Saturday, October 11, 2003
There's a light coming from my window..
THose familiar strains from the song titled "acapella" . How i yearn to hear them being sung again.
There's a light coming from my window,
And it shines down on the street,
there's some guys standing in the corner,
singing that good old harmony.
The lite from my window
sets the stage for a street side symphony,
I hear them laugh
i hear them sing
singing that good ole' melody.
Despite, my initial misgivings, the acap group's momoaini is coming along. Well, at least it sounds like a song now, tho' i suspectg that jing2 , the arranger of the song, would have dearly loved to slaughter me for allowing it to be sung in such a manner. But hell, it sounds better. I 'm just praying one of us doesn't mess up the pitch on the actual day. We're lucky to get stable basses, but the tenors do give me a bit of a worry. :) But what they lack in pitch, they really make up in enthusiasm. Even as I bear down on them in exasperation during practices, they keep us in stitches . Tho' some of the singing stints did degenearate into a cacophony of hapless giggles when they eased the already wavering pitch into something ludicrous.
I've sung in 4 or more acapella groups, but most of the time, the singers I've worked with were experienced or had already had some choir background. This present group reminds me of Zing, the group my friends and I founded in JC. It was an all gal group, formed out of defience and to put it mildy, despair. It was formed when 4 dejected gals trotted out of the classroom after going for our JC's resident acap group's ( fringe) auditions. I remember screwing up my auditions totally. Goodness knows how, but I managed to clinch a place in Fringe . But i remained as a member of Zing even tho' practises with 2 acapella group and being on the committee of a very very active choir were enough to drive me insane. Singing just took control of my life. And to put it honestly, I found my sessions with Zing a lot more fun. WHy? Well, the Fringe ppl had all the musicality, since they all got in with auditions, but the bonding just wasn't there. We were just a bunch of ppl, who were handpicked and thrown together to sing. When we started Zing, we were a couple of gals, with hardly any singing experience, who went on stage, wholly unprepared ,singing 2 simple songs and totally mortifying oursevles and the audience. But as we gained experience and skill, our repetoire and quality of singing grew, and that's where all the problems began. THe quality of the singers was hauled up. SOme had to go. I vetoed the suggestion. THe group was formed for the love of music, why the streaming? A few more tiffs regarding a few members' ( including my) apparently non-existant commitment to the group further strained relationships and I stepped down as the leader. We did recouncile, but after a good 1/3 of the group left or were kicked out. I never quite regained my enthusiasm for Zing nor the friendships with some of the girls. What might seem to be a mundane and rather silly line of events actually wrecked my life in JC. I felt betrayed and wronged by some of the girls whom I had considered my closest friends in JC. Perhaps that's why I"m pretty cynical about friendships these days.
You're probably chuckling now as you read. All that emotions over a singing group? Well, it's more than that. It's a bond between a couple of pple who love to warble. AAnd you'll be surprise how much you treasure that bond. Acapella singing isn't easy, it's a skill and you need lotsa time and experience to master it. Somehow, being mortified at numerous concerts does bring you together. You get addicted to it. It's dope man, pure dope. But like the drug, it also tears you apart in spite of it's innocuous sounding nature. . It makes you forget your problems yet it loads you with more. In my 2nd year, I was the co-music coordinator for Zing but I left the group later on the pretense of not having enough time. I threw myself into Fringe. Yeah, we had more technically demanding repetoire, and i did enjoy my 2nd year more, but i missed zing and it's carefree moments. Fringe practises were all business. We were there only becoz the school wanted us to sing for the concert. End of story. We weren't even close friends. You need alot more then music to hold ppl togethere. I left the choir with a bitter sweet taste in my mouth. I put my scores aside and told myself to find another interest. Perhaps in dancing or smth.. but like they say, once you start singing, you'll never kick the habit .
So here i am, in Melbourne uni, once again swept up in a group. And I'm shamed to admit that i've let my yearning for the quality of the music override the enjoyment of just making it. I've metamorphosised into the very ppl whoes views I once spurned. K's right. We should go for the concert, if not for the experience, then for the enjoyment. Making music isn't just about how well you do it, it's about how much you enjoy it. I'ts about making that magic work together and above it all, enjoying yourself.
And watching this new, motley group struggle to get thru one of Zing's more technically demanding pieces, I 've gotta admit, we're doing pretty well already. Who knows, given some time and a little training, we';ll mature into a better group than Zing or Fringe? :P perhaps i'm getting my hopes too high.. but hey. we've to start somewhere~! And i'm grateful for the chance to even find a bunch of ppl with the same interest! I'll keep my mouth shut then :P
they're singing soul to soul
brother to brother
Acap pella!
And it sounds good to me.
THose familiar strains from the song titled "acapella" . How i yearn to hear them being sung again.
There's a light coming from my window,
And it shines down on the street,
there's some guys standing in the corner,
singing that good old harmony.
The lite from my window
sets the stage for a street side symphony,
I hear them laugh
i hear them sing
singing that good ole' melody.
Despite, my initial misgivings, the acap group's momoaini is coming along. Well, at least it sounds like a song now, tho' i suspectg that jing2 , the arranger of the song, would have dearly loved to slaughter me for allowing it to be sung in such a manner. But hell, it sounds better. I 'm just praying one of us doesn't mess up the pitch on the actual day. We're lucky to get stable basses, but the tenors do give me a bit of a worry. :) But what they lack in pitch, they really make up in enthusiasm. Even as I bear down on them in exasperation during practices, they keep us in stitches . Tho' some of the singing stints did degenearate into a cacophony of hapless giggles when they eased the already wavering pitch into something ludicrous.
I've sung in 4 or more acapella groups, but most of the time, the singers I've worked with were experienced or had already had some choir background. This present group reminds me of Zing, the group my friends and I founded in JC. It was an all gal group, formed out of defience and to put it mildy, despair. It was formed when 4 dejected gals trotted out of the classroom after going for our JC's resident acap group's ( fringe) auditions. I remember screwing up my auditions totally. Goodness knows how, but I managed to clinch a place in Fringe . But i remained as a member of Zing even tho' practises with 2 acapella group and being on the committee of a very very active choir were enough to drive me insane. Singing just took control of my life. And to put it honestly, I found my sessions with Zing a lot more fun. WHy? Well, the Fringe ppl had all the musicality, since they all got in with auditions, but the bonding just wasn't there. We were just a bunch of ppl, who were handpicked and thrown together to sing. When we started Zing, we were a couple of gals, with hardly any singing experience, who went on stage, wholly unprepared ,singing 2 simple songs and totally mortifying oursevles and the audience. But as we gained experience and skill, our repetoire and quality of singing grew, and that's where all the problems began. THe quality of the singers was hauled up. SOme had to go. I vetoed the suggestion. THe group was formed for the love of music, why the streaming? A few more tiffs regarding a few members' ( including my) apparently non-existant commitment to the group further strained relationships and I stepped down as the leader. We did recouncile, but after a good 1/3 of the group left or were kicked out. I never quite regained my enthusiasm for Zing nor the friendships with some of the girls. What might seem to be a mundane and rather silly line of events actually wrecked my life in JC. I felt betrayed and wronged by some of the girls whom I had considered my closest friends in JC. Perhaps that's why I"m pretty cynical about friendships these days.
You're probably chuckling now as you read. All that emotions over a singing group? Well, it's more than that. It's a bond between a couple of pple who love to warble. AAnd you'll be surprise how much you treasure that bond. Acapella singing isn't easy, it's a skill and you need lotsa time and experience to master it. Somehow, being mortified at numerous concerts does bring you together. You get addicted to it. It's dope man, pure dope. But like the drug, it also tears you apart in spite of it's innocuous sounding nature. . It makes you forget your problems yet it loads you with more. In my 2nd year, I was the co-music coordinator for Zing but I left the group later on the pretense of not having enough time. I threw myself into Fringe. Yeah, we had more technically demanding repetoire, and i did enjoy my 2nd year more, but i missed zing and it's carefree moments. Fringe practises were all business. We were there only becoz the school wanted us to sing for the concert. End of story. We weren't even close friends. You need alot more then music to hold ppl togethere. I left the choir with a bitter sweet taste in my mouth. I put my scores aside and told myself to find another interest. Perhaps in dancing or smth.. but like they say, once you start singing, you'll never kick the habit .
So here i am, in Melbourne uni, once again swept up in a group. And I'm shamed to admit that i've let my yearning for the quality of the music override the enjoyment of just making it. I've metamorphosised into the very ppl whoes views I once spurned. K's right. We should go for the concert, if not for the experience, then for the enjoyment. Making music isn't just about how well you do it, it's about how much you enjoy it. I'ts about making that magic work together and above it all, enjoying yourself.
And watching this new, motley group struggle to get thru one of Zing's more technically demanding pieces, I 've gotta admit, we're doing pretty well already. Who knows, given some time and a little training, we';ll mature into a better group than Zing or Fringe? :P perhaps i'm getting my hopes too high.. but hey. we've to start somewhere~! And i'm grateful for the chance to even find a bunch of ppl with the same interest! I'll keep my mouth shut then :P
they're singing soul to soul
brother to brother
Acap pella!
And it sounds good to me.
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