While clearing out my computer, I found an old photo which might be of interest to everyone :) (ok not all :P)



Sec 2 batch of 1997. Xianting left us subsequently while ximan and suiyun(if I didn't remember wrongly) joined us for a little while.

It's interesting how time flies yeah?

This is the group of people that played for the first Appassionata series at Victoria Concert Hall, alongside with the seniors and alumni.

Guess what, 9 other Appassionatas have passed and we are now into our 10th Appassionata. It does makes one feel a tad nostalgic. 10 years. Wow.

Appassionata X is this Sunday, 25th June at Victoria Concert Hall once again. Do join us, while we play Summon The Heroes - The very first song we played at Appassionata I at VCH - once again.

Hey people!
Blog here! :) Leave your emails here so that I can add you to this blog!

With blogger, I can now post a picture of NYCB! :D

I've changed the look of the site and have added in comments options as well! :) Post more people!

Had appassionata 7 on 10th january 2004.

It felt really good playing in a band again.. especially that it's nycb. Nothing can change the fact that Nycb is my favourite!

the 99 batch of sec4s were the ones that played thru from appa 1 to appa 3 (heh cause we could only play in concerts from sec2 onwards)

What happenend in appa 1... one would ask.

I remember there was this excitement, trying to name the concert series. We finally could have our own concert! The committee came up wif a few names, so did the teachers in charge, mrs quek and mdm toh i think then... then we called it appassionata 1.

Wenhui, then the resident oboe player designed and drew the whole appassionata banner. i remember that she was from AEP (arts elective program). Her design was the best design..All of us simply loved it. we printed a band tshirt wif that design, we had concert booklets wif that design. They even recycled the banner for appa 2.

The most memorable thing was that Appassionata 1 was held in VCH. the only time i played in vch.... wonderful. We kicked started it wif "Summon the Heroes". Huisi, linying, jiali, jiahui, alicia. and i think winnie and caiwei played. Memorable concert. We played summon the heroes well. I remember. very memorable. How time flies right?

It's all the way to appa 7 now. So fast yet so slow. Steph was saying during appa 10 (issit?) that we call back everyone, as many seniors as possible.. and we will play together as a massive alumni band. Summon the heroes. We will summon back the heroes of Nanyang Concert Band / Military Band.

it's so quiet here.. wah.. last updated in jul... hehe...
everyone, take care!

NYGH GOT A GOLD!

Yay NYGH band got a gold! i'm happy for them but at the same time i can't help feeling that our batch + the seniors could have gotten a gold too, if not for the fact that we had more empty seats than players and most of our instruments are older than us then + we practically had no support from the school.... we were a very exposed band but we did best with wat we had and obtained a silver than in 1997... i missed those times.. i missed them... sighsigh... oh wellZ...

But it's good.. it's a trend.. cause when the band gets a gold, the school is encouraged to extend its support to the band, juniors are more than willing to join and only the best get to play, then conductor is also spurred on to get a gold again and the band gets bigger, better and stronger. That's a fantasy that all nycbians prior from the graduating batch of 1999 have always dreamed of.

Juniors you've done well =)
Give yourself a pat on the back.
You all deserve it.

Yeah chuhui organise..

Let's start talking about how we ended up in NYCB first alright? =)

Heh lemme first start with my recollections of NYCB as seen through my eyes.

Here goes...


I was young and as blur as a sotong when i first entered Nanyang. I had absolutely no idea of what eca to choose, I didn't want sports, please leave me out of sports. So I consulted my parents and my dad encouraged me to join band. Then suddenly I remembered that I had this fascination for band instruments when i was in primary school so I decided to join band. I was so afraid that I couldn't get into band and so under my 'previous eca' section which I had to fill up in the eca form, I wrote, recorder, dance.... Music related ecas down, hoping that the school will take into account that I used to be in a music based eca, I should be able to get into band. Band was my first choice, and I got into the band, then known as NYMB.

I remember the first day i stepped into the band room for this 'band orientation day'. I was pulled around by all the seniors, asking me to try this instrument, try the other instrument. Anyway, I aimed for the clarinet section first and I tried the clarinet (dad advised me to play the clarinet) then after my trial and being told that I've got "potential" as I managed to produce a sound :P I went to try the bass. Diana was there asking me to buzz, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get a sound out. I didn't know that I had to vibrate my lips. I stayed at the bass section for a pretty long time but I still couldn't produce any sound. I stood up, and was pulled to the Cornet section by Qilling. She told me to blow and I used all my might and I actually managed to produce a sound. A G note. (freak accident i guess :P) and she said, I had "great potential"! and asked me to put my name down for the section and heh I ended up in cornet section.

Well, all I must say that the "great potential", "you've potential" lines are some of the very popular phrases that seniors use on juniors to get them into their section. I myself am guilty of this action when I became a senior myself. =) I had no potential, I was only able to produce basic sounds that sounded like a duck quacking to trained ears. To my untrained ears, it sounded like a note which kinda made me believe that I could play the instrument. I came to realise how lousy I was at the instrument when I had my first training session with Mr Teo.

A sweet old guy with a twin brother. He was our junior band instructor and he had no teeth left. But even without teeth, he sounded so much better than all of us junior band combined. He was my first true music teacher where I learnt all my music theory from him, learnt my instrument playing from him and learnt all my love for my instrument for him. He was also the person who managed to make me stop shaking my legs. I had this bad habit when I first started playing my instrument, I subconsciously brought my habit of shaking legs in. It was until Mr Teo pointed it out to me that I realised it and curbed this habit.

I remember Mr Teo teaching music theory and all of us trying to keep awake, I once caught Yi Pheng falling asleep though and I nudged her to wake up. I also recall him teaching us the concept of sharps and flats using do, di, re, ri, mi,fa, fi, so , si, la, li,ti, do. And the concept of semiquaver, 1 e + a , 2 e + a, 3 e + a, 4 e + a. Very basic and yet so important.

I also can recall when we juniors played together the first few times as a junior band. Whacking at the notes, and trying to play in time. At that point of time, I was actually impressed with ourselves , to actually be able to synchronise and play together. I can vaguely remember the sounds that we produced and on retrospective (now that i've better trained ears) I really think that it's hilarious. Imagine a group of people, whacking at their instruments, just like a farm, you hear pigs squealing, cows squirming, chickens screaming. And we were proud of that, thinking that it was music and yet wonder why seniors always scrunched up their faces when they heard us. =)

Anyway back to Mr Teo; I miss him, its been more than 7 years since he last taught me. Time passes so fast and I feel that although the time that he taught me was short. I respect him a lot and i will never forget him. The last I saw him was 2 years ago and he actually still remembers that I'm in cornet section! Boy, was I touched. I hope he's well and can't wait to see him again the next time...


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hi people.. hope everyone's getting on fine... hope to see you guys soon... prob can have a gathering when shuhui's back... but this time round.. chuhui organise :)

This blogger thingy shall be our prelude to our book =)