This post is with regards to the band break practices that will be held primarily at Jasmine's house(In her room).
The dates will be as following :
29/11
30/11
1/12
6/12
7/12

Sectionals will start from 11.00a.m and ends around evening , probably 5 to 5.30p.m.
Please have a heavy breakfast so that you won't feel hungry in the midst.
Also , please make sure you have the following scores with you
1) Jericho*
2) Totoro
3) March Blue Sky
4) Mt Taishan
5) Believe.

I will be spending 2 sectionals for Totoro , 1 for Jericho and Believe , 1 for march blue sky and 1 for Mt taishan respectively.

I will be anticipating full attendance on all these above mentioned dates. Please do not tell me you have class outing or chalet or etc , I will accept none of your reasons unless your parents talk to me personally.
We will be meeting at the Macdonald at Pioneer mall. Please bring some snacks along with you because I will give you all a 30 minutes break.

Thank you very much. I hope you have been practicing your clarinet at home and trying to side read or figure out our SYF set piece. If I realise you are still unable to play the set piece or choice piece by march , I might want to eliminate you from SYF , so you have to work hard.
After all , we all should get what we deserve and not having 1 or 2 trying to ruin our goals.
I'm sorry if this is realy harsh but SYF ain't things to fool around with

WORK HARD PEOPLE , IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP! :D
Only when we all work hard and put in all our blood , sweat and tears then will we be able to move to greater heights!

I seek all the 9 of your for your cooperation and we will enjoy ourself at the upcoming clarinet outing held on 10/12/2010.

See you all.
Yasmin.

Venue for Clarinet Outing
Go Marina Barrage Fly Kite , Have picnic
Go watch movie
Buffet @ Seoul Garden (Halal)
Buffet @ Sakura (Halal)
Swimming*
See Results

Any other Suggestions , please indicate

Today's NBC. The whole section knows that. Yeah.
After what you all had showcase , I'm really disappointed. I don't know how to put them into words. I only know how to cry. Yeah , THIS is your SL.
Even if you are nervous , there's no need to bite your reed so hard.
The harder you bite , the more out of tune and squeaks you get. Marks are deducted for squeaks do you know? 1 or 2 times is fine but more than that means you are unable to master your instrument , therefore judges deduct. You know what Mr Wong was telling me?
You all are staring at your scores like your life depends on it and you all are squeaking. He can tell.
After we've done performing , you guys still can talk and chit chat after putting down your instrument. Wow , you actually can still have the mood to Talk. Sectionals talk , breaks talk. Now competition play not good you all also want to talk. Is talking EVERYTHING?! Can you all choose the right time to talk?
You know how I feel? I feel like I've failed. An Sl who failed to control her own section , an Sl who fails to teach and get the things Mr Wong expected.You won't feel the pain. But I do. I'm the Sl , I expect something much better from you guys. I always knew you all can do it but it always ends up getting even more disappointed time to time.
MR WONG IS VERY VERY UPSET. I hope you could do some self reflection. Think about your behaviour , your attitude. You don't have to make me keep reminding you of your posture and fundamental stuffs like this.

Sigh ,again , I emphasize., Mr Wong is very very very upset.

Yasmin

My neighbour totoro


Hello , it's me again.Having some serious matter to address here. This is going to be a very very long post. Now is the band break, but this doesn't means you can relax and do whatever things you want.
For the next 1.5wks , I want you guys to do 2 things.
1) Write a list of things you've done during the break.
2) Write a comment about me.(Please be heartless when you are writing. Tell me all my faults. EVERYTHING)
E.g : being too flexible /lenient, too strict... Etc.


I am making you all do these because honestly , I find that knowing how you people feel about me is vital. Please be as heartless as possible , You can write down the things you don't like about me and everything.
I will be writing for each and every of you. You are doing 2 task , I'm doing 10. So I don't see the point why you cannot finish your work when I can.


I've decided that pumpings seems to be a piece of cake for you guys. So , for posture wise , I'm increasing it to 10 each time and if you're a repeated offender , you are going to run 2 rounds in 2 minutes. If you fail to meet the time limit , then I will keep adding 1 round to it. I've decided to be more strict with you guys. Not because I love to see you guys getting punished , but I want you to learn your lesson through the hard ways.


Sec 1 :
Please focus more on the method books (TIPPS , JBC , 3D....)
All the parts Mr Wong went through and also all the exercises.
Interval exercises , Scale exercises in various scales. Currently You have learnt 2 (I suppose)
our Bb and Eb . I want to hear improvements on that.
Practice more on basics because you've just started playing not very long ago , thus , you need to build up the firmness in your embouchure.
Also focus on your marching pieces such as Champions , General Salute , Graduation Suite , National Anthem... Etc.
You will be performing in school for National Day. Remember what Mr Wong reminded you..Take note of embouchure , posture and air.I believe that You've copied down in your note book.


