Cai Na speaks CO yet again
I remember May last year Mao said to all of us before SYF we're aiming for showcase - and showcase will be our (my batch pple's) last performance. After that, like Zhixuan always used to say, I can pack all my CO stuff and close the lid on them. I liked her way of putting it, coz if everything I experienced in CO can be gathered and put into one box and I can close its lid without letting any of them escape, I can open the lid any time to see all of them right there, smiling at me like they have never left me at all.
HCCO's Da Di Hui Chun was magnificent during showcase. :) During one of the mph pracs before that we (dizi) were quite astounded coz it sounded so much better than SYF. Unbelievable eh, since SYF's already so impressive. But seriously, within 8 minutes there's only so much an orchestra can play with, and with Wei Lao's usually very dramatic decrease in speed at emo parts it simply couldn't suffice. Without the time limit, it feels there's enough room to expand everything in the piece to their rightful extent.
That's what HCCO is actually - we feel the songs there and then on stage, emo with them, and take our time playing the notes that speak our feelings and cherishing those moments that are meaningful both to the self and the audience. And what beats looking just a little sideways to find the next person doing exactly the same thing!
So back in CO once again after a year since I last touched my dizis, I'm glad I could find my old feelings for HCCO while gathering new ones with new juniors. :) Thank you all for asking me back juniors, coz I had secretly wished for the chance to perform with an orchestra on stage again - for the glamour and high-ness I admit, but more for the FLOW.
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FLOW - from Wikipedia
Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields
Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following as accompanying an experience of flow:
Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.
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One can experience all of the above in CO. :) I did, and it felt really nice coz it's a break from the apparent bleakness in studies (inbalance between abilities and challenges imposed by disgusting block tests etc and therefore obviously an absence of sense of reward), incomprehensible social relationships (lack of personal control over situation and suffocating self-consciousness) and the fact action awareness merging do not happen frequently enough for things like Chem Tutorials etc to be satisfying at all.
:)
For many songs we're playing this year, there's actually a lot to listen out for. Shouhao put it very nicely one pep talk before SYF: there's something to be impressed about every practice if you care to listen out for them. It may be a solo (like Qi Yu's solos in Shui Mo or Song Sim's in Da Di), or a section (like Xianyue emo part in Da Di again), or a well-executed intertwining of melody by several, or even well-hidden yet aboslutely orienting beats by Percussion that keep the music on track. And when one listens out for all these, perhaps self-consciousness would cease to be an issue, and Wei Lao's rather mystic "look at my pai zi" that often leads people nowhere else than a muddy puddle of uncertainty would start to make sense muchly.
3 and a half more days everyone! Maybe it's time to consolidate and brush up on stuff rather than just following practices as they go along. Feel the songs and think how one can contribute one's unique and indispensible part to establishing and maintaining the balance in The Voice of HCCO. It's quite amazing actually, that the blending and complementing of distinctive sounds from each different instrument gives the feeling of a whole - one voice - instead of a sum of separate parts. It is exactly the point of an Orchestra.
Jiayou bah people!
<3 HCCO - You always make me :)
HCCO's Da Di Hui Chun was magnificent during showcase. :) During one of the mph pracs before that we (dizi) were quite astounded coz it sounded so much better than SYF. Unbelievable eh, since SYF's already so impressive. But seriously, within 8 minutes there's only so much an orchestra can play with, and with Wei Lao's usually very dramatic decrease in speed at emo parts it simply couldn't suffice. Without the time limit, it feels there's enough room to expand everything in the piece to their rightful extent.
That's what HCCO is actually - we feel the songs there and then on stage, emo with them, and take our time playing the notes that speak our feelings and cherishing those moments that are meaningful both to the self and the audience. And what beats looking just a little sideways to find the next person doing exactly the same thing!
So back in CO once again after a year since I last touched my dizis, I'm glad I could find my old feelings for HCCO while gathering new ones with new juniors. :) Thank you all for asking me back juniors, coz I had secretly wished for the chance to perform with an orchestra on stage again - for the glamour and high-ness I admit, but more for the FLOW.
=====
FLOW - from Wikipedia
Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields
Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following as accompanying an experience of flow:
- Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities).
- Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
- A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
- Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.
- Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
- Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
- A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
- The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
- People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.
Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.
=====
One can experience all of the above in CO. :) I did, and it felt really nice coz it's a break from the apparent bleakness in studies (inbalance between abilities and challenges imposed by disgusting block tests etc and therefore obviously an absence of sense of reward), incomprehensible social relationships (lack of personal control over situation and suffocating self-consciousness) and the fact action awareness merging do not happen frequently enough for things like Chem Tutorials etc to be satisfying at all.
:)
For many songs we're playing this year, there's actually a lot to listen out for. Shouhao put it very nicely one pep talk before SYF: there's something to be impressed about every practice if you care to listen out for them. It may be a solo (like Qi Yu's solos in Shui Mo or Song Sim's in Da Di), or a section (like Xianyue emo part in Da Di again), or a well-executed intertwining of melody by several, or even well-hidden yet aboslutely orienting beats by Percussion that keep the music on track. And when one listens out for all these, perhaps self-consciousness would cease to be an issue, and Wei Lao's rather mystic "look at my pai zi" that often leads people nowhere else than a muddy puddle of uncertainty would start to make sense muchly.
3 and a half more days everyone! Maybe it's time to consolidate and brush up on stuff rather than just following practices as they go along. Feel the songs and think how one can contribute one's unique and indispensible part to establishing and maintaining the balance in The Voice of HCCO. It's quite amazing actually, that the blending and complementing of distinctive sounds from each different instrument gives the feeling of a whole - one voice - instead of a sum of separate parts. It is exactly the point of an Orchestra.
Jiayou bah people!
<3 HCCO - You always make me :)