`Rawr.

Saturday, May 31, 2008

8:22 AM

Hey people,
thanks melissa for the erm, nagging? oh wells, it's good. I mean, what she say makes sense. If i can understand what she said, im sure the others will too(: so 加油! only 12 more days to go! it's really scary. Have not blogged for like months cause apparently i forgot the username and password. oh, i think stella's design is nice too(: maybe we can sort of merge stella's design with melissa's?? anw, i think black background with limegreen words's nice. cause we already have a black background t shirt with hot pink words+orange words for our strings carnegie tshirt. so i think we shouldnt have any black+pink anymore(: Okay, as you all know, we're having a cello section lunch on monday, after strings practice, at serence centre. we shall indulge ourself in Island creamery ice cream, and mcdonalds! how delicious, but it makes us fat. SO, EXERCISING IS NESCESSARY sometimes(: Go out and play in the beautiful sun! Get active! :D anyways, nothing more to say. shall blog again. some time(:
<3 WEIYU!!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

8:44 AM

LO AND BEHOLD

it has finally been decided that the final design of the shirt will be...
*drumrolls*
the original mummy holding the cello thingum!!!!

with melissa's undeadmummy beating stella's gaypurple in the ratio 2:1! woots!

but still, more editing will be done to the design, because the mummy alone looks a little lonely.. (geddit? hahaha)

so, great job ppl, now we'll have wait for our beloved stella to use her fabulous drawing skills and finish the design, then we can send it in for printing!

alright, but we've STILL got a few more things to decide about the shirt.

please vote ok! email yr votes to nysecellos@gmail.com
(we really should use our email more, eh?)
here're the things that need to be decided:

1)colour.
choices:
1) black background, pink words
2) black background, limegreen words
3) others. (please suggest! eg. pink background?)

2)printing/embroidery?
please email yr choices in this format:

so, it should look something like this:
Melissa loves melissa and nysecellos
black background, pink words
printed
audrey ~~rocks~~

hahaa. OK that's all, folks! please email ASAP ok! we shall be faster than the rest of nyse in printing our shirt BWAHAHA. thank you for yr cooperation! :D:D results will be posted here as soon as the votes are all in, so please check back often!! arrrrrrigato!

MEL (:

oh hold on.

i need to talk to you all! got some stuff to say, but i haven't been able to attend rhsls this whole week because I have remedials,..

*ahem*
firstly, my deepest to all "outsiders" who chance upon this blog, please do not leave with a bad impression of us at all costs. read the following lecture at yr own discretion. Thank you.

My dear Cellists,
Firstly, let me apologize if I sound naggy, or if I'm being naggy. But please read this whole thing ok! It took me time and effort to write it >< You can scold me, pinch me, beat me up, ...etc. when our trip is over. But for now, please read what I have to say. It is exactly 2 weeks more to our departure for New York, Carnegie. As we all have been trying to plant this into your heads through countless methods such as hammering, drilling, threatening, blackmailing, heating, titration, distillation, electrocution and bribery, etc. countless times, Carnegie is really a hall of great prestige. Many renowned musicians have held performances in Carnegie. Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre made her American debut there. Other cellists have also held performances there, such as Yo Yo Ma, Mstilav Rostropovich, Janos Starker, Pierre Fournier, as well as my teacher's teacher, Ralph Kirshbaum, just to name a few. These guys are really the top of the top - the best international cellists around... And they have performed in Carnegie! That is why we are all very very pleased and honoured that we are given this opportunity to perform there as well. We are nothing compared to this cellists, but yet we actually have this opportunity presented to us! WE didn't have to do anything, it just presented itself to us. Wow... It's really something worth opening a few bottles of wine(heh) to rejoice about.

I know we're all been working hard. I can see, everyone can tell. But the fact still remains that our section needs a lot more work. It isn't because we're lousy, it's just because we have a lot more passages to work on this time. Most pieces have more violin1 melodies than cello melodies, so we don't have to work very hard. But for Borodin, I would say that both the violin1s and cellos have a number important melodies, and this time we don't necessarily have a lot lesser melodies than them. Therefore it is only natural that we have to work much harder to play this piece well, and it's the reason why we're all struggling now. But still, that is hardly an excuse for us to skive. We need to work extremely hard so that we can catch up to that standard, and play all our melodies with confidence. I'm not asking for flawless playing, not at this point. But all I ask is that we all are able put our feelings into the music, and give the American audience a performance from our hearts. But to be able to do that, we must still at least be able to play with acceptable intonation, so that an "A" note can at least be distinguished as an "A" note. I'm not asking a lot, just the intonation. Because I believe that if we put our feelings into the music, the rest (phrasing, dynamics, articulation...) will come out naturally. It's not impossible at all! Just the intonation, and feelings. Two simple things. If we're able to achieve these two, we'll be able to enjoy ourselves in New York without having to worry about our performance!

We won't get to practice or rehearse once we board the plane heading for New York, so all we have left, is the remaining time we have left in Singapore. Please, let's make good use of it! When the time comes I'm sure we all don't want to be panicking backstage, peeing in our pants and all... So please, work hard! When we actually perform on stage, everyone gets nervous, so do I. So does our beloved concertmistress/pres. So does our cello teachers. So does our wonderful conductor. It's only natural! If someone doesn't, then... that person is inhumane. And when we're nervous, we're more prone to errors. There's a high chance that we'll perform worse that our usual standards. So, we need to achieve a level of playing whereby even if we do end up screwing up on stage, it won't sound too horrible. That level is definitely within our reach, we just have to gnash our teeth and work harder for these 2 weeks. We'll get bald fingers, rough hands, sore arms.. But in the end I assure you, the experience is worth 10 times all of those physical injuries.

Jiayou! 2 weeks left, it's the last lap! If we don't work hard now, we won't ever get a chance to. It's now or never....CHIONG AHHHHH!

MEL (:

Monday, May 26, 2008

2:33 AM

hello! anyway, i just edited my design.. sorry to sound bossy, but i think we should really hurry with the choosing and all... cos it took super long for my class to make our class tee... so i think it should take quite long to make ours.. so can you guys like, vote, who wants whose? (: yeah... and the mummy design.. i tried to make it on photo shop, but it took me VERY LONG to just draw the outline.. and besides, sorry to say, i find it very... plain... but if you'all want then i can try to make it on PS. (: haha

and please hurry, cos my photoshop trial is expiring soon.. thanks!

<3>

Thursday, May 22, 2008

5:26 AM

Hello! anyway, here are the t-shirt designs. the top one is done be me! (stella) the "carnagie" word is a bit covered, but i can fix that. and i have no idea how to spell carnegie/carnagie. but i can edit. the second one is by our "dear" section leader, MELISSA. (see? BIG fonts, as requested. (:(: if you ask me, i think mine's nicer. haha, no lah, jkjk. it's up to you! haha. so yeah, i guess im done! (: cya!

STELLA!