How time flies

Aberdeen University, Hillhead Hostel


Royal Mail reminds me of the good times I had in Aberdeen.

Look harder, and you will see the signature red post-box in this picture. Found it?

Lastly, the date on this photo reminded me of how fast time could fly.

13 Aug 05: Saying goodbye to Aberdeen

13 Aug 05 (Sat):

I woke up for breakfast, my favourite meal of the day. I was probably one of the first to be at the canteen for breakfast that day. Before the breakfast, I ensured I have packed my luggage.

Ate breakfast. I thought to myself that I would miss the generous portion of breakfast at the hostel. Though personally, I still find that Conrad Centennial Singapore's Sunday Breakfast is my favourite by far. Yet, back in Singapore, it would be rare that I would be able to treat myself to cereals, fruits, fruit juices, yogurt and croissants for my regular breakfast. I make do with toasts usually because I won't like to spend too much time preparing breakfast.

After breakfast, I met my junior, XM, at 9.10 a.m. to take the public bus to the City of Aberdeen. Since we were both early for the bus, I took the time to find out British Airways' Aberdeen office's phone number. I phoned. Much to my relief, I was told that "everything's back to normal" and that I would be able to leave Aberdeen for London on British Airways as scheduled.

Anyway, back to the public bus. The public bus as I have mentioned would cost 1.10 pounds for a single trip journey of about 15 minutes. For this reason, I heard that some people would choose to walk an hour from the hostel to the City of Aberdeen. Anyway, the scenery along the way was probably nice, so if one had the time, one could take the walk as a leisure stroll cum exercise. But since I had not much time then, I chose to take the bus.

On our way to the music shop which was our destination, XM and I passed by the Clarks shoe-shop. We visited it. There were discountes offered. Some of the Clarks shoes sold at discounted prices were much cheaper than Clarks shoes sold in Singapore. This was so even when I have converted the prices of the shoes (in pounds) to Singapore currency. I would have bought myself a pair of shoes if I could find a pair to my liking.

Thereafter, we headed for the music shop. I bought myself Giovanni Bottesini's Method for Double Bass, Part One and Two. A pity that it did not sell any of Bottesini's double bass concertos. The shop personnel was very nice and she offered to order it for me and have it sent to Singapore, but I declined. I feared that the cost of air freight would make it not cost-effective.

I wished I had bought my catalogue of double bass related publications. At the shop, I had thought that I already have Cimandor's Concerto in G, so I decided not to purchase it. But when I was back in Singapore, I realised I did not have a copy of it. It was quite affordable, I remembered that the Cimandor's scores was no more than 8 pounds. A pity that I did not get myself a copy. Pardon me, I must have been having the craving of collecting double bass related books and scores.

After the music shop, both of us went around to check out a few other shops.XM was gentlemanly to accompany me to check out a few of the sounvenir shops. I got myself some shortbread, done the Scottish way. Then we headed back to the hostel for lunch.

In the afternoon, I prepared to set off to Aberdeen Airport with the rest of the folks from our orchestra. Our double bass tutor for the festival orchestra, P., was very kind to make time to see us off. He helped us load the luggage up the van. By the way, I have yet to mention that other than being our double bass tutor for the festival orchestra, he was in-charge of coordinating the transportation for the festival. MC, XM and myself wrote him a postcard to thank him for his guidance.

We then head for the airport from the hostel on the festival bus. Most of the orchestra members would leave Aberdeen via KLM airlines. Only myself and another person would take British Airways, but we would be on different flights.

At the airport, I heard from XM that a few of our fellow orchestra mates taking KLM airlines would not be able to board the plane due to bad weather conditions. What a shame, in the end, I understand that XM and two others were stranded in Aberdeen for a day because they were not allowed to board the plane. I understand that they were given some compensation but I wonder what good a compensation would be to someone eager to return home?

The airlines was also not willing to allow our orchestra's flight cases containing large instruments to board the plane, despite the fact that I had heard that we have already gained clearance from the Singapore's KLM office. If anyone has the luxuy of time, perhaps he or she would like to invent a flight case protective enough but yet light and compact enough for air travel? Our orchestra just seemed to be having problems with the flight cases with the airport authorities and airlines. I wonder if other music groups had that problem?

Much later, after I was back in Singapore, I read from MC's blog that another two of our fellow orchestra mates got stranded at Amsterdam because of misprint of their travel pass and because of the delay in the KLM flight from Aberdeen to Amsterdam which left them little time to amend the misprint in their travel passes when they reached Amsterdam. What misadventure.

For me, I depart on one of British Airways' flights. While the strike by British Airways staff have stopped, the strike by staff Gate Gourmet (British Airways food supplier) continued. As such, there was no in-flight food. I was given a food coupon which I could use to redeem for light refreshments (mineral water, potato chips and sandwiches). Actually having no in-flight food did not seem that bad because I was only taking a short-distance domestic flight to London. In about an hour and a half's time, I reached London's Heathrow Airport.

At the airport, it took me a few minutes to figure out the directions to the tube station from the arrival hall. I headed for the Russell Square tube station on the tube. I was very thankful that the tube services for the Piccadilly line has resumed. It was closed shortly after the London bombing's incidents. Taking the tube is a much cheaper form of transport than taxi. It took about 40 minutes to get to Russell Square tube station from Heathrow Airport tube station. Taxi would have been very expensive, I heard it would cost about 50 pounds to get to Russell Square from the airport. The exchange rate is approximately 1 pound to 3 Singapore dollars. I started becoming thankful to our affordable taxi services in Singapore.

Russell Hotel, which I would stay, was within walking distance from the Russell Square tube station. I am thankful for my dad for sponsoring my hotel accomodation in London. I would not have want to spend money to stay in a hotel if I were in London. A three-star hotel in London would cost at least about 90 pounds if you want en-suite facilities.

I was issued key to a room, but that room had faulty air-conditioning unit. When I went to the reception desk for help, the courteous and helpful staff helped arranged for a room check, and when the fault was ascertained, he offered me another non-smoking room. So I proceeded to check the second room and all was in good condition. I like that second room better. While the size of the toilet was smaller than that of the first, the bedroom's area was much bigger. I would prefer a greater bedroom area for you must have guessed that I would end up spending more time on the bed than in the toilet. The second room had a better view too.

I was hungry by the time I had settled down in the second room. I walked to the nearby streets and bought Subway sandwiches for dinner. After unpacking, and having a nice shower, I slept.

Before sleeping, I said thanks to my dad for sponsoring the accomodation. I knew I would have preferred to stay in a hotel than in the hostel, but if I were to pay for my own accomodation, I would have chosen the latter.

12 Aug 05: Festival orchestra's concert

Thank you for your patience, here are more about happenings in Aberdeen when I was there this August. If you could muster enough patience, you would soon get to read about my trip to London.

***
12 Aug 05 (Friday):

In the evening of 12 Aug 2005 would be the festival orchestra's gala concert. To recapitulate, this was the programme for the gala concert: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Brahms' Second Symphony.

In the morning, we had rehearsals. My stand partner, K., was not able to attend the morning rehearsal because she has to work.

Our double bass tutor in Aberdeen, P. was very thoughtful to come to my desk to share the first desk with me. It helped. Having P. next to me helped to assure me that I was coming correctly at the various entries of the double bass section. Then he told me, I was sitting on the "hot seat", the principal's seat and he urged me to lead. Instead of following him. That reminded me to have more confidence in myself.

Actually I wasn't quite feeling well that morning. So I could hardly assimilate everything that P. had shared with me. What a pity. He must have been sharing lots of words of wisdom.

After the morning rehearsal, SH told me that British Airways, the airlines that I would be taking for my flight to London tomorrow, went on strike. That was a worrying piece of news, I had already booked my accomodation and I had no wish to have my travel plans delayed.

Afternoon was free time. I had initially planned to walk around the City of Aberdeen to do some shopping and to check out the music shop that was not opened when I was there on 7 Aug 05 but I was not feeling well. Since concert was in the evening, I figured that I needed to do the concert justice by ensuring I have enough rest to feel better by the evening. You would have guessed it, I went back to hostel to rest.

Had lunch at the hostel canteen. Thereafter, I went to buy the newspapers. I wanted to read about the British Airways' unofficial strike. I read the newspapers in my hostel room. Since I could not offer to replicate a copy of the newspapers that I had read that day, I shall offer this link taken from BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4144712.stm

After reading about the unofficial strike, and making sure I have gotten all things ready for the gala concert, I took an afternoon nap. That had helped. I woke up feeling much better. When I played in the evening much later. I was able to stay focused in my playing.

The gala concert went well. I still felt I had not mastered the Brahms' Second Symphony. I know I would still need to practise more to play better. At that time, I wished I had more time to practise!

***

The festival orchestra's double bass section.

***

However, overall, the festival orchestra managed to put up a well-received concert.

