while procrastinating on studying for my geog test, i thought i should pen down some thoughts regarding SYF, which happened just yesterday.

So yea, we got a gold.
When the results was announced, i must admit i felt a slight disappointment.
But after looking at the entire timeline of our preparation, i thought that a gold award wasn't so bad.

Firstly, an unexpected event occured in the morning, where the bus company disseminate the wrong information to the drivers that our competition venue was at REPUBLIC POLY. So nobody realised that we were heading towards Woodlands until the driver asked the teachers if it's at RP when we REACHED woodlands.
We already left school late and now we have to travel from Woodlands to Tanjong Pagar. Plus the fact that it was morning peak hours and there is bound to be traffic jam at the CBD area. So naturally, everyone panicked when there was really a traffic jam and we were running very late. I seriously did not want marks deducted before we even started playing.
That aside, what angers me more was the fact that the driver was pushing the blame to us and was complaining about it throughout the journey.
I mean at that point in time, shouldn't you focus on solving the current problem and try to get us there on time rather than deciding on who should take responsibility?? And the fact that the teachers were so cool and calm about it, accepting everything the driver is throwing at them. It kind of makes me think that if it was Mdm Teo there, an argument would definitely break out. I'm don't mean that starting a quarrel would be a good thing at that point in time, but reiterating your stand would just make the driver shut up instead of thinking that we are very good to bully.

Thank goodness we were asked to tune our instruments on bus, and i played as loud as i could to drown his annoying voice. And yup he shut up.
We happen to reach there on time, but everything passed by in a blur and before i knew it, the orchestra was on stage.
I think that was one of the reasons why we didn't play our best, because everyone was so nervous and unsettled.

Secondly, I'm not really blaming the orchestra as a whole per se, but i just had the feeling that we are simply not motivated or prepared for the competition. And i'm saying this from how i felt on Sunday(the day before SYF). I just find that we are going on a decline again after our practice on friday. The lack of focus, and people changing arrangements although the conductor specifically instructed how he wants it to be done already suggested to me that we are not prepared.
And i'm sorry for pinpointing a certain section but the woodwind section in AJCO is really weak. There are also people who are so full of themselves although they are really bad players.

Thirdly, i think our conductor is too nice. He is a good conductor, i can't argue that, but his lack of pressure on the CO may have led to some complacency in people. He is really too nice! ):

Last but not least, our orchestra is made up of many inexperienced players who only picked up the skills for one year+.

So I think the above reasons pretty much explain why I think that it's a deserving gold award, although there may be other things that i have not factored in.
No, i'm not trying to put down the standards of AJCO. In fact, I think that it is impressive of us to be able to master the 2 songs with many inexperienced players among us.
It was a fair competition. The gold award was fair.

And therefore, we should be proud of the gold medal that we have worked hard for, that we have put all our precious time, sweat and blood into.
I just hope that the next batch of AJCO-ians would do even better than us and clinch the honours!! :)

Alright, i spent longer time than i expected on this post. k thx bai.