BAND CHALET!!

band chalet ended yesterday!! yayy haha it was really funnn :D we had amazing race which was so tiring because we had to run so much omg. in the end we found out we were fighting for bathing time later on?? but then in the chalet later on no one followed it HAHA
the chalet at aloha changi was kinda creepy when we got there but i think that was because we all already had in our minds that it was haunted bc of changi beach and all?? but no nothing happened hahahahaha
joanne, victoria, faith and i watched the pyramid at night. it was supposed to be fun but really all we were doing was pointing out all the dumb things that the characters were doing. it was so lame like there was this character who fell into a bed of spikes and was impaled and then she was half-eaten by flesh-eating cats?? but after all that she was still alive and the other characters tried to lift her up from the spikes???? omg why would anyone do that i would just shoot her to let her die faster and not suffer for so long ><
anyway, after that we had a night surprise at like 12++ which wasn't much of a surprise to us bc we were all still awake haha. it was inspired by spirited away bc they had played the movie earlier (but we didn't watch it bc we were watching the pyramid ><) some people were really groany and whiny oops but it's understandable bc it was so late...but victoria and i found it quite fun hehe
i was the first to fall asleep after that hehe i was out at like 3am BUT victoria, faith and joanne stayed up for like 2 hours more to draw on my face with nail polish??? HAHA but they failed bc i woke up at 7am and realised what they had done so i scraped everything off my face and then i fell asleep again HAHA so by the time they woke up it was all gone :P
we went to changi beach after that, and then we had breakfast and then we played water games which were quite fun hehe :-) and then after that we went to play in the park nearby and we played on the swings like little children...also we climbed up the rope thing and i took so long because i'm so scared of heights >< sigh.
oh and i bought a pair of shorts and changed into them because it was sooo hot and i was wearing pants oops
we also bought a bubble blowing thing (sorry i forgot what it's called) hehe so many photo opportunities with that
also, since we were at changi beach, we could see the planes flying by and heading towards changi airport! it was so cool because they were so close and we could actually see what was written on them and stuff :D
on this outing i also discovered that joanne takes really REALLY nice photographs!! hehe
yes so overall, this outing was rlly fun and i really enjoyed it :-)

ps. this post is so long???

ALOHA EVERYONE

Hi!!!!!! So yesterday and today was our band chalet!!!! Sigh we were camping at ALOHA CHANGI, apparently the place the old Changi hospital was at.... Haiyo all those ghost stories and stuff. It was really fun, Faith, Lohitha, Joanne, Sophia and I were there. Sophia left really early cuz she wasn't feeling so well :/ Anyway we played all the games and stuff. Haha and the chalet floor is really dirty!!! and random insects fly in at night :/ so ew :( so Joanne and I wore our shoes in hahaha. They were playing spirited away.... But basically our section just huddled?? cuddled?? in our room (we were sharing with basses) and watched THE PYRAMID. Ok there were scary moments, but the thing is most of the time we weren't paying attention lol. And the characters are really dumb... The ending is quite tragic also. Sigh then there was night surprise!!!! Insp by Spirited Away ofc. Think some people were pissed but I actually enjoyed it?? there was the door quiz!! basically the person we were supposed to save is behind one out of two doors. But outside of the doors stand a person individually. One lies and one tells the truth. We can only ask one of them a question regarding the location. So how do we find out which door the prisoner? is in???
So basically, we ask either one: If we were to ask where ___ is, where would the other person point to?
Yep and that gives us the location!
Then Joanne Faith and I stayed up to prank Lohitha....2 hours! But it was so fail cuz she just rubbed off the stuff we put on her face before we woke up ><
So today we just went to Changi Beach and I got a really bad sunburn...

Haha so yeah. Janika couldn't make it cuz of her spine!! She's super tall now man. Even taller than me and I'm 167cm?? idek. Faith is going for op also and she's definitely gonna shoot up too lol. and we're missing Megan too... Sec1s were overseas!!! Sophia gws!!!

