Next Parade:
12 July 2010, Monday Morning
7.00 a.m.
School Uniform
Don't forget Badge and Tie

Friday, February 20, 200911:14 PM

Seize every opportunity to play well till SYF,
work hard guys.
ENDURE.

Wednesday, February 18, 20094:30 PM

Hmm most of the time for SYF rehearsals,
we often lack expression in our music.
Being expressive is extremely important for music.
It brings out the 'feeling' of the particular piece.

Without expression, it's not called playing a piece, it's called playing the notes.

There are only two ways to be expressive.
1) Get involved and concentrate while playing.
2) Be familiar with the piece, so you can concentrate and be expressive without looking at your score.

Maybe you'd want to know

Monday, February 16, 20097:48 PM

There are 149 Participating Secondary schools for SYF. according to the number from the 2007 SYF.
in SYF 2007, there were:
6 Participations
57 Bronze
67 Silvers
16 Gold
3 Gold With Honours

i can't believe i'm so free to bother to count that. -.-
okay, it's not to scare you guys or anything. But it's just to tell you what are your odds. so guys, work as hard as you can. the Gold's right there waiting for us to just reach out and grab it. so GRAB IT AND NEVER LET GO!

another thing. i got this off the Montfort Band Blog. the judging criteria for SYF:

50% - Technique
Articulation
Dynamics
Intonation
Rhythm
Tone

50% - Musicianship
Balance
Blend
Expression
Interpretation
Phrasing
Style

AWARDS

Gold (with Honors): 85% and above

Gold :Above 80%

Silver :70% to 79%

Bronze :60% to 69%

Certificate of Participation: 59% and below


---
take a look at this imeem site. it has recordings of a few schools from the 2007 SYF. including Jericho played by Nanyang Girls[GOLD][something you might wanna see is that even though their tempo is super fast, the entire band is still very much, TOGETHER. something we need to learn. they also scream at J. haha.] and Commonwealth[GOLD], and it's even got Marsiling's songs inside too. go take a listen.
GOLD AND GWH BANDS

and also. there's also the recording of SJIMB's performance at SYF 2007. listen to how our sound has improved so much. keep working guys.
SJIMB SYF2007

I'm procrastinating. oh well

Sunday, February 15, 20098:34 PM

Hey, Glen here again. keeping the band blog alive as much as I can whilst everyone's chionging through their homework for the weekend. I am procrastinating. A quality of myself i am obviously not very proud of. haha.

Well, as we all know, today's SCH rehearsal did not turn out as spectacularly as we would've wished it to be. and it was extremely heartening for all of us to see that everyone was still so cheery despite the not-as-good-as-we-hoped[gah, i can't think of a word for it] performance in the concert hall.

I guess today calls for us to think yeah? It's a clear sign to say that even though we think we are already good, it does not mean that there could be things to set us back. the acoustics of the SCH was one of those setbacks. so what's the lesson here? DON'T BE FOOLED BY HOW YOU SOUND IN THE BANDROOM. which leads me to think. THE BANDROOM'S BEEN LYING TO US! [tears]

but on a more serious note, it's exactly, 43 days to the start of SYF. for the Sec 4's, this SYF is gonna mean a lot to us. this is our last year in SJI and we surely want to leave some kind of legacy. for the sec 3's, this is your first and your last SYF in SJI. please cherish the opportunity of a lifetime. sec 2's, even though you'll have another chance at SYF GOLD, it doesn't mean you can slack off this time yeah? all the sec 2's involved, i hope you'll push yourself all the same and get back the GOLD for SJIMB.

maybe this would be a good time for me to tell you guys the story of SYF 2007...
I was sec 2 [OH LIKE DUHHHH] and it was just about 4 months after Mrs Chua told me a story about the ricebowl, which by the way, i will always remember. Like the story she told us on Saturday, it told the message of needing to rely on yourself. that the conductors can't always be feeding us with solutions to our problems. okay, i just strayed. hang on, new paragraph.

