The Loudspeaker (大聲公)

鄭老師

Our soprano group leader, PanXueYue asked me to join a singing, learning group with Mr. Zheng. At first I was not so sure since my standard was not even up to scratch. My other fear was that Mr. Zheng might finally confirmed that I could not sing! Who knew how bad I could be?! In fact, it was a disaster when I opened my mouth in front of others the first time. Gee, my throat was stuck. I had no rhythm, no quality of voice and the lack of emotion in the song. The one and only one thing I proudly had was the volume of my voice, otherwise known as 'the loudspeaker' (大聲公)! Luckily, the group and Mr. Zheng did not make any nasty or funny comment. I bet they laughed their heads off secretly. Sure, I could improve one day and hopefully that day would come very soon. For the time being, I had to adopt a 'don't care' attitude or 'thick skin' policy.

These were the songs that we had been learning:

故鄉

雷蒙娜 (Ramona)

野玫瑰  (The Wild Rose)

假如你要認識我  (If you want to know me)

美麗的心靈  (A Beautiful Mind)

我衷心感謝你  (I sincerely thank you)

No laughing matter! TSA introduces loudspeaker warnings threatening travelers with arrest for cracking a joke about airport security

o TSA warns people against 'inappropriate remarks or jokes'

o Public message made at George Bush International Airport, Houston

o Concerned passenger Matt Miller recorded the loudspeaker announcement

o Agency accused of breaching First Amendment right to free expression

LCSD Choral Concert in soccer field, Carpenter Road, Kowloon City

九龍城炳達道足球場賈炳達道公園

LCSD invited us to give a performance in Kowloon City. As usual, we gave our best effort to prepare the show. It was a sunny afternoon and the performance's platform was facing into the full sun. We could hardly open our eyes. A few of us even wore the dark shades, but they looked like a blind bat in distress! However, the audiences were really enjoying the singing and the winter sun. At the end of the sunny day, a few of us were complaining about the freckles on their faces. Well, it was so true that one's beauty was the most important topic at all ages.

 

 菊花台 (Chrysanthemum)

莫斯科郊外的晚上 (Подмосковные Вечера)

乖着歌聲的翅膀 (Auf Flugeln des Gesanges)

Keroncong Kemayoran (印尼歌曲 )

An elderly woman and her little grandson, whose face was sprinkled with bright freckles, spent the day at the zoo. Lots of children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.

"You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" a girl in the line said to the little fella.

Embarrassed, the little boy dropped his head. His grandmother knelt down next to him. "I love your freckles. When I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," she said, while tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful."

The boy looked up, "Really?" "Of course," said the grandmother. "Why just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."

The little boy thought for a moment, peered intensely into his grandma's face, and softly whispered, "Wrinkles."

BBQ during Mid Autumn festival

中秋燒烤

As I said before, the Chinese loved to celebrate everything with a big banquet. 1,200 of us celebrated the Mid Autumn festival with a BBQ in Wu Xi Sha (烏溪沙). Details could be read in the following site, BBQ.

BBQ?!

It was a fun day out and we had a good mixture of young and older people together. Our chorus group also had a moment of glory, we were invited to sing a few songs.

Happy Memory

葫蘆絲演唱「金風吹來的時候」(Flute Concert)

敖包相會 (Meeting in front of the stone heap)

Internal Exchange Program I, I dreamed a dream

内部交流 I

While I was still figuring out what to do with my improvement, we had this Internal Exchange Program. Basically, one could sing your heart out in solo or in a group, in front of others on a platform. It was quite a nervous breaking experience especially it was my first time.... I picked the song 'I dreamed a dream'. Sadly, I couldn't finish the last section because I missed 2/3 beats in the middle and did not know what to do. I kind of gave up! I also doubled up with my singing partner in another song which didn't go well at all. We practised hard, however I was just no good. Our voices did not go well with each other. I had this mental block of singing in public.

