GENUS - what went wrong?
In my previous posting, I'd talked about the 'mutation' of the Committee and the Orchestra members makeup and dynamics.
One of the issues that we also realised was the commitment (or lack of) of the new members in the club.
People nowadays seem to take for granted and assume that as long as they wished to go on stage and perform, we'll let them. As long as they show their faces during our rehearsal - some once a fortnight, some once a month...
Well, if yesterday's rehearsal session was anything to go by, this "assumption" might change.
For one, our conductor - Dr Robert Casteels, was annoyed enough to admonish some members whom, after having the performance scores for months, are still playing wrong notes to a wrong timing. When asked to stop playing, some started giggling and fooling around, tickled by the comments made.
"Stop laughing. It's not funny!"
If the conductor hadn't done that, I might have stood up to issue a warning to the players there and then. Raj sat with a stunned expression on his face throughout - not at the conductor's annoyance - but at the terrible state of preparedness of the ensemble.
What really pissed me off, were the players who didn't even bother to attend the rehearsal sessions on a weekly basis. Prime players are the main culprits, it seems (according to Raj & Wai, close to 10 players were absent yesterday). And these are the ones who cannot play their scores properly.
"Please note that there is less than 10 practises(including weekly practises) left before our annual concert!" screamed an email from Pan Yu, the club's president.
While urging people to attend rehearsals promptly and regularly, she also suggested to those who didn't turn up (repeatedly), to volunteerily give up their "performance rights".
We shall see how this works, in the coming 2 weeks. I am not as kind and soft in my approach (after all, I'm 大黑熊! ) as she is. If things don't improve in the next 2 weeks, in terms of attendance in particular, I'll definitely step in to take some corrective actions.
If some people do not have the grace to volunteer to withdraw (after missing rehearsals after rehearsals, and still cannot play properly), then maybe they have to be told to do so.
We shall see.
One of the issues that we also realised was the commitment (or lack of) of the new members in the club.
People nowadays seem to take for granted and assume that as long as they wished to go on stage and perform, we'll let them. As long as they show their faces during our rehearsal - some once a fortnight, some once a month...
Well, if yesterday's rehearsal session was anything to go by, this "assumption" might change.
For one, our conductor - Dr Robert Casteels, was annoyed enough to admonish some members whom, after having the performance scores for months, are still playing wrong notes to a wrong timing. When asked to stop playing, some started giggling and fooling around, tickled by the comments made.
"Stop laughing. It's not funny!"
If the conductor hadn't done that, I might have stood up to issue a warning to the players there and then. Raj sat with a stunned expression on his face throughout - not at the conductor's annoyance - but at the terrible state of preparedness of the ensemble.
What really pissed me off, were the players who didn't even bother to attend the rehearsal sessions on a weekly basis. Prime players are the main culprits, it seems (according to Raj & Wai, close to 10 players were absent yesterday). And these are the ones who cannot play their scores properly.
"Please note that there is less than 10 practises(including weekly practises) left before our annual concert!" screamed an email from Pan Yu, the club's president.
While urging people to attend rehearsals promptly and regularly, she also suggested to those who didn't turn up (repeatedly), to volunteerily give up their "performance rights".
We shall see how this works, in the coming 2 weeks. I am not as kind and soft in my approach (after all, I'm 大黑熊! ) as she is. If things don't improve in the next 2 weeks, in terms of attendance in particular, I'll definitely step in to take some corrective actions.
If some people do not have the grace to volunteer to withdraw (after missing rehearsals after rehearsals, and still cannot play properly), then maybe they have to be told to do so.
We shall see.
posted by 北海道的大黑熊 at 10:00 AM
1 Comments:
Yesterday's demonstration of a "poor state of preparation" is not a genuine reflection of our preparedness. It's just that Robert got a taste of what happens when the alumni and certain key players in each section are not around. I've heard the ensemble play much better in the weeks past.
What was left was a motley crew of juniors of differing playing abilities and those of fluctuating attendance, without a serious attitude towards playing the pieces. And they were all playing like a head-less chicken. I'd heard afterward that there was a dosing of sternness from the conductor. Perhaps that may be enough to turn things around - but I suspect something more blatant may be called for.
Puzzled about one thing though. Why did my most able prime 1 junior get subverted to the guitaron section at this point in time?! Doubt he would be able to play the guitaron sufficiently well for the concert, if yesterday's off tune low bass throbbing was any indication. And he's a valuable resource in the flailing prime section!
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