Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Hello cellists! (And to all other readers.)
I'm surprised I thought of a name like Revenge of the Tenor Clef; I'm not even a Star Wars fan. (Sorry Mich!) But, we could probably come up with more names to create a saga of our own, :D Violist readers, look away NOW. We can do it Lucas-style; eg. Attack of the Violas for Episode II. (Violists who're still reading, it just shows viola players just cannot follow instructions, sigh. Now don't ask why viola jokes populate the arena of musical funnies.)
Anyway to all you cellists, particularly the ME cellists who played in SYF this year, you've been one hell of a section and we've had one hell of a time together. Though you can all probably say for sure that I've been the most unenthusiastic member of our section over the SYF period, I sincerely do appreciate the company and fun this section has given me. Sorry about the incessant ranting and occasional screaming or ticking-off from me, SYF was certainly annoying - in many ways - and I'm sure you'd all agree. However, that mundane, routine, evil thing called SYF is a bug which only buzzes around every two years, and it didn't - and shouldn't - affect how we are as a section or deter us from our rightful amount of fun. Thank you all, ALL, for making my time in NYSE special.
Sure, it's true I still miss the old 2005 section; it was brilliant and there's no way those months, those years can be brought back. But this present section, though somewhat pale in comparison as far as musicality / technicality is concerned (I'm honest, you guys know it.), has managed to claim a place in that invisible scrapbook we know more commonly as our memory. Melissa's very comical antics, Audrey's boohooing and amusing exclamations, Michelle's extremities and self-censored expletives, Yu He's determination and devotion to learning the instrument and improving her playing... There're a multitude of reasons that have made you guys one great lot of people, and those listed above are barely a handful.
Before I say anything else, I must say this: please call yourselves CELLISTS and not CELLOS! Cellos are those things you use to make music, and they're made of the same material that Pinocchio was made of, for goodness sake!
CELLISTS, you have made my time in NYSE so memorable. There're so many positive things I could say about all of you, that even though I've bombarded you with tons more insults than my math textbook has endured, you must remember that these good things outweigh the negativities.
Audrey, I truly admire your discipline; it's not every day one comes across someone like that. NYSE is very fortunate to have you at its helm now, as its new Vice-President. I know you'll do a great job.
Yu He, please infect your juniors with your amazing attitude. As you can see, some of them are already evidently in dire need of some of jabs of your perserverance and Energizer battery life. Your undying spirit is very admirable.
Lydia, stiff your vibrato may be, but you too, have a fantastically good attitude that you should spread. Squawk your stuff into your juniors, do.
Michelle, relaaaaaaax lah! :D
Lu Theng, you too, have an unbelievable attitude. Thanks for displaying so much care towards others in the section too, especially when SYF was reaaally getting us down at one point in time.
Last but not least, Melissa Ong Shi Chingggg, you have been phenomenal. You're living proof that a person's height is not a measure of his or her kindness. You were always reminding me not just to care about the music alone but also everyone else's morale, and you certainly have contributed much to that intangible bundle of memories that're now safely locked away in a treasure chest we all usually call the mind.
As you all should already know, my opinion of the ensemble isn't THAT high. I can say we're an average ensemble: average people with averagely average playing standards and learning attitudes. Thankfully we have one hell of a platinum conductor (who looks set to star in Episode IV of our saga, keeping the same title as the original Star Wars one - A New Hope) who has taken our ensemble to greater heights; heights that seemed so high, Melissa had to stand on a dozen chairs and crane her neck before being able to catch a glimpse of them. (The second part of the previous sentence was [not] a joke.) Mr Sze has been brilliant, absolutely brilliant, if not sensational, and I'd say it's due to NYSE's excellent collective karma that Mr Sze has come and worked miracles with the ensemble.
Cellists, you all know how our section's name was slandered all throughout the SYF period. Immediately upon detection of anything that sounded remotely like some discrepancy in the music, (index) fingers were pointed at us. Be it the articulation in the Dvorak piece or the intonation in the Passacaglia, we had people staring daggers and wagging fingers at us. Don't disappoint Mr Sze anymore - any further. I myself am guilty of a myriad of musical crimes. I know how pressurizing it is, to live up to a legacy someone before you has left behind, or to fill a void left by someone.
Thank you all for bringing something fresh, different and fun to my life. I didn't realise that the SYF Central Judging performance on the 20th of April this year was going to be my last performance with you guys. I realise it now, but nothing can rewind us back to that special ten minutes on that stage, or that agonising wait for the announcement of the results.
As Elvis famously sang in 1969, "Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind. Memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine."
To all of you, keep those leaves of your memories safely pressed, and don't take that Cello Chardonnay out just yet; you know it's sweet, and it can only get sweeter.
Yours very sincerely,
Shiru
Monday, June 04, 2007
2:19 AM
hey people! i've put in some music! aka GLINKA :D
tell me if you dont like it k!
MEL
NYSE CELLISTS♥
"supposedly bochap and rebellious"♥♥♥
Love &