GENUS

GENUS Chalet 2012

2012-01-07T23:08:00.000-08:00

The GENUS Chalet at Aloha Changi Fairy Point No 4 from 4-6 Jan 2012 kindly sponsored by Han Siang was totally AWESOME! Many thanks to all those who took time to come down for the chalet, especially for the BBQ :D

We ate yummy food (albeit a LITTLE bit burnt), we played Guitar Hero (thanks to Ben Tan for bringing it!), we enjoyed a great night (nights for some of us :b) of company with each other and just getting to know each other better (:

Pictures of the fun we had during chalet have been uploaded onto Facebook, do take a look if you're free and have nothing better to do :b

Meanwhile, keep your fingers moving as our Asian Waves 2012 concert day is only 64 days away! If you dont already know (TSKTSK shame on you!!), its on the 11th of March 2012 at the NUS UCC Hall at 8pm. To the seniors, continue practicing hard to make this concert an even more successful one than the past few ones as this might be one of your last few concerts (boohoo )':) Therefore, it'd be great to end off your GENUS journey with a bang right! :D To the juniors, continue practicing hard too as this is your first HUGEASS concert with GENUS! Not to scare y'all, but the standards to be met will be WAAAAAY higher than that of our Guitarras Expresivas concert. But dont fret, anything is possible with diligence and hard work! (: Hang in there, and we'll all definitely deliver an extremely successful concert to the audience together yeah!

Lots of love,
Pq&Eliz

Happy Holidays

2011-12-22T19:45:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas 2011 to all of you! (:

While we all celebrate Christmas in 2 days' time, please dont forget to practice guitar k! (: Just a few minutes a day will make a big difference~

And dont forget GENUS Chalet on 4-6 Jan 2012 ok!! (: We're going to have a BLAST and those who dont want to come will miss out on a whole lot of fun >:D Just in case y'all have short term memory (like me heh), its at Aloha Changi Fairy Point No 4. Do come down and join us if you can make it! (:

Lots of love, PQ&Eliz

GENUS Music Camp 2011

2011-12-12T09:07:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Hope y'all had loads of fun during our 6day GENUS Music Camp 2011 from 5th - 10th Dec! (: Without a doubt, everyone's left fingertips are hardened and cant feel anything by now (at least, its the case for me) and for the basses, the right thumbs are blistered and sore. But I bet y'all would go through all that again willingly right!! (: The friendships forged + lameness experienced + fun games played + Angel&Mortal game + practices are all definitely worth the temporary physical pain on our fingers (:

Pictures have been uploaded on the GENUS FB group, and videos will be uploaded soon (slowly but surely :D ) Please help to tag the photos ok! (:

Dont forget to practice HARD ah dont slack now that camp is over! Pedobear is watching! :b
We only have about 20 practices left to our concert, and as y'all have seen, the ensemble pieces are no mean feat. I cant even sightread the scores for tatakau T__T but I'll definitely work hard at it! More hardened left fingertips ftw!! :D So y'all must JIAYOU too ok! Press on and don't ever give up!

Also, dont forget about our next event coming right up! GENUS Chalet 2012 from 4th - 6th Jan 2012 at Aloha Changi Fairy Point No 4 kindly booked by our dinosaur Han Siang! (: Do come down for what is touted as part 2 of Music Camp, but with more fun and craziness than ever! There will be FOOD too (yes I know y'all are crazy hungry monsters) so come down and nommmm away at the yummy BBQ food k! See y'all there! <3

Lots of love, PQ&Eliz

Post-Guitarras Expresivas 2011

2011-10-11T06:34:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

Great job on the resounding success of our Guitarras Expresivas 2011 concert! It would not have been possible without each and everyone of you (: Do take this break between now and Music Camp to recharge yourselves and study hard k!

