High Five by High Five
Arts House. Play Den. Finally we get to try out a venue where the audience is literally next to the players, hearing directly from the horn’s bell, seeing water dripping from water keys, and being part of the music in the most intimate fashion. It almost reminds me of some 200 year old classical drawing where family and friends would gather around a small ensemble at some nobleman’s living room, drinking and enjoying music and each other’s company.
Five by Five, like, literally five against five, also (military term) crystal clear when you’re so near!
That wasn’t the only boundary that was pushed that night. Attempting complete orchestral works to what constitute essentially a “band” audience (Lim Yau would be pleased) means risking having snores as part of Dvorak’s symphony or Grieg’s suite. Although movements still had to be cut down into excerpts or omitted entirely, the interaction with the audience in terms of the educational material still helped them string together what was essentially a meaningful representation of the original, much like playing a “medley” during band concerts. (cliche! touche!)
The sold-out concert (partially due to limited seating of 120) was in no small part due to the fandom of band and brass teachers in school (Mr. Choy!!!! *shrieks with high pitched voices*), which created yet another opportunity to push another boundary, that it is OK to spend a Saturday night at a (so-called) “classical music” concert. And the more we have such concerts, the more we create that opportunity for an interaction that goes beyond musical co-curricular activities or classes for some.
Just Brass Ensemble circa 2010: Wei Peng, Zhong Qin, Clarence, moi, Yin Xuan and guest artists from The Wind Quintet(TBD): Kelly, Pangyu, Shahrizan, Simon, Liang Cun
In that way, yesterday’s concert serves as a reminder even for myself, that we, the musicians who seek an audience, owe it to our audience to find the best within ourselves when performing for them. If we do not push ourselves harder to transcend our own perceived limitations, we do not inspire them to try harder to transcend their respective achievements as well.
There’s a longer back story to this. But suffice to say that, as we all live different lives, face different challenges, sometimes deal with extreme circumstances, and even sometimes think of “giving up” so to speak or “don’t care anymore” in the overly used local lingo, how we tackle our circumstances and show our audience that we can stay together as a team is a crucial test of our character.
In the words of thought leaders, people don’t attend concerts to listen to what you’re playing anymore. They are here to listen to why you’re playing. There are definitely better professional renditions of what we performed on YouTube. It is why we put together a concert, what we are looking for together, and how we are doing it, that gets audiences to come and get inspired, especially when we achieved what we set off to do.
Put this in simpler anecdotal language, a typical sec 2 trumpeter is more likely to say “I’m going to see my teacher perform in his own brass quintet” than “I’m going to appreciate a live transcription of Marriage of Figaro”. See if you can discern the fine line between the comment “Mr Choy performing his Flugelhorn solo piece! Bravoo~” (a real comment) and the comment “Mr. Choy played Gabriel’s Oboe better than other oboists I’ve heard” (which I made up). The keyword here is “his” – the audience associated the music to the player, because he stood up, because he tried his best to illustrate what the music is about, and because he did it so well.
Such would be the kind of honest engagement we will be facing in the new decade. We are not mere homo-sapien executioners of tau-ge or musical notations by the composers and arrangers. We need to create the reason for that engagement to be meaningful, like a between you and me thing, with our audience. We play music for people, especially people we know, so we have to rise to the occasion and put our best foot (tongue?) forward. Only then will our audience come back again for our next concert.
That said, thank you everyone who have helped out and attended yesterday’s concert. Hope to see you again soon!
(TBD: videos are still being uploaded)
