Thursday, February 09, 2006
And the band played on
The previously mentioned band competition came to a close recently and it’s time to take stock of what happened over that 3 month period.
Every year, the Kent Ridge Hall band sends a team to take part in JamX. They had a line-up already but were still looking for a guitarist. When I was approached to participate at first, I had my reservations. There was always the Final Year Project looming large in my mind, and countless other things that threatened to clash and obliterate my free time. Plus, competitions didn’t exactly fit in with my concept of musical enrichment. I personally never felt very strongly about musical competitions, being of the opinion that casting music as a competitive event detracts from its true purpose.
Somehow or rather, I still felt a certain calling to join them, but it went beyond music, beyond the potential prizes (which were, in my opinion, negligible) and beyond the recognition or glory. Well, it wasn’t really a very high-profile competition so that was negligible too.
Rather, when I thought about the line-up they already had, I saw dreams that needed to be fulfilled. Most of them were new to this, for some this would be their first public performance. Even though all of them had played for a crowd of hall residents before, taking it outside for the first time would be a whole new thing altogether. I saw in the line-up a certain hunger, a desire to prove themselves and to push their musical talents to be the best they could.
So into the fray I went.
It wasn’t easy, to say the least. This was perhaps the first time I’d ever played in such a musically diverse group, and reconciling all the different viewpoints to come to a consensus was the most challenging part of it all. This was complicated by their tentative nature, perhaps a little unsure of themselves, wanting to put up a fantastic show but not very certain how to go about it. In fact, it took me right to the very limits of my patience, which, admittedly, is rather limited. Still, recognizing a common goal helped us to sort out the path to take, and a consensus was obtained to everyone’s satisfaction.
In terms of technique and arrangement, it wasn’t plain-sailing either. The musical ideals that I heard in my head were a struggle for me to express in words, not being very good at teaching or explaining. Besides, this wasn’t the kind of thing that could easily be learnt overnight or coached individually. It took a while to get it across to them, but I was gratified to see the improvement all of them made towards the end.
To stack the odds even higher, the band ran on 4 parts estrogen and 3 parts testosterone. On top of overcoming musical boundaries, I had to overcome gender differences as well. If you’ve known me long enough you’ll probably know that my understanding of the female psyche tends towards total confusion. Well, I guess that spiced things up a little.
So practices came and went, songs were played and re-played and re-worked and many nights were spent in the band room. The preliminary rounds and finals went by in a flash as we went through a whole roller-coaster of emotions.
After the finals were over, I sensed a palpable air of disappointment amongst them as the crowd dispersed. Hearty congratulations from friends were accepted with forced smiles, even as I saw their emotions written in their eyes. Though we obtained a credible result, they weren’t too happy about being displaced by a band that arguably wasn’t fantastic, though I wouldn’t really know. At the time they were playing, yours truly was nursing a can of beer away from the venue with some good friends who came down to support our cause and not really paying attention to the din.
At the end of it all, I’m still not entirely sure I achieved what I set out to do. I was hoping to be a catalyst to help them reach their goals, to be a stepping stone so they could reach out for their dreams and find their musical selves, just as others had done for me before. Though they may have felt a little shortchanged, I still hope that they will in turn pass on what they’ve learnt and work on what they didn’t learn. I also hope that at the very least, it will be a lasting memory for them.
Perhaps, that little last bit of the dream unfulfilled will fuel them to strive towards their own musical betterment long after I’ve graduated, hopefully beyond their own graduation.
Perhaps, that was my true purpose.
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Every year, the Kent Ridge Hall band sends a team to take part in JamX. They had a line-up already but were still looking for a guitarist. When I was approached to participate at first, I had my reservations. There was always the Final Year Project looming large in my mind, and countless other things that threatened to clash and obliterate my free time. Plus, competitions didn’t exactly fit in with my concept of musical enrichment. I personally never felt very strongly about musical competitions, being of the opinion that casting music as a competitive event detracts from its true purpose.
Somehow or rather, I still felt a certain calling to join them, but it went beyond music, beyond the potential prizes (which were, in my opinion, negligible) and beyond the recognition or glory. Well, it wasn’t really a very high-profile competition so that was negligible too.
Rather, when I thought about the line-up they already had, I saw dreams that needed to be fulfilled. Most of them were new to this, for some this would be their first public performance. Even though all of them had played for a crowd of hall residents before, taking it outside for the first time would be a whole new thing altogether. I saw in the line-up a certain hunger, a desire to prove themselves and to push their musical talents to be the best they could.
So into the fray I went.
It wasn’t easy, to say the least. This was perhaps the first time I’d ever played in such a musically diverse group, and reconciling all the different viewpoints to come to a consensus was the most challenging part of it all. This was complicated by their tentative nature, perhaps a little unsure of themselves, wanting to put up a fantastic show but not very certain how to go about it. In fact, it took me right to the very limits of my patience, which, admittedly, is rather limited. Still, recognizing a common goal helped us to sort out the path to take, and a consensus was obtained to everyone’s satisfaction.
In terms of technique and arrangement, it wasn’t plain-sailing either. The musical ideals that I heard in my head were a struggle for me to express in words, not being very good at teaching or explaining. Besides, this wasn’t the kind of thing that could easily be learnt overnight or coached individually. It took a while to get it across to them, but I was gratified to see the improvement all of them made towards the end.
To stack the odds even higher, the band ran on 4 parts estrogen and 3 parts testosterone. On top of overcoming musical boundaries, I had to overcome gender differences as well. If you’ve known me long enough you’ll probably know that my understanding of the female psyche tends towards total confusion. Well, I guess that spiced things up a little.
So practices came and went, songs were played and re-played and re-worked and many nights were spent in the band room. The preliminary rounds and finals went by in a flash as we went through a whole roller-coaster of emotions.
After the finals were over, I sensed a palpable air of disappointment amongst them as the crowd dispersed. Hearty congratulations from friends were accepted with forced smiles, even as I saw their emotions written in their eyes. Though we obtained a credible result, they weren’t too happy about being displaced by a band that arguably wasn’t fantastic, though I wouldn’t really know. At the time they were playing, yours truly was nursing a can of beer away from the venue with some good friends who came down to support our cause and not really paying attention to the din.
At the end of it all, I’m still not entirely sure I achieved what I set out to do. I was hoping to be a catalyst to help them reach their goals, to be a stepping stone so they could reach out for their dreams and find their musical selves, just as others had done for me before. Though they may have felt a little shortchanged, I still hope that they will in turn pass on what they’ve learnt and work on what they didn’t learn. I also hope that at the very least, it will be a lasting memory for them.
Perhaps, that little last bit of the dream unfulfilled will fuel them to strive towards their own musical betterment long after I’ve graduated, hopefully beyond their own graduation.
Perhaps, that was my true purpose.
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# posted by BloozeGit @ 12:28 pm 
