ACJC Guitar Ensemble 2007

Knock knock

2008-02-22T00:49:00.003+08:00

Hellos ppls! It's been quite a while! I was just reading through our post-SYF posts and well.. It's quite a joy reminiscing through all that! But anyways! How's everyone doing and stuff?

Well I'm rotting and wasting away in KL.. Haha actually not really lah. Continuing with my piano as well as taking up formal lessons for guitar (Finally! Haha..) I'm having the lessons twice a week each - Mon and Thurs for piano, Tues and Fri for guitar (acoustic - starting tmrw- will see how it goes!) On top of that, I have been taking French classes (the LANGUAGE..) I've done 6 out of the 10 lessons and still don't really know what French food is like! =) On top of that, I've also been rostered down to play for church worship (piano) once a month..

So yup! Not too bad right? Haha.. Dad doesn't want me to go work coz he said this will be my last chance to make the best of my free time! Which I find to be quite true lah. So yup! If you do think of anything interesting, suggest it to me! =)

Hope to hear from you guys! =)

slideshow.

2008-01-04T01:30:00.001+08:00

thanks!

2007-12-09T13:42:00.000+08:00

hello j1s!
thx for the lovely dinner the other day during ur camp! that was so kind and thoughtful of u guys to order extra food for us! enjoy the hols and all the best with ur practices! (:
xoxo
nandar

east coast park outing photos

2007-11-29T00:20:00.000+08:00

hey guys east coast park outing photos are here http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w31/acjcguitar/
do add on to the photos if you have (:

to everyone who went for the outing, thanks so much i had a really splendid day (:

j1s have fun at your camp! and you all can start blogging here soon too heh.

Tribute to AC guitar 2007.

2007-11-11T00:51:00.000+08:00

Guitar Camp!

2007-11-05T02:10:00.000+08:00

HEY GUYS!
Any one of you going for guitar camp???!!!! I heard it will be on 3,4,5 Dec. Anyone??

A Level Timetables

2007-10-29T15:03:00.000+08:00

Hellos ppls! Just thought I'd post the exam timetables just for general info and yes! prayers =)
Also OP's will be taking place from 30th till 2nd? Yup yup will be praying for you guys as well.
Let Him lift us all through this period of time, as He did for our SYF. Yays. =)

29 Oct
8-11.15am Chinese H1
2-5.15pm Chinese/Malay Lang H2

30 Oct
2-4pm Physics 3

31 Oct
8-11.30am GP

1 Nov
2-5pm Chinese/Malay Lang H2

2 Nov
8-11am Math 1

5 Nov
8-10am Chem 3
2-5pm Geog H1 (8812)

6 Nov
8-10am Bio 2 (9747/2)
2-5pm Math 2

9Nov
2.30-5pm Math H3

12 Nov
2-3.15pm Physics 2

13 Nov
8-9.30am Chem 2
2-4.15pm Econs 2

14 Nov
2-4.15pm Econs 1

16 Nov
2.30-3.30pm Chem 1

19Nov
8-9.30 Bio 3 (9747/3)

20 Nov
8-9.15am Physics 1

21 Nov
2-4.30pm Pharmaceutical Chem

22 Nov
8-9.15am Bio 1 (9747/1)

26 Nov
8-10.30 Proteomics

Updated pics!

2007-10-23T00:38:00.000+08:00

Hey guys! I've recently uploaded some of our pics from Open House/Outing!

Get them here!

Happy mugging J2's!
Happy practising J1's!

Yays. =)

for you guys to destress..

2007-09-11T19:02:00.001+08:00

ACJC arts reunion 06! =)

OuTiNg ;p

2007-08-31T11:22:00.000+08:00

guys,
this is just the reminder
Outing - 6sept, Thursday, 3pm at City Hall Mrt control station
oPeN hoUse - 8sept, Saturday, Viewing gallery (performance)
hope to see all of you there!
~Nandar~ =)

hey j1s!

2007-08-25T16:41:00.000+08:00

heyhey!

joel here! hope you're all doing fine with the open house preps! how's practices coming along? i guess.. by now.. those new players shld have learnt how to play some songs alr rite? =) jiayou! dont give up ya? (i almost wanted to give up in my early months in guitar cause its just so tough catching up.. if some of you know what i mean).. continue to perserve ya?

know that promos are like a months time..and still got practices.. open house.. tutorials..some of you got more than 1 cca.. i guess its getting alot harder and putting stress on some of you.. when i walk around..i do see j1s look so =/ (hope its not the case for you guys)..

will be praying for you guys..

am anticipating your first performance real soon.. heard that some of you are playing for open house.. but im looking forward to the concert where ALL of you play! =)

to denise.. the new welfare/pr ic.. hope you're getting on with your duties well..need help feel free to sms me k? i guess you shld be doing fine la.. haha..

o.. ya.. and im really envious of you guys..going overseas..to europe somemore! (its still on right?) i shall send u guys off at the airport next year..haha..

wellz..all the best for the coming months..as you juggle guitar, studies and other committments.. i strongly believe that you will grow so much through all these challenges.. even the caterpillar struggles out of its cacoon before it becomes a butterfly =)

take care!

joel.

Ways to escape from stress for a while.

2007-08-09T15:47:00.000+08:00

Hey guys, i am taking a break from study and i feel quite bored now. haha
Just wanna share what i do if i feel so sian and stressed. Hahaz.
1) Grab the guitar and strum super hard. (but dun break the strings ya :) or play our SYF songs. (i hope u still rmb.)
2) Read all the emails that we sent each other last time.
3) Take a look at the photos.
4) Read the old posts on the blog.
5) See the recital video.
6) Visualize the moment ("School NO 31, Anglo-Chinese Junior College - Gold..... with Honours!")

