hmm what the, dun emo la jing hua.

yea, its over. while in the future, i will have lotsa time to mug, it feels and will feel like ive lost something meaningful.

but i will keep the meaning within me. hope yall have found your meanings as well and protect it. and may this meaning string our fates together at one point in time.

its the end. im closing the book, and we all gotta move on. see ya peeps.

Soh Yong Sheng - RJCO dizi/percussion '09

Finis.

Ah.

So this marks the end of my 5.5 years of CO in school.

I don't know what to say that I haven't already said in previous posts.

After all, what does one say at the closing of one chapter of one's life?

I'll miss everyone, the orchestra, everything.

And so, for now, I guess that's truly my finale here.

-Chiu Jing Hua, RJCO Dizi'09-

Countdown.

10 or so days left.

All I can say is... Please, just enjoy the song. Let the feel flow through you. As was blatantly shown during the secondary school rounds of judging for SYF, the judges aren't looking out for the most technically skilled orchestra (although no doubt technical skill is necessary), but the ones who get gold with honours are those who can impress, and make the audience and judges feel moved by their music. Time and time again, I've stressed, it's not so important about making individuals sound good, but rather how the whole orchestra sounds. If one can blend in harmoniously, let the music flow naturally, let the feel of the music come out, it counts for far more than a showy solo piece. It means one can work as a team, as an orchestra. After all, we're all part of RJCO, and more than ever, we need this solidarity.

Let the music flow. As Victor (the vice-chair) said today, we aren't inferior to the sports CCAs. It takes real effort, and real skill to be able to bring this about.

10 (or maybe 11) days.

It's the last lap for all of us.

No matter what the result, let's make this SYF a blast, yeah? =)

Jia You

It's my first time to post here... A bit nervous...
Anyway, I just want to say it is really nice to meet you guys here. As SYF is approaching, the time of 离别 is also coming. It seems I just said hello to you yesterday, but I have to say good-bye tomorrow... I still remembered 12th. november last year when I first entered the CO room. I remembered Yong Sheng was playing 秦川抒怀, Yu Yue playing 梆笛协奏曲, and most of you playing 春到湘江！I remembered Lao Zhou called me 小妹妹, although I am already 18 (even older than you J2s...) It is only half an year, but I really have a lot of good memories with you guys. We all have the same goal which is to perform well for SYF, to strive for higher skills in our instrus, and to showcase our GREAT chuiguan section!
It is really a kind of 缘分 that we all have chosen Chuiguan, regardless of dizi, suona or sheng. No matter what reasons for you to choose chuiguan, I hope we all love our instrus. I do! Although some people are blaming us for our yin zhun and loudness, I can only say that they are really not up to a level to appreciate 吹管的魅力. Dizi is the oldest musical instrument in the Chinese history. It is at least 7000 years old now (so, treat the elderly well k?). There is a lot of poems for our chuiguan: there is 谁家玉笛暗飞声; there is 羌笛何须怨杨柳; there is a whole poem for suona《朝天子.咏喇叭》：喇叭，唢呐，曲儿小，腔而大...... So, I just want to say, no matter what the other people say about us, we should still be proud of our instrus! Really no regret to be a member of Chuiguan.
So, let's dun think about the farewell or be sad first. Think of the good things ahead. Let's all try our best for the upcoming SYF and concert. Good luck:D
祝愿所有的J2 seniors能给你们RJCO的两年生活画上一个圆满的句号。
I have faith in all of you:)

whoa, felt inspired to write something after jing huas post. emm though i dun really belong here anymore.

yea, just like what jing hua said, it feels odd, maybe lil sad about having the end in sight. id hate to think that this is the end, but i guess i wun get to play with you guys anymore. when syf and concert have gone, thats the last time we're gonna come together as a sound.

originally, i didnt think i would end up in co. if not for the skin disease i had in sec 1, id probably wouldnt even go through any form of musical training. still remembered that monday when i was trying to do lun yin on the pipa, when jing hua dragged me over to dizi. there i started learning how to get the correct embochure, the correct way to breathe, the way to play a dizi.

admittedly, most of my memories about co are rather hazy, but i do remember some clearly. like how some of us broke down while playing during yang lao shis wake, like how some of us would curse and swear after performances that end late at night, like how we pracced from 9 to 5 in rico, like how we got scolded by lin sin yeo for various reasons. a few memories mean a lot to us, i guess.

i havent flipped through my old score book, my scores are scattered all over the house. i dunno when ill see the epic dong hai yu ge, or ji liu, or matsuri and xiao cheng gu shi. but some day if i see them down a few years, i know ill not only remember how to play them, but also the moments when we pracced the songs together.

well, its close to syf alr. speaking of which, i will never forget what lim kiong pin said, "gold是我们的目标，但不是我们的目的。”indeed, the true aim of being part of co may differ for every one of us, but it holds true meaning to us that lasts, then its more than enough.

maybe some day when i hear someone humming mei hua yin, jiang nan hao, dong or any other co songs, when i turn my head, it will be someone from rjco. so keep the songs humming in your hearts, thats how i will cherish the times we had.

Silence.

Sometimes, everybody needs abit of silence now and then. Especially if one is from the ever-blasting cacophony that is chuiguan section. =P

Anyway.

It's almost down to the last lap of preparing for SYF already. About 20 or so days left before we all troop down to SCH, probably the last time for my batch as members of RJCO.

Ah, wells.

It's kinda odd, really. To be able to see the end in sight, literally. After all, for me, I've had my instrument with me for 5+ years now. To see the end of it's use in sight, or maybe at least a very very long hiatus, it really is kinda sad, in a way.