Music Camp will be held on the 5th to 10th December 2011 as stated by our very important CM Alex. Please make yourselves available during this one week to join in the fun as we practice even harder for our next even more awesome concert in 2012! (:

Lots of love, PQ&Eliz

Guitarras Expresivas 2011

2011-09-26T02:32:00.000-07:00

Guitarras Expresivas 2011
9th October 2011
University Cultural Centre Hall

Guitarras Expresivas presents the timeless power of the guitar to convey the multifarious shades of human emotion in their full intensity and colour. NUS Guitar Ensemble has selected pieces from across continents and centuries and breathed new life into them: classical staples such as the exciting Auf der Jagd Polka and the gentle anime theme song Promise of the World, the lilting Cadiz and the dynamic Brazilian Street Dance with its catchy rhythm and many more.

Join us and be charmed by how truly expressive guitars can be!

Tickets are priced at $12, contact Liu Su at 9221 8885 or email us at nusguitarensemble@gmail.com for a ticket.

2011-02-12T01:07:00.000-08:00

Strings of Time - 30 Years of GENUS

3rd April 2011, 7pm

Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music

Ticket price: $16/$19

Bulk purchase of 10 tickets will entitle one FREE ticket.

2010-12-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!

Found some videos on facebook, it's not 100% the same, but good enough as a gauge (:

Bolero!

(Good thing Robert doesn't cue like this!)

Promise of The World (:

Enjoy! (:

2010-12-07T07:35:00.001-08:00

HP & S : Psst.

G : yes?

HP & S : i heard..

G : what?

HP & S : i heard that..

G : yes what?

HP & S : the shirts..

G : YES what?

HP & S : the shirts are hereeee! :D

G : WAH really? that's great! :D

G : what about the jacket?

HP & S : that..

G : yes, when are they coming?

HP & S : that........

G : YES CAN YOU STOP BUILDING SUSPENSE ?

HP & S : come for music camp and you'll see! (:

2010-10-09T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!
The following is the design for our new GENUS JACKET. There are 2 different designs for both the front and the back. Please cast your votes via ok!

Front design

Option 1:

Option 2:

Back design

Option 1:

Option 2:

One of the juniors has come up with a really creative and cute design! We think that it will definitely look good on a tshirt! Tshirt will be in purple:D

Front:

Back:

Cast your votes! Thanks:D

2010-09-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!!
Tomorrow will be EMCC! Take a good tight rest today okay! Remember about the post-its that we have sent you via email or the one posted up here:)
What you will experience on the stage tomorrow, is that you will see a dimmed audience seat in front of you. Other than the sound of some movements/whispers/cheer from the audience, you will feel the heart beating..then the next moment, Daren will be conducting Eine Kleine.
And before you even realise it, we have actually come to the end of the song. Same scenario apply to all the other songs.
There's only once through for each of the song, and it is unlike practice/rehearsal whereby we can ammend our mistake and play it again. So remember, be confident of yourself, don't be too particular about playing wrong notes. The most important is, to look at the conductor, and enjoy the music with the audience:D

All the best for tomorrow!

2010-09-03T11:26:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! It's a countdown of 5 days to EMCC! We are really excited! As Wednesday will be the day, everyone please take good care of yourself okay. Understand that these few days will be very draining due to piled undone assignments + preparation for lab report + preparation for presentations + the longg rehearsal that we are going to have on Tuesday and long day on Wednesday.
But remember why we have stayed up for long hours to practise? I'm sure that everyone of you has put in your utmost effort in preparation for the concert:D

3 more post-its pinned up here for you!

Remember to pay for club fund if you have not!

Bring your tuners and also look after your tuner if not it will go missing~

Yes!! Help to shift guitars!

-Love
Shuming and Hui Ping

2010-08-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hello guys! :D

This is a little something the Pub Secs have prepared as a little encouragement for the upcoming concert.Concert is just one week away! :D Your fingers may hurt (okay they definitely do with all the practice) but persevere and we'll make it through! You can print this and paste this in your file (or your friends) since it is supposed to work as a post-it note. BUT since it is inspired by thingsweforget.blogspot.com, we would advise to keep internally in GENUS (:

Imagine Dr. Robert, Han Siang or Daren doing this while they are conducting. Flash your pearly whites! :D

Pay close attention to what other sections are playing!

