9th RIVA DEL GARDA INTERNATIONAL CHOIR COMPETITION;
Account of Events I Participated for 3 Days10th April 2006, MondayDay
4. Riva del Garda.
1 day to the moment of truth! Haha... but for today, the sound check is our first priority.
After a hearty typical Italian hotel breakfast, we proceeded for combined at a cellar at the basement of our hotel. The acoustics there were not bad, thus I was worried about the choir's performance. Would they be complacent?
Miss Tham made us do stretching! Even though it was
excruciatingly painful, we adopted the slogan "pain is good" & kept repeating it throughout the practice. Haha! Poor Miss Tham though.
Well, I thought combined was okay. It probably wasn't our best, but Miss Tham did mention that everything would affect us. The cold; we’re tired after days of traveling, but I guess we have to...
GET OVER IT. NO EXCUSES.We couldn't rehearse Nightmare as there wasn't a piano available, so we had to make to do with Miss Tham giving us the chords from the piano for parts that we had to come in for.
I don't know about the rest of the choir, but I definitely could feel tension in the air. The walk to the Palazzo Congressi (which is the competition ground; & I figure its "Congress Plaza" or something similar in Italian) did calm us down somewhat. The picturesque scenery was indeed breathtaking! The lake seemed like a gigantic piece of flowing glass & when the sun shone down, it looked as if myriads of diamonds were playing on the lake. I couldn't believe my eyes. Besides the ice-capped mountains and the lake, most of us were fawning over the ducks and swans which are a rare sight in Singapore.
View of Lago di Garda. (: Isn't it pretty?Once inside the Palazzo Congressi, the teachers did their best to calm us down from our adrenaline rush previously. This is crucial, as it is the one and only time we get to rehearse in the competition grounds. Besides, dhschoir is known to go out of tune when they are nervous or high.
Thereafter, somebody led us into the area outside the competition hall. Everything Miss Tham had gone through previously: phrase endings; where to breathe & where
not to breathe; dynamics etc were running through my brain. & even though we would be facing an empty hall, the choir's nerves were evident. We were breathing wrongly; the sound produced just didn't sound right. But there's no turning back: we don't get any chances on stage. Not a single one. Plus when it came to my turn to say the opening line for "Nightmare", I made the same mistake as I did during the concert! Instead of "to care for a country is not always to be seen to praise..." I said, "To care for a country is not only to be seen to praise". After the entire sound check, even my juniors commented that I said the line without feeling, unlike other practices. No, I cannot let fear overcome me!
After 10 minutes, it was all over. It was now time to roam the idyllic town of Riva del Garda before heading back to the hotel to do some work.
Lunch was an interesting affair as I led my group into a restaurant for pasta, then shopping! :D but none of us really had any mood to shop. )x All too soon, we had to return to the hotel.
Mini-sectionals led by Miss Tham was extremely useful. The sopranos and altos managed to learn some useful techniques to conquer the most obvious weaknesses and all of us revised each song in detail. After the guys' sectionals, all of us went back down to the basement for combined. Unfortunately, fatigue got the better of us and Miss Tham decided to let us go to bed instead.
11th April 2006, TuesdayDay
5. Riva del Garda.
Competition Day!
Funny how people can get carried away doing unimportant stuff when the most important thing is extremely imminent. This occurred to me while I was rushing downstairs for breakfast, as I was worrying about the cold, whether or not my pitchpipe would go sharp, and how would I look on stage holding my pitchpipe? when obviously the most important task at hand was to go down for breakfast, come up and change into competition attire, then go down for the final practice before the moment of truth.
Miss Tham with the sopranos before the competition!During the final practice, I remember being very nervous and jumpy, causing my high notes to be a little strained. I didn't give my 100% as I was afraid of losing my already injured voice. As a result, I simply breathed more and sang less vigorously. Also, I felt that going through important points of a song during sectionals was good as it helped me remember the things that I usually forget.
It started raining before the competition! While some of us were worried about getting to the competition ground, the teachers took care of it by arranging transport for us. (: Thank you!