An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise would probably be seen as an interesting item for the audience. Towards the end of this work, a bag-pipe player strolled in from one end of the hall while playing his bag-pipe. Then he walked while playing, until he was near the front of the stage. It certainly sounded and looked like music from Scotland.

The Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 was perhaps the most well received. The soloist received standing ovation from a large number of the audience. The soloist played very well, I was moved too.

Even the Brahms' Second Symphony received appreciative applause from the audience. It somehow went better than I had thought, though I know that if given more time, I could have played much more better. I believe many people in the festival orchestra would have shared my sentiments. But I suppose that five days of rehearsal was the longest possible length of time that the organiser could provide the festival orchestra to come together and rehearse? It ws not an easy task to bring people from so many orchestras together, so here's cheers to the organisers of the festival and the people who have made it possible.

I wonder if it was a common practice for audience in Aberdeen to clap between movement? I gave this much thought, and I think I would not have mind having audience clapping between movements if the audience were appreciative.

After the concert, we packed up. We waited for the festival bus to bring us back to hostel. This is so that the participants could go to the hostel to change if they would like. Thereafter, another festival bus would bring us to Beach Ballroom for the Farewell Party.

***

Waiting for the bus.

***

The roads of City of Aberdeen.

***

That night was special. Every participant of the Aberdeen International Youth Festival was invited to the Farewell Party held that night.

On the way to the farewell party, I sat beside one of the bus drivers of the festival. He was not driving, but he was taking the festival bus to the Farewell Party. I found out that he actually plays the trumpet.

The team of bus drivers were actually volunteers who volunteered their time and driving skills to contribute to the festival. Imagine how things would have been if we were to have to lug our instruments from the hostel to the music hall without any drivers to provide any form of transport. That would be torturous if you were carrying a heavy instrument. Three cheers to the bus-drivers.

By the way, everyone who was 18 years old and above were each given three coupons that would each entitle one to one drink of either wine or beer. I did not want any drink so I gave away all my three coupons.

Folks, I was being disciplined. I decided I should not drink alcohol or carbonated drinks in the night. Doing so would not be good for someone who had wanted a good night of rest. When I told one of the drivers that I have no plan to drink alcoholic drinks, he said out loud that I was a "boring woman" jokingly.

At the Farewell Party, music was loud and not to my liking. That made me feel like leaving. I heard that there was a reception cum gift presentation to the representative of each of the participating group. I had wanted to watch it but got to realise that one had to be invited to attend that reception. I was not invited. What a pity.

At 11.15 p.m., I asked the bus-driver what time the next bus would depart for the hostel. He said 11.30 p.m.

While waiting, I had a chat with XM. He gave me ideas of what I could do if British Airways' strike were to continue till the following day and affect my travel plans.

I chat till that I did not realise that the clock had struck 11.30 p.m. That bus-driver was very nice. He remembered I was "the boring woman" who needed to be back in my room for an early rest, and he went around looking for me to remind me that the bus would be leaving. How nice. I don't know if I could find a bus-driver looking around for me before the bus departs if I were in Singapore.

Back in the hostel room, I tried to pack part of my belongings as we would be leaving Aberdeen in the afternoon of the following day. That night, there was a meteorite shower in that part of the world. I was tempted to watch the meteorite shower but decided to forgo it. Sleep would be more important when I was in foreign lands.

So while others might be partying away, chatting in their rooms or trying to stay awake to watch the meteorite shower, I was sleeping.

(Anyway, I heard that due to poor weather, many people were left disappointed when they tried to watch the meteorite shower.)

If you say it's boring life that I was living, I can't help but say that sleep was important because I needed to have enough sleep so that I could be alert enough to respond to unknown situations the next day. I had no idea whether I could leave Aberdeen the next day. I have read how many travellers were stranded at Heathrow Airport because of the British Airways strike. I felt I needed energy to know how to respond effectively should I meet up with a crisis the following day.

***
Sleep tight meantime. Your sleep is precious.

11 Aug 05: Music fills the whole day

It was a pleasant break from the daily routine to simply eat, drink, and be close to music everyday. Before I could even start to miss my hometown, Singapore, the beauty of Scotland's landscape would wash away all those thoughts of missing home. Maybe I am meant to be in a land of vast space, away from a culture of pragmatism?

What you will be reading came from my travel journal, and I only wrote this page in Heathrow Airport about 6 days after 11 Aug 05. I hope I have remembered what had happened as best as I could.

***
"In the morning, I arrived early for breakfast. I was trying to enjoy my breakfast, I didn't know when I could enjoy such a feast of breakfast when I return to Singapore.

After breakfast, the festival bus took us to the rehearsal venue. I was keeping my fingers crossed that all would turn out well on the concert day. Somehow, the Brahms' Symphony No. 2 needed to be better, in my humble opinion. Pardon me, I must have been worrisome.


Near New Kings.

***

In the afternoon, was the precious freetime. I had originally planned to go to the City of Aberdeen to shop and to visit the music shop but heard that there would be a chamber music competition and that a few members of the orchestra were participating. As such, I decided to shelf my plans to shop in the City of Aberdeen to the following day.

But I guess that the relatively lack of sufficent sleep has gotten me feeling tired. While I slept before midnight the night before, I woke up by 6 a.m. to enjoy the morning sun and the calls of the seagulls. In summer, the sun is bright and the day is long. I found it hard to sleep beyound 7.30 a.m in Aberdeen's summer. The summer's warmth is hard to resist. Furthermore, I would rather wake up early so that I could take time to enjoy breakfast, instead of having to rush. Rehearsals is just after breakfast, and I have no intention to be late.

In the afternoon, the festival bus took us to the Cowdray Hall which is located within the City of Aberdeen for the Norman Cooper Chamber Music Competiton Finals. When I reached there, I could not help but grab a seat to take a rest.

The participants of the Chamber Music Competition Finals might kill me if I were to write here that I had dozed for some of the items because their music did not appeal to my ears. So, I shall just excused myself by saying that I had dozed off because I was tired.

For example, I dozed off when the Zortziko Trio played the Spanish tune of Jaoquin Turina's Trio No. 1 Op 35. Movt II and III. My apologies for my unpolite sleeping away. I was just too tired. Forgive me if I had even snored. Did I?

The clarinet players from our orchestra were also participants of the finals. They played well. I like the sounds that they have produced on their clarinets though I did not like the works they have played. Somehow something was missing. They did not sound sufficiently Bach nor Mendelssohn.

Here's to say Bravo to the two teams from our orchestra who successfully saw themselves through to the finals.

I was able to stay quite awake when the Young Sinfonia Piano Trio gave their rendition of Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D Minor - Movt 1. Overall, they have performed well. So they not only won the first prize for the finals, they also won the audience's prize (where audience voted for what they thought was the best team). Congratulations.

In the evening, there was the festival orchestra rehearsal, and it was held in the Music Hall. K. had to work in the morning, and could only come for that day's afternoon rehearsal. That evening, P. also played with us. I realised I was dependent on listening to him to get a better sense of how the double bass parts in Brahms' Symphony No. 2 would sound. I tried to listen to him to get cues on when to enter. It was not a good thing to do, for being a principal, I should be leading, not P.. I could make up for my inadequacies by striving to practise and to play the symphony as best as I could within the short span of time we have before the gala concert. Even if I don't get to master Brahms' Symphony No. 2 by the gala concert, I hope I could work on it and master it by early next year.

Meantime, to get then, it is practice, diligent practice and effective practice.

That night, I heard the violin soloist for the first time. He was Daniel Rowland. He's good. He knew exactly what he wanted to achieve in the music and he knew what he ws doing. It was an honour to be playing with him.

Earlier, before the rehearsal, I was curious and I asked if P. could show me his bag containing double bass related items. He was very kind to do so, and when I just merely made a casual remark that I could not find one particular rosin in Singapore, he handed that rosin to me as a gift. This was most unexpected. I have no intentions to get anything from him. I have no idea how to return this kind gesture, except to play better?

That night, I left the double bass at the Music Hall. I figured I won't be practising in my room after that night's rehearsal since it was quite late. Furthermore, the next rehearsal was in the morning of the following day."

10 Aug 05: A stronger double bass section

Thanks for your patience, here's more about how I have spent my time in Aberdeen in August.

***
10 Aug 05:

Rehearsal for the festival orchestra was in the morning. I was feeling rather tired in the morning, and I suppose it was because I had slept late the night before. I am amazed by those of my orchestra-mates who have stayed up much later than I do. I wonder how they could endured late nights without feeling tired the very next day.


The place where rehearsal for the festival orchestra was held.

***
In the morning, I met R.. R. will be playing for the the festival orchestra gala concert with us. If my ears had heard correctly, I heard from MC that R. will be taking his "A" levels examinations later this year.

