Sunday, October 19, 2008
@1:30 PM
Da Capo 08
While playing the medley in the concert, I was overwhelmed by the beautiful memories the wind symphony shared with Mr Tan during the past 2 years, particularly how he brought the band to this great height with his music passion and inspirations.
I always looked forward to every rehearsal and concert under the tutelage of Mr Tan, even if it means to sacrifice my late classes occasionally in order not to disrupt the practice sessions. Band rehearsals with him are nothing less than challenging ourselves constantly, with great music compositions and transcriptions like Poema Alpestre, Pictures in the Exhibition, Merry Wives of Windsor, Planet Earth and Extreme Makeover.
At the end of each rehearsal, more importantly, I would take away with me some priceless learning pointers he shared generously with us. Some of these include:
“A piece of music is not about playing it fast or slow, loud or soft, but rather, whether it is played interestingly.” He would then quote the example of a famous conductor who conducted Vienna Philharmonic on “Beethoven’s Symphony No.8” at a tempo half of Allegro, yet he made the piece came alive.
His favourite quote of “music is created in between the notes.”
“Air is free. Breathe in as much as you can and exploit it.” He quoted this from Arnold Jacob, encouraging us to play good and broad tone.
“When a composer writes a piece, he has the right to ask for the best soloistic players to perform the solo parts well. So it’s not about giving chance (to people who’s not skilful enough to play solo). The fact is that when they’re in the band, they’re already given the opportunity to play in it.”
“When the note is not in tune, always suspect that you are the one who go out of tune.” I particularly like this quote cos’ it taught me an important lesson in life that when things go awry, one should not always put the blame on others, but instead, self-reflect.
Though I’m sad that Mr Tan’s leaving the wind symphony, I feel happy for him that he’s going overseas to upgrade himself musically. I wish him all the best in his doctorate studies in US.
Yearn for the days of innocence
