I,m back from Brisbane , Australia.

This trip was musically enriching for me.

I wasnt too enthusiastic about leaving Singapore. Especially because i dont belong in band.
Well thankfully i still had friends there and instead of being ostracized from the group, i made new friends!

Aha.

So. We arrived in Brisbane airport and took the coach to " The sebel " a four star hotel.
Perhaps its me whos been missing out but the hotel was gorgeous.
Unfortunately , we were only staying in there for a night = (
Anyway, that night i soaked in the bathtub and my roomate and sectionmate and future Section leader Alexius laid on our seperate super singles talking cock and watching sports on the flat screen TV.

Anyway, I finally got to play my alto (alto is a classification under saxophone types) again. Or rather... Alexius's alto...
But hey at least hes cool.
Ok. So next day. Woke up to your western breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages, milk, cereal, toast.

Was pretty good. (But seriously, too much of one thing could be bad for you. By the last day i was like thinking to myself. This again....)

We were transported to a 3 star hotel called "Terraces on Wickham"
The 3 star hotels were'nt that bad either. We still had the flat screen TV. We still had awesome beds. We still had a great study and a balcony. The bathtub was missing though = (
Personally, i feel that the only reason why the hotel was 3star was because of its size.

Ok. So during the 2nd day, we went sight seeing. Up to kangaroo's point ( no kangaroos there ). Here and there. There was a synthethic beach. How cool is that! Surprisingly, we had so many section photos as compared to previous years. Well the reason? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named didnt go for the trip *Thank God*

But still, i must say that You-Know-Who is still an amazing player. During his 2 years of SYF, (he was a repeat student in JC) he was coined the best Sax player for Pre-U level in singapore.
Well, i feel that Shern Way improved a lot during this trip. As for me..haha theyd consider me pretty much a failed investment. But still, it was a honour and a curse learning under You-Know-Who.

OK. Did i mention that we had ZERO shopping time?
Fine.. thats not entirely true. We went to DFO "Direct Factory Outlet" where we had lotsa brands. From Puma to Billabong to Esprit to Abercrombie & Fitch

However... they only gave us 1 hour. YES 1 hour to shop.
Alexius was my buddy during the trip. We were both Marists and share a similar wavelength.
Yup. So, during that 1hr, Alex and I practiced our newly acquired skill,

Speed - shopping.

Well , actually we copied that skill from Tara.
My god, christina and her were like brisk walking, enter shop search run out. As if they were running a marathon.
In the end i managed to get 2 shirts and cool slippers.

OK. Down to the music part.

We were guests at Griffith University, Queensland Conservatorium.
Yes. I have a cool card with my name on it. I think its really cool.
Ok so, we had exchange with Grace Lutherian college. The exchange was alright, but their buildings are FLAT. Literally FLAT.
Damn. Australia has too much landspace.

We performed with me and my section sitting by the side.
I joined a new section during this trip apart from my Sax section.
Its called the "LS" and i,m proud to say that i,m the Section Leader.
LS stands for Labour Section. We carry stuff. We,re really effecient.
Anyway, the section consists of 4 members.
Cheng Cheng from Doublebass, Andrea from Euphonium, Karyn from Sax (she was transferred from oboe to sax when i left. How cool is that. She got to play my fav 2 instruments in a Symphonic band, Oboe and Alto sax) Lastly, the SL Tim (Cuz i,m male so i carry more stuff than them)

I was amazed at CJC band, in particularly my SL Shernway. In Singapore he was alright. He also played ok for our concert. But for the Aus trip. He was amazing. A Song for you was his solo piece. He played with more emotion that Nobuya Sugawa in my opinion.
Now you,re wondering. A JC lvl student playing better than a world class Saxophonist?
I say, Only for 1 song and while he coulda played better for some running notes, the overall performance was great with no mistakes and lotsa emotion. Definitely better than Nobuya Sugawa's Mp3. As for live.. i doubt so.

I didnt bring my Ipod for the trip but Alex brought his.
Being the mugger that i am , i tried to squeeze in at least an hour of study everynight.
I was successful for 3 nights. *APPLAUSE*
During that period of study, i,d listen to Alex's Ipod.
My favourite were the disney classics. Amazing. Now, they,ve sparked off smth within me.

During the next few days, we went to the conservatorium to perform and watch performances.
There was a Jazz cafe one night.
Brilliant. They had Vocalists singing in bossa. There were many Jazz bands. All performer class.
The sax solos were sexy. The keys were hot. The Guitar was wonderful. The bass was groovy. The drums were stylish.

I really enjoyed the Jazz cafe.

There was also one other performance that caught my eye.
It was Queensland Conservatorium's orchestra.
Queensland Conservatorium in Griffith University is a music school. I like.
Anyway, the violins were really nice.
They also performed a piece with a dual flute solo and a clarinet solo.
The 2 flutes were Absolutely Breathtaking. I swear if CJC band flute section tried to pull that off, they would crack.
Firstly the tone was beautiful.
Then As they started going up the register, another flute came in. The intonation was marvellous. They didnt clash at all, mind you. The notes were really high. Instead of cancelling each other out, they blended together. Yet, you could still differntiate between what each individual was playing, while listening to them as one.
As for the clarinet solo. Damn. The clarinetist played with emotion. As in really, there were like the bends and all. It was great. It was like, he was playing what a Saxophone would play on a clarinet.

During the trip, i attended 2 master classes.
The band Master class was really good.
The conductor taught us about communication between the band and the conductor. Dont get me wrong. Not the basic communication that we get. Real communication. The effect was instantaneous. You could hear the brilliance in the music.

I also attended the Sax master class. A lady was our teacher.
First she went through basic breathing , posture, embrochure all that.
Then, overtones and more techniques. My goodness, her flutter tonguing was sick.
really really nice.

I,m outta stuff to blog about but Oh.
On commendable thing about brisbane.
They had signs saying. "Dont litter our city"
I think thats really nice. We shouldn't litter Singapore either.
Goodbye ~