7th December- 18th December

~Chamber Orchestra- This week consisted of practise with the choir and also the primary orchestra in preparation for Candles by Candlelights. On the actual day of Carol's by candlelight itself we had to wear black and white and come earlier to set up and prepare. We also had a secret santa exchange that i organised, and it was very fulfilling to perform what we've practised for so long. Unfortunately the setting was open air, so the sound balance was really off and nothing could really be heard except for the amplified or miked instruments. I look forward to new pieces next term.

~Old folks home- THis will probably be our last week visiting the home. Basically, we went through the same routine again, but the really interesting thing about today was that we got to see a guy who was fed with a tube directly to the stomach. Uncle CK's friend also came to visit today and they were showing him their notebook, which was really cool. We've also planned to make a card for Ms. Tang. I've really learnt a lot from helping out at this place.

~Theory and piano- lessons were cancelled as we had a different agenda.

~Reading buddies- the class was having a party so we weren't needed

~mentoring- Finally, i managed to meet up with Nikki. We were able to talk pretty well and she's very sociable. I helped her with her science experiment and we also talked about her grades and her family as well as school in general. I was gonna help her with her math too, but we ran out of time and she seemed pretty pleased about the present i gave her. I would definitely like to continue mentoring next term, but hopefully we can change it to another and execute our meetings more successfully.

~ Shoe boxing- We had to stay back on Friday and Thursday to complete all the wrapping and sort out all the clothes. I think its fair to say that all of us had a lot of fun, and it was very chaotic in a nice way. Peter was the group leader and he was basically sitting around and trying to organise anything without getting much done, but he was very encouraging and it was very fun to poke fun at him whilst working. We went to visit the children on monday (and had to miss old folks home in the process) to distribute the presents, and they were extremely extremely pleased with our presents, i feel glad that we were able to do something for them. I think peter misunderstand their finance status because he told us they had absolutely nothing when in fact they were quite well off. It was unfortunate that some of the children were absent, but hopefully we'll be able to meet them when we have the new year dinner. We also plan to invite them over to school to use the facilities and also help them in swimming and other activities.

December 1st - December 6th

~Chamber orchestra- More rehearsals in preparation for carols by candlelight and so on.

~Musical- The performance was this week on thursday, friday and saturday (4th, 5th, 6th) and we had a full day rehearsal on both monday and wednesday. Initially, Mr. Moss the director was really angry and upset because he felt that the actors weren't doing their part, but by Wednesday he was feeling better about things. Ms. Leong said that we were okay though, so what he was saying didn't really apply to us. I was wondering if its just a drama thing, where they always say its the worst performance ever so that you'll do better, like a kind of derogatory motivation. The performances themselves were received really really well, and it felt extremely satisfactory to perform. THe cast party at the end was very touching and everyone was a bit teary (not to mention the good food). It's been a really long process of putting the play together, but it was worth it. I think all of us bonded as a result of the pantomine- as in not just the musicians, but everyone involved.

~Old Folks home- as mentioned, we couldn't make it becuase of musical practise. I think Cheryl or Lidia called Ms. Tang.

~Tutoring- All sessions are postphoned until the holidays.

~Reading buddies- I was the only one to go this week (without Rebecca and Shaeny) and i was read with 3 kids. I'm quite surprised at how almost none of them have any reservations reading to a semi-stranger, except maybe one or two of them. i find that i enjoy reading with Jan Marco the most, because even though he doesn't really read very fluently, he shows an intelligent response to the book and good understanding, which is very encouraging.

~Mentoring- I couldn't meet up on Friday because of the pantomine so we've postphoned it to next week.

~Theory- Again no class. Wilson was performing at the jazz fest this week.

~Piano- This was the week before the piano concert and so i really really practised and Saori agreed that i should do all four pieces for the concert. The concert was on a Sunday and it was quite nerve-wrecking, but i'm glad i did it. Surprisingly i got the excellent performance award and also the audience's favourite award. I was rather shocked, but it was pleasant to achieve that.

~Solfege- I couldn't go this week because of the matinee of the pantomine

November 24th- November 30th

~Chamber Orchestra- this week was basically spent on practising for the christmas pieces as we'll be playing for Carols' by candlelight. Next week we'll be going through the gospel pieces which we'll be performing on the 15th for the music assembly. Things seem to be going pretty well now, and tuning and balance are acceptable, so i hope the performance goes smoothly.

