To Hell And Back Again -- A Hobbit's Tale
Not quite A Nightmare on Elmstreet but emotionally near enough that! Yes, the CircleSong performances are finally over and I breathe a deep, grateful, sigh of relief.
Some of you know I started rehearsing for this about three weeks back. Well, this then is the full story in short.
Apparently auditions for CircleSong began sometime late first quarter or early second quarter and rehearsals began sometime in June or July I think. Since then people dropped out of the group. A rather leaky bucket led to the conductor, Melvin Ho, sending out an email that I took to be a cry for help.
Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I responded in the affirmative and turned up ditifully at the next rehearsal. And then the nightmare began for me.
It really isn't that I am unappreciative of experimentation or modern forms of art. It's just that well some stuff I see and hear and I like and some I do not. Well, not everyone likes squid and what is meat for one man may end up poisoning his neighbour after all.
Melvin arranged us into the traditional choir groupings of SATB (Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses). However, while I have for as long as I can remember been a Tenor (and was sorted that way by Yap Cheng Mei when I joined the Phil all those years ago), Melvin had me put into the Bass section -- we didn't have anyone in the Bass section at that time. And so from upper tenor (no I am not even a Baritone) I had to go all the way down to bass.
Melvin had explained that CircleSong was about using our voices and bodies as music. There was some direction from the conductor who would go around from section to section (SATB) providing musical passages which the respective section would then repeat until the passage was changed. Okay so far.
He also said that from time to time he would choose an individual from the choir to come out from his/her place and do a sponaneous solo accompanied by the rest of the voi-ce-stra (voice orchestra). Got it.
He said that with this he could produce any type of sound -- Jazz, Rock and Roll, Gothic Chants, Tribal Sounds, Celtic etc etc. Nice I thought. But when we started it all seemed just one aboriginal tribal chant after another and worse when the soloists went out it seemed like they were wailing screaming banshees! My hair stood on end, my heart sank and I thought to my self, well old boy, you've really got yourself into a pickle now haven't you.
With excitement and enthusiasm Melvin turned to me and asked, "So does this make you feel like this is so terribly wonderful and creative and I wish I could do more of this or does it make you feel like shit this is scary, hate it and I wish I didn't have to do it"? Number two I replied getting a "huh" from Melvin. Well, I said, you gave me two choices and I chose the latter of the two. But it's okay Melvin, I said, I've been through the Malaysian education system, and have been trained to do things I do not like. So like a trooper, I plodded on.
Just after the second rehearsal, however, the chickenpox hit. I hope you get well enough to be at next weeks rehearsals, Melvin said. Melvin! I exclaimed, it's chickenpox. I'm going to be knocked out for weeks. I don't think I can make the show, I said. Let's hope you recover before then. And of course Melvin did check in on me from time to time.
Well I thought if they want me that much I had better make an effort to get better fast. Although, truth to tell, I would much rather have been lazing at home and sitting this particular production out. Anyways, with help from Aunty Marsha and Uncle Lee who were wonderful enough to get me a whole bagful of Acasia leaves (Golden Wattle), and the tanin tea bath's I got out of those leaves, I managed to make the second of the four performances -- that was at The Annexe Central Market, 29th of September. After the show, a member of the public approached us and wanted to know if we were all of us from East Malaysia. You know, land of the orang Asli. The performances on the 22nd and 29th were free public shows out in the open. The next two would be at The Actors Studio theatre in Bangsar.
On Monday the 1st of October the day of the 3rd performance, I went there early i.e. 3pm and about 6 or 7 pm Alain turns up with the ticket cum program sheet for the evening. I helped in folding those A4 sized sheets into the A5 sized program. At one point I casually glanced at the cast list and noticed that my name was left out. There was another guy who didn't turn up at all whose name was in the cast list. Ah well, this isn't the first time the Selangor Phil has done this to me.
Anyways the performance started and the audience trickled in (not the other way around), and we did what we were directed to do. I saw looks of puzzlement and consternation on the faces of some members of the audience and at one point two people got up and walked out.
There was a part where audience participation was solicited and a member of the audience was called on to direct the voi-ce-stra. He had, he modestly said into the microphone, some musical training. He then proceeded to direct us through what for me was the most beautiful piece that evening, a R&B type piece. This, I thought, was what we ought to have been doing. What good giving us examples of Bobby McFerrin, Enya, Enigma etc to take home and study when all we turn out is banshee shrieking accompanied by Red Indian medicine men.
The second night went better and again the members of the public called on to come up and conduct us, helped give our program more colour and shine than it had. But it is all over now and I am glad for the experience, as I am glad for any experience. I do not think I want to do another thing like this, though. If this is what experimentation is going to be like, I think I'll stick to Opera, Musical Theatre and Broadway thank you very much!