Dun be stressed ya, ppl. We can do it again. But, I also feel stressed coz i feel like i am slacking too much. haha. How the heck u all can study the whole day?? cant study the whole day lor. I am soooo bored. so.. ya, stressed coz i cant study long. haha.
Anyway, look forward to seeing u guys at open house or outing (if we r going to have). But pls come to open house ya. They are performing at the viewing gallery. Lets go and support them.
ok. now back to reality.. i go and mug again. bye bye.

prelims

2007-08-07T17:38:00.000+08:00

hey.. it's a week to prelims. not sure how many j2s will actually read this, but anyway, all the best guys. don't give up.. don't lose hope.. just keep going. it's tough, but we're in this together, and we can do it. 'let us run with perseverance the race marked out before us'. give it your best shot! look forward to an outing after prelims yeah? (: God bless.

j1s, hope you guys are enjoying yourselves! we will come back to visit you guys soon.

oh and isn't this blog meant for everyone? or at least i always thought so. i think some j1s already know the username and password cos we've emailed it out before. we can always tell everyone again.

J1s...

2007-07-18T22:43:00.000+08:00

hey
i think we should ask the j1s to be the contributors of the blog too... what do u guys think? or u guys just want this page to be only for j2s?
oh ya, how was the games today? j2s, did any of u crash the games? j1s, did u guys have fun? bonded ald? hope u guys are having fun! DONT FORGET us ya! if u do, the consequences wil be.............. haha... joking joking. anyway, have fun!
nandar =)

Pics

2007-07-14T20:13:00.001+08:00

Hey.. Is anyone able to link the pics on photobucket to the blog? Easier to access loh..

http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w31/acjcguitar/

To all AC guitarists...

2007-07-08T00:38:00.001+08:00

hey all,

this AT THE BEGINNING song really describes my feelings at the handover... it marks the end of our journey... at the beginning, i dont really know u guys... we were not even frds, just strangers... as we continued our journey, i got to know more of u and we became like a family, like weikit said in his poem (btw weikit, why u include abt my tooth in ur poem lol??!!!) anyway, u guys were there when i need encouragement the most. i tot of quitting guitar or quitting exco several times at the end of last year. i felt like i m redundant.. but some of u guys just encouraged me and reassured me to stay. besides, sth inside my heart told me tt i shouldnt leave... thanks to ur encouragements, i got to experience this amazing journey...

in july last year, we are not even sure if we can go for SYF. our dream is only GOLD and even that seems to be unachievable with our standard at that time... we had no idea what we had to go through to make our dream a reality. from the state of not even daring to dream tt our dream would come true, we have come to the state of achieving more than our dream, GOLD w Hounours. this has been a really Crazy adventure and yet, so wonderful!

but more than the reward, GWH, the friendships we have built is more impt to me... 20years, 30years down the road, when we look back, i hope we wil treasure our memories the most... intensive practice sessions, tremelo, little encouragement notes for each other, staying back until late nite to prepare for recital decorations, our disco ball and stars, the laughter, all the crazy jokes tt we shared during the practices and of coz, our guitars with our names on them, how can we forget those memories???

although i know tt the cycle of meeting new ppl and saying gdbye to them is part of life, saying goodbye has always been hard for me. this time is the hardest... its like letting go of sth soooo precious to me.. i wonder when i wil see you guys as one ensemble again....

~nandar~

ps - thanks to every1 for this amazing journey! u guys are great! to j2s, all the best for ur Alevels. to j1s, i wish u all the best for ur journey. i hope you wil gain more than u have expected. =)

Wow!

2007-06-09T00:52:00.000+08:00

Hey ppls! How's everyone doing? Haha.. hope everyone enjoys their holidays! I know I am! Haha..
By the way who updated the layout ah.. It's super super SUPER NICE!! Haha.. Also wondering when we'll be getting our SYF photos.. I don't remember paying yet leh. Mei Ping? Hmms..

dedication

2007-06-03T23:11:00.000+08:00

go to the link below to download the video (:
http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/181379/P1020375-MOV.html

the song we're all learning!

2007-06-03T22:19:00.001+08:00

this very song has tabs written by our pres..KAUNG! how abt we (j1/j2) learn this before our offical handover? hehe.. i think it will be really cool.. lets play as ONE ensemble..with j1s AND j2s! lets make it OUR song! hah

2007-06-03T22:17:00.000+08:00

hey everyone=)

here's the video from the outing...its really cool..how i wish i was there....

Guitar outing on 1 June!

2007-06-02T00:37:00.000+08:00

Hey guitar ppl (those who cant make it today!)
We had a wonderful outing today. haha. Just wanna share what we did today. Today, 10 ppl came. Me, Wei Kit, Joel.T, Joel.S , Meiping, Pauline, Natania, YiZhen, Qui Xuan and Min Yu. We planned to go Marche at suntec, so we met at city hall MRT. everybody came very late except pauline. We waited for everyone to reach then we left to suntec. Later we realised that there is no more marche at suntec!! So we went "fish & co" instead. Very nice food! haha.. And the most exciting and memorable thing of the outing today was the message appearance on the water fountain. You can ask those who went today what it is about. :) Then we went to Esplande rooftop and chatted for about one hour plus. Everyone shared about their experiences in guitar and why they joined guitar. very very interesting one. Esp meiping's testimonial. Very inspirational and we all can see her passion and love for guitar. Actually we didnt finsh our sharing. Wei Kit had still a lot more to say but the guard chased us out. sad lor. I also saved my words for my final speech for handover. We left there about 11 plus. Min Yu was kena scolded by her parents coz it was very late. :( Thats all. Hope next outing, more ppl will join. :)

Camp Pics

2007-05-31T17:05:00.000+08:00

haha nandar.. don't worry.. it's only the beginning of better things to come! Our guitar journey doesn't just end here.. It starts with this strong bond that we now share! And in the future.. We'll have the privilege of identifying ourselves as the AC Guitar Ensemble of 2007! Yays!
Anyways, I've uploaded some pics so feel free to take a peek! =)
http://picasaweb.google.com/tohweikit

is it the really the end???