For the morning rehearsal, I shared the same desk with R.. This meant that R. was my stand partner for that morning. He played well, good sight-reading. When I was of his age, I don't think I could have managed those difficult passages from Brahms. When I was of that age, I was still playing the double bass in Chinese orchestras but have yet been playing in a symphony orchestra. Many of the times, when I see people younger than myself played better than I had been when I was of that age, I felt a sense of having lost time. Then again, seeing them playing better than when I was of their age motivated me that if I were to continue to practise diligently, I could still make up for the time lost.

After lunch, K. came. K. used to be studying under P. (our double bass tutor for the festival orchestra). I could not figure out how to spell her unique name until the night before the gala concert. She has quite a unique name, and I have not known anyone by that name. Whatever it is, it is a nice feeling to know that we would have a stronger double bass section for the gala concert with K. and R. joining us.

K. needed scores, so I helped her with it. I looked for the people from the festival's music department, and M. was helpful to assist me. While on the way to find the scores, M. was so nice to compliment me for my playing of The Elephant the night before. He even hummed a short section of the tune from The Elephant. I was flattered. *Blush.*

So thanks to M.'s help, we managed to find enough scores for everyone in the section. Upon the request of MC, the double bassists took a group photo.



Initially, K. shared the desk with MC. Later, P. came by during the afternoon rehearsal. While I did not freak out from P.'s presence, there was a slight sense of pressure felt when the tutor was around. Thank goodness, it was not a negative form of presure. I was able to try to be as focused as possible when playing during the rehearsal. Then we have a break half-way the afternoon rehearsal.

During the break, P. suggested that K. would share the stand with me, and I would be the principal for the section. K. has such better sight-reading skills too. Feeling not as competent, I actually suggested if K. would like to be the principal instead, but she declined. Reflecting, I wish I had not have put myself down. So I shall be thankful that K. was thoughtful to decline.

By 10 Aug 05, concert was drawing very near. The festival orchestra's gala concert was to be held on 12 Aug 05. Participants from various groups came together to form the festival orchestra. Getting people from various parts of the world together to make music in itself is something remarkable.

While rehearsing, I was feeling a sense of inadequacy. I have yet to master Brahms' Second Symphony. It was a little depressing for myself to feel this way. I could only try to lift my spirits up by doing whatever possible I could to play the symphony as best as I could. Actually, I was feeling inadequate as a principal of the festival orchestra, attempting to lead the section in Brahms' Second Symphony. I haven't been feeling that way when I was playing Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony or the Mendelssohn's Fingals Cave, but I felt that inadequacy when I played Brahms' Second Symphony. I hope I haven't like Brahms' music so much that I have became as self-critical as he had been.

Anyway, P. joined in the rehearsal and he shared the desk with MC after K. came to share the first desk with me. By the end of the rehearsal, he told us that he would play with the rest of us (i.e. K., MC, R., XM and myself) for the festival orchestra gala concert. Yes, a stronger double bass section. P. knew the parts well. Good playing from him.

***
In the evening, we attended the concert performed by the Young Sinfonia. Here's a short brief about the Young Sinfonia that I have taken from the festival's booklet:

Young Sinfonia is the award-winning youth orchestra of the North of England. It was set up in 1996 as a chamber orchestra of around 35 players, through a donation from Dame Catherine Cookson. Since then, the orchestra has grown in stature and reputation across the region and beyond.

The concert was held at the Beach Ballroom. Here's the programme:

• BEETHOVEN - Symphony No. 7
  

• VILLA-LOBOS - Sinfonietta No. 1 in Bb
  

• SCOTT STROMAN/ NAME - Number Two: Jean
  

To catch the concert, I took the festival bus from the hostel to the Beach Ballroom with many other members from our orchestra. I had wanted to listen to Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. I remember that there was a difficult passage for the double bass in that symphony.

Beach Ballroom, like its name has suggested, is located near the beach. I love the beach of Aberdeen. The seaglls, and the cool breeze. Please click on this link for some photos of the beach.

Young Sinfonia's players are technically good individually. Their double bassists played in tune and were all technically competent. I have no clue where to find much fault in them (the players from Young Sinfonia), only that something seemed missing from their Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and other works. I could not tell why. I also take this chance to ask for forgiveness that it must have been due to sleeping too late the night before (even though I had tried to sleep as early as possible), I was practically half-asleep throughout that concert.

Number Two: Jean is a multi-media collaborative work with visuals/ concept by NAME and music by Scott Stroman (who conducted the concert). Despite reading the programme notes, I felt I could not fully comprehend this piece of music. The programme notes say that:

Number Two: Jean is inspired by the memory of the visual artist's great aunt and her close connection with a Cistercian Monastery in Leicestershire, where she used to take him as a boy.

The creation of Jean was a unique process, where Nik Berrera created a series of visuals and a working scenario which Scott Stroman used as inspiration in writing the score. Nik then adapted the visuals back to the music, allowing the music itself to feel natural and not restricted by any specific demands of the visuals; the creation process was therefore a genuine and organic collaboration. In performance, both the music and visuals have the ability to change and respond to each other, meaning that no two performances can be the same.

On the bus ride back, I must have been honoured that our orchestra's conductor sat beside me and he shared his afterthoughts of that concert by Young Sinfonia with me. I was able to stay awake throughout the conversation. For that I reckon, maybe it was not because I was too tired for the concert that I fell half-asleep, maybe it was because the music did not appeal to my ears.

Back at Hillhead hostel, after washing up and packing up what was necessary for the next day, I definitely would not decline any chance to head for sleepland. I needed sleep badly. I was so tired that night that I hardly have the strength to open all those doors from the front-door of the building to my room. That night, I would stand near the door and wait for someone else to open the door for me. If not, I would just muster enough energy to open the door just suficiently wide enough for me to pass through. I think I was so tired then that if the Earth were to shake that very night, I would have fallen to my death without any resistance. Thank goodness that I need not carry a double bass that night. The double bass was kept in my room all the while when I was attending that concert.

***
As such, being not a night-person, I must write here that I take my hats off those of the orchestra members who could stay up overnight to play bridge, chit-chat and so forth during the festival.

I am not a night-person by nature, and I certainly try not to sleep too late when I am oveseas. So if you have yet to know: Please make no attempt to disturb my habit of sleeping before midnight, for if you did, you are likely to see a non-responsive and grouchy me the very next day.

9 Aug 05, part two: The Elephant, in Tarves

A short word of appreciation to Mistipurple and Simple American for their assurance that my journey has not been too boring for them. Yours truly is in need of positive strokes at times.

***
What's playing now on the CD player: Brahms' Symphony No. 2 in D major, performed by Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Herbert Von Karajan.

***

Now I shall start recalling about the rest of 9 Aug 05:

After excusing myself from the rehearsals, it was pure waiting. The bus that would take a small group of us to Tarves for the performance would only come about an hour later.

If I am not wrong, only about nine of us would be travelling to Tarves, the rest of the orchestra were in the rehearsal hall practising. If we were to join the rehearsals for the festival orchestra, we would end up excusing ourselves at an untimely moment, so the decision was to miss the rehearsal.

The festival orchestra would probably be rehearsing Brahms' Symphony No. 2. Nice music. I love Brahms' symphonies. It was an unsettling feeling to be missing the rehearsal simply because of missing to play Brahms' music.

Then the group of us who were to travel to Tarves managed to find ourselves a small room to practise for our performance later the evening. YY and his string quartet members practised Schubert's Op. 125 No. 1 (Allegro Moderato).

Afterwhich, JZ and his string quartet rehearsed Saint Saens' The Elephant with me. That was the very first time I rehearsed The Elephant with the string quartet in Aberbeen. It went well except that the transition part still was rather shaky. I tried to work things out for that section before we moved on to rehearse another item.

The next item we rehearsed was Da Hai (which approximately means "The Sea" in Mandarin), arranged by He Zhan-hao. It was the very first time I had played it with the ensemble, which consists of members from both the two string quartets mentioned earlier. It was definitely so much easier to sight-read and play Da Hai than any of Brahms' symphonies.

Soon, came the bus to pick us to Hillhead hostel to get our belongings. Our conductor and one of the accompany university staff members also came with us. Several members from the Young Sinfonia were also onboard the same bus. They would be performing in the same concert. When everyone was onboard, the bus headed for Tarves.

I must have been so tired such that I slept throughout the journey to Tarves, for I realised that I did not take a single photograph of the journey from Aberdeen to Tarves.

The members from the Young Sinfonia rehearsed first. I listened. Pretty good playing. I was impressed by the young cellist who played very well for his young age.

I took a short walk about the concert venue. I find Tarves a peaceful town, and I wished I could have more time to walk further. But there was not much time to move too far.


Above photo: Where the concert was held.

