cesc week 1/bookout/back to YO again
So it appears that my life is summed up, week by week, in short snappy despatches (damn. dispatches? despatches? Merriam-Webster Online: despatch n. chiefly British variant of dispatch - guess that's me then. Chiefly British).
Well yes, it's been a ridiculously relaxed week at engineers; 4 days' worth of lectures with half a day of chemical defence training and an ippt. That's what I call a honeymoon period. True, the pushup count did hit 100 on day one but they were just scaring us I guess. The real fun starts next week with some explosives training and PT I think, as well as lots of theory. So (and this is old hat so I'm not breaking any rules by mentioning it) there's a heck lot of equipment we're going to have to learn to handle, like boats, personnel carriers, mine clearers, I think 5 different types of bridge - the lectures were all about these. SLB, VLB, AVLB, BLB, FLB... Can't even remember what they stand for. I figure it's Super Long Bridge, Very Long Bridge, A Very Long Bridge, Bloody Long Bridge, and... Fucking Long Bridge. xP
(well I thought it was a good joke)
-----
Booked out on Friday at 5pm after a parent visit (yeah they actually invited parents to tour the training facilities O.o). I had a whole lot of activities on saturday (alright 3)... lunch with Yalies, YO, cousins' birthday thingy. You won't be interested about the last one.
We'll start with the lunch. What can I say? I didn't say very much actually... lots of them are posh types, international school students, rich kids. One was, what, the 7th in her family to go to Yale? Not holding it against them, but buying Chinese art for investment purposes is not my usual subject of conversation, for better or for worse. Everyone seemed to be incredibly well-travelled and possess some incredible pedigree or something. And seeing as I'm going in 2 years' time, I'm more boggled than enthused about which classes to take or avoid, or which professors are the best, that sort of thing. Added to that, I didn't know anyone apart from David, while everyone seemed to know at least 3 or 4 others. O.o so time crawled and sputtered along like a ricketty old car that's running out of petrol. I guess once I'm actually there I'll find my particular community and friends to fit into nicely, but right now it's not on my radar screens, and I'm not sure how far I'll fit in with the Singaporean community there.
As for YO... (mmm nice contented feeling). It's always good to be back, again and again and again. Lol I've turned into a semi-regular saturday visitor. Had to try to resolve a problem back in my section - not sure if I helped, but it was my duty to try. Chatted with Mrs Wong, Mr Lim and Miss Wang... Mr Lim invited me back to do sectionals with them heh. I'm flattered that he asked my musical opinion on the Dvorak 6th xD
-----
Handling that problem that I alluded to earlier got me thinking about being a musician in an orchestra. I always felt that YO was home to me... for me it was just the awesome feeling about making music with friends, and also about doing your job right. Doing justice to the music and all that. To me seating (your position in the section, how far front or back you play) was never, ever an issue. I was... simultaneously extremely gratified and shocked when, at the start of sec 4, I got parachuted into the hot seat as section leader.
I mean, wtf? What am I, noob, doing there...? I knew that lots of the seniors would've been pretty disgruntled - in sec 3 they'd all been comfortably treating me as the little kiddo on the block (a role that I was happy to play haha), and suddenly I'd leapt over their heads. Yes it was probably unfair for them, yes I personally would have preferred to wait till they left before I took over, if it ever happened. I do know that things got a bit chilly after that between me and them, and I wasn't comfortable even till our Vienna trip, which was why I spent so much time with my pals from the violins and elsewhere - I think from then I wasn't 100% connected with my section. But I had to do my job. I've always been extremely grateful to Mr Lim for giving me that chance to develop myself musically, and even more so, for trusting me, a nobody back then, still a nobody now.
And I haven't always been a principal player in orchestras. I've played behind, 4th desk; I've guest played elsewhere - and being a guest player it's rude to be anywhere other than the back unless you've been invited by the conductor to step forward. I've noticed embodiments of sheer incompetence sitting pretty up front, but that's not an issue and should never be, as long as you do your job as a musician. Of course you might resent being behind them, but on principle I try my best to separate personal from professional.
No one in my section is incompetent - at least none of the oldies who've been with me, I've whacked you guys often and long enough, as you very well know. (Damnit I still think of it as 'my' section.) What I didn't do well enough was train you guys to take over once I left. I'm afraid that besides Ms Yeo's advice, no one told me much about being a principal player. Well I guess being a musician you have to have a clear idea of how the music should sound - every single note and phrase - and be able to communicate it to the listener. And as a principal you have the added responsibility of sharing that musical vision with the rest of the section. Your musical judgement has to be there, of course, and that grows with experience.