Last but not least, LOOK UP. The conductor will be very sad if you keep your eyes glued to your scores! ):

More reminders coming your way! :D

Lots of love from the Pub Secs,

Shuming & Hui Ping :D

2010-08-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Glad that you are actually reading new updates on the GENUS blog! (Or is it forced by ASL to read?) Which means that we shall put more updates as soon as possible with such a loyal reader like you:P
Anyway, thanks to everyone who had come to the welcome tea last saturday! It can't be a great and fun welcome tea without YOU, really.:D
At the same time, thank you guys who came for the workshop that day! I believe that through the guidance of our tutors, you must have caught a crisp of some basic techniques of guitar skills. Maybe its the first time that some of you start to pick up the guitar and find it rather tedious, such as the posture in holding the guitar is weird..or after an hour of pressing the 4 left fingers (especially the pinky) on the strings to be terribly muscle-draining..or looking at the notes that can be easily played on the piano and squeezing the brain juice on how can they be played on the guitar..or trying very hard to press the string correctly but the 'pi-pia' sound keeps recurring..
But NOT TO WORRY too much yea as everyone who has learnt the guitar had all gone through all these.
The magic key solution to all these is : Practise.
We really anticipate the concert song that you guys will b playing for the concert!:D
Alright guess we have written much so much..hope you haven't fallen asleep..haha. Share with you the photos that were taken just 4 days ago during the welcome tea!

While waiting for the commencement..

Listening attentively..

The creation of one lovely couple <3 style="cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_89GqWVB9VkY/TGv78DMLLDI/AAAAAAAAAH4/Si7ovsS4ktA/s400/P14-08-10_15.00%5B01%5D.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506771978457656370" border="0">
One of the mini performance - duet by Zi Qiang and Daren.

Anway this looks like two separate rooms right? haha

GENUS, we are left with exactly 3 weeks to the concert! Lets jiayou everyone for the practices! Really looking forward to the 8th of Sept!:D

PS: TO ALL NEWBIES OF GENUS!
As you have heard from your SL/ASL that we are selling the Genus T-shirt. Sale will be on this coming saturday after ensemble practice. Basically the design on the front is the same just that for the back of the T-shirt there are two different designs as shown. It will be at $10 each and size samples will be shown upoin purchase so no worries!:D

-with loves from Shuming and Hui Ping

2010-08-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

Check THIS out! Invite your friends, your family, your extended family, your neighbours, your professors to this event! (:

And check THIS out as well! (:

That's all folks, practice hard & see you this Tuesday!

Much love,

Shuming & Hui Ping

2010-08-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Freshies & Undergraduates,

Thank you for the enthusiastic response!

There are officially no more auditions as we have selected our new intake for AY10/11.

For those who are still interested in joining GENUS, you can try again next year in August. If you would like to be updated about our activities and performances, please drop us an email at nusguitarensemble@gmail.com or email either huiping_2003@hotmail.com or shuming90@gmail.com. We will get back to you as soon as we can!

Meanwhile, continue to support us by coming for our annual ExxonMobil Campus Concert - Guitarras Vivas! on the 8th of September at University Cultural Centre! It is a free concert, so tickets are available at the door at 7pm, distributed on first-come, first-served basis.

SEE YOU THERE!

2010-07-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

To all freshies and undergraduates:

For those who are interested in joining NUS Guitar Ensemble (GENUS), please enter your particulars HERE and fill in your desired audition time slot in this spreadsheet !

Auditions are on the 22nd, 23rd, 26th, 27th of July and 3rd and 10th of August! The venue is at NUS Centre For The Arts (CFA) Studio 2.

