A.k.a. the last day ...
First thing first - my suitcase finally turned up! Praise the Lord! It was really just hidden behind some curtains. As my suitcase is very dark in color (though with shiny rubber around the pockets), it's not easy to spot. Thanks to those who helped me to recover the case. :-)
Second thing - today is so hot my roommate finally have to give in to the air conditioning. Other than the 2 minutes in one of the afternoons when I wanted some quiet time to pray, we have NOT turned on air conditioning at all until tonight. :-P
Third thing - my new song is finally finished!
Other than the top three pieces of news, all I did today was to relax before the final concert, and played in the final concert. I watched World Cup this morning. I never really follow World Cup, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to watch some when everybody is so into it. I still love hockey the most. LOL
I finally went to A&W today. I say finally because the hotel I live in is right beside an A&W restaurant, and I pass by it everyday as I walk to the complex but I never go in and get food. I craved chubby chicken this afternoon so I went and got some. The chicken was juicy. Yummmmm ...
Two girls from Jehovah's Witnesses approached me as I sat outside of the complex on a bench before the concert. These people always come in pairs and out of nowhere! Interestingly, they were holding two of their magazines in Chinese language when they approached me. I guess they put magazines in different languages in their car, and when they see a target, they will take whatever that fits into that person's cultural background. Anyways, I just simply turn them down.
I was soaking wet while I played at the concert tonight. Not because I was very active, but because the venue was screaming hot. I feel bad for the guys who have to wear tuxedos! Of course it didn't take away any enthusiasm from the audience. They were so stoked when Dvorak 9 was finished. Too bad I didn't get to play the timpani part again. I know that part really well because I have played in many rehearsals of this piece previously. But somehow I never end up playing this part at a concert. Will I ever get to? If God ever gives me a chance, I would like to play the timpani parts for Dvorak 9 and Beethoven 9 in a concert setting. Well, we'll see.
I will write a conclusion tomorrow because that's when I depart.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Powell River, Day 16
Not much to talk about today other than the Kathaumixw Gala Opening Concert tonight.
About two dozens of choirs from all over the world (i.e. Philippines, Uganda, Finland, etc.) gathered around the Great Hall tonight for the opening of this international choral festival. I never imagine a small town can host such a big event! SOAP was of course part of this wonderful event. It's an amazing experience to see people from different countries singing songs in their languages and that show part of their cultures. Apparently dancing along the tune is essential for the Uganda choir!
Once again, I must praise the Lord for creating music. It pulls people together. I hope all musicians, if you have not known the Creator already, would get to know the true Creator of this universal language!
About two dozens of choirs from all over the world (i.e. Philippines, Uganda, Finland, etc.) gathered around the Great Hall tonight for the opening of this international choral festival. I never imagine a small town can host such a big event! SOAP was of course part of this wonderful event. It's an amazing experience to see people from different countries singing songs in their languages and that show part of their cultures. Apparently dancing along the tune is essential for the Uganda choir!
Once again, I must praise the Lord for creating music. It pulls people together. I hope all musicians, if you have not known the Creator already, would get to know the true Creator of this universal language!
Monday, July 05, 2010
Powell River, Day 15
My suitcase still hasn't turned up yet. Hopefully it will soon. :-P
The percussionists start to know about the missing of my suitcase (I didn't really talk about it). They are all very eager to let me borrow their mallets. Thanks for your kindness, fellows! :-) I still feel quite faithful at this point (though sometimes I am a little worried about its whereabouts); I believe God has all things under control.
Today was easy for me in terms of playing. New ideas for my song and next step of my life kicked in. Of course I am quite stoked with the progress with my new song, but with the life issue ... I will have to mull things over a little more.
We had an early dismissal from the afternoon rehearsal. It's good that the conductor has so much confidence in us. But ... Wednesday, which is two days later, will be the performance time! Are you really sure that we are ready? To kill time before dinner, I went to the beach with a couple of friends. Again.
3 more days. Honestly speaking, I am not ready to go home yet.
The percussionists start to know about the missing of my suitcase (I didn't really talk about it). They are all very eager to let me borrow their mallets. Thanks for your kindness, fellows! :-) I still feel quite faithful at this point (though sometimes I am a little worried about its whereabouts); I believe God has all things under control.
Today was easy for me in terms of playing. New ideas for my song and next step of my life kicked in. Of course I am quite stoked with the progress with my new song, but with the life issue ... I will have to mull things over a little more.