***

When it was our turn to rehearse, our conductor came to listen to us, and to give us his pointers. When it was time to rehearsed The Elephant, it became apparent that very likely I was the cause of the shaky transition section because I had started the first bar after the transition section with too fast a rhythm. So we resolved that matter and we went on to rehearse Da Hai.

Before the performance, the host was so kind to treat us to sandwiches and refreshments. Dinner would follow after the performance.

***
Performed. Here's the programme:

• Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D minor (performed by Young Sinfonia)
• Greig's String Quartet No. 1 (first and third movements) (performed by Young Sinfonia)
• Saint-Saens' The Elephant
• Tchaikovsky's String Quartet Op. 11 No. 1 (Second movement)(performed by JZ and company.
• Schubert's String Quartet Op. 125 No.1, Allegro Moderato (performed by YY and company.
• Da Hai (arranged by He Zhan-hao)

All seemed to went reasonably well in general.

When it was my turn to play The Elephant, I beg your pardon that there was no laughter nor giggle. I guess that the audience did not know that they could do so, so they held themselves back? But it was fine. I don't actually know if they do like to listen to me play? I must have been such a self-critic. I still got that very bar just after the transition section wrong. And because I repeated playing The Elephant and I got it wrong again, I got it wrong twice on the stage! So I must be thankful that the ensemble had so ingeniously followed me well to cover my very mistake. While playing, I have learnt to let go and move on. But after the concert, I thought to myself that a discerning ear would have heard that I was a quaver short because of my slightly fast tempo at that bar. Wondering if "the elephant" had decided to take flight then? Anyway, I suppose I shouldn't be discrediting myself too much for that may be very detrimental to one's ego.

After the performance, one member of the audience was so kind to come up to us and tell us that she felt "touched when she listened to Da Hai". Not forgetting to mention, I felt that the applauses from the audience after Da Hai was played was significantly louder than the other items played by members of the orchestra, including The Elephant. Maybe the audience's ears prefer something that does not sound too Western?

Like I have mentioned, our most generous and kind host gave us a treat to dinner. Members from both our orchestra as well as from the Young Sinfonia were present. Dinner started with a slight sense of awkwardness at the beginning. We didn't know how to relate our appreciation to the host.

Thank goodness, our conductor stood up and he thanked the host on our behalf for remembering that very day (9 August) was Singapore's National Day. The host has been very thoughtful, before the start of the concert, he gave a short speech. I did not get to hear it clearly because I was backstage then, but I supposed that the host had so graciously announced that it was Singapore's National Day.

Our conductor invited us to say toast to the host by using the Chinese's (or is it Cantonese's?) way of saying "Yum-Seng". http://www.yumseng.com/about.html has good information about what "Yum-Seng" means. It is the English equivalent of "Bottoms Up".

"YUMSENG" is usually shouted out three times in succession, and with increasing volume. The first syllable "YUM" is always extended, whilst the second syllable "SENG" is short and sharp.

Afterwhich, our conductor invited the folks from our orchestra to sing the Singapore's National Anthem, and we sang, up to the first chorus. Thereafter, the ice seemed to be brokened. People in the room started warming up to one another.

Food was wonderful. Well, it may seem simple, the cooking was good. The ice-cream was especially delightful. I helped myself to a second helping of the ice-cream. We were also served wine, but I suppose you might have guessed it that I decline all offers to be served wine. Praise me for being self-disciplined would you?

After a wonderful dinner from our most kind host, we headed back to Aberdeen. In fact , I was sleeping throughout the journey back to Tarves.

I slept as early as is possible when I reached the hostel. It was already quite late then. I managed to sleep just before midnight, and that was comparatively later than the times that I had slept on the previous nights.

Anyway, there was a sense of relief and "mission accomplished" to realise that I have performed The Elephant. There were mistakes, but it reminded me playing solo in front of an audience may not be as daunting as I have imagined. Of course, I know I could do better. Practise, practise.

9 Aug 05: Fourth generation?

I wonder if people have become bored reading about my trip to UK? Hopefully, it is otherwise. Anyway, I shall write on.

***
9 August is Singapore's National Day!

For a snippet of Singapore's history, here goes (source: http://www.sg):

Singapore was separated from the rest of Malaysia on 9 August 1965, and became a sovereign, democratic and independent nation.

Independent Singapore was admitted to the United Nations on 21 September 1965, and became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations on 15 October 1965. On 22 December 1965, it became a republic, with Yusof bin Ishak as the republic's first President.

Thereafter commenced Singapore's struggle to survive and prosper on its own. It also had to create a sense of national identity and consciousness among a disparate population of immigrants.Singapore's strategy for survival and development was essentially to take advantage of its strategic location and the favourable world economy.

***
In the morning, we had our second double bass sectionals. XM, another double bassist, had yet to return to Aberdeen. So there were only myself and MC for the sectional with P.

By the way, P. said his teacher was a student of F. Simandl. That means that P. is the third generation of F. Simandl's school of playing. Would that make myself and MC the fourth generation? I guess I would need more intensive lessons to claim so.

A biography of F. Simandl adapted from F. Simandl's New Method for the Double Bass Book 1 (revised by F. Zimmermann, Edited and annotated by Lucas Drew):

Franz Simandl was born 1 August 1840 in Blatna, Bohemia. He was the leading bassist of the Vienna Court Orchestra for many years. He was Professor of Double Bass at the Vienna Conservatory of Music from 1869 until 1910. His comprehensive F. Simandl's method was considered to summarise 19th century double bass technique. He died in Vienna oon 13 Dec 1912.

We went through Brahms' Second Symphony and Bruch's Violin Concerto. I felt a little disappointed with myself for not having excellent sight-reading skills. I was struggling to play some passages when I was sight-reading them. Then again, I had to constantly remind myself to be easier and kinder on myself. Too much "emotional beating and degrading" of oneself will not be good for one's sense of self-worth.

P. continued to advise me on posture. He gave several helpful suggestions on ways to sit more comfortably, and to play with greater ease. For that sectional, I was experimenting with the various suggestions.

A pity that sectional had to end by noon. We started at 9 a.m. with a half-an-hour break midway the sectional. That was our last official double bass section in Aberdeen. Here's to say: Thanks P..

P. told us that a boy and one of P. female student will be joining us to play for the festival orchestra. Great to have more company.

In the afternoon after lunch, there was festival orchestra rehearsal for the gala concert. But I had to miss it. Several of the members from our orchestra would have to travel to Tarves to perform there. Tarves is a thriving community less than 20 miles from Aberdeen.

Actually, I had thought that the performance on 9 Aug 05 where I would be performing Saint Saens' The Elephant would be just a mere informal concert at one of the art galleries. However when I arrived at Aberdeen, I got news to inform me that it was to be a ticketeted concert. That added a little amount of stress initially.

Just before the rehearsal started, I spoke briefly to the conductor to ask to be excused from the rehearsal.

***
More about 9 Aug 2005 shall follow. I seek your patience meantime.

By the way, if you have missed visiting this link, check out: New Kings.

8 Aug 05: First day of festival orchestra's rehearsal

This is the first day of the rehearsal for the festival orchestra. The festival orchestra is made up of members from various orchestra and musical groups in the festival. Together, the members of the festival orchestra will play on 12 Aug 2005.

This was the programme for the festival orchestra's gala concert: Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise, Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Brahms' Second Symphony.

Afer breakfast, my mind was thinking about playing Brahms' Second Symphony later in the day, and I started feeling excited. I thought, how exciting it would be to play the symphony. Then I started running back to my hostel room from the central building where the canteen was located.

Then unexpectedly, I fell. Ouch! I almost fell on my face, but I managed to cushion the fall with my palms. As a result, both my palms were wounded. Only later did I realised I could have sprained my left thumb. The fall left wounds on my chin. My knees were hurt too even though I was wearing a pair of trousers. I felt my knees hurting when I was walking.

Initially the wounds hurt as they were still fresh wounds. I applied antiseptic cream on the wounds after cleaning them. The wounded areas continued to feel painful. With wounds from almost top to bottom, I must have been feeling very grouchy then.

When I returned to my room, I hate the thought that I had one double bass in my room and I had to bring the double bass stool too to New Kings where we were to have our sectionals and rehearsal. For once, I wish someone could invent a device that would shrink large-size items to the size of a pin.

Several of the folks in the orchestra were nice to help me with the carrying of the items. For example, MC and SH helped me with carrying of the items. A festival bus took us to New Kings from Hillhead Hostel.

Finally, we reached New Kings. It took a while for us to know where sectionals were held. Actually, I won't have felt that it took such a while if not for me having wounds all over. Sorry if I have exaggerated. The wounds simply hurt.

Anyway, the morning started with everyone having sectionals. MC and myself attended a double bass sectional where there was only two of us and our tutor. He is a double bassist who lives in Aberdeenshire, if I remember correctly.