To get to CFA, please refer to the map below. CFA is indicated by the black and orange circle. You can take bus 95, 96 or 151 to this place, or take the internal shuttle bus A2 or B.

Don't worry! Just relax and enjoy the audition! :D

If confused, you're welcome to email us at nusguitarensemble@gmail.com or call

Hejing 96620590

Jeffery 91284357

Long Teng 86838744

Sock Mui 98171753

Hui Ping 98268383

Shuming 92484737

Much love from GENUS! (:

2010-07-14T09:54:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! It's been a while since the blog is last updated. I wonder how is everyone now. Recently I have come across this video in youtube and it suddenly get me to be stuck in front of the computer screen for the next 15 mins (as usually im the 3mins instand noodle ongoer type :P).
Well it is actually a video of a small group guitar ensemble (or some say the quadruplets) performing in their concert. Look at the way that they enjoy the flow of the music! For now I shall shall with you this video, hope it can get you be mesmerised for the next 15 minutes of your time :)

-From the PS (Pub Sec)

What does the comm do? (Publicity Secretaries)

2010-03-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's me! :D (In case you haven't guessed...)

As you can probably infer from the name, Publicity Secretaries are in charge of publicity for GENUS - the ensemble and our performances.

What do the Publicity Secretaries do?

Publicity Plans
Co-ordinating school visits and networking with other guitar ensembles
Website updates
Newsletter / Blog / GENUS Calendar
Publicity materials (Flyers, poster design and display)
Welcome tea, Matriculation Fair
Advertisement drafting (write up for concerts, concert synopsis)
Programme booklet
Facebook update of photos
GENUS T-shirt

Publicity secretaries are responsible for GENUS' image as they are in charge of materials that the public see/read/receive about us. Unfortunately for them, their mistakes are highly visible. But this is minimized through vetting by CFA marketting department! (And of course, the fact that there are 4 pairs of eyes to check through the work helps too)

However, publicity is not an effort of the pub secs alone! Publicity Secretaries receive alot of help from the rest of the committee and GENUS when it comes to events matriculation fair, and publicising for concerts (like for calling/mailing publicity to schools, clubs and associations...)

Qualities that a good Publicity Secretary candidate should have:

Eye for the aesthetics
Creative :D and have some publicity ideas!
Ability to stick to deadlines (V impt! If we're unable to meet printing deadlines, we would have any programme booklets D:)
Good grasp of English (no need for super awesome vocabulary, but please be able to form varied sentence structures!)

The very same dinosaur who said that secretaries are the quietest in the comm had also argued that pub secs are always the loudest. I guess we're pretty visible coz we have to ask people to help us with publicity all the time! ^^

And that's it for now. Hope you have a better understanding of what the committee members do! :)

This entry is part of the What does the Comm do? series.

The committee is made up President, Vice President, Concert Master, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, Property Managers, Publicity Secretaries.

what does the comm do? (Property Managers)

2010-03-17T16:37:00.000-07:00

From this post onwards, it's going to be the power of 2! There are lots of benefits of having a partner in the same job. One huge boon is that the huge responsibility of the job is shared, and there is no greater responsibility than being in charge of the guitars of the ensemble! As the name suggests, Property Managers are in charge of all GENUS property - and without our guitars, we would not be able to play anything. D:

What do the Property Managers do?

Maintenance of all the equipment that belongs to the club, including guitars, guitar cases, footstools, music stands, percussion instruments etc. (check for damages and repair and change strings if necessary)
Reinforce the need to handle the guitars and other equipment properly and to take good care of them.
Constant stock checking (after every practice) to ensure that every piece of equipment is being accounted for
Ensure that everyone follows the guitar loaning system strictly (especially signing out before borrowing) so it is easy to keep track of the movement of guitars
Maintain the tidiness of the storeroom, and follow the cupboard colour coding system so that it is easier to keep track of the guitars and other equipment
Ensure that setting up and packing up goes on smoothly and efficiently for every practice
Ensure the smooth running of concerts, equipment and logistics wise (i.e. guitar allocation, transport, storage, setting up, packing up)
To keep track of the cupboard keys during practices

During AGM last year, a dinosaur (not the same one that I mentioned earlier) commented that the job of the Property Managers is so important that everyone is able to remember who were the PMs for each year but nobody remembers who the President or the rest of the comm is! :D Haha. I believe this is quite true as you see your PMs before and after every practice. (If you don't know who they are, it's either because you don't come for practices or you don't help to set up/pack up!)