OKAY! now, SYF 2007 day was a very big day for all of us. It was Mr Tan's 2nd? year with us and the tone of the Band had definitely changed a lot since the last SYF SJIMB went for. We were all very confident that we had a chance of getting back that coveted GOLD award for SYF. our exchanges had allowed us to realise our mistakes and we pushed ourselves so much that a few of us broke down too [though Mr Tan and Mrs Chua didn't really know]. so when our day finally came, the anxiety was definitely high. Getting on stage, performing and then going off stage, we all had felt that we had performed really well. It wasn't our best, but it was the first time we played where the message we wanted to convey through "Overture Jubiloso" was pushed across. our set piece "Sunrise" wasn't too bad either. so we were all very confident about getting that GOLD. however, this year was risky, because they had just changed the system for the judgings and judges were now from overseas. so though we were confident, there was that distinct sense of uncertainty as well. I asked Mr Tan how we did and he said we did really well too, though he knew we made many mistakes and slipups

the Sec 4's [Ian Chai's batch] went into the Hall to watch the last few performances for the morning shift and to await the results to be announced before the judges went for their lunch break. your current RO Tze Cin's phone was connected to Ian Chai's phone. and my batch was eagerly standing by the phone, which was on loudspeaker, trying to hear our results. and then they announced it, "St. Joseph's Institution. Ssifjsijcnasfgjn" Ian had cut off the line before we could hear it. considering that he refused to answer any more calls was a clear indication of bad news. and when they walked down the stairs, NO ONE from their batch said anything. i went to go ask Zhibin about the results, and he broke the news. we got a silver.

of course, everyone was extremely demoralised. and as we made our way back to school, no one said a word. and i was thinking to myself "silver's not too bad what". well, obviously i was pretty stupid back then. Ian made an attempt to cheer up the band, which didn't really work. the next time we saw Mr Tan, he reviewed our performance. at that point i was recalling the huge scolding Mr Tan had given to us before the competition. of how the chance was right there and we weren't taking it. Now he was telling us where we went wrong. But that wasn't the main thing that fueled my batch to work as hard as we did.

but how does this relate to you? actually, i'm not too sure either. But you need to know that there are people out there who believe that we can never make it. so now i'm posing these questions to you.
DO YOU THINK WE CAN DO IT? because i do believe we can.
ARE YOU GOING TO ALLOW THESE PEOPLE TO CONTINUE LOOKING DOWN ON US? I think NOT.

let's work our butt off for these few more weeks. just that bit more, and we may be able to give every single band in singapore a run for their money.

let's show everyone what's we're made of.

let's be the dawn of a new era of SJIMB

let's shock the band scene in Singapore

let's persevere

let's perform our best

let's leave our legacy

let's shut the mouths of those who utter rubbish

let's claim our revenge

let's get that gold.

and let's get it together.


signing off,
GLEN.

p.s. wow. it's a really long post. and i'm not even sure if you get my point. but well, i hope you'll bother to read it anyways.

Psst... illegal posting

Tuesday, February 10, 200911:38 PM

Hey everyone who's actually reading this blog, well actually, if you're a bandsmen in the SJIMB, you should be checking this blog pretty regularly.
By the way, i'm posting kinda, illegally. i don't think any of the Tops know i can actually post here too. Maybe Hao Teng, but that's another matter.
anyways, i was just looking around and then i just realised that the "next parade" section is already backdated! and i can edit the template sadly, only post. so let's announce here!

"next parade is thursday, 12th February."
sadly, i never really know what's the time to go to the bandroom, i just go straight after school so i don't have to worry. you all should too. after all, if you hear stories from the alumni, they never used to have time to eat on days with Band parades. Now you eat so you have energy to survive the parade. haha.

and also relating to BS' post about the band jackets. here's what's said on the batchof2010 blog:
Heyz guys!!!! Erm. Tmr right, can the D.R, F.Horn, Flute, Saxophone and T.Bone section come down to the band rm aft sch tmr to collect ur band jacket. Other sections wait first. Cos these sections easier to settle. Bring along 30 bucks for payment. It doesnt cost 30 but jus bring to be safe. Hopefully you can remember your sizes. Tell the rest of ur sectionmates. Cheers:):)
it's a little late to be telling this, but hey, for all i know, you people may still be awake and just as crazy as i am.
have a fun 2009, let's work for that Gold and CHIONG FOR TA1 PEOPLE! 2 WEEKS TIME!!

signing off,
G. [try guessing who, it's not hard]

9:28 PM

According to the 2010 blog, jackets are available tomorrow for some sections.
Refer to it for more details,
cause I know nothing, don't ask me,
can't remember too.

And....


I'M HERE TO KEEP THIS BLOG ALIVE!

Regards,

BS =D

sjimb.


BATCH OF 2010!


BATCH OF 2011!