2007-05-26T23:55:00.001+08:00

hey guys
how r u all feeling now? we only have camp left.. after the camp, no more practice, no more concert, no more performance, and no more CCA!!! what am i going to after school on wed and thurs???? will we still remain as close frds??? with studies, exams and tests, will we 4get abt our SYF journey 2gth?? i dont know... as Joel puts it, our experience and friendships are REALLY PRICELESS! i dont want the memories of our time 2gth to fade away..... its just soooooo impt to me... u guys have impt roles in my life... u all are like family to me when my real family is miles away... sigh... i wil have to learn to live without u all... so sad... :((

how do i live w/o u?

2007-05-05T21:53:00.001+08:00

i love this song... just wanna share it with you peeps =) yupp.. how do i live w/o u all hah? i've been thinking abt how things will change aft we step down.. aft we put our guitars down and take our TYSes up.. am cherishing every moment we have as an ensemble.. tpjc concert shall be my 6th and my last performance in my life (cny,exchange,tp.rectial,syf,ritmos,tp.concert).. will cherish the friendships i've made with u peeps over the past 1-2years..

how do i live w/o u (all) ?

photos

2007-04-25T22:10:00.000+08:00

hello

this is a repeat message... for the benefit of those who have email problems...

photos are up... including those taken during tuesday's assembly. go to http://s172.photobucket.com/albums/w31/acjcguitar/. hope the link works. if not, go to www.photobucket.com and log in. username and password is same as blogger. please add on any photos if you have. thanks. (:

<3 pauline

Of Disbelief, Joy and Gratitude..

2007-04-21T23:30:00.000+08:00

Hi guys! Now it's my turn to express myself! =)

Firstly, it was about my experience in church today.. It was one of the worship songs, Free, that made me realise something..

Would you believe me if I said
That we are the ones who can make the change in the world today
Would you believe me if I said
that all of the dreams in your heart can come true today
Would you believe me if I said
that life could be all that you want it to be today

Would you believe me if I said
that God can make miracles happen today
Would you believe me if I said
that you don't need to wait for the answers before you step out in faith
Would you believe me if I said
that nothing is ever impossible, for God

It was then that it became so real to me, that it really was God who brought us through all these times.. All the practices, the performances.. And He saw all our efforts and blessed us with our result!

But also at church today, I managed to talk to one of my friends who was in RJ Guitar and he watched us play! He asked me how many people were there in our ensemble, and I told him 27.. And he was like shocked lah! He said RJ had 67 ppls and they had to audition to cut the number down to 50.. And he said we played super neat! See! Our spirit of togetherness was translated into our music! Haha.. But anyway, I told him of our journey right from the start to the end.. And he said it was like some drama show with a happy ending! (See so apt with our song right? haha..) The many of us who don't know how to play the guitar and read notes.. Right to our emo sessions.. And you know what he said? He described it as being so... human! That's right! The most basic of characteristics! And he went on to relate how everything in their RJ GE was so mechanical.. With themselves only mixing with people from their own section and stuffs! And of course i related how supportive our school was towards our SYF day.. With the choir,band, music teachers coming in to wish us luck.. and about the cards the performing arts CCA's gave each other.. And of course, our very own principal who came down to SCH to watch us perform! And guess what? Somewhere along the way he mentioned something about wanting to be in AC! Haha.. (By the way he's a J1 direct scholar from Malaysia who was sent to RJ without any choice)

But yup. I would attribute a huge chunk of our success to the support we received. From our families, friends, teachers and ourselves. The most basic yet integral part of music. The human factor. Cool huh? I think one of the judges mentioned it as well.. So I'm really thankful for all the people who supported us all the way through.. With Mr Choo, Ms Leong and Ms Choo who fought so hard with us and for us. (Remember all those practice sessions.. they had to stay back with us.. sometimes even longer than us!) And as an ensemble, I really feel we're a rather tight group.. As in our bonding! And even Ms Leong said it (in one of her few non-echo talk, no less!) that 'we have already gotten what most CCAs could only hope for, unity in heart and mind to achieve the very best!'

So, one inevitable question. Would this be the end of our version of the 'fairytale'? Definitely not.
Even after SYF, we need to continue practising! And live up to the Gold with Honours! Haha.. But more importantly, I think we will need to pass on our love and joy for music as well as the ensemble to our JUNIORS! Lest we forget that we will need to move on someday..!
Yup! We'll need to infect them with our PASSION and hopefully they will come to love their CCA and fellow guitarists as much as we do. (Hint: Make them wear the I *heart* Guitar T-shirt!) We really wouldn't our GwH legacy to fade off just like that. And in the future, we will NEED to come back even after we've graduated as the Gold with Honours Guitar Ensemble of 2007!

