(for more pictures from Faith, Hope and Love II, go to our flickr)
Important dates:
Auditions - 2nd February (8am-12pm)
Honours day - 28th February
Band Camp (1) '09 - 19th-21st March
SYF soundcheck at SCH - 24th March
SYF central judging of Concert Bands - 30th March
Dear IJ band members,
First of all I want to say great job at orientation (: Even though we didn't exactly play very well technically (next time sleep early on the day before a performance!), I could tell everyone of you tried you best and the committee's proud of all of you! Haha especially those who remembered the gimmicks.
I think the orientation was an overall success, since we managed to hit our target! 61 sec 1s turned up at our first junior band practice, which is a huge huge huuuuuuge improvement from last year so keep it up. And it was nice to see so many seniors back to help. I know all of you are very busy with schoolwork and all but all of you still made the effort to come back and help out, which is really good!
Secondly, it's nice to see everyone attending band. Attendance has been consistently good and it's nice to see everyone of you. I know all of you are tired and stressed and probably have a lot of homework (me too! Haha), but why not look at band as a way to relieve stress? Making music's a good way to express yourself.. Take the opportunity to um take your mind off whatever's bothering you and relax. Yeah I think you get what I mean.
Haha if you really feel very tired, then you can try doing these (I know this is very irrelevant but I've noticed many of you being very sleepy/tired so.. Bear with me)
1) Drink cold water/wash your face/run cold water over your wrists
2) Stretch
3) Stand up and walk around (If possible.. During breaks?)
4) Sit up straight
5) I personally pinch/slap myself during lessons when I'm falling asleep lol but I suggest you don't do it.
6) Have some self discipline (Like what Roslyn used to tell us, our minds are very um whatyoucallthat powerful? If you tell yourself you're tired then you'll be tired. If you tell yourself you're not tired, trust me you won't be tired) So yeah it's all in the mind!
7) Respond! (Short, loud and fast)
8) Seriously, this is the best option. Sleep early every night!
Okay so it's officially 2 months and 1 week to SYF'09, pretty fast isn't it? I still remember how Die Fledermaus was when we first sight read it... And I must say we've come a long way. We've improved and that's good, so continue to keep up the good work and work hard everyone! Motivate each other and help one another out, because we're a team and we have to work together. I think the thing we lack the most right now is confidence so I want everyone to believe in yourselves and just play out, don't be afraid! No matter what happens we're still one IJ band and nothing's going to change that.
Keep the IJ band spirit going everyone, have faith and keep on working hard for SYF. We'll make Mr Clarence Tan, Mr Leonard Tan, the teachers, alumni, and the school proud of us.
Anyway, there's no band on Saturday and Monday )': It's going to be a long break so take this time to rest, do your own self practice, reflect and try to improve (Most importantly, don't forget what Mr Tan has taught us!). Hope to see everyone all energetic and ready for band practice on Wednesday (:
With that, I wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year :D
Dawn
/EDIT: Important notice!! All Sec 2 band members please read this. Even if you're not taking part in SYF, you STILL HAVE AUDITIONS that means you come down on the 2nd of February. Any questions feel free to msg me.