- Victoria


joanne rambles (sorry for riding on your post again):

CHALET WAS SUCH A FUN EXPERIENCE haha I'm so grateful to have at least one sleepover before I step down!!!!! :-) hehe chalet comm did a REALLY good job 
also, have some pictures HAHA

the dilemma

funfact: lohitha took really long to get up

buuuUbbbbbLESSSS

another fun fact: we spent $4.60 (?) on this bubble wand

BIRDS!!!!!!!!! i love birds :----))))))!!!!!

when joanne goes wandering and comes across photo opportunities

there was a 60% chance of rainfall today phEW

nghhhh

:-)

INTENSE; we were a really great monopoly deal team HAHAH

'cuse me whatcha say now

zen yee took this rlly nice candid of me when I woke up :-)

1 more prac to Open House!!!

hey section! :)

ahh we're so close to Open House! This year, Mr Chiang requested for CONFETTI CANNONS!!! Yes that's right! Not party poppers but confetti cannons. 

weewww and he put us percs in charge of all the pyrotechnics ◉◡◉ I'd better remember to bring them to school tomorrow or I'll forget ha h h a ...... 

On a sadder note, Open House might be my last official performance with RGSSB )': How did 4 years fly by so quickly man. There's still so many things I need/want to do and so little time sigh how to chiong them all before stepping down. ajhsbfajhsdfb

To anyone reading this, I hope that you'll treasure every single second and enjoy what you're doing! Don't waste your time doing things you don't like and if you're stuck with something, why not give it your all and make the best of things?
I wish I've realised that sooner sigh. :(

SYF OMG

Hi section!!!

SYF was RLLY amazing. I really enjoyed our performance haha. We've come a long way and I hope everyone enjoyed themselves today!!! Like really it's really fulfilling and significant to me. Thanks everyone for all the hard work you've put in, and as well as for our section camaraderie!!! I hope that this moment of this glory will always be in our hearts.

We got 7,

- Victoria

Ps. POST-SYF POST

musings

the syf postings are out!

our's is on 10th April, 4.20pm (lmao blaze it) last day last band haha (ఠ్ఠ ˓̭ ఠ్ఠ)

after hearing maris at the exchange, I think that there's still a lot of room for improvement (and although I'm saying this for myself, I think it more or less encompasses the sentiments of everyone else.)
we may not have as many people as they do, but we shouldn't let this become an excuse for ourselves and our standard. quality > quantity!!! 

yeah I think we all got a bit demoralised after the exchange   ･̆⌓･̆ but all the more we should put in our 120%!!! although maris may be gr8910, they're not the best band out there (there're many many higher mountains to scale). so let's strive to become one of them maybe  ՞ ▽ ՞ 

band camp (why do they call it a camp if they always cancel the sleepover -____-) starts tomorrow (ha ha...a. intensive 8-hours...)!!!! so jia you/ganbatte/fighting!!!! it really IS the last lap (go look at your calendars haha it's like 3ish weeks from now). so like how yall sprint during the last part of your 2.4km, let's sprint together and leave the stage with no regrets!

- joanne (lmao I was doing stoichio but I got distracted oh well)

maris exchange

two days ago...

we had maris stella exchange!! again. but they time they gave us nice cards :) like 3D haha. and 3 cards somemore. basically their standard is super good wow. i think everyone in band was shocked ?? and sad ?? and ?? idk i think everyone's gotta work harder lmao. oh and our IOTD (instructor of the day) was Ms Wee!!!! from 2 yrs ago.

Oh well 1D concert in 2 days ??

- common poster, u kno hu i m


(sorry victoria riding on your post)

:-)

Warmest greetings (HAHA I sound like a hallmark card) from Percs 15! :-)
(first few full section photos of the year heh) ((also for the orientation slides))

Let's work really hard for SYF   jia you everyone I know we can do this!

On a sidenote, trials just ended! Woo I hope we get 2 sec ones :^) jia you victoria you're gonna be a direct HAHA

-
joanne

OBS

I'm going for OBS on Monday. Wish me luck.

-the only sec3 here

Hello!!!

Hey yOooOo this is my first legit post and wow heheh I can't believe I finally have rights to the blog :') ((I think I've been whining about it for three years now wow))

Oh yeah so self intro, I'm Joanne from Batch 15 and my favourite instru is the timpani!! ((are the timpanis? ugh grammar)). 

Ok so I just got back from Day 2 of Mr Chiang's (not really his alone but w/ his posse)) EXCO/SL ((day)) camp at VJC~
Their band room is pretty small (around the same size as ours?) and their perc area is really tiny but their timpanis edit: timpani are really fabulous (the same model as the one during SIBF!!) and shiny and new and I just want to take them home. Their gong is really cute though it's like a mini version of ours.
((their bass drum!! is about the same except the frame has an extra bar thingy for you to step on so you can use your leg to mute the drum without looking like a dog that's going to pee))

We've been having like masterclasses on conducting and theory lectures and general leadership talks here and there (fun fact: did you know that Mr Wong studied psychology and is a member of Mensa) and it's been pretty cool but hecka tiring. :-)
They invited really funny and super talented guest speakers! We had one of the SIBF judges yesterday to conduct (haha) a conducting clinic and he was super funny but his sense of humour is so mean???? He kind of reminds me of Mr Chia hm. 