So aspiring PMs, know that your names will go down in GENUS history!

This entry is part of the What does the Comm do? series.

The committee is made up President, Vice President, Concert Master, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, Property Managers, Publicity Secretaries.

what does the comm do? (Librarian)

2010-03-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

Like the Treasurer who you go to for money, the Librarian is the boss when it comes to matters regarding scores. Besides typing in scores and ensuring that all members have their scores, the librarian has other projects (which many of us don't know about) running in the background.

What does the Librarian do?

Keep track of the scores
Supply player with scores
Manage the library
Ensure conductors/tutors has the scores
Search for scores which conductor/CM request
Rehearsal recordings/video recordings
Photography & Videography for events

The current ongoing projects of our librarian:

- Compiling GENUS' audio library (past genus performances, cds+dvds)

- Cataloging of scores
- Loaning of scores

- Digitalising of scores (optional and other genus members can chip in)

The librarian works together with the CM when it comes to choosing repertoire for performances as nobody knows our library better than the librarian!

In case the juniors do not know, besides containing ensemble scores, our library also contains many small group pieces. (Of course, arranging your own item is also highly encouraged! ^^) When LPG comes around once again, do ask the librarian for permission to look through this treasure trove of scores :D Don't mess it up though, or you'll have an irate librarian on your back.

This entry is part of the What does the Comm do? series.

The committee is made up President, Vice President, Concert Master, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, Property Managers, Publicity Secretaries.

what does the comm do? (Treasurer)

2010-03-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

Treasurer! The person who holds the purse strings of GENUS. Yes, the person you go for to pay money and to get money. (Lol this description sounds exactly like an ATM)

However this is not all a treasurer does!

What does the Treasurer do?

To constantly keep track of the accounts
Budgetting
Collect club fund from members
Ticketing and front of house during annual concert
Liaising with the tailor for uniform
Get dinner for concerts
Raise funds for GENUS (Sponsorship)
In charge of Annual Dinner

It is the responsibility of the treasurer to oversee how the money is spent, to make sure that the group does not over-spend or under-spend. The main criteria is one should be accountable in dealing with the accounts and be meticulous with it. Having good records of where the money goes is really important! Without money, we would not be able to do things like buy new strings for our guitars and enjoy member welfare (e.g. teas and annual dinner!)

Qualities that a good Treasurer candidate should have:As a treasurer, one should be trustworthy and reliable. Afterall you are handling all of our funds! I believe having the ability to effectively hound people for payment would be really helpful to the next treasurer too ;)

This entry is part of the What does the Comm do? series.

The committee is made up President, Vice President, Concert Master, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, Property Managers, Publicity Secretaries.

what does the comm do? (Secretary)

2010-03-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

When I was a very blur Year 1 (not that I'm any less blur now), a dinosaur with 10 years of experience in GENUS told me that the secretary is the quietest person in the committee. To back up his statement, he stated past examples of secretaries who are all the opposite of loud. As I did not know any better then, I blindly believed him. To be honest I am not certain if his statement is true, but before people accuse me of spreading untruths, I have to say that Theresia is not as quiet as she seems! ;)

Perhaps due to our secretary's lack of loud exclamations over how busy she is, most juniors might think that the secretary's job is an easy (or the easiest?!) one in the committee. In this special series about the committee we seek to dispel such ridiculous nonsense about the Secretary.

So, what does the secretary actually do?

