Amazing night. Wow, my mind is really blown. I made it through till the end?! I have so much to say about this, but I shall start by saying that my heart is so full. I cannot believe I had this opportunity to sing with a full orchestra with professional soloists (dat baritone is BAE). First time in my life, and it was such an eye opening experience :)

 

This journey started off shaky to say the least. To say the full story I have to backdate this earlier to beginning of 2015. Mr Toh invited me to sing for a competition tour with Raffles Singers in Europe and well, it's so cool right? I thought so and agreed to join together with a few friends in my batch. Wow wow, the first practice went so terrible I wanted to quit immediately HAHA. Long story short, I quit the group. A tinge of guilt was left lingering because I rejected my conductor's invitation over rather frivolous reasons. I guess it was pretty exclusive since the choir was really small for the competition, probably 20 plus. Such an honour but I gave it up for my timidity. Anyway, so when this opportunity came knocking, I agreed without any hesitation (cos I felt really bad I guess).

 

First practice was really intimidating with these amazing singers, and I am not exactly the most musically inclined person out there. Surprise surprise, I can't read keys. The major scales, key signatures and what is the solfege of the first note etc. I struggled really hard in the beginning to catch up with others (who were merely sight reading from an ipad fyi) and my inferiority complex was raging at me. Majority of them belongs to the cream of the crop, you know.. lawyers doctors pharmacist dentist etc hence the name, Raffles Singers. Clearly, I belonged to the minority and oh my, without the support of my choir friends really made it so much tougher for me. I was no longer the big fish in a small pond.

 

Having to make new friends and getting my act together for the 3 songs posed a huge challenge. My heart was so reluctant to go for practices. Eventually, I decided that once I chose to commit for this, I'll follow it through. I picked myself up and dragged me feet to RI for practices, and oh boy did I made the right decision. After I got the hang of the notes with help from a friend, I could focus on my singing technique and things really got better. I found the same passion and joy from the very beginning I joined choir, it was a liberation to my soul. Even after not singing for a year, I felt that my voice changed and my singing technique somehow improved by the end of this season with Raffles Singers. I'm proud of how far I've came in this short period of 4 months. Getting to know new people, forging new friendships and emerging from this experience a better person.

 

Insane week juggling rehearsals at Esplanade, school, assignments (submitted all 3!!!). I'm still in my state of lack of sleep, sleeping 4 hours and waking up for morning classes killed me. Not to mention that I fell ill a week before concert and I was coughing badly. I prayed really hard that I wouldn't cough on stage, and how good is God! He answered my prayer :) Check out this concert review by Marc Rochester: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/arts/concert-review-beethoven-9

 

Definitely a tick off my bucket list - to sing with orchestra and soloists. Ending this post off with this photo during our intermission and the baritone invited the audience to take an impromptu selfie with the performers. A light-hearted moment! Ah, what a great way to end off this hectic week. Definitely a memory that will linger in my mind for a long time to come :)

 

A shout out to my friends who came down to support me in my choral adventure. You guys have been nothing short of amazing, love you all to bits 💕