PS: Maris Stella's percs (uh at least those that are here at the camp) are very pro so let's be better than them
PPS: I think Bendemeer's (did I spell it right) too
PPPS: I believe that we have the potential to become better than them all. Like quality>quantity ok so even though our section isn't that big we can make it up by being really competent and all rounded percs
Also right I've come to realise that there are quite a few disadvantages behind having a super big section (like 10++) such as having not enough parts or like not enough exposure to each instrument because there's really too many people so I'm really grateful that our section's size is just nice :-)

Our SYF pieces are going to be quite perc heavy so let's jia you x 100000 and defend our title as one of the strongest points ((section? element?? thing???)) of RGSSB woot woot

This turned out to be way longer than I expected haha ごめん :x

-Joanne

PPPPS: I strongly strongly strongly regret the annoying things I posted in the chatbox out of desperation to post something when I didn't have rights

long time no see

hello percs!!!
it's been a long time haha i'm so amazed that this blog is still alive and that i now know a perc 7 years my junior (hi janika!!!) percussion is awesome don't let the love die :D:D:D when i feel like it i may (??) go back and visit! really miss that place so many memories :'( do ya'll still do spring cleaning every year? if not, the carpet is gross. i miss the drumset too haha so much nostalgia!! treasure the time you have there with your batchmates and directs and sectionmates!! also, go teach yourselves cool drum stuff like playing with 4 mallets heehee (see http://www.vicfirth.com/education/percussion101-concertKeyboard.php).

deborah
batch '10

Hi guys!

Hi guys! I'm Victoria from batch '16 and it's my first time posting here :-) Yesterday was Inunion and I had a really fun time playing with my seniors and juniors! We played Lion King, Air for Band (sec1s), Metrodance (this really hyped cool song) and Shanghai Tun (tan? dun?), The sec1s this year are actually not bad hehe. With that, I'd like to really thank my directs Helen and Talia for everything these 2 years and I'll miss you two so much!!

Talking about directs, I can't believe I'm getting my own down-directs next year :o I'm actually quite scared since I'm the only sbm :/ And I'm still not very good in some things like double strokes, -4321, and I don't think I know the names of a few auxiliaries as well odear. However, I plan to work really hard this holiday!!

Good luck to us,
Victoria

Inunion'2014

Hey Hey!!
wooohoo good job for inunion today juniors!!! It was really good:D and thanks for the farewell gifts, I really liked them:D
So sorry we were late and missed Lion King:( there was rsb prac and we had to rush :(( but I hope yall had fun!
I hope yall will continue to love RGSSB Percs and continue this blog!
Have fun in your remaining time in band and jiayou Percs'15:D

-Talia

Last prac D:

Hey section!!

Tuesday was my last prac in RGSSB and today was the last time I am gonna wear the band uniform (for photo taking). Theres lots I want to say but most of all I want to thank all of you for being so awesome and loving percs so much and making my life as SL so much more enjoyable! I really hope yall will have a great time in RGSSB and love percussion even more! I will try to come back and visit more often:D jiayou yall can do it!

Talia
RGSSB Percs SL Batch 2014

Section Exchange with Maris Stella Symphonic Band

Hello Section!

Yesterday was really fun and interesting; we had a band exchange with Maris Stella Symphonic Band, who has the same resident conductor (Mr Chiang) as us :)

First we had a masterclass by a guy called Mr Sim together with the Maris Stella Percussion section, he taught us many techniques for every instrument. Then, both of our bands gathered at the hall to listen to each other play, and Maris Stella played a song called "Give Us This Day" which sounded very cool. Also one of the percussionists had this crazy xylophone part which was awesome!

Anyway, here is a photo of our two sections together (We couldn't find our Sec ones D:)

Side note: Their section is massive!! Not exactly in terms of height, but then again one of the percussionists from Maris Stella had to push our snare drum to drumset height and play while sitting on a chair because our snare drum was too short for him 

Here is the card for the section exchange that they gave us! You can really tell how much effort was put into it, right? ::::)

Our updated section board :)

Okay, that's all for now! Bye!