Sec 2s & 3s :
Please focus more on the method books (TIPPS , JBC , 3D....)
All the parts Mr Wong went through and also all the exercises.
Interval exercises , Scale exercises in various scales, chromatic scale starting from different notes and articulation exercises.
Practice on your Jericho and March Blue sky.
For Jericho ,
-Please figure out the parts you're unsure of
-For all accents , please use tongueing "toh" (Toe)
-First Clar bar 64 ,65 and 68 , take note of the articulation.
-Part F , Part I bar 122 and part J is too atroucious. Please practice with metronome (http://www.metronomeonline.com/) Remember how to decipher the rhythm and follow the tempo. Every triplet is 1 beat. If you are not sure , sing , clap , sing , clap. Make sure when you sing , you are following the tempo. Start at a slower tempo to make sure you're on the right track. DO NOT start at Mr Wong's tempo and be so strong headed, thinking that will work.
-Part J very very fich and full sound. Please do not scream high notes. Remember Saddam's quote : control but don't constraint.
-Part G , Articulation. I emphasize alot of times during sectionals , I said before , I want to hear the difference between inverted accent and accent. Accent use "toh". Inverted accent is a stronger attack but this does not mean that you shorten the value of the note. End with slight resonance and naturally.
-Bar 149 , fp crescendo. We did this during basics so please apply your basics.
-Part K , Dynamics. Starts from soft and increase gradually. Recall , soft(p) doesn't literally means soft. It means more air support , faster air stream. ff doesn't mean loud either. It means rich and dull sound done together and remember to send far.
-Victory , please do not breathe as and when you like. There are alot of slurs , which means more air support. Please do not break the slurs. Project your sound out , use warm air and make it sound grand and majestic. Tongueing use "lol" VERY RICH AND FULL SOUND.
-Please work out your running notes. Start by making each note minim/ set the tempo slower/practice note by note.
-Part N, First time house dynamics is p , take note of running notes at 192. 2nd time house dynamics f, first clar running notes at 197. ARTICULATION. VERY IMPT.
-Part O , first clar articulation
-Part Q , Please do not trill wrong note and it's trill not thrill (Zahirah)
-Part R , Same as Part N , articulation , running notes..
-Part S , ACCENT, very very very rich and full sound , send extremely farrrr. (Do not blast)
-Part T , Tongueing use "Loo" make sure you know when to enter at bar 271 .
*Please emphasize on notes when required , but not too harsh. Remember to end long phrases nicely , do not end adruptly.


March Blue Sky :
-1st bar , 1n2-n3(wait) then play running notes. Mr wong mentioned before.
-Bar 4 , 3rd beat to bar 5. Articulation. Tongue-tongue-tongue-slur 2-staccato-accent slur 2- next 3 note tongue + increase in volume in every note.
-Bar 6, separate the 2nd beat and 3rd beat.
-Bar 7 , RUNNING NOTES.
-Bar 8, focus on dynamics and articulation. First note dynamics ff then immediately decrease to mp and decrease gradually.
-Part A , remember to play with feelings and expression. Mr Wong want this part to be a little exaggerating and overwhelmed with feelings to bring out the effect.
CLARINET'S THROAT NOTE G and A , PLEASE DO NOT BITE HARDER AND JUST LET YOUR AIR FLOW. The harder you bite , the more out of tune it gets. In Part A , clarinet having melody and we very exposed (Naked?)
-Bar 21 beat 3n to bar 25 /Bar 41 beat 3n to bar 46,remember your dotted quaver semiquaver , how to decipher the rhythm. For this , ONE MISTAKE MADE , 5 PUMPINGS. Mr Wong emphasized on this more than enough.
-Part C , take note that we are not leading , we are not the melody so please do not fight for volume and tone down. Remember control but don't constraint.
-3RD CLARINETS , BAR 29 beat 3n to bar 37 , PLEASE , IT'S TIME YOU LEARN YOUR PARTS. Numerous melody occuring in this passage , please do not fight for volume and overpower the others such that the other melodies are unable to get projected out. Just play normal volume. Running notes at bar 37.
-Bar 46 , the running notes , please know your notes , start from slow tempo then slower gradually get faster.
-Bar 48 to 63 , do not overpower Alto saxophone. Sound sweet and warm. Use mellow tone to play this passage.
-Part F , all the running notes , please know your notes and start practicing from slow.
Bar 68 to 69 , do not scream high notes/ no need to play so loud despite the crescendo written below it. Follow Mr Wong.
-Bar 70 , running notes. Please know your notes and play it clean , not like a chunk of rubbish.
-PART G. (Yes , You should have expected) Please use stagger breathing. Common sense will tell you it's impossible for us now to play continuously for 8 bars( 32 counts). Memorise your part and look at Mr Wong. As usual , use te metronome to practice this. 1 triplet = 1 count.
-Do not breathe at ending of bar 79 , instead , breathe on bar 80 3rd beat. Breathe fast. Remember the breathing exercise.. Take in a 4 counts worth air and play.
Part I running notes , bar 96 running notes. Know your notes first. Practice from slow tempo and gradually gets faster..


Please try out My neighbour totoro and Jay Chou (牛仔很忙 & 菊花台)


I hope to hear majority of these problems cleared. Especially part F of Jericho and Part G of March Blue Sky. If you have doesn't doubts in mind , please feel free to call me.
From now onwards , I expect an explanation from your parents if they do not allow you to bring your instrument back and practice. Use your band break wisely , remember to do your assignments and homework and at the same time practice all these.
NBC is coming. Please , Mr Wong do not want a sliver , he wants a gold. Practice hard and the greatest achievement and satisfaction you recieved is definitely beyond words. The process of music making , the hard work we've put in , please do not let if flow down the drain.


Yasmin:D

Results has been finalized, we'll go to rent some CDs and go to someone's house to watch.
But first , we have to decide on whose house to go first.

From now onwards , I will punish those whose posture are not right.
5 pumpings everytime I caught you. I will record down and tabulate it up at the end of the day and decide on a day you do your punishments.
Posture that are not right:
1) Instantly Stretching your legs out like nobody's business
2) Slouching
3) Leaning against the chair
4) Buttocks filling 100% of the chair
5) Crossing of legs

Also , when Mr Wong points out the parts we make mistake , I expect everyone to jot it down on the score to remind yourself.(Unless you are very good at remembering then you don't have to do so).

That's all.
Please vote for Clarinet Section. SOON