Attendance taking
Compilation and updating of members' contact list
Administrative tasks like as adding/deleting members from genus groups
Compile and maintain documents, reports, etc.
Take down minutes for committee meetings
Get excuse letters for members (for performances)
Compile a security list for each concert
Allocate dressing rooms
Invite VIPs for concerts

Actually besides all these administrative tasks, our secretary lends us a hand in publicity too! :D Yep, besides the "official job scope" of each post, the committee basically functions as a team with members taking up the slack one of them is missing, and helping each other out when there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Afterall, many hands make light work :)

This entry is part of the What does the Comm do? series.

The committee is made up President, Vice President, Concert Master, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, Property Managers, Publicity Secretaries.

What does the comm do? (Concert Master)

2010-03-17T06:22:00.001-07:00

Continuing on with our series, this post will be about the Concert Master/Mistress

You can guess a CM's main responsibility from the name of the post itself, but besides the smooth running of performances (which is already quite a lot of work), our CM is also in charge of our ensemble's playing standards and other things as well! The CM has to ensure that all sections are balanced (in terms of stronger and weaker players) and work closely with our SLs, tutors, assistant conductor and our conductor for the music and also with the UCC crew for logistics of our performances.

What does a CM do?

Member recruitment (auditions, section allocation, beginners' workshop)
Ensure the ensemble's standards and smooth running of concerts (planning of rehearsal schedules, auditions, repertoire, stage plans/movements, production schedule bump-in)
Liasing with tutors and conductor/AC (abt concert matters, repertoire, players' abilities, rehearsals)
Coordination of external engagements/Guest players

Another thing that the CM has to juggle is the smooth integration of members of different playing strengths. He has to ensure that the weaker players are able to keep up with the main ensemble yet provide for slightly more challenging songs for members to improve their playing skills. Decisions to do with the concert are mostly made by him (together with tutors and Robert), and when it is the concert day, our CM's the boss. :)

(Kenneth actually sent me a really really long and detailed list, but I have summarized many of the points here.)

Qualities that a CM should have are very similar to those of P/VP candidates! -

The ability to communicate and work well with others is especially important to the CM, as he/she would have to with many groups of people to ensure the smooth running of the concert. An ability to see the big picture and also pay much attention to details is also essential in handling the logistics in the concert!

This entry is part of the What does the Comm do? series.

The committee is made up President, Vice President, Concert Master, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, Property Managers, Publicity Secretaries.

What does the comm do? (P/VP)

2010-03-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone

Since AGM is coming up, we've decided to do a series of entries about the different committee posts of GENUS! (and also to answer the question of "What exactly does the comm do?!" which has been hovering in many juniors' minds) Yep, this is to help you voters better understand what are the job scopes of the various posts and make informed decisions on your voting slips.

So let us begin with the President and Vice President.

(Please note that these two roles are dynamic and the P & VP should complement each other)

What do P & VP do?

Together with CM, conductor and tutors, decide the direction of the ensemble especially for concerts.
Ensure the smooth running of practices and events
Planning of practice and event schedules
Allocate tasks to other committee members and set deadlines
Ensure that all the other committee members are doing their job and to ensure effective communication within the committee
Fulfill the role of any other committee members when they need help or when they are not around.
Liase with external parties (CFA, other groups, external organizations, etc)

Qualities that a good P/VP candidate should have:

Clear vision for GENUS.
Ability to take the initiative and push new ideas forward.
Able to identify problems and solve them creatively, being resourceful.
Have a big picture of things, but also pay great attention to details.
Open to suggestions and criticisms, but at then end of the day able to come up with decisions with his/her own judgement.
Willingness to serve and to commit his/her time to GENUS.
Able to work and communicate well with others.