Sectional that day was interesting. Our tutor, I addressed him as P here, gave pointers to correct my posture. That seemed to help take off some strains from my legs and arms. He also taught us how to count triplets by either using the word "cho-co-late" or "straw-ber-ry". It sounds a little cranky at the start but it was certainly effectively. Thanks P.


I had sectionals here.

***

We had lunch after sectionals. Lunch was at Crombie's Hall's canteen. The system of being served with food and getting our choice of food at that canteen was quite hard for us to understand. The system seemed so totally different from that at Hillhead Hostel's canteen. Over at Hillhead, we are restricted to one choice of the maincourse at anyone time, but we can help ourselves to all the rest of the food. Of course, we all do our part by only taking what we can reasonably finish. However at Crombie, it is strictly two courses per person per meal. I was giving a warning by one of the staff because I did not know the rules at the Crombie's Hall. I took three courses and had wanted to take more. A small plate with one slice of cheesecake is also considered a course.

I finished lunch early, so I walked about the compounds of New Kings. Like I have mentioned early, the grass in Aberdeen is somehow so special such that one would be tempted to sit on it. No mud and no insects crawling from the ground (at least I did not experience it).



More photos await, if you wait long enough to see a link here.
***

Orhcestra rehearsal followed after lunch-time. The first half of the rehearsal was a little demoralising. I was not concentrating (it must be because of the pain from the wounds) and I played the Brahms' Second Symphony badly. My greatest weaknesses were rhythm and sight-reading difficult passages. That day, all my greatest weaknesses showed through. Brahms' Second Symphony is a difficult work for me at my current level of playing. I struggled a bit despite having practised it on my own, and going through the sectional. But the beauty of Brahms' symphonies is not in playing the notes, it is in playing it musically so that the overall orchestral effect and texture would be the way intended by Brahms. That's my humble opinion.

We had a break after the first half of the rehearsal. During the break, the conductor of the festival orchestra came to the double bass section. He asked if we could understand him, and also asked how he could help us understand him in anyway. I thought he meant if we could understand his conducting, so I replied accordingly. Then I realised he might be asking if we understood him when he speaks English. Earlier during the rehearsal, MC heard him wrongly and mistook that he wanted to play the second movement. Actually he wanted to play a particular section in the first movement. I could not hear the conductor then, so MC had the honour to flip the scores to the page where he thought he had heard the conductor wanted. So I guess our double bass sectional (at that time made up of the two of us) misheard and misunderstood the conductor. He must be thinking that we can't understand English at all.

Finally the rehearsal was over.

I can't remember what I did after the rehearsals. I often know I had to ensure that the double bass was carried back to the hostel room. I must have wanted to practise on it. Meantime, I could not recollect what went on that evening except that I know I went to bed not too late. I infered that I could not have slept too late. Not when I was suffering from the pains from the wounds. Pardon me, I was indeed grouchy then.

7 Aug 05: Sunday and Free Day

Back to sharing about my visit to UK.

7 Aug 2005, it was Sunday, and there was no official programme for myself to attend on that day. Hence, it was a free day for me.

In the morning, it was hard to resist the companionship of the double bass, so I practised. This is even though I still think "my husband" and "my boyfriend" still make better companions. But I guess in foreign lands, and when performances are drawing near, I could not choose to be choosy?

That morning, I practised the following: Saint Saens' The Elephant, first movement from Brahms'Symphony No. 2, various scales and studies, and Hartley's Double Bass Solo Book 1.

In the afternoon, after having lunch at the hostel, I headed for the city of Aberdeen. There was a market held along Union Street. Traffic was not allowed to drive into Union Street for that weekend.




The market along Union Street.

***
I walked along Union Street until I passed by the Music Hall. It brought nice feelings because this was where myself and the orchestra performed during the opening concert. This was also the destination of the festival parade.



***
Weather can change drastically. When I was nearby the music hall, the skies looked clear and fine. In less than half an hour's time, this was how the skies looked. There was a slight dizzle.







Under this kind of weather condition, I walked down a street to look for a music store which I have heard about. It was closed! The shop does not open on Sundays. I felt disappointed after walking such a long stretch of road.



***
Strange enough, the poor weather soon came to an end. As I walked towards Union Street, I found myself gradually liking the granite buildings in Aberdeen.






When I reached Union Street, I saw a bagpipe band playing. I spent some time standing at one corner listening to Scottish tunes played by the band.



***
As I walked on, I passed by a lane. I quite enjoy such a sight.



I also went into one of the bookshops to get myself a book on assessment in social work. I thought this was quite a good find because I could not find this book in Singapore.

Maritime Museum is open on Sundays but by that time of the day, it was closed.

Deciding not to be disappointed, I walked to the Information Centre thinking of getting souvenirs, but there weren't much that caught my eye. Yet, it was not a fruitless trip to the Information Centre. I found out that internet access was available there. It was 1 pound for 20 minutes access. I found myself using the internet access simply to read important emails and clear junk emails. I didn't have the time to even post an entry on my blog nor to read the blogs of others.

Afterwhich, I headed for the Marischal College's museum. The museum was alright though I felt that the exhibits did not quite appeal a lot with me. Maybe I had been too tired from walking.

I've posted photos of the Marischal College on my other blog.

Took a bus back to the hostel. I took dinner and then returned to my room for a short nap. It was a tiring day. I had wanted to practise, but due to tiredness, practice-time was cut short to half-an-hour. Afterwhich, I think I took an early rest.

Retreat to the room of a double bassist

So, it was on the 6 Aug 2005, Aberdeen's time, when I could finally have a rented double bass reserved officially for me to use for the rest of the entire festival. It was reserved officially for myself such that I could openly keep the rented instrument in my hostel room.

However, I do not wish to call it in any affectionate term. It could not be comparable to "my husband" nor "my boyfriend", two other double basses that I regularly use back in Singapore.

There is a price to pay, to have a double bass in the room. I was assigned a room on the second floor, and there was no lift facility in the hostel building I was staying in. So carrying the double bass became a necessity task to do almost everyday if I were to bring the double bass out for rehearsals and performances, and if I would want to have the double bass back in the hostel room. It was not a matter of carrying the double bass, it was also a task that involved opening the many fire-doors that led from the second level to the main door of the hostel building. It also involved carrying the double bass stool about.

Thanks to people who helped me carry the double bass stool while I carried the double bass. It must be me ever insistent, I rather play sitting on a double bass stool. And thanks to people who helped me with the doors, I might have taken ages to open the doors with a double bass in my hand, if not for your help.



Here's allowing you to have a peep of what a double bassist's room had looked like.



The room was larger than what you see on this picture. There was a wash-basin near the door, and there's a wardrobe which I leaned the double bass against.

By the way, that white colour structure found just below the window is the heating device which is meant to heat the room. It could get quite stuffy if I were to leave the windows totally shut when I was in the room. Imagine staying in a room that is heated up but has no fresh air coming in.

Anyway, enough of the retreat. The room of a double bassist is meant to be a private space for its occupant to retreat after a tiring day.

This was the room where I spent practicing, reading and writing, and sleeping.

AIYF Opening Concert

It is sad but true, being a performer on the stage, it was not quite convenient for one to take pictures of oneself and the orchestra performing during the concert. As such, I have taken no photograph of our orchestra's various concerts and performances during the entire duration of Aberdeen International Youth Festival 2005.

So what you are going to see soon are rare-to-get photographs. It so happened that SY, an ex-orchestra member was there. He took several photographs of the orchestra during the concert.

Fate has it such that he met someone with a professional camera who was also taking photographs of the orchestra's opening concert (held on 3 Aug 05, Aberdeen's time). This someone, he found out was not from our orchestra. We have no idea who this "someone" was, so I suppose he could be called a mysterious photographer. He took a number of excellent photographs of the orchestra, and thanks to his generousity in giving SY the soft-copies of the photographs he had taken of the orchestra, SY could in turn be kind to share these photographs (taken by the mysterious photographer) with the rest of the orchestra.

The photos were well-taken. I would never have captured such excellent and closed-up shots on my own digital camera. Wonders that a professional camera could do. Of course, an excellent tool would only be so with good skills to use it. The mysterious photographer seemed to have good photography skills to capture some great moments.

So before we view the photographs, we shall say our words of appreciation to this mysterious photographer. "Thank you for sharing the photographs with us."





The violin soloist. Playing the Butterfly Lovers Concerto.

***




Footnote: If you wonder why you cannot see the double bass section, it was because the both SY and the mysterious photographer took the photographs from the box seats just directly above the double bass section. As such, that was not a good angle to capture the double bass section.

6 Aug 05: A day of ensemble performances

After breakfast, I went to look around for the two staff from the festival's Music Department. I was told that they are the persons I could look for to get assistance on the whereabouts of the double bass. The other staff of the festival helped me to get in touch with them, and soon, one of them came to meet me to find the whereabouts of the double bass.