~Musical- The practices this week have been more intensive and slightly longer than before. We've completed ALL the pieces this time, including a few that we forgot we hadn't done before, and we've also been practising with the cast so we now know when we're supposed to come in. Its all very fun and enjoyable, although Ms. Leong gets stressed quite often.

~Tutoring- Christine passed me the book, so i went through all the questions and took about 2 hours marking everything and writing notes. There're trends in the questions that she can't answer, so i'm planningto work on these and then just breeze through the other topics that she already has a firm grasp off.

~Old Folks Home- This week i accidentally fed the wrong person the wrong food. I felt really really bad but Ms.Tang made it a point to tell me that it was okay. I hope it never happens again, and i will be more careful next time and double check. Aside from that, we shaved a diabetics head today and Cheryl accidentally shaved off a stump of hair that left a small open wound on her head. We were all extremely scared, but again Ms.Tang reassured us and told us it was okay. i hope we're not making more work for her than we are helping. I guess this is one of the major issues involved in volunteer helping- goodwill but lack of experience. Hopefully with time, we will be more knowledgeable in the area of caring for the elderly. we shaved a total of 3 people this time, and it was again a ver pleasant experience.

~Piano- This week in lesson time i had to play in front of one of Saori's other students, and it made me really nervous so i ended up making lots of mistakes. Its good practise for the performance though, and hopefully by then i'd have practices enough to play with my eyes closed. So far, i've managed to get all the notes, but now i really have to put expression.

~Theory- There's no theory this week again.

~Solfege-I passed the solfege!! from now on we'll be doing Solfege III but its still the same time and same teacher. I'll be posting the certificate for Solfege II soon.

~ Reading Buddies- This week i read with Davika and i worked on writing with Oliver. He's a very interesting child and he can talk till the cows come home as quoted from Mrs. mackinnon. Due to his desposition to be verbose, he tends to talk more than he writes and has problems writing down his creative ideas. So my job this week was to work with him on his writing, and further weeks would probably involve me working on his grammar, spelling and punctuation as well. I really enjoy working with Oliver and he made my day.

~ Mentoring- my mentee told me that she wasn't going to be in school on Friday when i approached her on thursday to confirm the meeting and as it was too late to arrange another time, we decided to put it off next week. i might arrange to meet her twice next week to make up for the session we missed.

November 17th- November 23rd

~Chamber Orchestra- This week we went through the pieces for Carols by Candlelight. We've set the dress code to be black and white with something "interesting". I've also been promoting to the person who takes attendence, previously ms. leong. I have to learn to project my voice. We'll also be recording next week in chamber, so lets hope everyone practices and comes for the rehearsal.

~Musical- The practice on monday was really really fun, because we were working with the actors this week and its really interesting to be able to see the play taking shape. I must say that the actors have all worked very hard and I can already see that the pantomine will be hilarious. We've completed going through all the songs already, so now i think its just a matter of fitting them into the pantomine and figuring out where and when we come in. Ms.Leong's also setting which pieces will be played by Japheth and which will be played by me, so that solves the issue of who's playing what. We didn't have practice at lunch on thursdays and fridays as we had a programme, Extraordinary sounds, on thursday, and Ms.Leong went out for lunch with her music class on fridays.

~Math tutoring- Christine and i were still unable to meet up this week, because she had physio on thursday and i thought i had musical but it was cancelled because the actors are away at ISTA in Singapore. She still hasn't passed me any papers for marking, so i'll be going after her soon i suppose.

~Piano- I had an extra class this Saturday, and the performance is coming up soon. I really have to memorise everything and go through the notes thoroughly. I think i desperately need to practise more.

~Theory was cancelled as Wilson's still busy with all the jazz stuff. Solfege was horrible, because i really went deaf this week, and it was a TEST. I've been trying to figure out why, and so far i suspect its because i stopped my cello lessons. May be taking it up again soon.

~Old folks home- all three of us couldn't make it this week because we had musical practise. I called Ms.Tang though, to ask about the home and to apologise for not showing up. She said all is well.

~Mentoring- this is my new CAS activity. WE've been introduced to our mentees and my mentee is called Nikki. She looks very sweet and is very easy to talk to, although she seems a bit scared of me at the moment. She's very strong socially, and she told me she's rather weak in her sciences and her teacher said she's not very good at organisation. SHe also did a fund raising activity for the St.Nicholas home recently and told me about the bake fund that she organised. I look forward to getting to know her better.