Once at the competition ground, we gathered in the same place 24 hours ago and continued concentrating on the competition: the pieces we had to emphasize, the bars, dynamics, pronunciation etc. Before we knew it, we were led to the holding area where we did stretching exercises and simple warmups, all of us with just one thing in mind: it is barely a few minutes to the competition!
When it was our turn, we gathered outside the competition hall while VJC choir queued up outside to support us. I was rather encouraged by their appearance and was even quite amused when one adjudicator came out, caught my eye, and actually
winked at me! I then gathered my composure, said a silent prayer under my breath, and walked into the competition hall with all the confidence I could muster.
I know this sounds kind of cliched, but everything else seemed to melt away on stage. I remember blowing the note for Teresica Hermana on my pitchpipe, and that was it! It's SHOWTIME.
In retrospect, I thought Teresica Hermana wasn't bad. It definitely wasn't our best, but it was close! Even Miss Tham felt as if she was transported to Spain when we embarked on the last part of the song. It sounded rather musical and the blending was not too bad. Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder, on the other hand, felt quite weird. Personally, I did not dare to sing at full volume as I was quite aware the choir had gone out of tune. However, I did my best to keep together with the choir. Admittedly, I was rather relieved when the song was over. Nightmare was, in many ways, a "beautiful disaster". I thought it was not bad in the beginning, but as we progressed into the song, we started rushing and pitching problems arose. Another factor which contributed to the pitching problem was that none of us could hear the piano even though Zixuan played beautifully. Therefore I feel that under those circumstances, Nightmare could have been much worse, but DHS choir kept its cool and did not break down in the middle of the song. We definitely did not deliver our best version of Xuan, but we showed signs of improvement compared to the version we performed at our concert.
All in all, I felt extremely proud of DHS choir as our seniors from VJC choir came over to congratulate us after we got offstage. Compared to a year ago, the choir has grown to love what they're doing and put their 100% in it. We have progressed from taking 1 month to learn an easy piece like Teresica Hermana to learning Xuan, a comparatively more difficult song, in approximately the same amount of time. From singing out of tune in quartet position, we have grown to attaining a Silver Award while standing in quartet position on an international stage. I smile at the work we've done and pat everyone on the back.
That night, we managed to watch a few good choirs perform at the church Chiesa Santa Maria Assunta. Some of them were quite entertaining while others were absolutely smashing! I couldn't wait for the Grand Prize competition to watch other good choirs compete against each other.
12th April 2006, Wednesday
Day 6. Riva del Garda.
Today, we watched VJC choir compete in the Mixed Youth Choir category of the competition. Personally, I was rather confident of them winning this category as they are known to sing well. Extremely well. As a result, I looked forward to their performance.
After their competition, we were allowed to roam the town of Riva del Garda for awhile. We took this chance to take a boat out to Lago di Garda! The scenery was indeed breathtaking and I couldn't believe my eyes.
View of Lago di Garda from the boat. I simply love the town of Riva del Garda! Don't you?
Louis and me in the boat. (:
The chilly wind was extremely refreshing and for once I didn't mind being in the cold. Even though we had to battle waves from other oncoming ships, all of us had lots of fun trying to combine different songs while in the boat. Haha! Imagine spotting 2 boats bobbing in the large lake while hearing 7 voices sticking out of nowhere. That's exactly what happened.
While walking around the town of Riva, we also met our VJC choir seniors! Of course, we took the opportunity to congratulate them and give them some comments on their performance earlier in the day.
Zhou Chu, me, J.Gan, Louis and Chun Long! x)
At night, we headed to the Auditorium Chiesa San Giuseppe where the Grand Final competition was held. The winner of each category went up, gave their all, in the hope of getting the Grand Prize - a great honour since this competition is visited by top European choirs. In the end, the Victoria Junior College Choir outshone the rest by winning both the Audience Prize and the Grand Prize. They were the first Asian choir to win the Grand Prize, and yet garnered a standing ovation from the entire Auditorium after their performance of Ashita, a Japanese song, and Bin-na-ma.