Actually, willingness to serve and commit your time to GENUS is an important quality in every single committee member. Being a committee member can really take up quite a chunk of your time - so much so that my friend (who is a comm member in another CFA grp) exclaimed to me that she feels more like a full time staff of CFA who is just a part time student of NUS. ^^" Seems pretty extreme huh? But I believe this sentiment rings true for all comm members during the month before concerts :)

This entry is part of the What does the Comm do? series.

The committee is made up President, Vice President, Concert Master, Secretary, Treasurer, Librarian, Property Managers, Publicity Secretaries.

GENUS 2010: Asian Folktales & Legends is over~

2010-03-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

Thank you everyone for your support :)

The audience for coming down to NUS even though the next day is a school/work day.

GENUS performers for being awesome, hardworking and not fleeing when you first saw the scores for this concert. Thank you for taking the time and effort to learn and practice the scores!

I hope you all have enjoyed the concert as much as I have.

I rmb feeling vaguely surprised when we were preparing to play Zigeunerleben. My brain went "huh? We're at the last song already?" Months of preparation and practices condensed into 2 hours of performance and the subsequent concert high which hit me much later. Was it worth it for me? Definitely. It felt so surreal to be returning to the humdrum of school less than 12 hours after the concert has ended. It seemed as if there's no such thing as a breather, life just continues on even though we definitely earned a week's break from school.

Surprisingly I had no pre-concert jitters! (But yes, I made mistakes too) I only started to feel nervous when the ensemble started playing Jingli Nona. That was the moment my mind went blank and only my senses were working. Mistakes on stage are unpredictable and difficult to avoid but stage experience does help in bolstering courage before/during performance and reducing stage fright. You can be like "Hey I've done this N number of times before. This is the N+1 time I'm doing, so no big deal. Let's show these noobs how it's done!" Self-hypnotism? :D Haha. But yes, there's only one way to gain experience. The long and scary way.

What helps for me is focusing on the person who probably has the most stage experience -the conductor. This way you tune out everything - the audience, your anxiety, the mistakes you are currently playing - and focus on the next note, the next moment of the music. It is really comforting to know that you are in experienced hands when you are performing, and exciting when you are breathing and creating the same magic together with the rest of the ensemble. Yea that really happens when you focus on the conductor. Amazing isn't it? :)

So there you have it, YJ's brilliant tip to keep your wits about you when you are up on stage with an expectant audience hanging onto your next note! Hope this helps. (Do try it and tell me if it works for you too!)

Signing off now, but do look out for the candidate application forms which would be put up soon. Be nosy and read through them to find out who is running for what and why. Elections in a week, so talk to the candidates, form your opinions and vote wisely~

introducing Electronic Rock Guitar Shirt from ThinkGeek!

2009-12-29T14:58:00.000-08:00

Completely random, but I chanced upon this-

Can you imagine if they had this in niibori guitar format? The PMs would be out of job! (the money we can save from buying instruments can go into our Germany fund :D) And another boon would be that we won't get thick skin on our fingertips and need to keep long nails on one hand and short nails on the other. Haha.

I wonder if we can play trills, pizzicato etc on such a guitar shirt though.
Any ideas on how to make such a shirt, people?

Disclaimer: This shirt is not in anyway linked to GENUS and GENUS is neither advertising nor endorsing these shirts. :)

End of music camp :(

2009-12-14T02:07:00.000-08:00

Hello all!
Music camp is finally over. Although the camp is rather tiring, but I can't help to feel a little bit sad now that it is over. Hope everyone who came had a blast! Thank you all for being such great company, I am already missing having sectionals and playing charades.

For those of you who've missed the camp, well you've missed all the fun (and the practices!!! must practice harder when school reopens!).

I have some photos, will upload them soon. Meanwhile if you have music camp photos do upload them through facebook or something :)

- Tina

GENUS T-shirt Design!

2009-10-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Hello all GENUS members! I know you are directed here because of the GENUS Family Post...but here are the designs!

I have decided to come out with a cooler design (different from the previous years having the cuter designs) and for this design we shall have the T-shirt, not the polo-T...so you can wear it outside, and I think it looks quite cool and trendy...