Percussion Ensemble Festival and 2014

Hello everyone :D

Recently Joanne, Hwisoo and I had a directs outing to the Singapore Percussion Ensemble Festival to support Aliza and Xing Ern! :)

It was really cool and exciting, they had a 5 octave marimba (!!) and there was one song where a girl played 8 toms! Also Aliza did a cool thing with the toms in one of the pieces where she leaned on it with her arm and hit it, changing the pitch(?) Throughout the whole concert we were super awed and we now feel super inspired and motivated to improve :)

Hm, it's a short post but Aliza and Xing Ern, great job at the concert!! Also, Talia's wrist is hurt, so let's wish her a happy and fast recovery ^^

Percs '14 with our instructor, Mr Chia :)

Bye!!

Sophia Kim 

Haha okay it's me again...
The juniors can't post cos we all have no idea how to add them in to post>< oops

okay oh ya and I havent said yet...I got the cool light-up sticks:D called firestix....basically its shock sensored so when you hit, it'll light up;D we can use for Cadenza:D Go see it on youtube its really really cool:D

Okay yeah so everyone shld be playing your warmups at 168 comfortable by tmr (i'll check) and see if I can give you guys genroku tmr...maybe not cos Ms Wee's coming tmr so yeah:) But rmb to bring your notebooks every prac so you can take down what you shld be able to play by next prac:D

what shld I say now....oh yeah all our exams are coming (including our seniors in JC) so jiayou everyone!!:D:D study hard and prac hard!

and we really must practise really hard so we can earn a spot for section ensemble for cadenza:D


-Talia:D

Hey section :D
okay we decided that we should revive this blog so every week we will post at least once even if it's just HI >< if not this is really gonna be seriously seriously dead -.-
Oh wells...yeah tmr's NDP  celebration performance:)!!! yay! and everyone's coming for last minute change of skirts and stuff...no more L size skirts liao...why everyone so tall O.O
And we had phototaking today!:D and we have to rewear our uniforms tmr...and I realised I forgot to bring my court shoes home so I shall just go to the band rm tmr and find it><
Meh...jiayou section! practise hard and we will do well:D:D practise your basics well and work on your foundation:)
Okay i really need to chiong memorise FPS now...zai jian:D

Here's a pic we took today after phototaking!


bye!
-Talia:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D  

Hello section! :) whoo blogspot is cool but I'm really noob at it :P

Today we had to get out of the band room to practise so we went outside the hall where Talia stood underneath her poster! :D

Random post x) but yay!
P.S. Tomorrow is CCA trials for band! Hopefully we'll get at least two perc juniors C:

Sophia Kim

ROARRRRRR

Oh yay!!!!!! Finally I can post:D meh why do I have to go for OBS:'( I scared later sunburn....
Okay I need to pack bye!:)
This is just for testing btw

-talia

HELLO PEOPLE

just feeling random, but i think we should learn how to do 4-mallet grip! like properly, and without injuring our hands or arms or something!! after all, for cadenza, y'all may need to play 4 mallet stuff. i used 4 mallets in sec one for cadenza before, but looking back, i realise i was playing... wrongly. and i haven't been playing 4 mallets ever since T.T which is NOT GOOD!

so, there are quite a number of different grips (for holding 2 mallets in one hand), like for example the burton grip or stevens grip. y'all know kenneth, one of the percussionists at rwinds? yeah i think he used the stevens grip for coda, if i'm not wrong. (so i may be wrong.)

(well basically all the rwinds perc people are really quite pro, so next time after you graduate from RG - not too far away! - join rwinds at least once, cos the experience is really good, and you'll really learn alot, and make great friends too.)

so here are a few websites you can explore to learn more!

burton grip http://www.bknights.org/ensembles/bkpe/pdf/BurtonGrip.pdf
stevens grip http://www.vicfirth.com/education/articles/howarth.html

maybe y'all can try burton grip first? it seems more familiar, in terms of holding the mallets i guess. of course if you want to try stevens there isn't any problem. but anyway the 4-mallet grip is really quite important, and i read on a percussion website before that actually, we should learn the 4-mallet grip once we start learning mallets, cos it's just as important as the usual 1 mallet per hand grip. :D yup!

do take time to try it out okay! and maybe we'll make a trip back after the new sec ones join yall - eh must tell us when they join ok! :)

love,aliza. (IMISSYALL BOOHOOO T.T)