Wish I could spend more time there with the orchestra. Lots more stuff to share there, because I guess music is one of my greatest passions. For better or for worse.
Well yes, it's been a ridiculously relaxed week at engineers; 4 days' worth of lectures with half a day of chemical defence training and an ippt. That's what I call a honeymoon period. True, the pushup count did hit 100 on day one but they were just scaring us I guess. The real fun starts next week with some explosives training and PT I think, as well as lots of theory. So (and this is old hat so I'm not breaking any rules by mentioning it) there's a heck lot of equipment we're going to have to learn to handle, like boats, personnel carriers, mine clearers, I think 5 different types of bridge - the lectures were all about these. SLB, VLB, AVLB, BLB, FLB... Can't even remember what they stand for. I figure it's Super Long Bridge, Very Long Bridge, A Very Long Bridge, Bloody Long Bridge, and... Fucking Long Bridge. xP
(well I thought it was a good joke)
-----
Booked out on Friday at 5pm after a parent visit (yeah they actually invited parents to tour the training facilities O.o). I had a whole lot of activities on saturday (alright 3)... lunch with Yalies, YO, cousins' birthday thingy. You won't be interested about the last one.
We'll start with the lunch. What can I say? I didn't say very much actually... lots of them are posh types, international school students, rich kids. One was, what, the 7th in her family to go to Yale? Not holding it against them, but buying Chinese art for investment purposes is not my usual subject of conversation, for better or for worse. Everyone seemed to be incredibly well-travelled and possess some incredible pedigree or something. And seeing as I'm going in 2 years' time, I'm more boggled than enthused about which classes to take or avoid, or which professors are the best, that sort of thing. Added to that, I didn't know anyone apart from David, while everyone seemed to know at least 3 or 4 others. O.o so time crawled and sputtered along like a ricketty old car that's running out of petrol. I guess once I'm actually there I'll find my particular community and friends to fit into nicely, but right now it's not on my radar screens, and I'm not sure how far I'll fit in with the Singaporean community there.
As for YO... (mmm nice contented feeling). It's always good to be back, again and again and again. Lol I've turned into a semi-regular saturday visitor. Had to try to resolve a problem back in my section - not sure if I helped, but it was my duty to try. Chatted with Mrs Wong, Mr Lim and Miss Wang... Mr Lim invited me back to do sectionals with them heh. I'm flattered that he asked my musical opinion on the Dvorak 6th xD
-----
Handling that problem that I alluded to earlier got me thinking about being a musician in an orchestra. I always felt that YO was home to me... for me it was just the awesome feeling about making music with friends, and also about doing your job right. Doing justice to the music and all that. To me seating (your position in the section, how far front or back you play) was never, ever an issue. I was... simultaneously extremely gratified and shocked when, at the start of sec 4, I got parachuted into the hot seat as section leader.
I mean, wtf? What am I, noob, doing there...? I knew that lots of the seniors would've been pretty disgruntled - in sec 3 they'd all been comfortably treating me as the little kiddo on the block (a role that I was happy to play haha), and suddenly I'd leapt over their heads. Yes it was probably unfair for them, yes I personally would have preferred to wait till they left before I took over, if it ever happened. I do know that things got a bit chilly after that between me and them, and I wasn't comfortable even till our Vienna trip, which was why I spent so much time with my pals from the violins and elsewhere - I think from then I wasn't 100% connected with my section. But I had to do my job. I've always been extremely grateful to Mr Lim for giving me that chance to develop myself musically, and even more so, for trusting me, a nobody back then, still a nobody now.
And I haven't always been a principal player in orchestras. I've played behind, 4th desk; I've guest played elsewhere - and being a guest player it's rude to be anywhere other than the back unless you've been invited by the conductor to step forward. I've noticed embodiments of sheer incompetence sitting pretty up front, but that's not an issue and should never be, as long as you do your job as a musician. Of course you might resent being behind them, but on principle I try my best to separate personal from professional.
No one in my section is incompetent - at least none of the oldies who've been with me, I've whacked you guys often and long enough, as you very well know. (Damnit I still think of it as 'my' section.) What I didn't do well enough was train you guys to take over once I left. I'm afraid that besides Ms Yeo's advice, no one told me much about being a principal player. Well I guess being a musician you have to have a clear idea of how the music should sound - every single note and phrase - and be able to communicate it to the listener. And as a principal you have the added responsibility of sharing that musical vision with the rest of the section. Your musical judgement has to be there, of course, and that grows with experience.
Wish I could spend more time there with the orchestra. Lots more stuff to share there, because I guess music is one of my greatest passions. For better or for worse.
Labels: Everything, Life, SNYO
posted by Unknown at
8:44 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home