Flushed, high, excited and overjoyed at the prospect of a Singaporean choir winning the coveted title of the Grand Prize, the Dunman High School choir retired to their hotel for a night of talking, gossip, and rest in preparation for the journey that awaits them the next morning.
And that concludes the account of events which I have participated for 3 days in the beautiful town of Riva del Garda which I miss so much now.
WRITE-UPS ;
In this section, you shall be exploring:
-my appraisal of the culture, food, architecture and art of Italy
-my impressions of Italy before & after the trip
-what the trip meant for me
-what were my personal objectives and whether I have met them
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The culture, architecture, food and art of Italy.
People in Italy are generally friendly, but most of us are warned of pickpockets who pretend to be friendly with you in order to rob you of your valuables. Most of them are also rather considerate, as we don't find litter on the floor. Seldom do we find people spitting everywhere too.
Most of the people are kind and are willing to lend a helping hand whenever we need it. For example, I wanted to buy a shirt in Riva del Garda for a friend, but could not find a smaller size to fit him. As the shopkeeper could not speak English, she kept apologising profusely while
attempting to explain what she meant. Even though it took quite laborious efforts, I felt that she was sincere in helping me, and not merely trying to generate business from this customer of hers. As a result, I left the shop a happy customer with what I wanted, and most imporantly, with a happy shopping experience.
On the contrary, in Singapore, most customer service staff wouldn't bother going to such lengths to help a single customer get what they want, especially if they cannot communicate with him/her. This is one point I feel that the culture in Singapore is lacking in.
Singaporeans' impression of Italian food is quite different compared to the authentic version we tried in Italy. This is especially so on the first so when most of us tried squid ink pasta for the first time! Also, the pizza and pasta in Singapore is very different. Over in Italy, the pizza is wood-fired and has a very thin crust. They are also
very generous with their ingredients, unlike pizzas in Singapore with thick, bread-y crusts which really spoil the taste. In Singapore, the pasta used is "instant pasta" which is readily available in supermarkets. In Italy, however, the pasta is handmade! As a result, the pasta retains its original taste without compromising on texture. Many
are also mistaken about Italy food being all pasta and pizza. In actual fact, pastas are served as the appetiser dish! The main courses can be meat, fish and veal, among others. Italian food isn't monotonous at all and I think I don't mind eating Italian food for the rest of my life.
Oh, talking about food, did you know that ice-cream was invented in Italy? It is called gelato and originated from a city called Florence.
Contrary to my ignorance, the architecture and art in Italy is the most intricate I have ever seen. This can be seen through the unique blend of different cultures. A building which illustrates this point clearly is the St Mark's Church in Venice. The creative use of glass mosaics to decorate the church allows art to transcend through many generations, leaving a lasting impression
on everyone who visits it.
St Mark's Church in Venice
Another worthy point to note is that each city has their unique architectural traits. Venices' buildings are built about it's waterways, whereas the architecture in Rome has the city-dweller in mind. All in all, I feel that the art and architecture in Italy reflects the character of their people as arty citizens and will continue to bridge people all over the world in years to come.
My impression of Italy before and after the trip
Admittedly, before I went on this Italy trip, I thought that Italy would be a cosmopolitan city with many skyscrapers and cars emitting poisonous fumes, thus choking the entire country. To my pleasant surprise, not only was the air in Venice very clean, the whole country was infused with such rich culture that I felt immersed in an entire explosion of artistic values.
I also thought that I would be consuming pasta and pizza every single day, hence my decision to bring cup noodles. It didn't help very much that days before the Italy trip, I watched a video on how rude Italian people can be.
Contrary to all my presumptions, Italian food, as I mentioned earlier, is extremely diverse. I managed to savour different kinds of Italian food and thoroughly enjoyed doing so. I also had fun trying to take good shots out of the wonderful places we visited.
Besides, the trip was made even better by all the Italians whom we encountered. They were friendly to us and I don't think any of us had a bad experience with people in Italy. This is probably what makes Italy such a beautiful country and makes people want to visit it again and again.