So guys, I really really thank you for your acquaintance and blessings! Every single one of you guys! I remember back last year during the Council Investiture, I really regretted that I did not even try for Council, and I imagined IF I had actually made it in.. How different it would be. But whilst thinking about it back then, I felt God telling me, that I could make a difference and contribute to the school even if I wasn't in council! (Quite duh right actually?) But after Thursday, I looked back at that thought. Only now, I do not harbour that regret any longer. I have learnt to move on and in every decision that we make, do not look back and ask the 'what if' questions. Through this experience, I have learnt also that if we were to invest our time and effort into something, we will find the passion in that thing that we do. (As Mr Loo mentioned in the Baccalaureate Service in 2006)

Even if we didn't play all the exact right notes, so what? It is that part of music that makes us human. More importantly, we have our friends who are there to support and back us up, holding each other up. And this is so true even in our lives. See? Music is about life!

So yes. I was super hyper after our SYF performance, I was super hyper after our results and I hope I'll still be super hyper for the rest of time to come! =)

I am proudly an AC Guitarist. Gold With Honours!
Wei Kit!

(P.S. Another thing we could all learn is probably that Wei Kit not only screams, he can blab a lot too!=)

2007-04-21T18:48:00.000+08:00

Hello fellow AC Guitarists,

I actually wrote a whole long email to you guys but I don't think alot of people will read so yeah, I'm pasting it here again (: Anyway point here is that I'm really proud of all of you and it's amazing how we've pulled through together, and finally making a name for our CCA. We're not just any ensemble, we're THE ACJC GUITAR ENSEMBLE. Always remember that you made a difference to the ensemble and ACJC.

You know how I joined Guitar? I believed that it was a Calling. I mean, how absurd can it get? To quit a glamorous, world-ranking CCA (ie ACJC Choir) for a young ensemble I didn't know anything about. But I took that step with faith, and believed that God, who called me to sacrifice Choir for Guitar, will use me to bless others. I still remember this 45-min talk I had with Mr Sum to quit, he was trying to convince me not to give up on Choir, and kept asking me to reconsider. Then he asked what I was going to join next. I told him, "Guitar Ensemble." And his reaction changed to one of shock, of disbelief. But then he made me promise him, that whatever comes my way, whatever hardships I'll encounter (do you see the hints?), that I won't ever quit the CCA again. That I already quit the Choir once, and I should never do that again.

It was hard, all that time. Trying to increase the standard of our ensemble. Many times I was tired, I felt alone and stuck, and found myself racking my brains for new ideas, new approaches, new methods of teaching and conducting. I thought of quitting many times too, but I always fell back on my promise to Mr Sum. So guys, next time when you feel like quitting, persevere! Press on, you'll see the fruits of your labour one day, no matter how impossible it seemed to achieve. I'm sure we can all testify to that now (:

So yeah, as much as all of you have been a blessing to me, I hope that you have been blessed too.

Yup, here's the email anyway (:

~*~

Hey guys.

It's been about 28 hours since our results were announced and I'm still thinking about SYF. Just replaying all the scenes on Thursday, and I really want to tell you guys, honestly, that it was a great job done.

It's been a blessing, to be able to conduct the ensemble these past few months. I know sometimes I'm like really strict and all that, but I really wanted you guys to know how FAR you could go, so yeah, was pushing you guys to the max. But now that you recognise your potential, I really hope that you'll multiply what God has given you, and use all you have to glorify His name.

It was hard, from the very beginning, where majority of our members couldn't read music, let alone play a tune. I distinctly remember having to teach my section how to play, by telling them what finger, on what fret, pressing which string. And you know what? They memorised it. The order of playing. In a few days we learnt the SYF pieces.

When Mr Choo first joined us, he asked us to CAREFULLY CONSIDER if we want to take part in SYF. He told us the many problems we had, not enough practices, guitar technique, lousy quality guitars etc. We were still admamant about going for SYF. We were told, "You don't have to go for SYF. You could have a concert instead. And work towards that." But nooooo, we didnt listen. HAHA.

Slowly we started to fix the problems, one by one, crash course, fighting for school guitars etc, and yes, your hard work was evident everywhere. Coming for Camp, practices and all that, we were so desperate to prove that we could be good. Desperate to prove to AC that Guitar isn't just a slack CCA where people do homework instead. Desperate to show AC that guitar isnt some unpopular CCA that has mediocre standards, no. From today onwards, we are: ACJC GUITAR ENSEMBLE, THE 2007 GOLD WITH HONOURS ENSEMBLE. Now, we bring back that GOLD WITH HONOURS AWARD to ACJC. Who says Guitar Ensemble can't bring glory to the school? Hah, we've proven them wrong.

Guys, you were amazing out there. Don't ever feel guilty about missing notes here and there, because the most important thing was that you played as an ensemble. SCH, being SCH, has extremely good acoustics, and all the sound was projected towards the audience. I guess that's why we could hardly hear each other (as opposed to the classroom acoustics), which made us rely on Mr Choo even more. The mistakes we made, we heard them clearly. But, as an ensemble, we covered for each other (I missed this note, you missed that note), and ultimately, what the audience heard, was exactly what we wanted them to hear.

Everything we put in made a difference. The embarrassing (??) walk round the school in our gowns/suits and holding our guitars to get a feel of what SYF would be like, the exaggerated movements during the piece (oh side comment you should've seen how VJC String Ensemble moved during their performance today, it was so so so exaggerated and so so good!), yeah, every little detail we worked on made a difference.

Wow, I feel like I'm writing a speech. But there's so much to tell you guys. Having conducted you during practices, I must say that the Ensemble has improved greatly since we started, and I hear it. I hear all of it. Not just the mistakes, but the dynamics and the mood and the phrasing and everything. I seriously think you guys deserve the Gold with Honours, you were great out there.