To think that I originally wanted to quit ASAP in Secondary 1, when I was first posted here. Haha... I wonder what would have been then. And now, after it's been a core part of my life for 5 years... the absence is really unsettling.

So many things have happened. Not all for good. But all in all, irreplaceable memories. I'll never forget the first time I handled a dizi, the shouts from my Sec 4 seniors of "UNFAIR! 老师偏心!" when I got my shiny, and fairly impressive looking G-diao. Nor that feeling of reclaiming the gold for RICO for the first time in almost a decade during SYF 2007. The MOE CO Camp of 2005, where for the first (and only) time I performed in an outside orchestra, and where I met a cherished friend. The joy of watching new members come in, improve, watching them become talented in their own ways. The laughs I had as we all attempted to play along with random songs I played on the speakers in the classroom in RI during sectionals. The blatant disregarding of all school rules relating to cards. The effort put in, the lesson with Mr. Lim Sin Yeo, the utter epic randoming around with the entity only known as LaoZhou.

Flipping through my old scorebook, seeing all the songs I've played past and present, it feels like it just happened yesterday. I remember frantically changing dizis with Ackerley when we attempted to play 春 one fine day during orchestral prac in the RI hall, the sheer epic that was 东海渔歌, the quiet sadness and mourning that was 心贤. I never imagined that after hearing (I think it was Jit Sin?) playing 冬 when I was in Sec 1, I would myself play it after coming into RJCO.

All the songs, the melodies... the memories. Our memories make up who we are, and there is no doubt, this has been truly a core part of my life here in RI/RJC.

Soon, my batch will pass through, and end this chapter of our lives. Moving on to new experiences, a new way of life, I'm not sure whether I'll ever get a chance to play my dizis again.

But these memories, I'll cherish them forever.

Start.

Okays, now that the J1s are finally here, I'll try to add them in as soon as possible. Hope to see the J1s post here! Posting in chinese is fine also, since Singaporeans have become the minority now here. =P

Man, I feel old.

yoz, havent posted for a long time le, though im not really suitable to be blogging in a chui guan blog actually.

lol, dun really know what to say actually. since most of yall know alr, maybe i should talk about my transfer? actually the transfer was voluntary, so there isnt anything to be fair or unfair about. its been quite some time since the transfer alr, and i think i learnt a lot of stuff over here in perc. so it isnt as bad as it seems, though i miss dizis damn lot.

ironically, there are gonna be damn lot of dizis with the new intake of j1s. hopefully, all can stay, but if any of yall really get transferred out, dun ever think that yall suck at dizi, its just that luck isnt on your side, and thats okay. in fact, im quite proud of all our dizi players, since i think all of us are truly enthu about dizis.

ah haha, of cos, the shengs and suonas are quite pro and passionate, but being a former dizi player, its inevitable that im biased towards dizis. hah.

okkk, im blogging from the schools com.

RICO Concert

I was actually going to type some detailed feedback on the concert then I realised this isn’t an RICO guanyue blog… So here’s the non-detailed version.

I’m very proud of my three juniors Ren Yan, Vincent and Felix. I think their trio was very well performed! I felt that the piece showed the unity and what seemed like hours of practice to perfect the timings and to let everything mesh together properly.

Jiang Nan Hao is a piece that Mr Lim gave us a longggggg time ago… even I have it. Finally it’s being performed. :) As I watched I had this longing to be performing on that same stage… but think all my opportunities are over le.

WELLL… Congratulations on a great performance anyway!

Post.

I feel obliged to post, after lurking around here for so long. Been mostly updating my own blog, to those who know it exists, and been busy with other stuff also heh.

Anyway, good luck for RICO's concert on Sunday! Although after crashing their sectionals on Wednesday, and based on what I observed... Hmm. =P

Outing can probably be discussed after promos. I've talked to sherm already about it and I think she'll probably be organising something. Most likely skating or cycling again. Although I'd worry abit if sherm were cycling, as someone *ahem* almost couldn't brake at all last chuiguan outing on the bike. Hehe. Or we could ask Y and Zai to lead us around for 40km route again, and I can remember bits and pieces of it as well. Whatever we're doing, if its cycling/skating, Yongsheng, you have to try too! Yiusum couldn't cycle well and she still survived most of the 40km route also, so you definitely can also. If seniors want to come, well... We'll see when the time comes.

And thanks to Ack for changing the tagboard! Finally, less spam.

Kk then, that's all from me for now. Good luck for whatever hugely important exams up ahead for everyone! Although I'm personally going to suffer from withdrawal from not having CO for one month. =P

Change of Tagboard + Misc

OMG -.- why you 2 complain complain never go and change the tagboard! But its done le anyway and I hope this new tagboard will have less spam. Anyway i manually copied your tags over to the new tagboard. [by masquerading as u ppl...]

Thanks yongsheng for his valiant efforts at reviving the board! Personally I think his “3rd attempt to revive blog” was quite a detailed description of the people in the section… though I don’t know who’s who but it’s nice to know a bit more about my juniors. :)

Yongsheng how can you put RICO down! I won’t going because I’ve to book in on Sunday and that means rushing to camp after concert and running the risk of being late… I’m quite proud to hear that our juniors are performing a trio! I mean like that’s a section effort, which is really good...

Anyway if you all are having outing… perhaps invite your seniors :P and put it on a Saturday preferably. Hope to cya all at the outing! Maybe some… skating/cycling? [iceskate!] Or maybe by some stroke of luck we can arrange some kind of chalet for mahjong…