Updates on Repertoire

Ok hello fellow musicians,

Due to logistics considerations, I have decided to cancel "Concerto d'Amore" as well as "Bayou Breakdown". It is down to one word: Chimes.

As a discussion within the exco has decided that it would be in everyone's interests not to have the chimes deployed for the performance, the discussion on the repertoire today has been changed to such - and two of the pieces which we had decided have been scrapped.

1. Shenandoah
2. One Moment in Time
3. Hey Jude
4. I Believe I Can Fly

As you can see, the pieces are all slow ones...I am going to bring faster pieces down tomorrow - thanks Kenneth for pointing it out. :-)

Actually, we had tried out some rather interesting fast pieces, but general consensus was that we need to discuss the suitability of these pieces next practice when more people turn up.

As a deputy prime minister is a guest-of-honour for one of our performances, I hope that everyone will still continue to roll up their sleeves and work hard for the upcoming assignments for this band.

Naturally, we need to prepare a fanfare for that and we'll be trying out that for tomorrow. It's called "Fanfare No. 1". Can't find a youtube recording of it though :p.

Also, please keep your ideas for concert themes coming - the more the merrier!

See you tomorrow~!

SS

The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky. - David Gerrold

Youtube Clips of Bayou Breakdown and Concerto d'Amore

"Concerto d'Amore" as performed by the Filarmonica da Sociedade Boa União Alhadense [notice the percussionist was not in synch with the conductor on some occasions - something we need to learn from during the fast part, and not to laugh at!!]



"Bayou Breakdown" as performed by the Eastview High School Wind Ensemble - something we can learn from.

Audio CD are out

The audio CD are out, pls indicate whether do u wants Scherzo and Mirificus 06 concerts Recording in1 DVD or not. pls provide DVDR also. Thanks.

Regards
ZQ

Practice Thoughts for Sun 21 Jan 2007

Hello all, Sorry for the delay - I have been snowed under by work of late - and searching for new pieces takes up a rather large amount of time.

I have a very hard choice to make at the moment. Owing to instrumentation problems with the percussion section, I am deliberating over whether I should scrap Bayou Breakdown for the performances in March and April. This will, of course, also depend on how well-prepared all individual sections are.

I think you will agree with me that the current standard is not up to mark, although I certainly want the band to play and enjoy a piece as fun as this, where all sections have their limelight now and then. However, there are some sections which have members who are just coming back from [mostly] academic work, or from sorting out their personal stuff. I hope that you know where you stand in terms of preparedness after the extended workout on Bayou Breakdown last week, and for the laggards, please practise hard to catch up with others who have been committing 3 hours of their precious time for the past three consecutive weeks.

I do believe that three hours per week is not too much to ask for from each of you. All of you may have school projects to rush, and are busy for one reason or another. But that's the same for everyone else who, without fail, come down to practise every week. I hope that no matter what happens, you shall do your best to come down for practice fully prepared.

When I mean "fully prepared", I mean that you will have shown signs that you have practised your parts for the pieces. While taking into account the fact that some of you may have only seen "Bayou Breakdown" for the first time, I would like to explain that the piece is made up of quavers as well as a few syncopated notes here and there. Thus, you should be able to play it competently with constant practice.

I shall bring down more pieces for the coming week to try out, and I hope that you will tell the other band members who have not been coming for band to attend practice sessions consistently. Thanks.

SS

concert Themes

Hiya fellow band members,

After a careful and drawn-out discussion, the exco would like to try out something new this year.

We are going to draw up a theme for Scherzo this year, Mirificus [in December 2007] as well as Scherzo in June(2008), and we would want to obtain some good ideas from you.

The theme would define the pieces which we shall look to perform in the concert.

What is a theme? We hear you ask. Examples:

========================================
Possible theme: "War"

Possible repertoire:
"March Onward America" by Carmine Coppola
"Heavy Artillery" by Jim Curnow
"Variations from The Battle Hymn of the Republic" by Peter Wilhousky
"Dead March from Saul" by Handel
"Selections from Schindler's List" by Yitzhak Perlman

Possible theme: "The Sky"

Possible repertoire:
"Lindbergh's Triumph" by Dave Black
"Big Sky Overture" by Philip Sparke
"A Highland Rhapsody" by Jan van der Roost
"Amazonia" by Jan van der Roost

Possible theme: "Christianity"

Possible Repertoire:
"Noah's Ark" by Bert Appermont
"Amazing Grace" (Traditional)
"The Prince of Egypt" by Alan Menken
"When the Saints Go Marching In" (Traditional)
"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" (Bach)
===========================================

Noticias: THESE ARE JUST IDEAS (and we definitely won't be using the last one as an idea - remember the "multi-racial" stuff which has been drilled into our heads since we were toddlers?). Even if we do select the same theme, we won't necessarily be playing the same pieces. For one, some of these pieces are too easy for us to be planning one year in advance.

