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~
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