Updates/Reminders

Hi everyone,

National Day is coming soon!
We have two performances this year for National Day, one for the school celebration on National Day eve, and one at the CC on the actual National Day. I know it’s nearing CAs, but please memorize all your songs: (Spartans, Sousa, National Anthem, School Song, Made in Singapore).
Please also remember to look and follow Valery/Dawn when they’re conducting, and listen to the bass drum.
There will be another rehearsal this coming friday for the school’s parade, 5 August, from 4-6pm again.

Sec ones, continue to practice hard because you may be included in the performances too, and remember what the teachers, and what Evan & myself or your SCs said to you today. Every single member is important to the band.

Also, SLs please pass the band u you have collected from the Sec fours to Jasmine or myself by monday, and note if they’re returning it or selling it.

On a lighter note, we’ll probably be able to play for assembly on every Wednesday now! Honestly, I was quite surprised by the enthusiastic response from everyone

Keep improving!

Thanks,
Dorcas

Botanic Gardens Performance

Hi everyone,

Here’s the consent form if you need to print it.
(Please hand in your consent forms to Jiaii)

Anyway, if you’d like to leave from Botanic Gardens itself, please pass your parents’ letter to the teachers.
Also, you can bring your own snacks, but there is no need to bring your water bottles as water is provided.
If you have any queries, details have already been given to your SLs.

Rest well and play your best for tomorrow’s performance
(Please be punctual too)

I’m sorry for the late post!

Thanks,
Dorcas

Botanical Gardens

Dear Band,

Thanks alot for cooperating with Dawn and myself on Friday! (:
Remember to project your sound when we are at the performance venue, because the MPR rooms are deceiving, and we’ll sound really soft when we play outdoors! But most importantly, feel the music! This performance is for the public, so just enjoy what you play, and I’m sure that our audience will enjoy the music too. (:

Last but not least, do get adequate rest because tomorrow is going to be a long and hectic day.
We’ll be taking attendance at 1.25pm so don’t be late.
And if you do not need the transport back to school, please remember to get your parents to write a letter.

Jiayou, and I know that our band will do extremely well! (:

All the best!
Valery

Botanical Gardens Performance 2011

Hey Band!

 

This is some info regarding the Botanical Gardens Performance.

 

(1) Reporting time for all Bands at Botanical Garden: 3.40pm

     Start Time: 5.30pm      End Time: 7pm
(2) Attire (Band Uniform)
(3) St. Nicholas Girls’ Band to supply percussion instrument
(4) Order of Appearance: Yuhua, St Nicholas, Victoria

Consent forms will be given out soon. You can invite your friends/ relatives/ seniors to watch our performance!

Yellows, I strongly encourage all of you to watch this performance too. Please remember to get your ‘I recommend’ , ’3D band  book’ and scores photocopied as well.

 

Rest well and see you in band,

Valery

Hol Band Prac + Open House 2010

Heyyy bandits (:

The hol band practices this Dec Hols are as follows:

(All Sec 3 HCL students CCA stand down until 10 November 2010)

1 November 2010  (Monday) - 1.30 to 4.30 pm

3 November 2010 (Wednesday) - 1.30 to 4.30 pm

9 November 2010    (Tuesday)  (HCL girls exempted, 0-Levels) – 9 am to 4 pm

11 November 2010   (Thursday) – 9 am to 4 pm

15 November 2010   (Monday) - 9 am to 4 pm

18 November 2010  (Thursday) - 9 am to 4 pm

4 pm to 4.30 pm – Preparation for Swearing In (Sec2s, you are in charge of the venue, keep it simple & easy to clean up)

– Sec1s, DRILLS (required for swearing in) (25 min) + 5 min to learn the Band Recruit Song!