We had an early dismissal from the afternoon rehearsal. It's good that the conductor has so much confidence in us. But ... Wednesday, which is two days later, will be the performance time! Are you really sure that we are ready? To kill time before dinner, I went to the beach with a couple of friends. Again.
3 more days. Honestly speaking, I am not ready to go home yet.
Sunday, July 04, 2010
Powell River, Day 14
My last week of SOAP started with two unfortunate incidents.
First thing in morning I discovered I didn't return one of the percussion ensemble pieces to Bill, who has taken off already after the performance on Friday night. Thank God one of us will see him in the near future so I just handed my music to him.
Second incident is not that easy to resolve. This morning when I went to the rehearsal place, which has changed from one hall to another, I discovered my suitcase of mallets went missing! I wonder how it could happen (how people could misplace) while all I did was putting it on the stage as we did all along? I hope to retrieve it before my next show because it has more than $1000 worth of mallets and instruments in it.
I wasn't mallet-less during the rehearsal though. Of course, I could have just asked my fellow percussionists for mallets, but instead, God provided me some old sticks that were enough to cover all things I needed to cover. God's providence is always great uh? Anyways, I could still ask to borrow other people's because theirs are of better quality.
Other than that, rehearsals aren't all too exciting for us (percussionists) because we have smaller parts this time. We have earlier evenings too.
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1) I will chill for now.
First thing in morning I discovered I didn't return one of the percussion ensemble pieces to Bill, who has taken off already after the performance on Friday night. Thank God one of us will see him in the near future so I just handed my music to him.
Second incident is not that easy to resolve. This morning when I went to the rehearsal place, which has changed from one hall to another, I discovered my suitcase of mallets went missing! I wonder how it could happen (how people could misplace) while all I did was putting it on the stage as we did all along? I hope to retrieve it before my next show because it has more than $1000 worth of mallets and instruments in it.
I wasn't mallet-less during the rehearsal though. Of course, I could have just asked my fellow percussionists for mallets, but instead, God provided me some old sticks that were enough to cover all things I needed to cover. God's providence is always great uh? Anyways, I could still ask to borrow other people's because theirs are of better quality.
Other than that, rehearsals aren't all too exciting for us (percussionists) because we have smaller parts this time. We have earlier evenings too.
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23:1) I will chill for now.
Saturday, July 03, 2010
Powell River, Day 12&13
Again, a beer after the performance last night put me to sleep quickly. Nevertheless, I had a blast yesterday.
I woke up really tired yesterday morning, unfortunately. Then I had a crappy (in my perspective) dress rehearsal. But praise the Lord, the percussion ensemble concert was awesome. I am not encouraging musicians to rely on miracles, but when you do your best, God will indeed do the rest!
Orchestra dress rehearsal immediately followed after concert and lunch because we had another performance the same night. When I had my break from the first piece, I found out that we had a possibility to play an encore. Having an encore wasn't a problem, but unfortunately I left the piece of music the conductor asked for at the hotel. So I walked as quickly as I could to the hotel to get the music. Good thing they rehearsed the Mozart Duo Concerto for quite a long time so I wasn't late for the next piece. :-P
The evening orchestra concert was another wonderful event. I was happy that I played my parts well. At least well enough to make the piece sound good. A woman approached me and said she enjoyed both the percussion and the orchestra concert. It's nice to see a supportive and enthusiastic audience!
This morning I woke up at the usual time - around 7:45am. Boy, why is my biological clock so functional, even on the free day? LOL ... I went back and slept for another hour before I got up. Just like being at home, I had to do laundry on the free day. This time it didn't take too long because I knew exactly what to do first - get the right changes before I even headed to the laundromat! I did some reading while I was waiting for my laundry to get done. I also had a few ideas on the lyrics for my new song. :-)
After laundry, I went out with a Taiwanese girl I met at the camp. We went to Tim's for lunch and then walked around the mall nearby. We also went to the beach and had sushi for dinner.
I wish we have two consecutive days off instead of just one ... I can't believe my break is almost over. :-P
I woke up really tired yesterday morning, unfortunately. Then I had a crappy (in my perspective) dress rehearsal. But praise the Lord, the percussion ensemble concert was awesome. I am not encouraging musicians to rely on miracles, but when you do your best, God will indeed do the rest!