It was finally revealed to us that the double bass reserved for yours truly was kept in the storage room where it should be. Immediately after I had came back to the hostel after attending the concert the night before, it was not there. But I saw someone carrying a double bass wrapped in some cloth. The night before, when I asked the participant who was holding that double bass, it must be due to miscommunication, I heard him saying the double bass belonged to their group. It was only in the morning of 6 Aug 05 that I realised that this wrapped up double bass was the one I was looking for. Thank goodness the staff from the music department has been very nice in assisting me. I know I can be demanding at times.

It took me some effort to bring the double bass up to my room which was on the second level. When it was in my room, I took some time to practise on it.

Later in the mid morning, there was a rehearsal with the ensemble. The evening before, the violin tutor, Mr F. told me that there was a double bass part for the Vivaldi's piece that the ensemble would be playing on 6 Aug 05. I offered that I could play the double bass parts. So in the morning of 6 Aug 05, I played for my very first time, the Vivaldi's work with the ensemble. I beg for your pardon that I have forgotten the title of the work. Anyway, the second and third movement were manageable, but I find it a little more difficult to sight-read the first movement perfectly.

At noon, we took the festival bus to the Aberdeen Art Gallery. We were to put up a 30-minutes performance there. It went well.

After the performance, we went to a building nearby the art gallery to catch a performance. We ate the packed lunches that we were given while watching the performance. The Coast String Fiddlers were performing, if I remember correctly. I managed to find a short break of time to walk about the ground level of the Aberdeen Art Gallery. The exhibits that I happen to see were contemporary works. I figured that there might have been works from other era, but time was not quite on my side.




Closer-up shot of the performance.


A building nearby the art gallery.


Aberdeen Art Gallery's front
***

At about 2 p.m., we headed for Stonehaven, which was about 45 minutes away from Aberdeen by coach. We were to put up a ticketed performance at Stonehaven later that evening together with the Zhejiang Youth Arts Group and another performing group.


On the coach, on our way to Stonehaven.
***

When we reached there, we had a rehearsal. After the rehearsal, we had some time to walk about.

Stonehaven is a nice place, and has a beautiful beach. A pity that my camera did not manage to capture the best of it. Anyway, it was great to witness its beauty even if I could not capture it.



Before the performance, we had dinner at a nearby chapel's canteen. Though the meal was relatively simple, I love the soup. It was lovely. Yummy.

After dinner, we performed. It went well. Many of the audience were senior citizens. Yet they seem to enjoy listening to our kind of music. I felt impressed that they seem to have chosen to remain active participants of the community through supporting cultural events like ours.

After our performance (which was the first half of the entire event), I went to the audience seats with two other fellow orchestra mates to catch the rest of the performances. It was quite an experience for me to witness the audience having lucky draws just before the start of the second half of the event. If I guessed it correctly, the lucky winners get a bottle of wine each. Seldom in Singapore do I get to see lucky draws being held in the middle of a concert.

I enjoyed watching the second half of the performances. The Zhejiang Youth Arts Group performed stunts which were impressive. I was told that there should have been more members from this group participating the festival but it was such a pity that many of them were not able to obtain a visa to Aberdeen. Nevertheless, the members who came did their best to put up excellent performances.

I also like the performances by another group. I could not remember their names, but I like the innovative dance items that it gave.

After the performances, we headed back to Aberdeen. As my participation in the performance was a last minute thing, I figured that was why there was no van hired to transport the double bass to and fro Aberdeen and Stonehaven. It was possible though a little cumbersome to transport the double bass without a van.

Anyway, you would have guessed, I went back to my room with the double bass this time, and slept. I was awfully tired. A short note of thanks to those who have helped me when I was transporting the double bass.

Here's the link to the photos taken on 6 Aug 05: At Stonehaven

3 Aug 05: Parade Away and the Concert

I am feeling quite mixed up in my perception of time now. It is 10.50 a.m. and I don't feel fully awake as I would usually be. I shall get over this jet-lag soon, I hope.

I shall fight the untimely sense of sleepiness with writing.

Well, to help you folks feel mixed up, whatever dates you will see now (actually, ever since my post for 2 Aug 05) will be according to UK time. I beg you to bear with my unusual sense of being evil as I make you experience how it felt like to lose 7 hours unknowingly.
***
The quoted passages are entries taken directly from my tour journal, I wrote it a day after the 3 Aug:

"It is 3 Aug 05. In the morning, all participants were scheduled to participate in the Festival Parade of the Aberdeen International Youth Festival and that would start at 10.30 a.m.

I woke up at 5 a.m., Aberdeen's time. It is summertime, and even though it was just 5 a.m., it was already pretty bright. It would have been much darker in Singapore at this time in the morning.

Breakfast today started at 7 a.m. On most other days that would follow, it would be 7.45 a.m. I love breakfast and on that day, I was looking forward to it. I was early, so I had to wait for breakfast to be served. If anyone were to attempt to go into the canteen before the official breakfast time, he/she would be denied entry.

While waiting for breakfast to be served, I walked about alone around the hostel's compounds. The air is fresh in Aberdeen. I took some photographs of rabbits running around within the compounds. I also listened in to the voices of the seagulls. They do seem irritating to a light-sleeper in the early morning, but since they were novel animals to me, I could happily bear with their constant cries and enjoy their incessant crying. I had wanted to take photographs of the seagulls but not of much success."



I shall dedicate this photo to Wabbit. Hope it would help put some smiles to her face. The date stamped on the photo reads 6 Aug 05 because I felt Wabbit would prefer this photo of the rabbits that I took on the 6th. The one that I took on the 3rd was not as nice as this one. I end this paragraph by saying: Rabbits in Aberdeen seem so carefree. They run fast too. It was hard to get too close to them. They would have ran far away.

"Breakfast is nice. I had cereals, peaches in syrup, yogurt and croissants for breakfast. Somehow the butter in Aberdeen tastes nicer than that in Singapore. It tastes more fresh."

You bet that in my mind that day was full of concern of what kind of double bass we would be getting. If I were a superb professional player, I might not have bothered as much. But I must stress that a good double bass can really help make playing so much easier.

"At 8.30 a.m., we moved the musical instruments up on the van to the music hall. I was told that I would be able to see the double basses when we reach the music hall. Unfortunately, much to my disappointments, I was not able to gain access to try on the double basses in the morning. I was at most able to see them from a distance because the room in which they were stored was occupied by dancers from one of the participating groups. Maybe I should have been more insistent?"

Anyway, to help me forget those ill-feelings of disappointments and uncertainties, I tried to catch glimpses of the rehearsals for the opening ceremony. The rehearsal was held in music hall of the City of Aberdeen, and the official opening ceremony would take place at about 11 a.m. at the same place.



Just before 10.30 a.m., a bus took those of us who were at the music hall to the East North Street where the Festival Parade would start. We were to walk from this street and then towards a street called Union Street. Then we were to walk along Union Street towards the music hall. The parade would end at the music hall.

There were many people who stood along the entire stretch of the parade. Many waved as if to welcome us. I suppose it would be polite to wave to them too? So I did. Admittedly, I am not someone bursting with energy to wave throughout the entire stretch of the parade. If I had done so, I would have been exhausted till death even before I have reached the music hall.

At about 11 a.m., the opening ceremony began. The national anthem of each of the countries of all the participating groups wer played during the opening ceremony. We were also treated to several other programmes. There were music played by a bagpipe band, and later music played by a fiddler. There were also dance items.

"My worries came a little true, and I only could realise this after the opening ceremony ended. Much earlier, before the parade, I was told that it would be quite difficult to hire good double basses from the music schools and groups in Aberdeen, and that the organisers had expressed sincere apologies for the lack of good double basses.

I only got to test out and play on the double basses on hire at about 12.15 p.m. We realised two of the four double basses allocated to us were faulty. One had a damaged machine-head, and the other a faulty end-pin. I wished I was a little more insistent on seeing the double basses a day before because that might have saved us from doing last-minute remedial work. Maybe I just needed to have my patience tested on handling last-minute unexpected events?

Thank goodness that the staff members of the AIYF have been as helpful a possible to help find replacement double basses for us. Our concert is on that very evening, and rehearsal was due to start by 2 p.m. Yet, finding replacements did take time, and the two replacement double basses only came at about midway the rehearsal.

Rehearsal was tiring. It started at about 2 p.m. and only ended slightly before 5.30 p.m. I felt quite drained by the end of the rehearsals. It was as if I had worked very intensively throughout the entire duration of the rehearsal.

I looked around after the rehearsals, and saw many of the orchestra members with looks of lethargy on their face. I suspect that could be jet-lag.

After the rehearsal, all of us gathered in one of the dressing rooms. 3 August happended to be our conductor's birthday, and several cakes were being bought to celebrate this occassion.