What the trip meant for me
As a Year 4 student, the trip was indeed a privilege for me. The trip, in many ways, marks the end of 4 years in Dunman High School as a chorister. While I am sad to leave, I am glad to have seen the choir grow and mature during the Italy trip, and I will wish DHS choir all the best.
This trip also helped me remember the times which DHS choir struggled: after a bad fall during SYF'o3 and yet another experience in Genting, with us attaining a Silver C award, Musical Promenade when everything seemed so uncertain, SYF'o5 when all of us, including our conductor then, Miss Michelle Poh, thought that we were resigned to a Silver, and so many more. It made me look back
and realize we've actually come this far, to a foreign land shaped like a boot, and perform. How lucky my juniors were! But all my past experiences kept me grounded as I went in search of what the choir could do and will do on stage. As such, this trip holds alot of meaning to me.
Also, I'm very sure this Italy trip will bring back fond memories of the fun times (and not so fun times?) I had with DHS choir when I further my studies in Australia next year. As much as I hate to admit it, this trip has indeed made me love DHS choir even more and it has left an indelible scar in my memory.
My personal objectives and whether they have been met
My personal objectives for this Italy trip were:
-to tour a part of Europe
-to compete on a true international stage
-to bring glory to the school and the country
-to learn from top European choirs
-to improve my choral singing
-to bond with the choir
-to have fun and enjoy myself!
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I am very glad to have been given this opportunity to tour a part of Europe with my friends and do what I do best at the same time - sing!
Indeed, I think I have managed to fulfil most, if not all, of my personal objectives for the Italy trip. To be given the chance to perform and compete on a true international stage is something that every chorister would ask for, and I managed to do it, garnering a Silver 5 award for Dunman High School Choir, hailing from a tiny island thousands of miles away called Singapore.
I feel immensely proud to achieve something note-worthy in the choral world! In many ways, the Silver doesn't matter anymore. The choir has won by improving and doing well enough for that mere 15 minutes on stage. The choir now knows that they have to fight and work hard for whatever they want, instead of going on and on about wanting it and yet no action is carried out.
We have learnt to have to live up to our maximum potential for each practice and in this way, we have brought glory to the school. This shows the resilience of Singapore citizens and our never-say-die spirit!
From this trip, I have been given the chance to observe many top choirs from Europe, which would not have been the case had I chosen to stay in Singapore instead. They have given me an insight on what being a top chorister, not just singer, should be like, and I feel every chorister should learn from them. This is vital in choral singing as we can never be satisfied with what we have and rest on our laurels, or we will slip back into uncertainty once again, as we did 3 years ago.
By learning the 4 songs we performed on stage, my voice has improved, albeit not tremendously. Previously, I could only produce the "round tone" that was very nice to blend with, but wasn't suitable for every song. Now, I can change the tone of my voice to suit the song. My high notes also sound better, thanks to the techniques Miss Tham taught us during the course of the preparation for the competition.
Of course, the choir has bonded in many ways. How else could a group of 30 people laugh, joke, each, drink and crap 24/7 for 10 days? Inevitably, new friendships were forged, old friendships rekindled, and many new memories were written during the 10 days in Italy. I can never forget the times when I crapped with Weirui until 2 in the morning, when all of us clambered into a paddleboat in Riva del Garda, when DHS choir, unsure of what was going to happen, suddenly started belting out Mamayog Akun and Iddem-dem Mallida in the middle of Riva del Garda, the whole choir singing "Happy Birthday" in harmony for Jonathan's sweet sixteenth...
and so many more that is impossible to list down. As the choir bonds, I certainly hope that they will take each other through times, both good and bad, leaving their mark on DHS choir as our seniors did.
Last but not least, I feel that I have enjoyed myself and had lots of fun during the Italy trip! My faith in God has strengthened as He proved to me time and again that His presence is real, and I love being a part of the Italy choir. No matter what our seniors say, I feel that this Italy trip can only mark the beginning of a fantabulous choir to come!
I will never forget the times I have spent with the Italy choir and I most certainly have absolutely no regrets going to Italy, doing my best, and singing my heart out for my one and only passion: DHS choir.