4.30 pm to 6pm  - SWEARING IN 2010

23 November 2010  (Tuesday) - 9 am to 4 pm

25 November 2010  (Thursday) - 9 am to 4 pm

27 November 2010 (Saturday) - OPEN HOUSE – 2 Sessions, 8.30am-1pm & 12pm-4.30pm, Each member goes for either

29 November 2010 to 2 December 2010 – Genting International Band Festival

14 December 2010   (Tuesday) - 1 pm to 4.30 pm

16 December 2010 (Thursday) - 1 pm to 4.30 pm

17 December 2010 (Friday) - 1 pm to 4.30 pm

19 December 2010 to 25 December 2010 – Japan Exchange Trip

28 December 2010 (Tuesday) - 9 am to 4 pm

30 December 2010 (Thursday) – 1 pm to 4 pm

————————————————————————————————————————–

For Open House 2010

1) Holding Room: 4 Faith

2) Performing Area: Hall (taken by student conductors)

3) Attention all Sec 2 Band Members: Display Board (Design)

–> 2m X 1m (1 side only)

–>Velcro will be provided

–> 2 desks & 1 electrical power point will be provided

–> Squad Leaders (Sec2) are in charge, to organise the Sec2s and make the display board

–> By 25 November 2010 (Thursday)

4) Songs to be confirmed

5) Information Counters @ Main Gate (Near Singa Lion) & Lower Block Entrance, Explaining our Awards up till NBC, Morning: Natasha & Li Ying, Afternoon: Sarah & Sherry (then perform for the shift we’re not manning)

6) Emcees for CCAs – 2 councillors for each shift, to prepare a speech to introduce Band & the performance, to be confirmed

7) 2 shows per shift, each show 8-10 min, at 9am, 11 am (1st Shift), 1pm & 3pm (2nd Shift)

8) We are the first CCA to perform in the hall.

————————————————————————————————————————-

For Genting:

29 Nov – Leave school at 6.30 am

2 Dec – Dismissed from school at 6 pm

 

For Japan:

Mode of travel: Air

19 Dec, SQ SIN/NGO, 0100/0815

25 Dec, SQ NRT/SIN, 1900/0135

——————————————————————————————————————

Other Reminders:

1) Hand in your excuse letters!

2) Hand in your visa (if required) to Natasha!

3) Berato is 15 min before time stated.

4) Band Banner for Open House 2010 – ALL SEC2s PLEASE HAND IN YOUR A4 DRAFTS, BY MONDAY.

Theme Colours: Blue, Red, Black, Gold, Silver

5) Remember to tell Liying if you want the outdoor or indoor theme park tickets for Genting

6) SLs, you remember Ms Sia’s talk on Thursday. Please, let’s all work on it, ’cause we have a competition&exchangetrip coming up, we really don’t wanna throw face + jump on it. Test juniors, arrange sectionals. thankyou(:

 

Love, Sherry

National Day Observation Ceremony

Hi everyone, there are several things to note for Friday’s National Day Observation Ceremony and a few other things as well.

Rehearsal

There will be another rehearsal on this Thursday. This time, we will not be standing at the New Spectactors’ Stand, we will be at the Hockey Pitch. Try and remember your scores by then.

Order of Songs

Please remember the order of the songs we are suppoused to play and be alert as to when we are going to play. Here’s is basically what you should look out for, based on what I heard during the rehearsal, I will update this when I ask Chloe again for the programme sheet.

When you hear a very long command by Esther that ends with “Cepat Jalan”, start playing Spartans. When there is an introduction of Claudia and when she is marching in, the drummers should play a beat for her to march to.

Afterwards, they will check their dressing and drummers should play for 6 seconds when they hear “Baris Kekanan Lu-rus”

After a long time, there will say “Kawalan Ke-hormatan GOH, Hormat Principal kepada Ms Chan, Hermat Tan-an”, when the contingents will be saluting her, that’s when we play Liberty Fanfare. After which, it should be quite obvious when to play the National Anthem and School Song.

After the prayer, the St John’s contingent will march in front of the rest of the contingents, and when they command their contingents (“Kewalun kehormatan, Dari Kiri, Cepat Ja-lan”) to start marching, play “Sousa”.

Projection and other things related to Playing

No matter what, for both Spartans and Sousa, look at Chloe at ALL TIMES. Do not stop when you think the contingents are going to stop marching. They will stop marching when Chloe gives US the signal to prepare to stop in which they will stop together when we stop the music too. In conclusion, look at Chloe, stare hard at her and be alert!

For Spartans, during today’s rehearsal, we ended exactly at the end of Part B, if may change, so once again look out for Chloe. For fanfare, remember to accent, so we don’t sound funny. Remember to come in at the RIGHT TIME for School Song.

