Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Farewell party: 20th July

There is a CIP activity you guys may be interested in (:

Details:

A service-learning group (By melissa and yeam cheng teng) is requesting for performers from the guitar ensemble. It aims to recruit groups of performers (2-4 per group due to space constraints in the dialysis centres) to put up short performances for the patients undergoing dialysis at NKF.

This program lasts for 2 months from after blocks to september, volunteers have to go down every week or once per 2 weeks. Volunteers must commit for every session unless they have an official reason. The exact days and times have not been confirmed. Note that this is not a CCA CIP, if you volunteer its on a personal basis (:

If you guys are interested, please form groups of 2-4 and email Zheng Rui the names and classes of the group members. I will forward it to the organizers. Thank you.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Hi guys, hope you all are resting (and mugging) well! However, there are a few issues that require your attention (:

J2 Farewell Party:
The date of farewell has been confirmed to be on the 20th of July, Monday after school from 4pm onwards.

Allocation of members in each section:
We need a balanced number of guitar players in each section. Ms Wong has suggested more guitar 1 and 2 players relative to guitar 3 players. The ideal strength in each section would be 10 guitar 1s, 10 guitar 2s, 7 guitar 3s (including 1 guitarron backup player), 1 guitarron, and 1 contrabass. However, we have now 12 guitar 3s, 7 guitar 2s, 1 guitarron, no contrabass, no guitarron backup, and 9 guitar 1s.

Therefore to allocate members to each section fairly based on the individual's strength, we will be conducting an allocation test (as mentioned in the previous post) on the first practice after blocks:

Allocation test:

Date: 10th July 2009, Friday (tentative)

Aim: To allocate members to sections according to their suitability. A rough guage of standard of each member will also be given.

Criteria:
Melody section: Guitar 1s and 2s (in professional ensembles, the stronger players are usually in this section)
Good in expression, musicality, articulation, dynamics, intonation and tone.
Guitar 1s: Main melody
Guitar 2s: Counter melody

Bass section: Guitar 3s, (4s), Contrabass, Guitarron
Good in rhythm, dynamics, and chords.

Contents of test: You will be asked to play one of the two songs (lagrima v sonsiras and vera's theme) at random. Memorizing the score will be an advantage. There will also be short chord and technique tests.

Note: You guys will be sticking to your current sections for the Vera's Theme and Lagrima V Sonsiras, as it would take time for some to relearn a new section from scratch. However, the allocation test will determine your sections for all future songs.

Thats all for now, thanks!(:

Cheers!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Next year concert

Yo everyone!

How was the NUS concert last Saturday? Fabulous, wonderful? Or "discouraging" when you think of the concert next year :)? I hope not, coz I believe we are all inspired and determined to put up the best concert ever next year all ritte! However, ahead of us lie numerous challenges that we are not allowed to falter at.
Right now, we need around 15 songs to prepare for the concert. That's a rather huge number given the amount of time left. Besides practicing to the best you can, we need your help to brainstorm together with us nice songs, with nice melodies, can be popular but it's not the most important point, songs of which melody can be recomposed to fit for ENSEMBLE.
All suggestions can be made known to EXCO through emails, msn, sms. We greatly appreciate your help!

Cheers.

P.S: Oh, and don't forget about the GUITAR TEE and YOUR BIRTHDAY! Reply our email asap all rite!