Passion and Perfection..

passion

• a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything
• any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.

perfection

• the state or quality of being or becoming perfect.
• the highest degree of proficiency, skill, or excellence, as in some art.
• a perfect embodiment or example of something.
• a quality, trait, or feature of the highest degree of excellence.
• the highest or most nearly perfect degree of a quality or trait.
• the act or fact of perfecting.

passion and perfection... you know what they are.

hmm.. SYF Central Judging of JC Bands 2007 is on 11th May.

tell me honestly AC band. what do you hope for? Gold? Gold w Honours? Top band maybe?

lets look at SYF 2005. you step onto stage a proud member of the ACJC Concert Band. You are so sure you clinched it, you are so sure you made the cut. you feel invincible.

you await your results. Anglo-Chinese Junior College. GOLD.. .. .. ..

and you hold your breath, you wait.. but honours didnt come by... instead of hearing 'with honours'.. you hear, Hwa Chong Junior College. you wouldnt know what to feel. you are filled with utter disbelief.. you refuse, you REFUSE to believe that what you had hoped for, what you had worked for, what you had prayed, what you had wished for never came true. you ask 'why?', you ask 'how?'. you sit dazed in SCH watching TJC, SAJC. they scream, they shout, they jump for joy.. while you, the proud member of ACBand sit quietly in shock. you are unable to sense the joy and satisfaction your counterparts in other JCs are experiencing.

you leave the hall. you know, realisation sets in.. anguish, i repeat, ANGUISH is what you feel as you step out of the hall, and you gather as ACJC Concert Band to look at each other's faces. the same looks of bewilderment and despair. maybe now you cry, or maybe later.. maybe you try to sing the school anthem.. but you choke on your tears. you know, you the proud member of ACBand have let yourself down. You have failed to achieve what you set out to achieve.

why? you may ask. you could feel so much emotions as you're on stage playing, what went wrong? was there not passion?

is this what you want SYF 2007 to be like?

let us ponder again on these 2 words, passion and perfection. did we not have passion in 2005? but did we have perfection?

can we all understand that passion alone is not enough? passion is impotent without perfection. and perfection is meaningless without passion. Dear AC Band, it is not about Gold w Honours, neither is it about being the best. we should be all about passion and perfection. there is ABSOLUTELY no room at all for complacency..

do you feel the passion? are you striving for perfection? ask yourselves dear friends/brothers/sisters/babies, are you doing enough, are you doing all you can to help what ACBand wants so badly to achieve? are you being fair to your friends who are giving all they have?

and again once more, complacency is an evil we must all be wary of. is it really just Gold w Honours we want to achieve? is it being the best? or is it simply two words? Passion and Perfection.

yes dear friends, it is time to panic, it is time to work and make best use of the little time we have left. it is time to put in your 200%. it is your 1 and only chance to make magic and make music at SYF 2007 as one ACBand. you decide.

we rise as ACBand, we fall as ACBand.

Aim high. Aim well.

Passion.

Perfection.

To God be the Glory.

The Best is Yet to Be. =)

honestly, Joel.

Hi all,

sharing this beautiful article from the late Mrs Elizabeth Green with people like me who either were once or still are students of Dr Lee. A bit long, but do read on and think about it!

" In the FIRST place, standing in front of an orchestra or a band and beating time does NOT make one a conductor.But to bring forth thrilling music from a group of players, to inspire them to do their best, to train them (thru one's own musicianship) to become musicians themselves, personally to feel the power of music so deeply that the audience is lifted to new heights emotionally--or gently persuaded, through the music, to forget momentarily the dust of earth and to spend a little time in another world--YES, that can be called CONDUCTING.Fine conductors are, first of all, fine musicians. They are sincere and inspiring leaders. They have integrity where the music is concerned. They know the score thoroughly and can convey its meaning to the players through superbly trained hands. They have developed a sense of pitch, not only to be able to sing any part of the score, but also to be able to hear it in the mind so loudly that when the actual rendition does not come up to the standard fixed in the musical imagination, they will set about attaining THAT ideal during the rehearsal. They know theory, harmony, counterpoint, musical history, form and analysis. They have reached a professional performance level themselves on some one instrument, and they are eternally interested to learn more and more about the problems of each instrument of the ensemble. They have, somewhere along the way, taken a thorough course in orchestration; and all transpositions have become second nature to them. The best conductors are innately endowed with musicality--a term that need not be defined because those who have it know what it means and those who do not will never understand it through definition.
The Art of Conducting is the Highest, Most Complete Synthesis of All Facets of the Musical Activity, And It Should Be So Regarded By Anyone Dedicated to the Profession of the Baton. "- Article by the maestro....Elizabeth Green (Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan)

I'm not sure if any of you realised that Dr Lee was once a student of Mrs Elizabeth Green when he was still an undergrad in the 80's. What the great Mrs Green wrote in her book about conductors is so true and Dr Lee is just the living example standing in front of all of us. You may not realise how great a teacher like Dr Lee you have with you until you see how much Dr Lee actually fits into Mrs Green's description of a conductor!

You may know how Dr Lee has never fail to inspire in his students and sometimes even adult musicians around him, how he would always wish all his students would give their best to feel and get the most out of music, ultimately to deliver a message so strong that the listener could be lifted off earth and drift in a world of their own.

In another perspective, inspiring students and teaching students may be his job. Delivering the message of music is definitely not a one man's show. It is a collaboration between the conductor and the musicians- you! Only if both the conductor and musicians give their best, would they attain their ultimate aim.

In the midst of the SYF, it is not just a gold or a GwH that matters, it is being a true ensemble, giving your best and collaborating with the conductor to bring your listeners out of this world.

Let me post you a challenge to lift your audience to new heights emotionally--or gently persuaded, through the music, to forget momentarily the dust of earth and to spend a little time in another world. He has done his job, have you?

Feel free to share this article to encourage your band mates!

All the best!

Best Regards,
Mohli

I dont know how many of you recieved this email from Mohli, so I thought I'll just put it up and share it with everyone. Lets go acband. Our hearts Our hopes Our aims Are one.

Muse is in like 14 hours++ time!

Good luck everybody (including ACSI IB and BR) and rest well tonight.

See you tomorrow!

=D

the best is yet to be