It all started with my dad's annual golf dinner with his golf kaki at Noble House. I did not attend the dinner (it was for golfers and their wives only) but my mom got to know Uncle Richard (my dad's friend) wife Aunty Ming better and mom actually talked about my constant yearning to join an orchestra of some sort. Fortunately, Auntie Ming's son was in the KLPAC String Ensemble (SE), so she managed to get me an audition appointment with them for Sunday! That night, they came back quite late so they kept the surprise for me until the next day.
The next day, dad was picking me up from SIS at 3.30pm like usual, when he gave me an envelope in the car saying it is for me. I opened it and was really shocked with what I found. Mom printed out almost everything she could find about KLPAC and put it in the envelope for me to read. I was a bit confused with all this, but dad told me that mom got me an audition with KLPAC SE! I was incredibly happy because I had always wanted to play music with a big group of people. In the past, I briefly joined a mini orchestra with Eric, my saxaphone buddy, but I left it due to some circumstances. I also formed the Bayan Trio with my classmates Kazuki and Bryan in SMKTD but nothing thus far could be better than joining KLPAC!I practiced like hell that week, and it was kind of painful on the fingers for me as I only practice the violin once or twice a week (which makes my violin teacher angry sometimes) but I managed to pull through. I went for an extra lesson with my violin teacher just before the audition day to make sure I wouldn't make any major mistakes. To my amazement, my teacher's other student Brandon was also auditioning for KLPAC and her other student Zoe was already playing in the SE. After my extra lesson, I managed to talk to Zoe's mom while waiting for dad to pick me up from class. She gave me some pointers on what to expect and their expectations. Feeling a bit more relieved, I went home and practiced a bit more before sleeping.
Then came the day that I have been waiting for. I remember telling myself, "after today, you will become part of a great ensemble, playing with great people and having fun." I left home rather early at 2pm even though the audition time was only for 3pm. I reached there in 10 minutes and found myself in a place like no other.
I have been to KLPAC in Sentul several times, but it was always crowded with people waiting for shows. This time, it was unusually quiet and kind of scary, but with both my father and mother around, it didn't feel that bad. I carried my violin case exactly the same way my friend Carmen carries it, hoping it would give me some sort of confidence, since Carmen is a childhood friend of mine who was sponsored my the Singapore government to study music (violin & piano) in an Arts academy in the US.
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| KLPAC |
We came to the fourth floor to find 2 violin players sleeping there. I thought they were here for auditions too, but they weren't. Then Jacklyn (KLPAC SE admin) came and got me registered. Since I was the first one there, she let me in the audition room to practice while waiting for the audition judges to arrive. I quickly took out my violin and practiced in the room. It was a scary experience, since people could see inside and watch me practice.
The acoustics in the room was unusually good too. Even if I played pianissimo, it was still rather loud. Minute by minute, more people came and registered for auditions while I practiced inside the room that I like to call a "fish bowl" because of how everyone can watch you from the outside. I felt like a fish inside. At around 2.30pm, Brandon came and said hi to me. He was really happy that I came, because he has a kawan with him now, as my violin teacher puts it (he didn't know I was auditioning too, because I told my teacher not to tell him).
Time passed really fast, and it soon became 3pm. My judges came and took their places in a table in front of me. Looking back, it sort of reminds me of how participants audition for American Idol... After giving a short introduction about myself, the audition began.
I played Allegro from Vivaldi's first movement of his Violin Concerto in A minor, only to find the Japanese judge, Ota-san, cutting me off halfway, saying "play again, and keep in rhythm". This time I felt really nervous, because I was so nervous the first time that my tempo kept getting faster and faster. When I played it the second time, I kept thinking "keep in rhythm, keep in rhythm". After playing a quarter of the first movement, he said "enough, thank you". I became really anxious because he didn't let me finish the song. I later knew that this was common, because it is not possible for judges to listen to the whole song (there are too many people auditioning, and too little time).
Then the middle judge, a girl around the same age as me that was really cute, gave me the sight- reading. (I later knew that she was the concertmaster.) I was taken aback when I saw it as it was another Violin Concerto from Vivaldi, but this time it was in D Major. I was thinking, "another Concerto?" After briefly looking at it for 5 seconds, I motioned to Ota- san and he gave me the hand signal to begin. I played rather smoothly, noticing the similarity between the two songs that I have just played. From the corner of my eye, I could see the three judges smiling and discussing happily. Ota-san cut me off halfway, as usual (I was sort of getting use to it) and then the left judge, a boy that looked like he finished university, discussed with the other judges about my skills and stuff.
After a minute or two, the girl asked me, "can you play any 3 octave scales?" I nodded my head while saying "yes" and played the easiest 3 octave scale, G Major. It was played very smoothly, and then Ota-san smiled at the other judges and whispered something to the concertmaster. She then said, "could you play it in staccato style?" I've never played any scale staccato style, but I gave a nod and played it. I was really bad at this, stumbling a lot at the highest octave but managed to finish it neatly. Ota-san then said, "Thank You". I took my book with violin and walked out of the "fishbowl" room feeling relieved because it is finally over, but also tense because I don't know the results yet.
Brandon came and asked me about it, so I told him about the sight-reading and scales part and he started to become panicky. Then, I went to find dad downstairs and have a drink with him while waiting for the results... Midway through the auditions, Jacklyn came and told me, "You have been accepted to join the String Ensemble, Congratulations!" At this moment, I was glad that all my hard work has finally paid off.
At the end of the auditions, Brandon was also accepted into the SE. Therefore, we walked into the "fishbowl", now the practice room and the previous members started taking their seats inside. The new members such as me, stood around waiting to be assigned to our seats. Then, another surprise came. Standing in front of the ensemble, Jacklyn, with her loud voice said, "Stanley, First!" I was really happy to be accepted into first violin, and took my seat 3 rows behind the sectional leader and concertmaster. I was kind of sad though, that Rebecca Ong- the concertmaster- went home already. Anyways, a girl slightly older than me came and sat next to me with her music stand and the music score.
At first, Brandon wanted to sit next to me, but he was assigned Second Violin so he sat with Zoe. The other audition participants were assigned Second Violin and Third Violin, making me the only new First Violinist of the SE. It felt awesome.
Then practice started, and Ota-san took his position in front of the String ensemble as the conductor. He reminded me of an Anime character from Nodame Cantabile because of the way he looked and act. We played a Mozart piece, from the first movement to a bit of the third movement in the two hours and a half practice session. There was a 15 minutes break in between, and they celebrated the January babies and I was called to cut the cake. It was cool celebrating my birthday on the first day I join the ensemble, and I liked the chocolate cake a lot :)
After practice ended, I went back contended. I have finally achieved one of my life goals, but I realize now, that this is only the first step of my musical career before I can become a great musician...
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| Ota-san and my new SE family ;) |
P/S: Yes, Stanley is back to blogging now! Coming back from Tamil Nadu/Kerala in India and celebrating CNY in Penang both for the first time, he is still struggling with time management and his desire to excel in academics in SIS. He wishes all faithful/new readers of his a Happy Chinese New Year for the year of the Dragon. Au Revoir!
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