Cracking Nuts

GT08 ANGLICAN HIGH GUITAR ENSEMBLE!

Man, the experience is unforgettable. Yannis said Mr Shi said we could get GOLD WITH DIAMONDS, but still, was quite unbelievable because its coming from Yannis. Cabbed down from school, all the way to republic poly. Mr Shi, was again smiling his widest I’ve seen. Second time I’ve seen it and I really really want to see more of this happy Mr Shi. Mr Shi really has a way with women. (lol) He was like surrounded by women/ girls the whole time!

Went over to Mr Shi to pass his friend the money she kindly lent us yesterday. She was quite shocked that we returned it to her so quickly. And Mr Shi kept smiling and laughing at us, for I dont know what reason, but I really dont mind!

Watched the harp’s performance. And then came the moment. GT01, GT 02, … GT 08! OMG, the excitement, the suspense. I was already crying even before they announced it. The same sweet feeling rushing through your body and mind when you hear it. Tears, tears and more tears of joy. Was crying like shit again. We finally cooled down, and after all the results were announced, they allowed those which needed to go to leave before they gave their general comments on the whole event. Then Mr Shi came down to join us and Weixiang and I quickly rushed to sit beside Mr Shi.

Mr Shi said he was proud and happy of us! Damn bloody happy. Sitting there with Mr Shi was rather entertaining as he kept doing silly things like kicking his bottle and then thinking he didnt bring it with him, and saying things like he’d throw his shoe at them. And also his female conductor friend was super funny, especially when her phone rang, and she went ‘ Shh! Shh! Shh!’ to it.

Then we forced Mr Shi to taking a photo with us! 😀 HOHO. Weixiang and I took the spots beside him and he put his hands on our shoulders! 😀 Okay, wait, I sound like I’m crazy over him. Hahah, but to me, he’s the most handsome person on and off stage! But Mr Shi refused to take photos with individuals, never mind, he said next time. He was still in high spirits today, smiling and waving at us and talking to us and laughing with us. Man, I’ll miss this a lot.

Bus back to east side, dinner at AJISEN RAMEN wasn’t that fun.

Anyways, I’m so bloody proud of AHGE, seriously. Each and every one of you have put in your best and that’s all that matters to me. But don’t be complacent! ALL THE WAY GUITARIANS!

I LOVE ANGLICAN HIGH GUITAR ENSEMBLE!:D 

p/s: agrees with Weixiang, Charmaine, dont worry, you have us beside you! We’ll stand by you! SMILE!

I have a feeling this is going to be a long post.

I still remember the time when I first joined AHGE, my main purpose there was to learn how to play the guitar, never did I think about bonding with the people there. Until our first camp. I really enjoyed the camp, though was freaked by the lame night games. Then came the time when Mr Shi appointed us our different sections, that was late in sec one I think. First song I remember learning was Spring Message, not counting the basic songs.

Got to know more and more people in guitar as we started holiday practices for the SYF in sec one year, and really felt more and more love for this CCA. Those holiday practices were damn fun, with bringing sweets, talking nonsense, making noise, saying random things to Mr Shi, getting closer to seniors. Especially during Christmas, when I brought Santa hats and candy canes.

Then started sec two. Practices for SYF continued, and after almost every practice, we would arrange to have group dinners and just spend the whole time talking and yakking and doing stupid things together. I feel this, and those long hours of practices was the main thing that bonded us together, that made me love AHGE so much, that taught me so much about being an ensemble. Then came SYF, the feeling was so different from today’s. I remember being super tensed that day, but not so much sweaty palms. When I was on stage, the only things that I could remember was play, look at Mr Shi and smile, I had no clue what I was playing, so maybe that’s why I played a wrong note. I still remember how my lips trembled while I tried to smile, throughout the whole song. Songs: Mezza Luna and Lover’s Theme.

Results on the very same day. No assurance from Mrs Koh, or Mr shi, I really felt we couldn’t make it, I thought we’d get a silver, but we did AHGE proud and won ourselves a GOLD WITH HONOUR. You can’t imagine the emotions and happiness I believe we all felt when the results were announced. It’s a wonderful and indescribable experience. All the long hours of practices finally paid off. We celebrated and had fun.

Handover, rather emotional as all the long hours of practices bonded us with the seniors. Some seniors cried too. Then I realised how deep the bond was between them and AHGE and Mr Shi. It showed the importance to maintain this relationship with the ensemble and the conductor. Chalet was awesome too. The fun, the games, the times together. And it was also my first time staying overnight at the chalet. It was really worth it though we all had actually wanted to return to macs that night, but everyone thought everyone else was asleep so no one spoke up. I remember the seniors gave us bibs with our names that year, awfully sweet and cute.

Sec threes were now the head. Really respected all of them a lot. Much thanks to Wan Ting, for teaching me how to be a good treasurer and how to try my best to help the P and VP as well as talk to Mr Shi. Thanks to Alicia also, who spurred me on to hold conversations with Mr Shi. Major events that year was Gaia Mania. Reminds of some stupid talks about Mr Shi’s cows and how we took a picture of Mr Shi standing in the rain at some junction when we were leaving after rehearsals there. Played Green Fields of Summer and A Walk In The Woods. First outdoor performance and it was a great experience. Even Dr Boon was there to, well, grace, the event for us. I remember heading down to Tampines macs after that and we were all so bloody tired.

