final showdown

Finished our last show today.. it's nice to meet ppl from all walks of (music) life - professionals, freelancers, part-timers, students.. It was quite a sad moment to have to part for now.. not sure when we would have the chance to meet again.. Had actually gotten so used to meeting one another for practices throughout the 2 wks.. SPO would be performing again in nov for some asean conference but don't think i can join due to exams.. haiz.. how i wish my exams could finish earlier! i've seen the concert prog and they look remarkable!.. jazz, pop arrangements on many famous s'pore music.. hopefully this remarkable experience won't mark my first and last opportunity in pop

Just discovered a few days ago that our music director is actually a g.p... wow!! Given his accomplishments in the pop music scene, one would have thought he's full time into music but no... No wonder he has such great personality... haha my role model!

I must say I have grown to like Dick's music.. they are just so amazing in that they're able to evoke emotions so varying and extreme and his ability to compose music of so different genres. They search your soul and you just succumb to them, especially the power that emanate those texts... At least he made me learn to enjoy pop now

and now for the critical part.. I feel that although we have a mixture of instruments, most of the time indian and chinese instruments are of lesser importance compared to those electronic ones. I think we can do without ethnic insts., but not those electronic and brass ones. Last wk Nat. just complained that she has to keep (re)tuning the inst. for just a few gliss.. basically what she do throughout most pieces is that 'signature guzheng' gliss. Yep and that's all i could hear from gz.. haha think i have to be thankful that i'm not given parts like that.. at least i play broken chords and at times important rhythmic figures.. though i wish i could be given some melodic role. As for yq and dizi i heard from some audiences that the sound projection and quality weren't that good due to amplification, i think perhaps yq can't use those contact mikes cos the timbre has changed through the amplification.

Maybe there still need more time before pop orchestrators get to know more about ethnic insts. if they are really serious about venturing further with this unique orchestra combination.. Personally I think this orchestra has the potential of creating an identity which we have often questioned ourselves.. "so what is S'pore music?"

scene before rehearsals

shouldnt upload photos with faces here to protect their identity :D
some photos i took with 'big' ppl are rather shocking, the problem is that they look too nice (too suspicious.. to the eye of a second party.. haha so none shld be shown)