Front

I have only this available for the front design, and the entire logo will span across the ENTIRE shirt, so it's a big logo (or a big guitar picture).

Back

FOR THE BACK DESIGN, you guys can decide which design wins and become our design!
Just now during our committee...the biggest fight arose.

My partner was screaming saying NOOO to design 1.
The president was arguing with the vice president.
The treasurer kept saing YES YES YES to design 1.

Why?
Because the two designs are EQUALLY outstanding and so much so that we need the ensemble to help to decide!!

Design 1 (Girl Kissing the Guitar)

Design 2 (Guy with Guitar)

Please cast your votes at this e-mail address!
The survey will close on Tuesday, 6 Oct 2009!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=TTMSaIPouZTh9qEZoii1_2fA_3d_3d

If you have any way to improve the designs, or you do have good ideas, please feedback to jefferykwok@gmail.com. Thanks!

EMCC 2009: Guitarras Vivas!

2009-09-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all!
Good job everyone for putting up a great performance tonight! (Especially to the workshop juniors: it's not easy to perform for an audience with only such little ensemble playing experience)

I have already received all the photographs taken during the performance yesterday (yes now it is already 2am) and I have also sorted out the photographs...somehow. One group of photographs will go to the GENUS official website and all the rest informal photos will go to the FACEBOOK GROUP.

So if you haven't joined the facebook group, PLEASE GO AND JOIN US IN FACEBOOK! In the future I will upload all the photos to facebook. Due to time constraint...some kind soul please tag everyone or just tag yourself!

And just a disclaimer: The pictures I have uploaded to the official website is the "GLAM"est, those that I uploaded to facebook are "quite GLAM", and if you still complain that the facebook photos are ugly, then you can scan through the photos in my laptop to see for yourself what is really "cannot show people"...

Thank you all for making the concert a success! See you during next practice!

First blog entry!

2009-09-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

This is the first official blog entry. I declare the blog officially open! :D

A big welcome to our juniors who have joined us this year. Hope you have been enjoying practices and coping well with the scores.

My first few ensemble practices last year were quite nerve-wrecking. For one, I wasn't very familiar with the scores, and was paranoid that Robert could hear all the wrong notes I was playing. It was only until just before the concert that I realised that I wasn't the only one who had this paranoia. And just to let you know, I think the EMCC scores last year was much more difficult compared to this year's!!! So be glad and practice hard. Jeff has kindly taken a picture of past year's emcc score to prove my point.

Please note that although the scores may look deceptively simple, the speed at which Robert conducts (or doesn't conduct towards the end, in the case of certain polkas) is mind-blowingly fast to someone who has only looked at the score for a few weeks. But the seniors helped a lot! Although sometimes the way in which they were trying to help was quite questionable (like how they make you sit in the front row for ensemble practice and expose your noob playing to Robert's ears. Supposed to give you experience/build up your courage so that you won't freeze on stage...), their intentions are pure. (I think.)

Unfortunately I do not have any juniors to encourage in this same way. Anyone wants to join alto 2? 8D

Juniors in the workshop, jia you! The beauty of ensemble music is that you always have people to support you. Don't be too nervous because you are not alone on stage. Practice hard and I'm sure that you'll be able to make it for EMCC concert. (You MUST make it lah. Some of us will be performing with you on that day, so don't panic.) I've sat in the last 2 workshops and you guys have improved!

The tutors are really very patient, and don't be afraid to ask them any questions. They only look scary, they don't eat people. :)

To round off I'll post our pretty EMCC poster!

AIM FOR AN AWESOME PERFORMANCE PEOPLE! We will blow all the audience's minds away~

Cheerios!

GENUS Blog Opening

2009-06-01T21:36:00.001-07:00

Hey all,

The blog will open shortly, taking over Ge-nusletter.
The entire thing is rather messy right now, so please have patience while everything gets fixed.

Testing.