Let this be a landmark for the Ensemble. And to the J1s, I hope you all take back these valuable lessons you've learnt and teach them to your fellow J1s. Encourage them to practice and improve, yesyes you guys are under pressure now. But since we've started our good reputation, we might as well finish it well. It's not everyday a musical group gets awarded Gold with Honours (it's my first time too), but yeah, don't get complacent, there's still a lot more work to be done with the Ensemble, and hey, the journey's just begun.

Here's wishing you guys all the best.

To the J1s, time management alright? Make as many friends, enjoy your so-called honeymoon year, contribute all you can to the school!
To the J2s, yes, we've worked hard, and now, let's focus on our As, always remember, your friends will always be here for you, we've been through so much together, and that you'll always be part of the batch that helped ACJC GUITAR ENSEMBLE earn that GOLD WITH HONOURS award.

Thanks for making me so, so proud of all of you. I've never been more blessed by any other group before. It was a pleasure to conduct you guys, now I can tell everyone, "I conducted the ACJC Guitar Ensemble. We were three years old, and we won the Gold With Honours award."

THANK YOU. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

To the most amazing, most wonderful, and most miraculous Ensemble,
may God keep watch over each and every one of you,
and may His favour be on you.

In His love and mine,
Claire Chong
ACJC Guitar Ensemble 2007

Post-syf

2007-04-21T12:07:00.000+08:00

Dear friends,

How far we have progressed and grown closer in our friendships...
From pondering over joining syf to pondering over our GOLD WITH HONOURS speech. haha.
I still have sweet dreams over the announcement of results, gives one the warm tingling feeling.

Here are some reasons why we may have won the top award:
1. We were REALLY expressive, the judges felt the love for music and the emotions in the song.
2. Despite our relatively cheaper equipment, we made up for it by praticing so hard and at the competition, complementing each other, covering up well for each other's mistakes, and that's what an ensemble group is truly for, being there for each other :P.
3. Mr Choo's methods really work! Every merticulous effort he put in, from his really cool drama acting to the little details such as standing up and turning with style and lowering the music stands.
4. The party, games , group activities, encouragement on cards (from the various performing arts and our own people) , constant support from school personel and prayers from CF, sharing in the group really boosted our morale.
5. Lastly, the constant reminder that we must not lose focus and that whatever the results, the experience was GOLD WITH HONOURS ( inclusive of the tie :D)

So, well done AC guitarists. WE FINALLY DID IT> ALL THE WAY!
To the J1s : Study hard and do your best in everythin you undertake
To J2s: A levels is our next hurdle, let's do another "GOLD WITH HONOURS".
So exco, please oraganise study groups. THANKS!

In his name
Joel Siew

against all odds

2007-04-21T09:12:00.000+08:00

hey friends

ahh you guys make me feel emo after reading your posts! (but i'm not crying okay. heh.) we really did it... against all odds.

hmm. you know, this was the 4th syf i participated in (choir, handbells, handbells, guitar), but it was the only time i cried when the results were released. it's only because we've really made it so far, really from scratch, that the reward was so sweet, so meaningful. God has blessed us so richly! i feel so privileged to be part of ac guitar, with all of you.

like nandar said, don't let this be the end of the journey yeah? continue to build up one another. j2s let's work hard together for a levels! and for both j1s and j2s that played for syf, let's pass on our love for guitar to the others in guitar (:. God bless you all!

love,
pauline

love you all guys...

2007-04-21T00:05:00.000+08:00

hey
i feel quite sad after reading joel's post.. it reminded me tt we have come a longgggggggggggggg way!! and wat made me sad is tt this might be the end of our journey together... u rmb, we all were so united and so closed on SYF day? and i felt so warm and it really felt good.. i almost cried during the sharing session in the guitar room b4 our SYF... its really nice to have a CCA which we feel that we really belong to.. its like a family.. we help each other, encourage each other and journey together.. its so precious.. so lets not end it with SYF, k? lets keep our friendships alive ya! winning GOLD WITH HONOURS for SYF shouldnt spell an end to more precious things like the bonds between us..
i write these here cuz i dont wan2 say this out loud in front of u all.. cuz i wil surely cry if i say these things in front of every1.. i m a bit too emo huh? haha..
k, enjoy the weekend!
see ya!
love you guys!
~hugs~
Nandar =)

SYF Proposal

2007-04-20T22:50:00.000+08:00

Hi, I am writing with Gold with Honors colour ya? haha... Sorry for the rection on SYF day.. I looked so emo and sad... But I was not sad la... You can imagine how happy I am rite? I felt so accomplished.. I am so proud of you guys and proud of myself since I can do what i have promised to you guys, to teachers and to the school. But I dunno why i was so emo that time la.. I suddenly felt like "is it the end of our journey"? Maybe thats why i feel abit sad la. and also i was very tired... I was so worried that you guys will be nervous and all that but u guys did really great and composed.. I was like WOW after our performance. I knew we will get at least Gold. =p Ok. The following is the proposal that i submitted to Mr Choo when we fought to allow us to participate in SYF.

Hi sir,

Kaung from ACJC here. I would like to inform you that we had a discussion between the exco and the teachers-in charge.

For the lost time and few practices, we have drawn up a practice schedule for this year.. we will be having 7 sections as follows before holidays. There may be extra sections if we cannot finish our work. ( the schedule is in attached file)

We will make sure that each and every member in the ensemble attends these practices unless they have an extremely valid and urgent reason. The teachers have conveyed this to the ensemble. Today, we had full attendance and we are hopeful in keeping it up.