Orchestra dress rehearsal immediately followed after concert and lunch because we had another performance the same night. When I had my break from the first piece, I found out that we had a possibility to play an encore. Having an encore wasn't a problem, but unfortunately I left the piece of music the conductor asked for at the hotel. So I walked as quickly as I could to the hotel to get the music. Good thing they rehearsed the Mozart Duo Concerto for quite a long time so I wasn't late for the next piece. :-P
The evening orchestra concert was another wonderful event. I was happy that I played my parts well. At least well enough to make the piece sound good. A woman approached me and said she enjoyed both the percussion and the orchestra concert. It's nice to see a supportive and enthusiastic audience!
This morning I woke up at the usual time - around 7:45am. Boy, why is my biological clock so functional, even on the free day? LOL ... I went back and slept for another hour before I got up. Just like being at home, I had to do laundry on the free day. This time it didn't take too long because I knew exactly what to do first - get the right changes before I even headed to the laundromat! I did some reading while I was waiting for my laundry to get done. I also had a few ideas on the lyrics for my new song. :-)
After laundry, I went out with a Taiwanese girl I met at the camp. We went to Tim's for lunch and then walked around the mall nearby. We also went to the beach and had sushi for dinner.
I wish we have two consecutive days off instead of just one ... I can't believe my break is almost over. :-P
Thursday, July 01, 2010
Powell River, Day 11
"O Canada! Our home and native land ..."
To celebrate Canada Day and the beginning of HST - Powell River rained heavily today. :-P
The faculty of SOAP has kindly packed our day solid because they know there wouldn't be a lot of things opened in PR in this public holiday. In the first part of the percussion class this morning we ran through the rags for tomorrow's concert. I will be playing the solo part for "Rainbow Ripples". I have not played this piece since I was 1st year undergrad. That's 8 years ago. Boy, it's another of those "favorite number collection" incident (if you wonder what I mean by "favorite number collection", go to this post http://musicmonster47.blogspot.com/2009/04/favorite-number-collection.html) - it took 8 years for it to come back. I am quite amazed that I can put this piece back together in less than a week.
We went to McDonald's today at coffee break because the cafe we usually go to is not opened today. Good thing McD has cheaper tea so it didn't hurt my wallet too much ... :-P After coffee break, Bill went over the pile of timpani excerpts that he photocopied for us. Thanks Bill for providing amazing resources - apparently it cost him $80+ for photocopying everything for us. *bow*
After lunch I again spent some quality time with my lovely snare drum, for I was not needed for the first part of the orchestra rehearsal. It felt good to have some real practice time. We tried to play through Shosty 6 and Capriccio Italien non-stop at the rehearsal but both attempts failed. I wonder if we are even ready for the show tomorrow night.
Speaking of shows, tonight the faculty held another chamber concert. It was of course fabulous. My mind wandered in the second half of the concert though. I am drained after spending more than 12 hours in the same building for the past couple of days. Tomorrow will be another one of those long days. It would be even more tiring given I have two performances ...
Having said that, I should go to bed.
To celebrate Canada Day and the beginning of HST - Powell River rained heavily today. :-P
The faculty of SOAP has kindly packed our day solid because they know there wouldn't be a lot of things opened in PR in this public holiday. In the first part of the percussion class this morning we ran through the rags for tomorrow's concert. I will be playing the solo part for "Rainbow Ripples". I have not played this piece since I was 1st year undergrad. That's 8 years ago. Boy, it's another of those "favorite number collection" incident (if you wonder what I mean by "favorite number collection", go to this post http://musicmonster47.blogspot.com/2009/04/favorite-number-collection.html) - it took 8 years for it to come back. I am quite amazed that I can put this piece back together in less than a week.
We went to McDonald's today at coffee break because the cafe we usually go to is not opened today. Good thing McD has cheaper tea so it didn't hurt my wallet too much ... :-P After coffee break, Bill went over the pile of timpani excerpts that he photocopied for us. Thanks Bill for providing amazing resources - apparently it cost him $80+ for photocopying everything for us. *bow*
After lunch I again spent some quality time with my lovely snare drum, for I was not needed for the first part of the orchestra rehearsal. It felt good to have some real practice time. We tried to play through Shosty 6 and Capriccio Italien non-stop at the rehearsal but both attempts failed. I wonder if we are even ready for the show tomorrow night.
Speaking of shows, tonight the faculty held another chamber concert. It was of course fabulous. My mind wandered in the second half of the concert though. I am drained after spending more than 12 hours in the same building for the past couple of days. Tomorrow will be another one of those long days. It would be even more tiring given I have two performances ...
Having said that, I should go to bed.
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