~Reading Buddies- This week was my second week helping out with Ms. Mackinnon's class. it was really enjoyable working with the children. Last week i worked with Oliver and he talked excessively so and was an extremely good reader. I spent the whole period with him, becuase i didn't realise we were only supposed to read for ten minutes. This week i read with Lily, Jan Marco and Hey Gin. Lily is a pretty fluent reader, and Jan Marco is a bit weaker, with Hey Gin in between them in terms of ability. Next week we might be working with the children on their writing, because they tend to have really good ideas, but fail in writing them down on paper, and this is what we will help them with.

November 10th- November 16th

sunshine old folks home~ Mamee passed away on Friday. It was really... unfortunate and disheartening. The worst part of it is that we saw her deteriorate from a fussy and lively person till her final days. Its strange to think that i'd fed her just less than a month ago. Aside from that, we were allowed to shave Uncle CK's hair today, and we also helped to trim his eyebrows, nose hair and facial hair. This experience was very exciting and slightly nerve-wrecking because there was always the possibility of hurting him, but fortunately everything went well. Ms. tang also related to us the cases of two elderly patients who suffer from depression due to being neglected by their family. One of them was chewed up towels and bloated her large intestine with the threads. Following the operation, her bowels no longer functioned and the previous home at which she was housed left her on the toilet bowl 24/7 as she suffered from acute diarrhoea. Ms. Tang told us that she was under medication to consolidate the faeces, and also to manage her depression. I find this case very tragic. On a happier note though, one of the ladies seem to recognise me. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing, because every time she sees me, she asks for sweets, but it feels good to be recognised. we've considered buying some food for them, although Ms. Tang has declined offers that we've made for fundraising and such activities. I think we should also bring another set of informal clothes, so we can change out of our uniforms and help in more physical tasks such as showering the residents and even cleaning the place.

Chamber orchestra~ practice was cancelled this week due to music forbissea

Musical~ The practices are coming along, and we are now rehearsing with the singers. I really feel like i need to practice more, and maybe spend more time coming up with fillers because my improvisation skills are not that well developed yet. I've also been allowed to play the glockenspiel and i really enjoy the tone of the instrument. There's another additional practice on Monday, so i may have to skip this week's old folks home session to attend it.

Math Tutoring~ i haven't been able to replace the lesson that we cancelled because of the musical rehearsal, so i've just told Christine to attempt as much of the paper 2s as she can manage, and pass the books to me for marking and additional notes.

Theory~ there was no lesson this week because Wilson's involved in the upcoming jazz festival and he's been busy with rehearsals but we still have our assignment to work on. I've had an idea so far, but i'll be working on it more first before penning it.

Piano~ we spent this lesson going through the pieces again, and she's asked me to work on memorising the pieces. We also watched some youtube videos and i've found that the menuet piece when played quickly sounds like an orchestral work but on the piano. Its pretty amazing. I've been practising my pieces more often now, and i hope i'll be fully prepared for the concert.

Solfege~ I really am going deaf. This week i failed the entire second piece, because i got lost and because the key was unfamiliar. It was extremely depressing and it put me down for a while, but i've got to keep trying. It's even worse because my sister's in the same class and she's doing much better than me, but oh wells. I think i'll go through the dictation again at home, and try to get accustomed to all the accidentals and key changes.

Suite Bergamasque

Prelude


Minuet


Clair De Lune


Passepied

Music activities

I've decided to add my reflections on music activities to this blog so here goes.
~Piano: I've started learning the fourth song of the Suite and Saori told me to research information about the Suite. Apparently the whole suite was inspired by a poem by Paul Verlaine "Clair de Lune", and although the original meaning of Bergamasque means an earthy Italian dance.

~Theory: wilson has asked me to extend my first composition for submission for an ABRSM competition thats searching for new songs for their new syllabus. He also asked us to compose a new piece that composes of about 4 or 5 sections, and i think that this composition is likely to take a long time. Theory lessons are also venturing into the area of improvisation, which is extremely handy in any music career.

~ Solfege ear training: there will be a test the next week, and hopefully i'll be able to focus on concentrate. I've also found that listening to music BEFORE solfege classes reduces my ability to hear the dictation. I think i'm going deaf.