During the holidays, most of the members will be overseas and thus, even if we have practices, it will not be effective and efficient. Therefore, it is unfortunate but we will have to take an unreasonable break and practice on our own.

As for the guitar camp, it will be held during the last week of December. It will be either 3 days 2 night or 4 days 3 night. The dates will be confirmed. A committee, which does not include any exco members, has been formed to take charge of the camp so as to create a sense of belonging amongst the rest of the guitar club. Below are the details of the camp:

Guitar December Camp 2006

Dates (Tentative): 26th-29th December

Camp Planning Committee
Chairperson: Qiu Xuan (81289071)
Secretary: Natania (94306670)
Treasurer: Yan Xiu (91342028)
Games I/Cs: Joyce (93665492) and Joel Siew (93409494)
Food: Mandy Tan (81027634) and Sopheaktra (97972342)
Logistics: Wei Kit (90905933)

Regarding the quality of the guitars, our teachers-in-charge has been trying to talk to the performing arts teacher-in-charge about the fund. They will be meeting this Friday, after which we will know the budget our ensemble will be getting. Hopefully we will be able to buy a few decent guitars for the ensemble. Thus, for this issue, we can only confirm this earliest by friday.

All the members are really willing and eager to participate in SYF. From today's practice, I can sense that they are very motivated and committed to the team. Hence, I believe that even though we may not be as experienced and well equipped compared to the other JCs, our team is willing to give our very best. We will set out to achieve the best but are also ready to accept whatever the result is. We promise the full commitment on our part and therefore, we sincerely hope that you can assist us in achieving our goal.

We have practiced the piece “tea for two” first page and a little bit of second page. Here is the grouping for the piece and the temporary section leaders.

Thanks you sir,
Kaung

third class to first..

2007-04-20T20:54:00.000+08:00

heyy..

here's my sharing.. recollections.. its long..sorry ar..

if you still remember (those j2s).. guitar practices were often very uninteractive (my opinion la).. come and listen to president (JC) talk..and use his "guitar-manual" to teach us.. can say our batch of ensemble members were rather shy and soft-spoken.. even the "wai-keat-hyperness" was rather mild in 2006.. guitar was a "come-and-go" cca.. we came for 2h.. and left soon after..

june06 camp came and we had fun interacting with the j2s(2006).. the guys climbing over the gate to bathe at heritage view's swimming pool toilet for hot water bath.. watching corspe bride in the middle of the night..meant to be some "scary movie".. had a mini-guitar competition among the camp groups.. amazing how we learned a song in 2 days.. amazing race at IMM

dec06 camp will be something I WILL NEVER EVER FORGET.. we learnt treize jours en france in 1 day.. guitar 2 had so much trouble learning it..that even JC gave up on us.. we burnt opposing group's strings in a game at the sunken gallery.. and not forgetting..
mr choo: Joel..higher higher (for the benefit of the j1s.. the coach asked me to tune higher..i din understand his instructions.. i raised my guitar higher and higher).. i became the joke of the camp.. and also the mini-skit presentation we had =)

2007 soon came by..

honestly our guitar ensemble as a whole wasnt really organised at the beginning (my opinion).. the cca booth/display only involved the exco..and the rest of the ensemble had no part in the recruitement of j1s.. cant really blame anyone..after all.. it was a busy and hectic 1st week of sch.. OGLs were away.. everything in sch was very messy.. organisation of it all wasnt as easy..

and of course.. there was the welcome tea for the j1s at the viewing gallery..
it was our first time performing infront of an audience..so terrified..scared.. nervous.. what songs we played? only one-gavotte. The j1s asked for another song.. we said.. Winter Sonata still "learning-in-progress"

of course.. time passed day by day.. and the JAMs session spoted talented guitarists to join the syf ensemble.. they came and joined us in practices.. personally.. i felt that we j2s werent bonded together enough (we were still in our cliques)..now with the j1s in.. it will be harder to make us gel as a team in 2-3 mths for syf..

lets not forget.. we were invited to perform at the CNY concert.. we played the winter sonata video before we started our performance.. my friend said tat it was actually not good playing that video..cause we only made ppl compare our music with that of the clip shown before our performance.. and i think the performance was something that i wanna forget actually..

but that "failed performance" turned out to be that crucial turning point for the ensemble. i felt that all of us became more serious during practice.. kaung came up with the "small-ensembles" initiative.. 2 guitar 1s with 2 guitar 2s and 2 guitar 3s play together to let the rest of the ensemble hear.. kaung said that we will play to him one by one (i panic...which made me frantically memorise the whole score in 1-2days..hehe) ...we signalled the need for a recital..thus beginning the journey of planning one out.. guitar 2 started to have sectionals on mondays.. and me and yizhen made great improvements through these small group sectionals.. i still remb that that period was one of the most stressful times for claire and kaung..trying to correct our technique, tempo and dynamics (its amzing how bar 16 of gavotte has be played so so so so many times)

for me.. comments by my friends abt our performance at the cny concert(i shall deem them as constructive ones) only made me more determined to practice hard because i din wanna pull the ensemble down..
"are you sure u're playing those 2 songs for syf?" ...
"i could hear different ppl playing at diff times"..

i still remb.. we started to increase our guitar prac from twice a week..to 3 times a week.. increasing the intensity.. increasing the productivity of each session..

i was so caught up in my sch work.. guitar practice..that around 30days before the recital.. i realised that nothing had been planned yet.. i started to get jeanny to design the ticket..and aditya to design the ppt for publicity..

you could say that i was really lost.. i din know where to start and how to begin the planning.. i din know how to call in more j2s to join in the planning (cause it was the term exams).. the tickets started to take shape and was printed in the midst of the term exams.. when i began to feel really lost.. i thank God that meiping and pauline saw me so stressed..and came to me and take up some of the stuff to do..

glenn, nandar and pauline drafted a whole speech for the emcees..which took up alot of their time..

kaung and claire worked very hard to improve our guitar playing as a whole.. they tried all kinds of ways to improve the "re-bra-toe".. and of course.. guitar 1s and 2s.. off beat!!! o my goodness.. i can never every forget that off beat..