Some of you know I started rehearsing for this about three weeks back. Well, this then is the full story in short.
Apparently auditions for CircleSong began sometime late first quarter or early second quarter and rehearsals began sometime in June or July I think. Since then people dropped out of the group. A rather leaky bucket led to the conductor, Melvin Ho, sending out an email that I took to be a cry for help.
Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I responded in the affirmative and turned up ditifully at the next rehearsal. And then the nightmare began for me.
It really isn't that I am unappreciative of experimentation or modern forms of art. It's just that well some stuff I see and hear and I like and some I do not. Well, not everyone likes squid and what is meat for one man may end up poisoning his neighbour after all.
Melvin arranged us into the traditional choir groupings of SATB (Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses). However, while I have for as long as I can remember been a Tenor (and was sorted that way by Yap Cheng Mei when I joined the Phil all those years ago), Melvin had me put into the Bass section -- we didn't have anyone in the Bass section at that time. And so from upper tenor (no I am not even a Baritone) I had to go all the way down to bass.
Melvin had explained that CircleSong was about using our voices and bodies as music. There was some direction from the conductor who would go around from section to section (SATB) providing musical passages which the respective section would then repeat until the passage was changed. Okay so far.
He also said that from time to time he would choose an individual from the choir to come out from his/her place and do a sponaneous solo accompanied by the rest of the voi-ce-stra (voice orchestra). Got it.
He said that with this he could produce any type of sound -- Jazz, Rock and Roll, Gothic Chants, Tribal Sounds, Celtic etc etc. Nice I thought. But when we started it all seemed just one aboriginal tribal chant after another and worse when the soloists went out it seemed like they were wailing screaming banshees! My hair stood on end, my heart sank and I thought to my self, well old boy, you've really got yourself into a pickle now haven't you.
With excitement and enthusiasm Melvin turned to me and asked, "So does this make you feel like this is so terribly wonderful and creative and I wish I could do more of this or does it make you feel like shit this is scary, hate it and I wish I didn't have to do it"? Number two I replied getting a "huh" from Melvin. Well, I said, you gave me two choices and I chose the latter of the two. But it's okay Melvin, I said, I've been through the Malaysian education system, and have been trained to do things I do not like. So like a trooper, I plodded on.
Just after the second rehearsal, however, the chickenpox hit. I hope you get well enough to be at next weeks rehearsals, Melvin said. Melvin! I exclaimed, it's chickenpox. I'm going to be knocked out for weeks. I don't think I can make the show, I said. Let's hope you recover before then. And of course Melvin did check in on me from time to time.
Well I thought if they want me that much I had better make an effort to get better fast. Although, truth to tell, I would much rather have been lazing at home and sitting this particular production out. Anyways, with help from Aunty Marsha and Uncle Lee who were wonderful enough to get me a whole bagful of Acasia leaves (Golden Wattle), and the tanin tea bath's I got out of those leaves, I managed to make the second of the four performances -- that was at The Annexe Central Market, 29th of September. After the show, a member of the public approached us and wanted to know if we were all of us from East Malaysia. You know, land of the orang Asli. The performances on the 22nd and 29th were free public shows out in the open. The next two would be at The Actors Studio theatre in Bangsar.
On Monday the 1st of October the day of the 3rd performance, I went there early i.e. 3pm and about 6 or 7 pm Alain turns up with the ticket cum program sheet for the evening. I helped in folding those A4 sized sheets into the A5 sized program. At one point I casually glanced at the cast list and noticed that my name was left out. There was another guy who didn't turn up at all whose name was in the cast list. Ah well, this isn't the first time the Selangor Phil has done this to me.
Anyways the performance started and the audience trickled in (not the other way around), and we did what we were directed to do. I saw looks of puzzlement and consternation on the faces of some members of the audience and at one point two people got up and walked out.
There was a part where audience participation was solicited and a member of the audience was called on to direct the voi-ce-stra. He had, he modestly said into the microphone, some musical training. He then proceeded to direct us through what for me was the most beautiful piece that evening, a R&B type piece. This, I thought, was what we ought to have been doing. What good giving us examples of Bobby McFerrin, Enya, Enigma etc to take home and study when all we turn out is banshee shrieking accompanied by Red Indian medicine men.
The second night went better and again the members of the public called on to come up and conduct us, helped give our program more colour and shine than it had. But it is all over now and I am glad for the experience, as I am glad for any experience. I do not think I want to do another thing like this, though. If this is what experimentation is going to be like, I think I'll stick to Opera, Musical Theatre and Broadway thank you very much!