Handover again. After the seniors left us, it really didn’t feel like AHGE anymore, to me. I felt so lost without them, without Alicia sitting on my left and Wanting to my right (or was it the other way around). Though Alicia, Mavis, Naomi and I still had fun chilling out at Naomi’s house, guitar wasn’t as fun as it used to be. We had some performance at Paya Lebar Methodist Girl’s school, if I’m not wrong, and we actually caused the bus driver to leave without us. Bad impression on Mrs Koh.

Harmony concert was next. Worked quite hard for it. Played: Besame Mucho, Estrellita, Sway, Lambada, Mulata, Sway combined with Lambada. There were other songs like La Playa, Samba Etude, Fifteen Nights In France, The Godfather, La bimbo (?).  Harmony was rather messed up, but I think it was still a success. It waas good, yet bad. Same fateful day that I lost someone dear to me, but I’m glad AHGE was there to comfort me.

Then came chalet, another bad impression on Mrs Koh. Chalet wasnt that enjoyable, a lot of conflicting opnions, a lot of games couldnt be played as planned, and we didnt really spend qualit time with the seniors. I feel that we let the seniors down. But I think only the barbeque was worth it. I remember standing at the pit with Weixiang the whole night barbequing for the seniors. And the seniors, were there to fan us or pass us tissue paper when our eyes or noses were irritated. Missed class chalet because of guitar chalet, but I don’t think I really regret it, of course 3H/4H is still loves! Seniors gave us a mug with our names on it and a finger puppet along with notes. Mine is sitting on my table right now.

December practices were cancelled as Mr Shi couldn’t make it and it felt weird not to have practices and I started to miss them. I think this was one of the reasons why this batch isn’t that bonded. We don’t have the long hours of nonsense and practices and dinners to bond us together. Came 2009. Practice for SYF started early this year. I must admit that I was getting quite bored with having to go to guitar every other day. I felt that guitar was no longer important to me. Until I realised how guilty I felt when I missed one practice. I even made it a point to come back when I was excused from school one day. The number of practices a week grew. But my love for AHGE came back, with bonding with guitarians. Got to get closer to some juniors also and the importance of the SYF was super clear. Practice after practice, drilling the same things into the juniors to move, smile, look at Mr Shi when he’s conducting, it was still a chore to go to guitar. But nevertheless, I still enjoyed going to guitar, laughing, talking, playing.

Then came TODAY, 27 April 2009. SYF.
Played: Mulata, Les Reves Du Matin
Early in the morning, going to school to get ready and practice before the real thing. Before the warm up, we were rather below standard. Warmed up, drew pictures (of Mr Shi inside Weixiang’s car) and headed out at 9. It was a long long long way to woodlands, republic poly. There, we queued up and got scolded for tuning our guitars when they had reminded us mutiple times not to. Tuning room. It was very very tense and nerve  wrecking. Unable to even play finish one full song. Went backstage and queued for a rather long time, constantly reminding our helpers how they should put our guitars on stage. My palms got super sweaty! And Charmaine’s nose started running! Worst, Raffles Girls had to come in and line up right beside us. The pressure. Waited, and waited. And finally, the interval was over. Went up onto stage, rather squeezy, compared to the previous SYF at the singapore conference hall. This time, we could really see all the audiences. Prepared, and played. This time, I kept telling myself not to play any wrong notes, or it’ll be damn obvious. I actually knew what I was playing. And smiling, with my lips trembling more than the previous SYF. And my sweaty palms made me super cautious not to make squeaky noises when I slide my fingers down the string. NO MISTAKES THIS TIME! Grooved to the beats and smiled my widest! Left the stage and PHEW! Seniors said we were really really good, expression, whether in bodily expressions or expressions in the song, it was there, only thing was the first song was a bit soft in the beggining. So we went to watch the other schools and boy, I think Raffles Institute was good. Complained to Mr Shi why one of the schools copied the pieces we played before, and we found out he was actually one of their conductors too. Lunched there, with 50 bucks loan from Mr Shi’s conductor friend. Mr Shi was really in high spirits today, smiling and talking and smiling:D awesome.

At first I thought I’d be really relieved that SYF had ended and I’ll have time to focus on my studies, but after the performance and on our way back, I really felt like crying. Not because I think we did badly, but because I can’t imagine life without AHGE anymore. This is our very last performance together, the last time we will work with Mr Shi. Damn, I can’t imagine handover. Four years, just passed so quickly. I’ve learnt and matured so much in AHGE, okay maybe I became more spastic, but still, AHGE is the best! I can’t believe its ending so soon. No more pink tiled room, no more talking to Mr Shi about his cows or whatever, no more laughing at Mr Shi’s funny actions, or Mrs Kohs “HELLO IS THAT A SCHOOL GUITAR”, no more dinners after cca with AHGE, no more swaying, no more smiling, no more talks from seniors, no more playing together as an ensemble, no more being part of the cca which has been getting out of being removed, no more guitar, no more alto guitar, no more Mr Shi correcting us, no more bass parts, no more a lot of things. (okay, too emo, shall save it for handover) 

Cannot wait for tomorrow. I am so going to wait for the results after paper one tomorrow!

(edit) Did I mention Mr Shi was handsome today? Haha, HAN SUM! and he said ‘WHO WAS THE ONE WHO SAID WE CAN’T GET GWH? ANYONE WANT TO BET WITH ME WE CANNOT GET?’ , man, that was the best. The feeling when he said that was just, wow, man.