As the concert were to start by 7.30 p.m. and all of us have to be back by 6.45 p.m., we were really running on very tight schedule for dinner. We were supposed to buy our own dinner and then the organisers would reimbursed us later.

Before getting our dinner, QH, XM, LL and myself went to the railway station which was about 5-10 minutes away to buy train tickets to Edinburgh for our trip the next day. SY, one of ex-orchestra members who had came to Aberdeen to support our concert led the way for us to the railway station. We got our tickets alright.

We bought food from a kebab selling shop. Time was tight, so we ended rushing back to the music hall even before we could eat our meals. When we reached the music hall, we sat nearby the doors of the backdoor to have our dinner. It was just too hot inside the hall with all the heating devices. Outdoors, it was cold, but we were wearing warm clothes so that helped kept us warm. With warm clothes on, most of us would rather stay outdoors to get ventilated air than to stay indoors to bear with the heat and poor air circulation.

Concert started at 7.30 p.m. I was more used to the double bass that I was using after the rehearsals. Thank goodness. I know 'my dear husband' and even 'my boyfriend' (both double basses which I call them affectionately by these names) felt better to play own but the best I could do is to make the most out of what I have. Although one part in me would still like to whine my disappointments away. I wish my feelings could have been better heard back then but I have learnt that if I had expected that, I may end up more disappointed."

Actually, I think I am awfully not understood well many of the times. I don't expect people to solve problems for me, but it often adds to my hurts when I complained about the problems and no one seems to bother to tell me they have heard my underlying feelings. But I have learnt to give people the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone experiences the world as I do. People are trying hard to be as helpful as they could, and for some, being helpful means highlighting the realistic and practical side of the matter, i.e. to tell me that the matter was not much within my full control. It was, and I know. But I was actually asking to be understood! How interesting to know how different people respond to one single situation.



Anyway, before I quote further from my tour journal, here is the double bass section who participated for the Aberdeen International Youth Festival. We took this photo backstage on the day of the concert.

By the way, our orchestra's concert was the opening concert for the festival. It is an honour to play for the opening concert, I suppose? Thanks to the organisers for gracing us this honour.

"Our rendition of Mendelssohn's Fingals Cave felt a little shaky. I played a wrong note for one particular bar, and it felt obvious. That was the first and only time that I had made a mistake for that bar so that mistake caught me unexpectedly.

The audience seemed to enjoy the Butterly Lovers' Concerto, and I felt it was certainly well-received. Maybe the audience's ears needed an oriental flavour of music to balance those familiar tunes that they have so often heard in their lands? My guess, and I could be wrong.

As for the Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, I felt we were a little not-too-steady at the beginning of the first movement. I felt a sense of being hurried when I was playing. I like the way the second movement for this concert. It sounded much better in general than our rehearsal on that day and it sounded better than our pre-tour concert held on 27 July 2005. The third movement was alright but we could be more spontaneous, I was admittedly feeling more reserved. The fourth movement felt messy from the point of the player. And the entry for the fourth movement came in faster than most of us would have expected. It was a good thing that I was prepared for such an unexpected entry.

After the concert, we headed for the Hillhead hostel after spending time to clear up. It did not take too much time to pack up because the festival's staff helped us with the packing up and the transporting of the double basses.

By the time I was back in my room, I was feeling dead exhausted. I was looking forward to journey to dreamland to have my needed sleep. I slept before midnight that day as early as I could."

(For more related photos, please refer to this post on my other blog: Streets of Aberdeen and the Festival Parade.)

2 Aug 05, part two: Arrived in Aberdeen

On the flight to Aberdeen from London: There were only refreshments served on the plane. I overheard the air-stewardess telling another passenger that because the flight is no more than an-hour-and-a-half, and due to the time of the flight, it was not a regular practice to serve lunch on the flight. Instead, refreshments would be served.

Arrived at Aberdeen's airport at about 1.30 p.m. It took quite a while before we could claim and get hold of the flight case. Thank goodness the fellow gentlemen travelling with us on board the flight for the festival were very nice to help out with the flight case.

The courier (likely in-charge of the other music group who shared the same flight as we did) who came to welcome us at the airport got to know that many of us did not have a proper lunch and were hungry. As such she said she shall try her best to arrange for us to have something to eat. How nice of her.

There was a bus to pick up the participants of the festival, and a large van to help transport the instruments and the luggages. There was a camera-man who was with us throughout the journey from the airport to the hostel, which I shall refer to as the Hillhead Hostel. I believe he was there to document the arrival of the participants on video.

Now a photo that was taken outside the airport while waiting for the bus:



If you would ever want to catch one glimpse of yours truly, you may. I am the one on the left of the photo.

Hillhead Hostel lies within Old Aberdeen and if you were to travel by foot from the hostel to the City of Aberdeen, that might take close to an hour. On the bus, it would be about 15 minutes or less.

When we reached the hostel, most of the orchestra members boarding the KLM flight had already arrived and more or less settled down. We were given our keys to our rooms. Our courier, K. helped us with that. Each of us is assigned to a single room with a wash-basin facility. Toilet and bathroom facilities were to be shared. Good enough to meet my basic expectations.

The only difficult part for me is that my room is on the second floor. In UK, the ground floor is the floor at the ground level, and the first floor is the floor one storey above the ground level. So my room being on the second floor was the room two storeys above the ground level. Thank goodness, one of the guys from the orchestra, YQ was so gentlemanly to help me bring my heavy luggage up. There was really not a lot of things but the luggage case itself weighed quite a bit in itself even though the case was only half full.

We were offered some refreshments for those of us who arrived after the hostel's lunch hours and had not had lunch. There were donuts, cheese and biscuits to treat us. To an Asian standard, that was not a proper meal. It was considered more of a snack, but it went fine with me. At least the food will last me well till dinnertime. Went to my room to unpack after the meal.

Soon, it was dinnertime. Spoke to MC one of the double bassists, and who was in-charge of the logistics. He told me that we won't get to see and use the double basses until the next day, the earliest being the next morning. How disappointing I was feeling. I could only try not to reveal the whole magnitude of my disappointments.

But dinner was quite good. I like the fact that there was fresh raw vegetables from the salad bar which we could all help ourselves freely to. I think if Stephanie were to read of this, she would have like the servings of vegetables too. Yummy. It helped to soothe me a little.

There were also fruit juices available. I prefer the apple juice to the orange juice. But so far, except for the tomato juices on board the Qantas flight, no other juices I have tasted throughout my entire trip tasted better than the juices from Conrad Centennial Singapore. A pity Conrad does not seem to offer tomato juices. If it does, I think the tomato juice on the flight would not be Conrad's match.

There was really no programme for the entire day except that there was a short briefing after the dinner.

After the briefing, there was a kind of welcome ceremony for all the festival participants and the Bucksburn Pipe Band played lovely tunes on the bagpipes for us. While enjoying the music, I found it nice to lay on the open spaces of grass. This is something I would not do in Singapore unless I have a ground sheet. But there is something about Aberdeen's grass, it does not have as much insects and the soil is much drier than that in Singapore. How relaxing and laid back life was lying down on the grass. A local who have spent quite some time in Singapore before she returned to Aberdeen spoke to us and even taught us how to travel to the City of Aberdeen by the public bus.



I head that there was an Opening Ceilidh for all of us after the music by the pipe band. After checking the dictionary, I learnt that the word Ceilidh refers to an informal gathering for music and dancing.

After the pipe band stopped playing, there was quite large crowd heading towards the pub-area where the Ceilidh would be held. Being not in flavour of crowds, I returned to my room. I was told much earlier that haggies, one of the national dishes of Scotland would be served during the Ceilidh. I was tempted to try it, so after about 45 minutes in my room, I headed for the pub to check out the Ceilidh. I was hoping for the crowd to clear a little, but I saw a queue outside the pub, and I would rather choose to forgo the haggies in order not to be caught in a crowd.

I slept. But it was summertime and 9 p.m. in Aberdeen seemed like it was only 7 p.m. I had to put on eye shades to put myself to sleep.

Check out more photos posted on my other blog. Look under: 2 Aug 05: At the Hostel.

2 Aug 05: On the plane and then presto in London

I shall continue to write to share with you about my recent trip. I hope doing so would help me wake up mentally. Anyway, I better write as much as I can now of the trip, I foresee a mountainful of work on my desk when I return to office for work on the coming Monday. By then, I don't know if I would feel sane enough to have the energy to write about anything except my blues and woes.

***
So here is quoting direct from selected passages in my tour journal:

"It is 1 a.m. Singapore time. I am now on board Qantas QF15. The plane took off about 20 minutes ago. I hope that the journey to London and Aberdeen would be smooth and safe. I will be stopping over at London's Heathrow Airport and thereafter will transfer to take an internal (domestic) flight to Aberdeen.