Well, at least I managed to stand up on the stage and completed ¾ of the songs.

I dreamed a dream

Tell Him

Q: How do you know if a singer is at the front door?
A: She can't find her key.
A: They don't know when to come in and can't find the key.

Crash course for music theory

Every Sunday's afternoon, we practised the chorus singing seriously for 2 hours with Mr. Zheng (鄭丹老師). Basically, we had to learn new songs straight from the notation (簡譜). It seemed very natural to my singing-mates to do such thing. In fact, most of them had been doing this for the last 20/30 years. I was the only one who had problems. I figured out that I needed to improve my music theory and be able to read the notation by myself. Therefore, I started reading books like 'Music theory', ' Music for dummies', 'How to sing' etc. After a few books, I finally got it or at least some of them! So, if you didn't have any formal training of music before, read some books to start with. There were many good as well as bad videos and books about singing out there. You had to look for the one that suited you most. Spent some time to learn the basic skill if you really wanted to improve. After all, singing involved more than just opening your mouth.

Examples of notation:

Sites that may be useful:
美聲教學

唱歌技巧教程-歌唱發聲的基礎知識與訓練方法

Using the Diaphragm

Great Opera Stars teaching how to sing

Virtual Piano

Q: What's the difference between a soprano and a pit bull?
A: The jewelry. 

LCSD Choral Concert in Huang Da Xian District, Lung Tsui Park

黄大仙龍趣園 康文處活動

The first half of the year seemed to be terribly busy. Three weeks after the last performance in Shang Wan , we were invited by LCSD for another show in Huang Da Xian(黄大仙). Unfortunately, the weather didn't help. We only had a few dozen of audiences at the beginning, but luckily, we managed to attract a few dozen more of oldies to join in later that night. After a few weeks of intensive training and I was marginally better than my last performance. 

Our conductor, Mr. Zheng had to give an important performance in City Hall and could not be with us. Lu Wei, our group's manager doubled up as a conductor and we seemed to be in good order. A big thank you to all her hard work.

A community orchestra was plagued by attendance problems. Several musicians were absent at each rehearsal. As a matter of fact, every player in the orchestra had missed several rehearsals, except for one very faithful oboe player. Finally, as the dress rehearsal drew to a close, the conductor took a moment to thank the oboist for her faithful attendance. She, of course, humbly responded "It's the least I could do, since I won't be at the performance." 

Musical night for Gao Xiao Lian's chorus group

Our chorus group gave a performance to the public in Shang Wan cultural center (上環文娛中心). I had this rare occasion to sing in a small group. Sure, we all had our first time for one thing or the other. I was a bit nervous to sing in a small group because if you were not good enough, people could hear you clearly from miles. With my fearless daunting character, I determined to try for better or worse. I had to see how bad I could be. In the end, my conclusion was that I better started from the beginning. One of the major problems was that I sing with my throat and forced my voice out in a higher pitch. Other problems were that I didn't know how to sing with resonance, the timing was not right etc. I needed to polish my skill in big ways.

There was a side story that night. An old gentleman saw our promoted poster on the street and instantly recognised his very old friend, Mr. Zheng. They had not seen each other for more than 40 years. So he appeared on the stage as our special guest!

Keroncong Kemayoran

花兒與少年 (The flower and the young man)

鄂倫春與隊在密林 (E Lun Chun with the team in the jungle)

It takes a long time to grow an old friend!

Joined Celebration for the Concert in Quan Wan

「情濃大地中國心」大聯歡

It was true that one never needed any excuse to have a banquet. In order to celebrate the successful performances in the Tsuen Wan City Hall (荃灣大會堂), we did exactly what the Chinese were good at, had a big feast together. In order to celebrate in style, we had more singing before we ate! 

More songs:

歌唱祖國 (Ode to the Motherland)

游擊隊歌 (Guerrillas' Song)

Q: Where is a tenor's resonance?

A: Where his brain should be.