Klang Exchange and Performance

11.30pm, warm and humid outside. Back from band practice. Today got new song, Rising Sun, its cute and cool at the same time. Played with Rainbow Choir, dem alot of children (about 50 i tink) singing and dancin along, kinda even cooler. Playin mostly bass parts, but still dem cool. First time see score, so play and play and play b4 rehearse with kids, blow so hard until giddy after every 20 or 30 bars. Haha, just changed reeds, dem hard, have to mature it again.

Tmrw have to wake up early for performance at Wisma Kebudayaan, opening ceremony for some exhibition. Last minute called up to perform, must be ever-ready to play music!

Paeds paper was a killer, got 2 out of 4 diagnosis right only. Sigh, most likely fail again. Swear i will not specialise in paeds next time. What did i do to kids in my past life to earn such bad karma? Did i sacrificed em atop ziggurats as an evil Mayan priest or sumthin?

Last Sat went down to Klang to exhange with the SGM Klang Kiboo Kotekitai and Music Inspiration Band, MIB (formerly known as Music Instructors Band). MIB has been 'assimilated' into RM gov band, so they've been mixed up with the other race, which have resulted in the overall standard being dragged down by certain players who are just paid to run the screwed up RM programme and have not a single iota of passion for playing music. MIB is a dem high standard band, from wat i hear when they played in past exchanges.

Me, Pak Kin (our bassoonist) and my other bass clarinetist were grouped with this idiot from RM, the other race. He bought his bass clarinet for only RM2000 over E-bay. Dats cheaper than a beginner's clarinet. The brand is called "Woodwind", made in China. Not dat i condemn things from China, but heck, i was expecting a Selmer or at least a Yamaha, not a woodwind instrument branded "Woodwind". Well, he came 5 hours late to our sectional, took his sweet time to set up and warm up, and bcuz he was older than us, didnt take us seriously. When he started to play, i knew he didnt know how to play the bass clarinet, let alone any reed instrument. He had the goldfish embochure, which meant his cheeks bulged out. He couldnt find the Eb key.

Pak Kin, my partner and I looked helplessly at each other. Who was goin to train this clown? Ah, 2 pairs of eyes were lookin at me. "Doctor, can u help our friend?"

So...

...I spent the next 1.5 hours outside the room tryin to correct his embochure and get him to play the right notes before our public performance in front of Klang members and non-members the next day. Barely played 1/5th of the 3-band-combine song with him. So this is what the gov money is spent on eh...

Sigh, i pity Mr. Lee when he conducts the MIB with all these jokers around. Hell, he and the MIB original conductor just didnt care and spoke mandarin during the 3 band combine rehearsals. And sigh, i was expecting to exchange with a skilled MIB bass clarinetist and learn some killer skills, not some clown from the gov. Wasted my time tryin to teach him. He didnt care about all the tips i shared with him about playing music, just kept playin the same mistakes over and over again. I wuz tryin like hell not to get angry, with all the Kiboo girls walkin past me. To hell with him.

Next day, he ffk'ed 3 hours b4 the actual performance. Mr.Lee walked up to me and asked, "Wanna play in the MIB?" Haha, what an (accidental) honor indeed! I had a bass solo part which the idiot kept messin up, so Mr.Lee asked me to play that 20 bars. Since he has been tutoring my band for the last few months, I went even further and volunteered to play both MIB performance pieces. "Wonderful!" he said. So i spent 30 minutes sight-reading and familarising myself with both pieces outside the hall during the dry rehearsal.

Right after band 2 was MIB performance, so on the way stage out, i u-turned and quickly went back up stage, so not time to change costume. I ended up with my white shirt and bowtie sittin in a sea of black shirts, so i was dem obvious to the audience. I enjoyed the songs so much , dat when my solo part came up, i played a damn beautiful tone. Problem is, I forgot to look at Mr.Lee when he changed conducting, so i continued in 4/4 time while the whole band played in 3/4. We clashed for 6 bars b4 i got my senses together and continued on. Haha, the MIB tuba player even came in to try and save me by playing my solo. Hopefully the audience didnt realise the blunder :o)

In total, i played 8 songs non-stop, 2 songs of which i have never seen b4 3 hours b4 performance. Dats 4/5 of 60 minutes of music. By the finale, I was already moderately cyanosed. Luckily no one at the back shouted, "Encore!". Haha, now im more confident with my sight-reading edi!

See if got ppl pirate our performance again, saw quite a few handphones being held up as i sneak-peeked at the crowds.

Gotta sleep now, nitez!