1 week before the recital..i still remb nathania say.."i've been to many sch recitals..their deco super nice".. let the girls deco la! kaung said.. ya.. the arts night deco was super nice.. and qiu xuan say.. LEAVE THE DECO TO GUITAR1! wat turned out in the end was a mind-blowing deco layout man..

j1 ushers/logistics/mini-gifts for sac and tpjc worked hard in the short span of 1 week.. as all the duties were last minute given to them..which im really really grateful for..

the recital was a success in many ways. Ppl started to take notice of guitar.. many constructive comments were made ..performing experience was gained..overall..the recital was a great morale booster and i must put this.. it was THE event that brought all of us..j1s and j2s.. together much much more..

of course the exchange prog at tpjc and the tpjc recital also had a similar effect.. it gave us a chance to interact and get to know each other..

and not forgetting the whole week running up to D-day..
we practiced our hearts out..we started to move our bodies ..in my words ... " express and feel the love so awkwardly that it doesnt feel natural..but looks really good"...
the help-each-other-write-encouragement papers on the wall.. the many well wishes from the various ccas..
minyu and qiuxuan for sacrificing their "time-to-study-skillA-bio-spa" to give some female opinions of the tie for the guys before we purchased them.. they went home at like 10pm when their paper was the next day!
the CELEBRATION organised by the j1s..

the rest.. you all know.. D day came.. and went.. we now return to our normal lives.. the very day of the syf (even before we played on stage).. we had already turned the ensemble from third class to first.. before we obtained the results..we had already brought the ensemble from third class to first ( i dont mean that our seniors made the ensemble 3rd class.. its not them..it was us..we were not at all prepared for syf when we took over last yr.. we were really..at the lowest)

we can now proudly say that.. with the help of acjc ($600 guitars).. Mr choo (coach).. Ms Leong and Ms choo.. and under the leadership of kaung..

we have brought ACJC guitar from third world to first.. the gold with honours varifies this point.. dont u agree?

CONGRATS!!

2007-04-19T21:44:00.000+08:00

hey guys
u all r great!!! really!! we have done our school proud!! and mr choo, ms choo and ms leong are also very happy for us!! we deserve it guys! we put in a lot of effort. so dont feel like we dont deserve it or anything, k?
but most imptly, wat we gain out of this SYF competition is the strong friendship bonds between us, our recital experiences, our jokes and laughter. oh my god, i cant believe it! just last oct, the teachers asked us if we r sure abt going for SYF. 6months later, we won this gold with HONOURS!!! oh my.. its amazing!!
congratulations to all of u guys!!
love you all!!
~nandar~

2007-04-18T22:27:00.000+08:00

SYF is TMR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hey guys
i cant believe that SYF is tmr! but i m totally positive that we have the power to make our dream a reality. with all those ppl writing all-the-best-notes for us, praying for us, supporting us in various ways, and encouraging us, i believe that we can do it! nothing, and i mean NOTHING can stop us. we wil go ALL THE WAY to get OUR GOLD!!!!
lets go for it guys!
love
~nandar~

2007-04-13T21:58:00.000+08:00

OUR CONCERT'S TOMORROW!!!

<3 Claire

2007-04-08T17:46:00.000+08:00

Oh boy...

I really can't believe it...in less than a week its our recital..and in 11 days its SYF alr. Hard as it may be to believe but time really does fly huh..

Come to think of it this is my first post...

Well, I decided to take a break from reading the oh-so-dreaded GP package. Yes yes, i hope a particular someone doesn't see this but well, its kinda hard to read sth that doesn't interest you.

If you think about it, this is like the biggest jump for our ensemble. The past 2 years, we were like a dormant cca. I doubt ppl even knew we existed (no offence jc). But in like a few mths we have improved so much. We finally have an identity within the sch. We have our sch guitars, our own recital, our own instructor (j2s rmb that old guy we had? i wouldn't count him as an instructor lol) and most impt of all, its a cca worth fighting for eh? So let's put in everything we've got these last few days we have till our recital and syf yup!

I believe we can do it guys. We can get our gold. We will get our gold. =)

~signs off...glenn~

(:

2007-04-08T14:39:00.000+08:00

hey everyone!

as we all know, our recital and syf is coming very soon! as kaung said during saturday's practice, we've come a really long way, so everyone should be proud of what you have done so far (:. we've improved tremendously!

still, i know we can play even better than our current level, so keep up the hard work okay? let's push ourselves for this last stretch. it's down to the fine-tuning now. let the effort you put in be something you'll always be proud of. continue to encourage one another, be disciplined, and very importantly, enjoy the music-making (:. WE CAN DO IT!

lets go!! =)

2007-04-03T19:57:00.000+08:00

hey guys
its 11 days away from our recital and only 16 days away from our SYF!!!!
lets work hard, ok? lets perfect our tremelo! i also cant do it properly but we can practice, rite? we have been through quite a lot aldy and there is a great improvement! yay!!! but lets give our best for this final lap, ok? yup. see ya all tmr!
cheers!! =)
~nandar~

J1s! Take note..

