The day before syf. Another hectic day of lessons all the way till 4pm was followed by a last-minute tanbo fenzu. Went over to Hongfei's house thereafter for molihua practice with junzhi and sam. That evening of practice was something i would remember for a long time to come. The souldul voice of hongfei's erhu resonating around the small room amidst incoming 'good luck' sms's... Thanks for giving me the confidence.
On the taxi to hougang with junzhi that night, for the first time since the start of the hectic syf practices i felt a deep calm settling on me, and i couldnt help looking out into the sky, searching for the stars. There was little conversation, but i could sense that both of us were thinking about the same things, and the same memories were drifting across our minds. Memories that are actually closer to our hearts than our minds. In 2004, on that very night of 21st April, i left the stage, shattered. But one year later in 2005, i was gazing at the sky, at peace with the world.
'It will be ours.' - Jun Zhi
Those were the words that echoed round the taxi cabin when our conversation inevitably touched on the three words that have been drummed into every single one of us - gold with honours.
Sin Hwee's sms came when i was standing alone at hougang waiting for my mum to pick me up. There was something special about being there, in the deserted void deck, reading through the message, stopping at some of the words. At that moment, it seemed so near, yet so surreal. I tried to look for stars again that night before settling into bed.
(to be continued)
Anyway, something meaningful from 星空:
璀璨光芒终将被人遗忘，呕心沥血却会永垂不朽！
Continued (forgive me if i'm a bit sketchy cause it's been more than half a yr and my memory isn't fantastic) ...
Arrived at school early in the morning, holding my pipa in one hand, blazer on the other (The sexy brown blazer is still in my wardrobe at this very moment, partially cause of my forgetfulness and partially cause i'm still hoping that the school name and logo stitched onto the pocket would miraculously disappear and i'll be able to wear it to a funky night out at a club. jkjk). I still vaguely recall myself wandering aimlessly around the campus, enjoying that strangely pleasant chinese-high-early-morning smell. A brief practice session later, we were off to SCH.
Much to my own surprise, i'm starting to rmb more as i continue writing. I'm now picturing myself standing at the first storey of SCH. Everyone is decked in their full Chinese High glory [performance attire] and nervously fingering their instruments. Liu Lao Shi was there as well, helping us tune our pipa's and liuqin's. In the midst of all this, the dizi-ists started playing Xing Kong hou-ban-pai in perfect unison. My ribs nearly broke when my heart thumped so hard to the rhythm. It was unbelievable. Crowds, including students from other co's, started to form a crowd around our newly-crowned celebrities, while zhengyou started to conduct them. In other words, quite a fantastic sight.
Before long, we found ourselves in a row along the second storey corridor waiting for our turn to enter the tuning room. It was there that the best chinese high co music i have ever heard was played. I hope you guys can still recall the magic that took place inside that room, as it is really what i feel is one of the most memorable moments of my 3.5 yrs in chinese high co (to make this memory more beautiful, you may choose to omit the Zhang Lao scene)
I was still stuck in a semi-conscious state after being shooed out of the tuning room, but was promptly awoken by the sheer size of the audience once i stepped into the concert hall. From that moment till when i was seated on the stage, i had to repeatedly tell myself not to look at the audience, trying the create an imaginary curtain separating Chinese High co from the audience. We were playing for ourselves, for Chinese High co. When the music started, the curtain really began to take shape, as I was drawn deeper into our music, further from the audience. Xing Kong was definitely out of this planet, while Mo Li Hua's beauty was beyond words' description. My imaginary curtain somehow managed to last me through the whole of both songs, helping me overcome the jitters i suffered when playing the pipa solo. As the audience burst into rapturous applause at the end of Mo Li Hua, this curtain was torn to shreds as i was once again reminded of their presence, but in a thouroughly more pleasant manner.
The next scene i remember is being seated in the concert hall, awaiting results. The atmosphere there was stiflingly tense, with the occasional disturbance drawing bouts of hyserical laughter from the audience, as their anxiety gradually got the better of their sanity. When the announcements started, my own anxiety was really starting to get out of hand. My rib cage had already taken a heavy battering this day, but during the 3-5 min or so when the results were being announced, its structural integrity was put to the heaviest test yet. Sin Hwee was on my left, Zheng You on my right. Hands clasped, we braced ourselves for the results.
"Chinese Orchestra no. 46, Hwa Chong Institution *stumbles* High School Section,"
- silence -
"GOLD ... WITH HONOURS!"
Sin Hwee and I grabbed each other. I was beyond words. We started crying like babies when Zheng You came crashing into us in a bone-crushing hug. Somehow i managed to escape unscathed. Off we went, screaming, tearing, cheering and hugging our way out of SCH. What i experienced on this day was much more than joy. There was the immense satisfaction at attaining our target of becoming a top 3 CO, the overwhelming pride that came with that, and of course the sense of relief, after enduring months of apprehension. That was the perfect ending to the most enjoyable story of my time in The Chinese High School Chinese Orchestra.
PS i cheated a bit in the last part. I referred to Zheng You's SYF entry as i forgot what our CO number for SYF was ... ;P