Since we played during morning assembly on Monday, as you can tell, we don’t sound very nice. Remember to project your sound because we sound really, really, really soft! Also, keep in mind dynamics as well as add a bit of emotion to the song. Try not to look like a block of wood when playing, smile or something.

Summarizing the above, remember to watch Chloe, watch out for her signal, project your sound and remember your dynamics.

Attire

We will be wearing the full band uniform, INCLUDING BLAZER, on Friday. In case you don’t remember, the band uniform consists of these:

• Band blouse
• Band blazer
• Band skirt
• Band shoes
• Band socks
• Band ribbons
• Band badge

Notice emphasis placed on the band badge, it’s part of our uniform! So wear your badge! If you realise that you don’t have your band ribbons at home, please get them before Friday because it’s going be super messy if everyone wants to get them. You have to pay to get your ribbons, no money no ribbons!

Time

Please come at 6:45am tomorrow! By 7:00am we should all be ready and waiting already at the hockey pitch. And ready, we mean that we have tuned up and practiced already.

Also, bring your thermometer down, it should be taken before the ceremony starts and not with the school.

Lastly, PLEASE REMEMBER TO WEAR YOUR BAND BADGE!

Oh, and thank you for thanking Ms Sia automatically today, let’s hope we can keep it this way. I have devised a list on the order of how to thank figures of authority, so we dont mess up and end up greeting different people at the same time.

1. Ms Sia
2. Mr Ong
3. Any other tutor (I shall devise an order for this, just in case there is more than one)
4. Mr Lin
5. Mr Cher
6. Ms Du
7. Ma’am(s)

This post will be further updated when I get hold of more information.

Let’s play our best on Friday since we don’t sound particularly awesome right now.

Thanks,
Grace Leung

CCA stand down and AYG performance update

In view of H1N1, there will be CCA stand down on Term 1 Week 1 (30/6-3/7).

However, the AYG performance will still go on on Monday. Update: Sec 2s and Sec 3s are released at 11am for rehearsal. Sec 1s will not participate in this event. Please meet at the new spectators stand, with your stands, instruments and scores at 11am sharp. There is no need to memorize the songs. [IMPORTANT!] Sec 3s do not leave for recess, get your juniors to buy toast for you and bring it with you on the spectators stand!

Also, I’m very apologetic to all SLs who have been passing numerous relays. Here’s a suggestion: Create your own internal section relay system. eg. the SL will pass to the Sec 3s, each Sec 3 will pass to a Sec 2, each Sec 2 will pass to 1 Sec 1, or something to that effect. Here’s a better suggestion: Get a mobile plan with unlimited free smses (like me). Singtel iOne Plus Youth Plan is only $25.20 monthly.

That is all. Have a nice remaining 3 days of holiday and 1 week of stand down. Do go back for self practice/sectionals or even better, bring home your instrument. Don’t let your standard drop! We don’t sound very nice after 2 weeks of break.

Goodbye,
Joan

AYG performance soon…

Hey Everyone

As you all know, we’ll be playing marches for the upcoming AYG event on Monday. But after the two practices we had this week, we feel that our current playing is definitely not the best of SNSB.

Marches are not exactly like those wind band pieces we usually play, in a way, they are simpler. But as what Mr Ong said today, for marches, we have to be VERY PRECISE, articulation, dynamics, and most importantly, TEMPO must be there.

The band would be playing on the hockey pitch. In front of the whole school. In front of all our classmates. And most of all, in front of all our seniors. What would they think of us then? Is our current standard of playing really living up the medal awarded to us? Just because our seniors have passed out, it doesn’t give us the excuse to sound bad. By passing out, our seniors have in a way, given us a chance to prove to everyone that the whites and the greens can do it.

In these three (short) days, try your best to practice. And by practice, it means that you really work on the parts that you’re weak in, and not gloss over it, it will not make a difference if you practice the wrong stuffs for 100 times. SLs try to guide those in your section who’re weaker and try to get an unison sound within section..

Even if you do not have your instrument with you, at least get the score from your section-mates and practice the fingering/rhythm whenever you are free (when you’re on the bus or anything).

