Shakespeared Songs
Ha. The long-awaited concert of the century is finally over!
My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all who came to concert. And for those who did not, I am also thankful that you didn't. :p
The concert was riddled with so many screw-ups, it was inhumanly possible to list them all.
1) Everyone went FLAT by probably more than a semitone in some songs. It's pretty telling especially when I can't even reach the supposed low F, even after trying to croak it out.
2) Diction was much to be desired. The lyrics were all derived from the great works of William Shakespeare, so it was a pity that hardly any words muttered were discernible.
3) Some pieces started off very weakly, as if no one was quite sure about the actual starting first note.
4) Starting off weakly unintentionally is bad, coming in for individual parts at different times was even worst. It sounded like intermittent bird-dropping.
5) Pitch? Hello? I know there were dissonant chords, but we manage to stretch its definition to possibly the realms of noise.
And just when you thought unaccompanied parts were bad, the bringing in of instruments could not salvage the situation.
6) I know I'm nitpicking, but Miss Cello player, the bass section is relying you heavily for your notes. Coming in at the wrong time certainly did not help matters.
7) Timing timing timing between the choir and the pianist. While an untrained ear might not be able to pick out tonal mistakes, rhythmic ones are much more apparent. The coordination between us could be summed up as "Faster or slower, but rarely in unison." Of course, how could anyone forget the disastrous ending of epic proportions when the choir ended 1-2 seconds earlier than the pianist!
I wonder I can grab the live recording of it, then you can witness some of the atrocities committed.
But my conductor, Dr Katherine Wallace, sums it up most nicely and politically correctly...
"Thank you once again for a great concert last night. I felt there were some truly exquisite moments."
LOL.
Despite massacring Shakespeare, it was still pretty fun though.
My heartfelt gratitude goes out to all who came to concert. And for those who did not, I am also thankful that you didn't. :p
The concert was riddled with so many screw-ups, it was inhumanly possible to list them all.
1) Everyone went FLAT by probably more than a semitone in some songs. It's pretty telling especially when I can't even reach the supposed low F, even after trying to croak it out.
2) Diction was much to be desired. The lyrics were all derived from the great works of William Shakespeare, so it was a pity that hardly any words muttered were discernible.
3) Some pieces started off very weakly, as if no one was quite sure about the actual starting first note.
4) Starting off weakly unintentionally is bad, coming in for individual parts at different times was even worst. It sounded like intermittent bird-dropping.
5) Pitch? Hello? I know there were dissonant chords, but we manage to stretch its definition to possibly the realms of noise.
And just when you thought unaccompanied parts were bad, the bringing in of instruments could not salvage the situation.
6) I know I'm nitpicking, but Miss Cello player, the bass section is relying you heavily for your notes. Coming in at the wrong time certainly did not help matters.
7) Timing timing timing between the choir and the pianist. While an untrained ear might not be able to pick out tonal mistakes, rhythmic ones are much more apparent. The coordination between us could be summed up as "Faster or slower, but rarely in unison." Of course, how could anyone forget the disastrous ending of epic proportions when the choir ended 1-2 seconds earlier than the pianist!
I wonder I can grab the live recording of it, then you can witness some of the atrocities committed.
But my conductor, Dr Katherine Wallace, sums it up most nicely and politically correctly...
"Thank you once again for a great concert last night. I felt there were some truly exquisite moments."
LOL.
Despite massacring Shakespeare, it was still pretty fun though.
Labels: Chamber Singers II, MUA3211, NUS, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music
posted by Kelvin Lim at 6:00 pm
1 Comments:
I didn't know you took this module. I did consider it but I know I'm not up to the mark for that. I haven't been reading blogs for months. Wow. Quite an exciting life you have been living!
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