There seems to be a storm right outside the plane. The plane feels rather rocky from where I am sitting. I am sitting in one of the seats at the last row of the plane. There certainly seems to be a lot of turbulence outside the plane right now. That should be normal, but I shall be act a little concern, and hope that we will be safe.

Sitting on the same row as myself is a young boy who isn't feeling quite well. I hope he will get better soon.

I think I shall get myself a writing pen when I am in UK. I left the writing pen that I had intended to bring along for the trip at my home. I am now writing with one of my drawing pens.

I am feeling a little tired right now but I'll see if I could sleep at 5 a.m. Singapore time instead. QH, one of the double bassists who is also travelling to Aberdeen, said that doing so may help reduce the effects of jetlag. It does make some sense because there is an about 7 hours of difference between UK time and Singapore time since I was told it is now summer and UK time is tuned to +1 GMT. If I sleep at about 5 a.m. Singapore time and sleep through the rest of the journey, when I wake up it would be close to 7 a.m. London time when I reach London. The flight is about 13 hours. How strange it is that I could lose 7 hours just like that. And if I didn't know my maths and time correct, I would have thought that I had slept only 2 hours when I actually had slept more than that!

There is not much of an excitement to be heading for Aberdeen, but there is some sense of anticipation for my stay in Aberdeen. Some feelings of uncertainties too. I hope all would turn out alright."

Actually, I ended up not sleeping throughout the rest of the journey after 5 a.m. Singapore time. I started sleeping around that time, but woke up about 3 hours later. I watched the shows on the in-flight entertainment system for a while then went to another cycle of 2 - 3 hours of sleep. There was one monitor per passenger. I was told this was considered good facilities by Qantas for those travelling on the KLM flight had to share one screen with a hundred (or slightly fewer) other passengers. Am I not fortunate?

"It is 10.40 a.m. at Heathrow Airport now. I am there waiting for the domestic flight that would leave for Aberdeen. While waiting, I also notice members from a few other musical groups. I could tell so because the prints on their T-shirt told me so. Also a few of them were carrying what look like musical instruments. My hunch tells me that they will be heading for exactly the same destination, i.e. Aberdeen, for the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.

Thank goodness, I have survived the 13 hours long flight from Singapore to London. The flight to Aberdeen should just take about an-hour-and-a-half.

It took a while to clear the rather tight customs and security within Heathrow Airport. We took about an hour just to clear the security.

Now I just hope that things would turn out fine for us in Aberdeen and that I would see myself having a nice double bass to play on when I get there."

1 Aug 2005: At the airport

Since I feel awake to go to dreamland, I reckon I shall try to do something productive, that is, to share with you about my UK trip.

Even though the most productive and reasonable thing to do at this hour is to rest. But I have slept till 9 a.m. the day before and I slept 3 hours in the afternoon of the day before that I don't think my body felt like it needed any more sleep.

I have tried to keep a tour journal with me, so that I could log into it my experiences throughout the trip. I shall quote wholesale from the journal where appropriate. But pardon me, due to busy schedules and tiring times, I usually ended up logging into the logbook only about several days after the event has occurred. In fact I have only wrote up till 15 Aug 2005 noon, and my trip lasted till 18 Aug 2005. I shall try my best to ensure that my accounts and recollections are as accurate as I could remember.

If I do make my accounts too vivid at the expense of possibly hurting anyone, this would have been most unintentional.

***
1 Aug 2005 and I am technically still in Singapore. We were told to be at the airport at 7.30 p.m., I remember. But actually, my flight was only due to depart at 0035 on 2 Aug 2005. I was told to arrive at the airport early because most of the rest of the orchestra members would be travelling on a earlier flight that leaves at about 10.40 p.m.

One of my younger brothers was nice and he rented a car to drive mom and myself to the airport. He helped me with the luggage too. Mom did too. I shall learn to better appreciate my family members' way of expressing their love. After seeing that things are fine on my side at the airport, they left for my grandma's place. My maternal grandma had wanted to send me off but she was having a flu and could not do so.

At the airport, the orchestra members participating in the festival met and reported. Not all smooth sailing I suppose? I heard that a few people got themselves stuck in the expressways on the way to the airport. Even though that was a Monday, I suppose the roads are crowded, awfully perhaps. As such, several came much later than the official reporting time.

Dear Emily was nice and kind to help bring the four flight cases from the university to the airport with YY. I think YYY was there with them too? I heard the vehicles that they were taking were caught in the traffic jams. Good thing that while they were later than expected, they came in time to catch the flight.

I was asked to be in-charge to make sure that all the folks who were travelling on British Airways and Qantas were around and had their passports given to me so that the travel agent would later collect those from me and to help check-in everyone taking the British Airways and Qantas. I got to realise that none of us who were taking the British Airways and Qantas flights were NUS undergraduates. We were either graduates or guest players. But I shall highlight that it was no exercise of discrimination. I requested to travel on Qantas and British Airways for this trip so that I could stop by London without having to incur extra charges of booking an additional domestic fligh from Aberdeen to London.

Most of the other orchestra members were taking KLM airlines which departs at an earlier time. Their flight would stopover at Amsterdam (Holland) before reaching Aberdeen.

In the end, after much careful checks by the airlines' staff, it ended up that all members who wanted their instruments and bows to be carried up the plane as hand-carry could do so. The idea of the special safety container just does not seem enticing. Instruments are personal and of great sentimental value. If I were rich, I would have bought my dear instrument (be it "my husband" or "my boyfriend") a business class seat at least and have it on the cabin with me. Somehow it doesn't feel safe to have it in flight cases, and flight cases are heavy.

I should say that someone could consider making a business out of manufacturing and selling flight cases that are sturdy and protective, yet light-weight. It will be a needed service. At about 9 p.m plus, as best as I could recall, the travel agent who was with me and the rest of the people taking the British Airways and Qantas flights received a call from one of the university's representative staff members who was to go with the orchestra for the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.

It was said to the best of my recall that the rest of the orchestra travelling on KLM airlines had excess baggage due to the heavy four flight cases, and it was asked if one of the flight cases could be put on the Qantas flight that nine of us were on. It turns out the flight case was at least 65 kg. I was told most of this weight is that of the weight of the case itself. The instruments inside it took up no more than a third of the total weight.

We should be thankful that after weighing the flight case with its contents, the group of us on the Quantas flight have sufficient weight allowance to have that flight case with us without having to bear any excess baggage penalty charges. However, the dimensions of the flight case was an issue. It was an unexpected move to have the flight case on the Qantas flight. The airlines has not been given prior notice to expect a flight case of that dimension. As such the airlines was not quite prepared to take the flight case. Safety is of top paramount and the containers that the flight uses to store the checked-in luggages are not intended to store such a dimension of the flight-case upright. Experts have to be called in to see if it would be safe to carry the flight-case as a check-in baggage. We were advised that in worst scenario, it may have to go by cargo.

I went for a quick meal at Popeyes while the travel agent waited for the airlines' expert to come to view the flight case. It was a sweet gesture and I appreciate her helping to wait. She knew that I felt a little hungry.

When the experts arrived, the agent gave me a call on my mobile upon my request. It just doesn't seem nice to leave everything all to the agent when one is a member of the orchestra and the issue is that concerning the travelling orchestra. (I took a break from my meal and my accompanying dinner-mates were very nice to save enough food for me when I was back. Thanks.)

In the end, after much checks by the experts, the flight case finally got clearance. The experts have to absolutely ensure that it would be safe. I respect that safety has to be of top priority. The suggestion is that the flight-case would be kept in one of those containers not upright, but a little tilted. I shall be thankful that the flight case is sturdy enough to protect the instruments even while being left tilted.

I shall be thankful that we have a travel agent who was patient enough and responsible enough to see us through this entire flight case issue. I could also see that the airlines ground staff were trying their best to assist, while safety will still be their top concern.

There was much a relief when Qantas ascertain it was safe to carry the flight case on the flight. A few of the folks due to board the KLM flight had not boarded their plane as they needed to see to this matter. Thank goodness all went well, even though it felt a little last-minute.

Lessons learnt: More may need to be taken into considerations on the weight and dimensions issues when travelling with a large orchestra with so many large instruments. For the first time, I realise how very expensive it can be to be charged for excess baggage. The rate of the penalty charges goes exponential.

***
So technically, on 1 Aug 2005, I was still in Singapore.

***
But I shall forward time a little ahead to the time that I took this picture below on the plane. I took this on the plane, about a few hours prior to my arrival at London's Heathrow Airport. I was due to arrive Heathrow Airport at about 0715 London's time on 2 Aug 2005.

I shall not hold myself to delay writing about the picture below, for I can't bring myself to delay sharing it with you. I shall dedicate this to Mistipurple for I think she might like it. I know she might prefer sunsets more than sunrises, but for a change, I hope it would still delight her to see how the skies would look like during a sunrise.



If you like my writings so far, please stay tuned for more.