bus, I chatted with Rui Hong, who gave his comments on the NYCO performance. This performance is really an eye-opener, and I really zi4 tan4 bu4 ru2. Right now, without any major competitions or performances, the attitude of the majority of the CHSCO is slack. Thus, at this current moment, we cannot compare to NYCO. Even though I know this is "normal" as we as Chinese High students are famous for pia-ying at the last minute, and always achieving good results in this way, I'm really getting very worried especially for our xianyue. With such a lousy Sec 2 batch and with only 3 person in Erhu (2), xianyue is really in danger now. Now after watching this concert, I'm getting more worried... Ok, I know this entry sounds very pro-NYCO. But I'm sincerely giving my comments. Their standard is getting higher and higher while we are getting lower and lower. Haiz. Erm, actually I have much more to talk about regarding other matters but due to time constrain yet again, I will talk about them in the next entry. Bye! posted by Gimmicker at 10:24 PM
Ah, finally found some time to blog again. Sorry... terribly sorry... I have not blogged for more than a month. This should not happen again, unless it is ... nearing exams period.
Haiz. Term 3 really proved to be very busy, extreme busy. Right from the start, there were already many major assignments to hand in. The workload everyday since Term 3 began is really enough to kill. Serious. Right now, at this current, exact moment, there is a little bit of time (thus I have time to blog), but the past few weeks and even yesterday was endless turmoil. To get a good idea of how bad the situation was, let me quote Kai Yao as an example. For the last 2 terms, he slept at 12.00a.m on the average, however he sleeps at 2.00a.m every day on the average now. On the night before the Semi-Finals of Project's Day, he slept at 5.00a.m. Even though his case may be a little extreme, it does reflect how much we have to do. Here, I would like to talk about a few major things we had to do as well as events that happened during this period when I did not blog. However, due to time constraint, I will only post a few today and continue the next time. Firstly, let me talk about the Major Research Paper. For me, I was quite lucky to have Zhi Yi as my MRP partner (in a sense). During the June holidays, he forced me to do the MRP practically everyday. For the Literature Review component alone, we spent about 3 weeks editing and re-edting and re-re-editing until almost perfection (which is of course impossible). At that time, I can only suffer in silence (and I still do, actually) while I ren4 ren2 zai3 ge1, with Zhi Yi bossing me around. Even though it was hard work, the good point was that we do not have to rush the MRP as much as others. Therefore, I am quite grateful to Zhi Yi, since I would most likely drag the MRP if i did it by myself. Even though I personally feel that the standard is quite good, there is always room for further improvements in any piece of work. As for Project's Day Semi-Finals, we had to pia on the eve due to the massive workload beforehand. Our Project's Day topic was on Marine Fishes (Category 5: Resource Development), and our aim was to create Asia's largest database on marine fishes (which includes almost every single specie of marine fish that can be bred in a tank, its temperament, special requirements, tank size, etc). Thus, as you can see, our topic is one that is large-scale and tedious. In all, there were 35 family of fishes to be done, and about 300+ fishes in all. That night (or morning), I did the project till 4.00a.m. Eventually, I only had less than 2 hours of sleep that night. Finally came the big day--the semi-finals. For us, the judging was held at LT4. On that day, the judges were not fixed, but rather, within each category, the judges have rotated "shifts". Thus, the initial nicer judges eventually went away. Then, it progressed to a stage whereby Ms Kala and Mr Koh (our mentor) were the judges. Ms Kala was infamous for being a strict and undesirable teacher, and she started scolding the participants presenting till gou3 xue3 lin2 tou2. One by one, the groups were seemingly "striked down". Finally, it was our turn. However, just as we thought we were going to die, Mss Kala asked those with laptops to present first due to errors with the computer. That was just before recess, and with the ringing of the bell, we were saved. Quickly, we dashed to the library, computer lab and finally to a classroom to edit our presentation. After recess, we went back to LT4. The judges were now Ms Teo Mui Hong (my Sec 1 Chinese teacher) and an unknown teacher. After one group presented, we quickly grabbed the opportunity and went down to present, since the judges were "nice". This proved to be a very heng move. Right after we presented, Miss Kala came back, and the other groups were "striked" again. Eventually, we passed and proceded into the Finals. However, as this was an extremly jiao3 xing4 chance, we will definitely prepare ourselves better the next time. Due to time constraint, I will talk about the other things that happened these few days in the next entry. However, I may not post for quite a long time, since I'm currently still caught in the midst of heavy workload. Sorry! Before I go, below are some updates from previous entries for your information. UPDATES
(The school admin office phoned me to inform me of this some day in June. According to the office, I had broke a "school record" since I was the first person to be able to retrieve a lost thumbdrive in The Chinese High. )
(Obvious since I am blogging now.)
Bye! posted by Gimmicker at 8:57 PM
|