To prove a point, we went. And to our horror, those assymmetrical blouses again. Worse still, Victoria Institution and SMK Kepong Baru are back in shape once again.
Friends, presenting the KL Choir Preliminaries at SMK Cheras, 2007/06/14.
After so much hesitation in the morning - putting on makeup, dressing up and such, I headed to school with a bag of provisions, a cellphone and a headset, some pictures, a pair of shoes and a pair of sandals. Too much. I spent ten minutes frantically looking for the choir members until I realised they were in the canteen.
Seven o' clock struck as we went to the hall for our final round of school vocal training, then it was off to the bus, and off to SMK Cheras. Our two trainers, Joaan and Michele (from Rock City) were with us. Our teacher-advisors, Cik Faridah, Pn See Tho and Pn Chee were with us too. (Honestly, why Pn Chee ? Why not the principal ?) So it was makeup and ribbons and singing the "meatball" song to raise our spirits high. Upon our arrival, we kept our mouths zipped and got down. By then everyone had tied their ribbons. OMG, they were cute !
We took a rather quiet spot - the tennis court - to do our final round of training before the concours started. The groups from Victoria Institution and Kepong Baru happened to watch us. Fine, we may have been rule-breakers for using percussion in the background, but hey - that is, after all, who we are. So we did our final training without moves. We just stood still. With our soloists Naili and Hanna, and our conductor, Lyana, we made a great team.
We adjourned to the hall after all that training, and were waiting like lambs brought to the slaughter for our performance. After three teams had performed, it was our turn. I played. And we moved ! It was bliss, baby ! The other schools, and the judges - I looked at them, and they were shocked ! The chief judge, Edna Wellington, who was also Joaan's lecturer, was open-mouthed. She did not even show negative response ! Meanwhile, after us was the choir from Victoria Institution. They did their two songs - Dirgahayu and their killer song, Jong Jong Inai (Gothic Remix). Feeling confident that they could win us with that ? I'm beginning to think otherwise : they were slightly off. Then some boring teams came past, then, St Mary's school choir. They were good, but sadly, they did not make it into the finals. And I wonder why.....
The last team to perform was SMK Sains Selangor. They were really well-dressed - green glittering baju kurung for the girls (now that is something !) For the second song, the boys had sunnies on. Whoa. And someone from the back row did a slight beatboxing trick - well, it was mostly manipulation of the hi-hat cymbal. Percussion tricks aside, their vocals were atrocious. Enough said. Some thought they would make it to the finals, but I thought otherwise......
In most cases one would catch me drumming on my skirt. I was trying hard to beat out the rhythm while in the hall, otherwise I'd bore myself to death.
So we did get into the finals. Apart from Victoria Institution and Kepong Baru and St Mary (they did not make it), the rest of them were boring. Honestly. I hope the finals are somewhat more interesting.
The head judge's comments were such - watch pitching, watch out for lengthy songs, no breaking core rules (like using double instrument accompaniment, or percussion), look for the X-factor. We were the X-factor, and I truly am proud of our girls.
Friends, presenting the KL Choir Preliminaries at SMK Cheras, 2007/06/14.
After so much hesitation in the morning - putting on makeup, dressing up and such, I headed to school with a bag of provisions, a cellphone and a headset, some pictures, a pair of shoes and a pair of sandals. Too much. I spent ten minutes frantically looking for the choir members until I realised they were in the canteen.
Seven o' clock struck as we went to the hall for our final round of school vocal training, then it was off to the bus, and off to SMK Cheras. Our two trainers, Joaan and Michele (from Rock City) were with us. Our teacher-advisors, Cik Faridah, Pn See Tho and Pn Chee were with us too. (Honestly, why Pn Chee ? Why not the principal ?) So it was makeup and ribbons and singing the "meatball" song to raise our spirits high. Upon our arrival, we kept our mouths zipped and got down. By then everyone had tied their ribbons. OMG, they were cute !
We took a rather quiet spot - the tennis court - to do our final round of training before the concours started. The groups from Victoria Institution and Kepong Baru happened to watch us. Fine, we may have been rule-breakers for using percussion in the background, but hey - that is, after all, who we are. So we did our final training without moves. We just stood still. With our soloists Naili and Hanna, and our conductor, Lyana, we made a great team.
We adjourned to the hall after all that training, and were waiting like lambs brought to the slaughter for our performance. After three teams had performed, it was our turn. I played. And we moved ! It was bliss, baby ! The other schools, and the judges - I looked at them, and they were shocked ! The chief judge, Edna Wellington, who was also Joaan's lecturer, was open-mouthed. She did not even show negative response ! Meanwhile, after us was the choir from Victoria Institution. They did their two songs - Dirgahayu and their killer song, Jong Jong Inai (Gothic Remix). Feeling confident that they could win us with that ? I'm beginning to think otherwise : they were slightly off. Then some boring teams came past, then, St Mary's school choir. They were good, but sadly, they did not make it into the finals. And I wonder why.....
The last team to perform was SMK Sains Selangor. They were really well-dressed - green glittering baju kurung for the girls (now that is something !) For the second song, the boys had sunnies on. Whoa. And someone from the back row did a slight beatboxing trick - well, it was mostly manipulation of the hi-hat cymbal. Percussion tricks aside, their vocals were atrocious. Enough said. Some thought they would make it to the finals, but I thought otherwise......
In most cases one would catch me drumming on my skirt. I was trying hard to beat out the rhythm while in the hall, otherwise I'd bore myself to death.
So we did get into the finals. Apart from Victoria Institution and Kepong Baru and St Mary (they did not make it), the rest of them were boring. Honestly. I hope the finals are somewhat more interesting.
The head judge's comments were such - watch pitching, watch out for lengthy songs, no breaking core rules (like using double instrument accompaniment, or percussion), look for the X-factor. We were the X-factor, and I truly am proud of our girls.
From left : Sabrina, Lyana and Farah Hanna.
Intan and me. See, the purple colour is so horrendous, in my poor camera it comes out blue.
The choir from VI performing. And my, how my insides burned with fury !The five schools who made it into the finals were us, the Victorians, Kepong Baru, Wangsa Melawati and Sri Sentosa (the last two were lacklustre in my opinion. So it's between us, the Victorians, and Kepong Baru.) The finals are on 2007/06/21 - the day of the Fête de la Musique - the international music gig. So celebrate music, celebrate choir finals, faites de la musique, FM 2007. See you at SMK Puteri Ampang !
This is the choir from SMK St Mary. I was particularly interested in them, so I took a shot of them. It's sad that they didn't make it to the finals ; I felt that they had good vocals. 
And this one's from SMK Sains Selangor. Yes, the one that attempted the minor beatboxing trick.
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