Noticias: You can also tell us what pieces you want to play - and we can try to work our way around it - like combining two themes into one.

========================================

Altogether, we need as many themes as possible, but we are going to pick only four - one for Scherzo (in around June 2007), one for Mirificus (in December 2007), one for Scherzo (June 2008) and another for Mirificus (in December 2008).

This time, we are planning to start planning as early as we can, so that we can practise as early as we can, and so that we can all work hard to produce an outstanding show to the band community in Singapore.

Please do put your thinking caps on and submit your proposals of themes to us by 15th February, 2007. Accepted themes will be acknowledged on the programme booklets of the concerts.

After all entries have been submitted, we shall take the best suggestions and put them up for all members to choose from by Saturday, March 10th 2007.

Thanks!

MWS EXCO 2007-8

Quick thoughts on January 14, 2006 and for January 21, 2006

Ciao a tutti,

While it is pleasing to know that we can perform Concerto d'Amore competently well, there is still plenty of polishing to be done to get the parts to sound good, especially the slower parts.

Pieces confirmed for the repertoire include:

1. Bayou Breakdown (approx 5 mins)
2. Concerto d'Amore (approx 7 mins)

As the general public is going to hear us for the concert in March, I am trying to bring more contemporary pieces to play with i.e. pieces which place more emphasis on tone and expression rather than technique.

I am currently considering some movie theme music compilations [two or three, pending availability of scores] as well as throwing in two light pieces, plus one more piece which belongs to band repertoire - either a dance or a concert march.

I hope to see all of you on Sunday. Thanks for the people who came to practise...and for those who didn't, please do join us soon when your other commitments are over.

Fine [pron. fee-neh] :-)

SS

A Big Thank You

Hello everyone,

Thank you for attending the first band practice after Mirificus 2006.

We have achieved significant progress today even though it was only sight-reading two rather tough pieces, and as long as all of us knuckle down and practise hard enough, I am sure that by the next performance, we can put up a good show with these.

See you next week.

I am going to bring in more pieces to try out next Sunday.

Tentatively they are:

Concerto d'Amore by Jacob de Haan
The Wedding Dance, from Hasseneh (The Wedding) by Jacques Press, arr. Frederick Fennell

Currently considering (in alphabetical order):
================
"Dynamica" by Jan van der Roost - Credit to "LT" for suggestion
"Saga Candida" by Bert Appermont - Credit to "LT" for suggestion

...

Would anyone like to suggest any easily recognisable tunes where the general public is concerned? Like movie soundtracks or traditional songs the general public [not just band members] knows - like movie soundtracks, traditional hymns...you get the idea.
================

Thanks for your suggestions, sorry if I can't use them all yet.

:-) SS

PS Oh and thanks "LT" again for suggesting "Danse Diabolique"

Pieces to prepare for Sunday 7th Jan 2007

Ciao A Tutti,

This Sunday (7th January 2007), we shall be trying out new pieces:

1. Danse Diabolique by Joseph Hellmesberger (trans. Tohru Takahashi)
2. The Olympics: A Centennial Celebration by John Williams (arr. John Moss)

...and a third piece to try out.

This piece is written in a fugue-like manner, featuring solo segments of nearly every wind instrument, from the bass clarinets, to the trumpets, to the french horns down to the tubas. It's not often that modern 21st century pieces are written in such a manner.

As such, attendance is vital for everyone to try it out and consequently decide if we can pull it off.

Thanks! =) See you on Sunday! SS

News

TPS-MWS Ex-Com 07/08

Admin Department
Li Zhenqiang
CCMC Representative - Eileen Tan
Secretary cum Treasurer plus Concert Publicity, Band Welfare and Sponsors and Advertisements Officer
Cheng Peiling

Logistics Department
Quarter Master/Mistress
Raymond Ang, Jeffrey Loke <-- correct or not, haha
Official Band Driver - Shaun Soh

Library Department
Temp Librarians
Li Zhenqiang, Eileen Tan

Music Department
Concert Master/Mistress
Lim Si Seng, Ng Youzhi

Principal Players
TBC

The recording is almost out, and thanks for all the patience for waiting. Please do indicate whether u wanna Scherzo and Mirifcus 2006 inside the same DVD. Thanks

Band Resume on 7 Jan, Pls inform us if you are not coming, we may be trying out new pieces for our outdoors performance in either Feb or Mar.

I need to see the ex-co people after band prac on 7 Jan.

Regards
Zhenqiang