Also, we did not have a chance to try out playing under our student conductor. So everyone, we will watch and pay attention to her and perform our best. Follow her beats and we will keep to that steady tempo, lively marches! With consistent practice and the confidence, we’re sure that everyone would be able to do our best for our performance on Monday. Jiayou, we can do it!

Loves

Ningxuan and Zhangdi

AYG march past performance [EDITED]

Hello everyone

As most of you know, and for the benefit of those who don’t, the band will be playing “Sousa the March King” and “Spartans of Tomorrow” for the Asian Youth Games (AYG) march past on Monday (29/6) at approximately 12pm. The attire will be the full band uniform, with band socks (no school socks allowed), with ribbons and band badge. The attire will be school uniform, with band badge if you are wearing your blouse.

The AYG is an important event which the whole school will be participating in. Everyone will be watching, watching to see if we really live up to our GWH title. Although we are given such a short time span to practice, and the blues have just passed out, we can do it if everyone puts in a bit of effort. This will also be a good opportunity to show our standards, show our GWH standards. Show the we are deserving of this title and make our Blue Badge seniors proud of us.

So everyone, please remember to bring home your instruments and scores on Thursday to practice. We have only 1 band practice left and very little time to practice for this event. These songs were probably not touched for a very long time and it’s also the Sec 2s first time. We don’t want to disappoint oureselves or the snioers and disgrace ourselves in front of the entire school. We don’t want to sound like how we did when we played Hannukah during POP without the blues right?

Please help to inform Sec3s in your section who are on job attachment, and those who are possibly still clueless about AYG performance. Or else, they will not be prepare for it.

The band room will open at 6.40am on Monday morning for those who wish to practice (especially people who have gone for job attachment).  The teachers are also considering if we could be released earlier from lessons to rehearse, and we will get back to you.

We will be released at 11am on Monday. Sec 3s, do not eat recess first. Please ask the Sec 2s to help you buy (toast only) if you want. Meet at the new spectators stand at 11am with your instruments, stands and files. There is no need to memorize the songs.

Additional reminder: Chloe will be conducting on the actual day (29/6). Pleas remember to watch her and follow her or else we’ll sound very messy and terrible.

Also, if you don’t have your band ribbons, socks or other things, please look for the WOs (Valerie and Christine Seow) before the performance and as early as possible so we don’t spend so much time giving out ribbons and other things like that. If you don’t have band socks, please look for them as well.

On that day itself, it will be quite a rush. So people, up your efficency and productivity rate by at least 50%! Let’s start being super productive!

We can do it!

Thanks!
Grace and Joan

Hi

I’m not sure if the majority or at the very least, some of you, heard how the Band played during Jubilate rehearsal just now. If you had listened intently, you would have probably noticed that the standard of the Band has dropped drastically. I’m posting on our blog to make a desperate plea. I’m not here to nag. Neither am I here to kick up a big fuss. 

Think about it. Do you want to step on stage and perform as though you belong to a Band that is not worthy of a Gold with Honours? Do you want to be deemed unworthy? We’ve achieved it once so why can’t we do it again? 

If you want to prove others wrong and relish in a similar moment we experienced during our SYF again, do come down for self practice. If you can, listen to the way we performed on SYF day. Compare it to the way we play now. We are currently lacking in every way. 

To those who have been diligently coming down for self practice, good job and keep it up. I’m so proud of all these people. 

We only have a few days left. Don’t forget, this is the Blue Badge’s last performance with the juniors. Blue Badges, this is our final performance as SNSB. Don’t regret it. 

 

Announcements:

1) Hand in your Band camp & Jubilate consent forms to either Ning Xuan (Sec 3 Faith) or me. If your instrument is big/bulky, you are encouraged to return to school via the bus. The teachers do not want too many people leaving directly from RP. 

2) Band Dinner

Whites – Blues: Band dinner is a compulsory event. If you’re not attending, you still have to contribute a sum of 5 bucks. If you’re not attending, please inform the person collecting or state it clearly on the reply slip itself. 

Greys: Band dinner is optional, but you guys are highly encouraged to attend! 

Consent forms

• Blues & Greys hand in to me (Sec 4 Loyalty)
• Greens & Whites hand in to Si Jia (Sec 3 Wisdom)

Thanks,

Li Wen