2007-02-04T22:58:00.000+08:00

heyy!

as you would all know by now.. there's no practice this wed (cause of X-country).. and only a few of you J1s join us on thur (those that know guitar/music)...

then like... fri is your O level results alr.. =/

so.. in actual fact.. most of you (j1s) don't have practice this week.. BUT

You've got a task!

we are having a recital on 14/4 (sat)... its going to be mainly run by J1s.. all planning, executing etc..

but we need ideas! You are all needed to brainstorm on the following:

1) Methods of publicity- elaborate on how different medias can be used.. what kind of tagline to use? etc..
2) Possible crowd pullers (we need to sell 800 tix)
3) Ideas on how to sell tix
4) Contacts (if you have) of printers for our tickets/prog. sheet/posters
5) Possible programme we can consider

anything more than the above stated ...all suggestions...just raise it..we are now in BRAINSTORMING PHASE!!

Compulsory for all J1s (not in the main ensemble) to send me your ideas to joeltan7@gmail.com by Thur 8/2...take this as your "practice" of the week...since you're missing one on wed..

thanks j1s.. am praying for you all too...hope your results will bring you satisfaction. =) dont worry ya? take care..

joel

PS: Pls confirm with MeiPing if you're interested to go for the NUS guitar concert by thurs 8/2 (inform her during practice if you're in the main ensemble)...if not.. you can drop her an email at teomp_gal@hotmail.com

2007-01-26T20:05:00.000+08:00

Hey guys (:

Well I'm quite bored now... decided to go by the guitar blog and ended up posting an entry. Haha.

Anyway, I think we've really improved! Honestly! From last year's standard when we couldn't play ANYTHING to playing a few pieces, and I'm quite optimistic about guitar now! I'm quite excited to see how we'll improve further, and by the time SYF comes we'll be like, so accomplished! (:

Let's all just put in our best effort so that we can contribute to building the foundation of the ACJC Guitar Ensemble, one day when we're all grown up we'll look back at the X years of history of Guitar Ensemble and we'll think to ourselves, 'hey, I was once part of that too.' (:

Just my random thoughts on a Friday evening, didn't feel like doing my homework. (:

Keep long nails on the right
Short nails on the left
That's how we make music

<3 Claire

=)

2007-01-18T20:53:00.000+08:00

joel, u have done a good job in counting days ;p haha..... makes me realise that we dont really have a lot of time for practice b4 SYF... and i m freaked out too!!! as joel said, i think we should help each other. we all have our own stress... just have different capabilities to cope.... so we encourage each other, help each other and stay 2gth... and feel free to come and talke to me if u need a pair of listening ears.. wil try my best =) If we hold on together, our dreams will never die....

and yup, u all are really amazing!!!! really really committed to Guitar!!! *claps claps*

-nandar-

ps - 23 march is our last day of term exam... so shall we all go to NUS guitar concert as an outing? its on 23 march too... =)

heyy peeps..

2007-01-17T19:44:00.000+08:00

heyy j2s!!

guess what.. we practiced 4h (2.30-6.30pm) today! **claps** yupp..jiayou!!..from today (17th jan).. we have..

28 days to CNY celebration rehersal..
30 days to CNY celebration..
36 days to SYF rehersal..
92 days to SYF..

+ recital + exchange prog..

disclaimer: pls take note there's term exam..tests..other cca's (if you have)..h3s (if you take)..alot alot of tutorials to do.. alot of lectures to catch up.. alot of mass PEs to run.. NAPFA to complete.. alot of time needed to sleep, other committments etc.. hehehe..

so as you can see.. we don't hav much time..its freaking me out too..(drop your jaws).. lets do this together ya? i dun know leh.. but im kinda nervous liao.. must help each other hor.. in guitar and even studies..(*hint hint..help me in maths..jkjk..) yupp.. we seriously need to help each other (dun wanna neglect studies for guitar..or neglect guitar for studies).. both equally impt..

at this point.. would wanna add.. wanna go out for dinner together aft guitar on weds? (no-need -to-bring-guitar-home-day).. cant really talk much during practices.. so ya.. cannot bond..hehe.. just a suggestion..

if you want tuners.. we can go down to bkt timah plaza (bus 74) together for dinner and go buy tuner.. $18.80.. or not i can TRY to buy for you =)

thats all folks.. see you all tml! tell me abt the tuner thinge soon.. whether u wanna go down to buy..or u want me to TRY to buy for you .. =)

take care..God bless..
joel.

SYF GOLD!

2007-01-11T23:44:00.000+08:00

No matter what, no matter how, we'll get it. Guys, believe me..

welcome!!!!!!!!! =)

2007-01-11T22:31:00.000+08:00

hey everyone!!
welcome to our very own blog!! hahaz.....
we have had a lot of things going on lately... camp, CCA exhibition, welcome tea, JAM and of coz, tonnes of practices.... but we survived them all!!! yay!! so keep it up for CNY performance, exchange programme, mini-concert and of coz, our SYF!! must get gold ya...... lets make our "shrinking" president happy.. ;p hehe....
anyway, you all did a very good job for yesterday's welcome tea and today's JAM!
thanks loads...
see ya ard!!
-nandar-

ps - happy birthday to our dear treasurer Mei Ping!! make a wish now!!! (better be SYF gold ya, u told me aldy! haha.. :D )

2007-01-11T22:26:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Welcome to ACJC Guitar Ensemble's blog! The purpose of this blog is for the Ensemble members to communicate more easily, so we'll put up our announcements and events on it for every one to read.

However, this blog is still under construction, so please excuse the plain layout and lack of pictures and posts.

I promise, we'll get it done soon. (: