Life's a drama part 2

Sweet... Just after the band competitions are over, here comes drama...

What man?... It's fast... Old Mr. Tang (of all surnames) I am...

So update a few things:
High possibility that NHMB participation KLWMBC 2009, but lower chances for drum battle...
2 buses are going to Johor... Sam Tet, see, we support you all.
RM70 !@#$%^&* for a trip to Johor!!!
I'm going anyway.
I'm most likely going to stay in multi tone, but change to 24" bass...

24/7/2009 Post-mortem.

Ok, now that most of our members have rationalised and hopefully snapped into their senses, I write this overview and conclusion on last Friday's competition, based not only on my own analysis, but also from various sources, mainly ex-members, current members, facebook, blogs, youtube, and multiple band forums.

Solely based on Videos, my comments:

Music: Balancing was very good for my taste, but I must say that I prefer a stronger bass and stronger counter-melody. Dynamics were good, but can be better.

Sound: Impact, that has been the biggest disadvantage since the start of the season. Despite improving drastically that evening, the impact on general was able to hit people, but not enough to brake walls.

Formation: Clean, very tidy, amazing! But do remember: I'm commenting based on videos, so maybe there might be some optical inaccuracies. But back on subject, the shapes are very clear and visible. Curves looks like curves and straight lines seem effortlessly achievable to us. Basic footwork was good, the steps are clearly uniform, our strong point since the past. Keep it up, and try making it more impressive.

Brass: Good sound, well balance, no more over-blown. But like I say, could use more bass sound from the lower brass.

Winds: Very nice, impressive sound to me, I like 2nd and 3rd movement wind parts the most. And no more "wek wek wek" sound, the sound I heard during preliminary.

Percussion: I did mention it was perfection... It is NOT, I lied to comfort some people... If I may say, Snare solo was messy at first, quads were close to messy, basses need more tighter sounds. But on the plus side, this year's percussion is cleaner then the years past, and considering the challenging songs we had to play, being that tight is very close to clean.

Colour Guards: Like I said before, stunning. Maybe because their usual practice attitudes gave me a low expectation, which made me so shocked by their amazing performance that night. But they were not immune to mistakes. After reviewing the video, one CG member drop the flag at the first impact throw. Angles of the flag still needs improvement, and members can improve on their sportingness. But nevertheless, the grabbed the best CG title, and there is no questioning that it was a stunning performance with the CG that night.

Other comments:

Nan Hwa indeed had a good show. Aggressive and yet neat and tidy drills, strong music projection, and great visual highlighted a maturity in their show this year. In fact, if u looked closely, theirs was the nearest rendition to a drum corps esp their brass line. Use ur binoculars if u need to, they did not feature any trombones With ALL marching brasses, this made their brasses looked the BEST in Malaysia.

Music - no doubt they have very good projection, but i felt their balancing suffered a little at the apex of the pyramid. Trumpets were heard loud but not to say their trumpets were overblasting, they were simply imbalanced without the richness and brilliant voice from the trombones. (One weak factor of trombones in the marching band was improper intonation esp if the band marches at tempo 160 onwards. Students find it difficult to adjust their slides. And hence marching baritones are usually being replaced in the USA). Alas, Nan Hwa was showing their true professionalism in the field!

from someone on voteband, I found this piece of comment very reasonable, true on the overall, and most importantly, constructive.

on their song arrangement. It's the closest to corps style arranggement especially the opener and the closer.

A good piece of encouraging words.

improvement is very subjective..it depends on the space of improvement you have,for me nan hwa has their basic marching perfectly done

Continue working on our steps, our signature trademark XD.

Nan Hwa has clean formation no doubt, over all show better than last year alot! sound wise, maybe intonation is not as good as last year... from my opinion, is due to their more complex movement. Sound wise is not soft at all, very big sound actually. but then I do agree that nan hwa lack a bit in showmanship and weak attack. Not much surprise

I can say that when he says showmanship, it means the way we present our show... That we leave for the instructors to decide, can't do much about it...

Ex-member's comments can be summarised that our show this year was leap of fate. Most of their reaction that night on first impression was that we did our best, and that our show is comparable to that of 2005.

So, aim for next year, as I said. Nothing is perfect, so no need to take the above comments too personally, just do our best in all aspects.

Latest updates include:
Small possibility in NHMB to participate KLWMBC 2009, Drum Battle as well.
Increase in Tubas from 6 to 8 by next year, 2 Marching-Tubas as the new addition.
Increase of percussion in total of 4 Tenors , 7 Snares and 5 Basses by next year.
Possibility of inclusion of pit-percussion if permitted by next year.
New batch of Colour Guard members.

Smile, always.

24th July 2009. Be it a sweet memory or bitter nightmare, it is still a day to remember.

We marched out of there, ready to fight, ready to do glory and pride.

And we did so perfectly that I can cry already. It was the best show. Literally the best show.

The only thing left in our way was the judges.

But don't blame them. Cause you can't anything other than to beat them up... Of course I won't do such thing la, but many people are preparing to do so...

Remember, that we won ourselves, which is most important. We did the best show Nan Hwa could ever ask for to date. It was a flawless show. Don't believe me? have a look yourself.

Part 1


Part 2


So just be happy that we got something. I'm sure that if we deserve credit, people will definitely give it to us. Time to aim for studies now.

Perak State Competition - Final Hopes and Prayers.

It is not luck that made us win last year. We are NOT in the same position as AMC last year to be frank. We are rather different from them, and that difference made us win. That difference is still with us this year.

Hopes:
-We put up a good show
-We impress the crowd
-We rock the stadium
-We make Perak State Competition 2009 a memorable one

Prayers:
-Pray that we can achieve what we want
-Pray that everybody is healthy and in shape
-Pray that we enjoy ourselves tonight and learn as much as we can
-Pray that we can accept the truth
Amen.

Quotes for the 2009 competition.

This is a collection of quotes for tomorrow's competition.

Voteband:
-nan hwa jia you !!!
-once again....

i would like to wish gud luck 2 all qualifying teams...


c u guys during the final....
-Good luck to 1st present team...
-All the best...!! Coming Friday...
-all the best nhmb
-all the best for .... nan hwa, SMI, Sam Tet, SYS, Ayer Tawar, ACS and San Min................

Ex-members:
-If you're at the top, then build a platform and go higher :D
-starting to feel excited for This Friday's State Competition! :)
-i hope you all can win this time competition... but after you all win state comp..can you all promise me smtg?for pro player...dont blame other,try to teach. for noob player...try to learn what other teaching...not to doubt...
-sequence=placing

Members:
-Ahboon salute!..
Bass Drum Salute!..
Percussion Salute!..
Brass Salute!..
Woodwinds Salute!..
NAN HWA MARCHING BAND SALUTE!!!..
-Let us show that we can achieve more than just victory!!
-各位，加油咯...
-白衣黑裤...
-Ready to fight!
-are thee ready for glory and pride?
-NHMB....shiNE on uS......

General quotations:
-ENERGY~SPIRIT~TEAMWORK
-ONE BAND, ONE SOUND

Recollection of our preparation.

I've been looking through my archive and look what I found:

Old friendster blog of mine "Arm Cramps, Muscle pulls, and Feeling the Groove" written on 30 Dec 2008 on Junt's 1st visit in preparation for 2009.

“You gotta feel the beat man, wooh!” *quoted-Junt.

3 days of practice and a whole lot of groove, that's what we’ve been doing, it ain’t easy holding two sticks.

With the change of my “career” from cymbal to multi-tone, it won’t be an easy one ahead…. But I do hope I can do the best of my abilities.

Having said that, I also strongly hope that the cymbal section will do their best after my departure.

Last of all, 2009 a bright future for NHMB, CG and all, hope that we will do our best!.

“You need groove man, not like robot” *quoted-Junt

Look at my optimism, OUR optimism... We were so prepared then.

So we must be prepared now. The time for depression is over, it's the time to regain your confidence this 2 days, you'll need it.

Energy~Spirit~Teamwork!

The Nuclear Musician, The Conductor Apparition and The Atomic Band.

ENERGY

We are the Nuclear Musicians. We strive to be the best. We are made to show, brag and flair with skills one can only dream of.

We can do this, we can cause fusions of cheers, fissions of applause and an explosion-packed show.

This is the energy we have! Let's do this.

SPIRIT

We have the Conductor Apparition. It is within us, guides us, unites us, and keep us fighting and charging.

We can do this, we can cause the audience to have a shocking experience, feeling the fiery heat of our sweats.

This is the spirit we have! Let's do this.

TEAMWORK

We are the Atomic Band, existing as an atom, packed, yet equally powerful, but well balanced, as neutrons, protons, and electrons. We are united, we are one, even tough we have individual task, we work as a team to balance the whole structure, which is most important.

We can do this, we can cause the audience to experience the bonding between members, as a whole band that stands up, not as a single sub-atomic particle, but as the particle itself combined.

This the teamwork we have! Let's do this.

It is, the Spirit of Nan Hwa.

Look and see, that wave of black;
Who put the others in awe.
Is it the fury that you bring,
the fight for a champion's lore?

It isn't the strong armour that protect;
Nor the sharpest of swords to fight?
It is the raw Spirit, that had always been with us,
pass years since, put us trough challenges that strike.

And so the wave of black, red, white;
Are you ready for this year?
I ask thee, I ask...
For are thee ready for glory and pride?

5 things, 5 Days.

There are 5 things I want to achieve in this short span of 5 days, which is before the Perak State Marching Band Competition.

1) I want to be able to mark-time whenever we play standstill without ending up marking on the wrong foot.

2) I want to do the warm-ups as if they were child's play, I do not want to make any mistakes during the warm-up songs by the time of competition.

3) I want to make sure that I will march with proper footwork, not by the competition, but from today onwards.

4) I want to march through the drill without a single mistake, especially static.

5) I want to rock the Perak Stadium to its very foundation, but this can only be achieved by teamwork, and so I want to dream that we can achieve it, the full form of ENERGY~SPIRIT~TEAMWORK!!!

If you are a band member, read this.

Note: Latest update! If the information I got isn't wrong, Nan Hwa will be the first team to take the field for competition! If we can do it without mistakes, it will give us the edge. But 1st team is always the riskiest, so be careful!

First thing's first, I need to strain: Have a Target!

Without a target, you won't know if you're improving!... If you practice blindly, as in without a target, you won't progress...

What should your target be?
Well for starters:
1) Ask yourself everyday: Did I march that drill without a single mistake.
2) What ever mistake you DID make, correct it!
3) Make sure your steps are correct, as well as technique.
4) Play your music, and don't falter. Don't be shaky. If you know you're shaky in certain parts either 1 - Practice that part by yourself until you can do it, or 2 - DON'T PLAY!...

Your attitude is what drives the band! Remember, as a Nan Hwa Band Member:
1) Be humble, always remain neutral when someone criticises you or the band, and what ever he criticized, work on improving it, add it to your target. Your image is a direct reflection of you and the band once you start talking about band.
2) We don't like bands who always lansi us or qun us, so don't let NHMB be one of this kind of band! Stay low, keep a low profile and let the AUDIENCE judge our shows entertainment value.
3) Be optimistic! It's about our journey through a life as a band member. The competition is just something we can look forward to and have targets.
4) If you are a band member, be RESPONSIBLE as a band member. Come for practices regularly! The band owes us members nothing, so don't expect anything from practices. The best reward for this is your own character building. If you can improve yourself, why not? There is no question that your life will change, no matter how little, if you've been through societies and clubs. Same goes for band, and since you have selected this path, might as well go all out for the band.

Remember this few things, that
1) If you do your best every time during practices, you have nothing to worry about in competition;
2) The band is you, the band is him, the band is her, the band is them, the band is us, the band is one. You are the band, and yet you are nothing without the band. Be a TEAM;
3) If you keep on questioning yourself or other members about this year's show capability, I'll tell you this: It is VERY capable. All you have to do is to not make mistakes, that is all, no need to do extremely well. Just don't make mistakes, then it will definitely rock the Malaysian Marching Band Scene.

This is the chance baby! Do your best now and on and on! Happy Practices!

Countdown to Perak State Competition

First half of the exam is over, but practices are still slow.

Overall the top reason is that most members are still in swing to the exam mood. I fear that our final 3 days practice before the competition can help us regain that mood to groove.

Now that we are the only state left that has yet to compete, we can see the other states and their overall progress. Here is the list of my personal analyst, of course with the help of other people, I compiled a general idea of what we are up against.

Terrenganu - Chung Hwa Wei Sin, 2008 MSSMBC Champion
They are re-using 2 songs from last year's show, Distorted and Tanah Pusaka. Formation is similar too. Overall, they have the potential. Their strong points are, as always, dynamics and impact. But not this year, they still have about 60% of the impact they had last year, not 100%. But they have fighting chance in their CG. But fret not, their CG is still far from being impressive.


Kedah - Sultanah Asma, 2008 KLWMBC 1st runner up.
Probably one of our hardest competitors, being able to achieve 1st runner up in an International open. But this year, fret not, It is not impossible, cause when you are at the top, the only place left to go is down. And this year, they have clean formations and song, but they lack aggression, which is what we are having this year.


Johor - Tun Fatimah
They are using our 2004 competition song "Minimally Speaking" for their opener. Overall, I can see they put a lot of effort playing this song, which isn't one bit easy. So they sacrificed their formation for a lot of "stop-and-go" static on the hard part. And balancing is still in need of fixing.


Sarawak - St. Joseph
I don't want to sound rude, so all I have to say is that they are lacking impact in their show. It is a flat, normal, nothing impressive kind of show. But credit is to their CG, which effort was well visible.


KL - St. John
Their Colour Guards are one of the most entertaining group I've ever seen to date in Malaysia, only rivaled by VICCB and St. Joseph. But unfortunately, the band itself needs a brush up.


Pahang - Methodist Girls Secondary School, 2008 MSSMBC 1st runner up.
No video unfortunately, so don't really have any idea how they are doing, but all I know, they got a high 90+% according to the state competition score.

Penang - Jit Sin
Good balancing, but a bit shaky, a bit similar to our condition last year. Not so stable, percussion just moderately clean, overall show is the "play-safe" kind.


Gambateh, do your best.

4SA Teachers Finale: Dedicated to Mr. Chow Chin Mun.

Mr. Chow Chin Mun, Ex-general maths teacher of 4SA, and also, ex-best teacher of 4SA, who sadly was diagnosed with cancer early this year. This finale of the 4SA teachers series is dedicated to him, may he recover soon.

Now I will quote his legendary dialogue in one lesson, to remember the happier times.

Mr. Chow: Yes, good morning class, today we begin our lesson on "Sets".

Student 1: Yes, "Sex".

Mr. Chow: No, not sex, sets.

Student 2: Sex la...

Mr. Chow: Not Sex, Sets! S-E-T-S

Student 1: (acting innocent) OOhhhh, Sets.

Mr. Chow: Ok, now I was saying, what is sets?

Student 3 (back from ponteng-ing): Sex is sex la...

Mr Chow:.... This class very dirty minded...

4SA Teachers part 5: Mr. Siah Pang Seng and hypnotism.

Mr. Siah Pang Seng, our calm, slow and steady Physics teacher. He has a unique talent in his voice, so unfortunate that this talent is wasted, he would've become a professional hypnotist.

Quoted from him: Class, today, we are going to study Newton's 3rd law... Newton's 3rd law states that, To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction... I give you an example: You take your head, and go knock the wall... Your head is pain. Now go and knock the wall even harder, your head is more pain, because the force you exerted to the wall is reacted upon your head, and so etc. etc...
Class: Zzz... zzz...

Quoted from him 2: Look at the pendulum bob... see it's oscillation, see it swing from back to forth...
Class: (Can't stand... zzz... can't... stay... zzz... awake...) Zzzzzzz...

Quoted from him 3: There are a lot of equations in physics, And I'm going to start of with a few today, beginning with Velocity, the equation being s/t. Next is Acceleration, which is v-u/t. But it can also be converted into s=(u+v/2)*t, and also v=u+at, and also v2=u2+2as, and finally, s=ut+1/2at2. Slowly go back and memorise...
Class: ZZZ... ZZZ...

Quoted from him 4: Newton's 1st law states that a body persists its state of rest or of uniform motion unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force. And it's mass effects it's inertia.
Class: Sngaarrh... sgorg.. Zzzzz Zzzzz

4SA Teachers part 4: Mr. LC Pang and health.

Mr. LC Pang, our health-aware but still rather unhealthy Biology teacher, who never stops to give us a good advice on health, but unfortunately fails to do what he says.

Quoted from him: ... Saturated fat cannot form any chemical bonds with other atoms, 所以你们不要吃太多炸的东西, 因为里面有很多 saturated fat. 相 KFC 炸鸡.
Student: 呢老师有吃吗?
Mr. LC Pang: 我有, 而且很喜欢吃, 时常吃...

Quoted from him 2: Mitochondria 在那一个 cell 里面最多? Yes, sperm cells.
Class: (突然精神起来)

Quoted from him 3: 明天带两粒 Guava 来做 experiment.
Class: 怎么要两粒?
Mr. LC Pang: 你们用一粒做 experiment, 一粒我要吃的.
Class: walao...

Quoted from him 4: 吃太多化学品会生 cancer. 我多十年后没生 cancer, 算我幸运.

4SA Teachers part 3: Ngoh KL and WAJA

Mr. Ngoh KL, our "delightful" Additional-Maths teacher and also our class teacher, famous for his catchphrase in quote 1. Note that this will also be my 1st semi-Chinese blog...

Quoted from him: 快点那出你们 WAJA 来做, 快点!...

Quoted from him 2: ... 所以呢, X 要给刚才做的 Y substitute 进去, wah, 变了, 就可以了...
(Class): Huh??O_O...

Quoted from him 3: ...今天谁没有来??

Quoted from him 4: 高机数 学不相 general maths那样, 是很高机的.
(Class): What the...?? O_O....

4SA Teachers part 2: Pn. Tengku and hygiene

Pn. Tengku, notorious B.Malaysia teacher of 4SA. Her reputation? Being mean, and being over-hygienic..

Quoted from her: Kelas, hari ini siapa sapu lantai? Mengapa begitu kotor??

Quoted from her 2: Sampah pun belum buang. Semua kelas bediri! Tak boleh duduk sampai mereka habis membuang sampah.

Quoted from her 3: Hari ini siapa padam papan hitam?? Mahu say dimerit kamu ke?!

Quoted from her 4: Hari Rabu mesti menghabiskan kerja rumah. Orang yang tidak hantar, saya akan dimerit 20 markah...

4SA Teachers part 1: Mr. Rajesh and reverse psychology.

Mr Rajesh, English teacher of all but 1 Science Stream classes. What is his reputation? Reverse Psychology.

Quoted from him: Class, as we all know, like what you read just now on your workbook, if you want to save water, don't shower for a week.

Quoted from him 2: You see, who agrees with NS?... The government, they put it on TV commercials, you see the got 3 friends of different race there hugging, going leave NS and all, so happy... Rubbish! they send 3 months to NS and they think they can promote unity among races?

Quoted from him 3: You know those people who keep smiling at you, this are the people who you should be afraid of. Like me!...

Quoted from him 4: When you see money on the table, what do you do? Yes, you take it and put it in your pocket...

Perak State Preliminary: Personal Post Mortem

Ok, this morning? How we did?

1) The biggest flaw in the show today was our unstable tempo. For 1st song, we were too fast. 2nd song was slightly fast. 3rd song was correct tempo, but still need more practice. 4th also too fast, Percussion have a hard time playing.

Who to blame? - Percussion. Being the heartbeat of the band, the section with the greatest responsibility to unite the tempo of the band. Basses was rushing a bit, added by the snare section's anxiety, plus cymbals somewhat confusing crashes, all added up to be a recipe for over-speeding tempo.

2) Formation on the overall was unimpressive. We didn't let the audience experience that "Oh me gosh, they manage to do that??" feeling. In other words, straight lines are far from straight, circles look more like flattened balloons, and much more. Still, it was passable.

Who to blame? - Everybody except the conductor and drum major.

3) Music itself, the start was able to blow the audience of their seat, very clean, very well done... But unfortunately, that's the one and only part we did a good job. Dynamics is our greatest draw-back, while balancing can still be improved. For brass, I personally think that the lower-brass tend to "over-blow". For woodwinds, the sound isn't a pleasure to listen to. For Percussion, need to improve on playing and being united as one whole, and to clean up their sound...

Who to blame? - The weaker players, who need to practice more. For the better players, try to achieve best.

4) Last thing to say is, stay calm, be confident, but also be humble. Always remember, nobody is a winner forever, so be prepared for the worst. Most importantly, enjoy the experience, it's about the journey, not the destination.

So that is about it, there's still time for improvement, so might as well to your best EVERY TIME! Then there's nothing to worry about during competition.

All out, full gear, lock and loaded.

Events to come? Tomorrow's State Marching Band Competition preliminary round. This year, the judges will travel to individual schools to watch the band perform, summing the marks and finally decide which 6 of the 9 schools will go to the finals...

Are we ready? Are we prepared?... We can do it, yes, we can, but some people are still somewhat clueless, CLUELESS... I don't know what are they thinking, but they just seem so not bothered, even up to this point, as if they have no target...

As for the others, under-exposed... Concept and perspective are important, at least they need a target.

I seem to get distracted very often this few days, less focused... Why am I losing my concentration??... T_T... I want it back...

All the best for tomorrow, no point for luck now, it won't help. Only pure skills, a sharp attitude and confidence and get us pass this. Remember, we didn't practice that hard with all the sweat for such long hours for nothing right? So don't let it go to waste.