okays this post comes sorta as a delayed report of the impresario 09 semis yesterday.hahaha.
before i start off, i would like to first highlight that this post will inevitably contain certain bits of touchy information and opinions with regard to the event.hence, if you are, or think you will be, in one way or another, offended by the opinions expressed below, read on at your own discretion.
okays so now i shall start here.
8 feb 09
0300 am sorta turned to bed after a bloody long day the day before.slept at 5am the night before cuz we were trying not to sleep for the last night of the extension.hahaha.but nonetheless everyone was concussing at one point or another.yeah so reached back home and concussed after giving my parents their gifts.they liked it. =D
0930 am met up with the guys at bishan junction 8.this was the big day of the semis so we were all quite hyped up.then we went up to the top of the 8 to put our stuff down and started warmups.
then we started practising i can see clearly.somehow what has never went wrong started going wrong.parts and notes were going wrong.chords being obviously wrong werent being paid attention to.one guy was perpetually flat.one was perpetually singing wrong note.
i seriously hate it.if you're singing the wrong note, dont put the blame that the rest is flat.we've all been choral singers for ages.if the choir is flat, you go flat together.dont act all puritannical that you're singing the correct note.it doesnt matter if it's G at 440.the chord matters.
oh well.so after 1 hr of gruelling effort to sort out the stuff, it got better.chords were in place again.and i kept stressing that they were supposed to listen out to me.
[i would like to put it on record here that i am absolutely in no manner trying to portray myself as a perfect singer or homo sapien in any sense]
the basis of listening out to each other is to rescue the damn song.and i think it makes bloody sense to listen to my note so that the t1 part, which has so many damn same notes an octave apart, can be rectified instantaneously if one listens properly.the same thing for the baritone part.there are so many parts that is a fifth up from the bass part.
putting this aside, we went on stage for the rehearsal and mike checks.it wasnt that bad.the mikes were at just the right level and the chording n stuff came out nicely at last.so we were all in a rather good mood.then came lunch and the subsequent post-lunch practice.
it didnt really help that we had nowhere to practise but the stupid stairwell in junction 8.it was extremely echoey and wasnt gonna be easy.this was when things started going haywire again.t1 was CONSTANTLY FLAT.semitone flat kind.damn jialat.it didnt make things any easier as our most shaky part required the t1 and t2 to hit a high G.and since our t2 is more of a baritone, it wasnt easy on him too.so well as usual i was serious bout the musical aspect of stuff.i doubt any acapella group will just overlook incorrect chords or individual parts for that matter.so we kept working on it.but it was perpetually wrong.then they started becoming demoralised.so we did choreo again to try to hype up.which we did in the end.
fast forward.throughout the whole vocal solo and vocal group category, fanclub dude didnt seem to give a fark at all about the damn competition, just going around and around and around mingling with his fanclub.the rest of us were more or less just waiting there, minimal conversations i would think.
then came our turn.so we took our mikes and went up on stage.i blew the note on the pitchpipe and we started off with i can see clearly.
the moment the first chord came in, i knew we were screwed.it was supposed to be a c major.i dont know what the hell came out of our mouths.it was even harder to decipher than a whitacre chord.soloist came in different key.
then i realised that my mike was too loud.screw the soundmen.they didnt do properly marking of the sound levels for the individual groups.
the first verse was disastrous.i was shaking on stage like hell and trying to compose myself.since my mike was too loud, i figured out that if i toned down a lil they were gonna be able to hear themselves too and our chording would readjust itself.it didnt work.everyone was blasting in their own key.REFUSED TO LISTEN OUT TO COMMON NOTES WHICH I HAD BEEN STRESSING ON FOR WEEKS.it was freaking obvious the song was off.DAMN OFF.
bridge.HIGH G WAS FARKING FLAT.I DONT KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY ABOUT IT.it started getting a lil bit back into place towards the end of the bridge.t1 part was still wrongly blasted.the whole chord was farking sour.
bass solo. [i'm not trying to portray myself as a bloody messiah of saving the song] this was the part that i hoped would set the song straight back.cuz i get 4 bars to myself.luckily things picked up.the rest were pitching relative to me.THAT'S WHAT I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO INCULCATE FOR AGES.
last part.the layering part came in not that badly.but the musicality was undoubtedly compromised by then.then t1 didnt listen out for the common notes again.so b2 and t1, supposed to be exactly an octave apart, wasnt.
then the song ended.people in the audience screamed.i dunno if most of it is from our friends or from complete strangers.but it didnt matter.i was seriously, royally, FRIGGING PISSED.
so we walked off the stage and yeah i would like to put it on record that i really felt like crying.we did ourselves gross injustice with what we just sang.i was damn pissed that nobody bothered with what i have been trying to say for the last few weeks.i was damn pissed with myself for not ensuring that things turned out fine.
so yeah when we walked to the chorale peeps i wanted to cry already.hah.
i guess they saw how flabberghasted and depressed i was at that time.thanks a million guys for your efforts to console/cheer me up.i really appreciate it.unfortunately i couldnt bring myself to cheer up at that time.hahahah.i was royally pissed.hahaha.
so yeah i just walked off after a while.couldnt bring myself to look at the group.cuz i really wanted to lambast them one by one for their mistakes on stage.
what really pissed me off was
- i was desperately trying to look at them to signal some kind of message like 'listen properly you dumb fuck'
- nobody bothered to respond to my look
- they carried on belting out farking wrong notes (either wrong key or grossly and obviously fucking flat cuz they didnt prepare for the note beforehand.trust me it was that obvious)
- they gave the crap of 'oh well what's done is done'
yep and i was still pissed during the results announcement.haha.somehow there was some horrible glitch in the future.we made it through to the finals.hah.the peeps were happy that we did.honestly speaking it didnt matter to me whether we did or not.i was prepared to walk out of the group.i know it's selfish for me to say this.nonetheless i think it's pointless to stay in an organisation where nobody gives a fuck about your efforts to salvage situations.
so after the announcements we had a thrashing out session where i raised points on the musical aspect of what happened.the rest raised some points on how i should not have walked off and that we were all a group so we should stick together.i concede that i should not have walked off.
but i believe that my reasons for walking off were sufficient to substantiate my decision to do so.if i had stood there any longer mulling over the disaster i guarantee you i would have broken down right in the middle of the crowd.hell yes i was that sad.
that sorta concludes my account of the semis.once again i would like to highlight the pertinent point that you have read this account on your own accord.if you are one of the defendants of this lambasting please note that yes i have warned prior to writing this account that it is to be read at one's own free will.
lastly, i must stress that the peeps in my group are my best buds.we have been through thick and thin in vj and are good friends.this account will, in no way, corrupt or alter my commitment to the group and any bonding and friendship that i have built with them over the years.
i would like to thank the following peeps for taking the time out of their busy schedules to come and support us for the semis.
Chorale: jiejun, jianhao, oliver, emma
Army: fong n chua mah best buds
VJ: jeremy yeo, jialing
i'm sorry if i missed out anyone in my acknowledgements.i cant really remember much bout the event.
<< Home
