Sunday, September 19, 2010 @ 9:25 AM
Standdown.

Heyyo!

As rebecca said,
our SYF journey has officially begun!
So let's all get vibed up and mentally prepared for this long run!
Let's all have fun as one kays! And most importantly, love handbells even more from this time together!
One thing to note, please do not let others know what we are playing (don't post anything online either)
SECRET BETWEEN YOU AND ME(:

But for now,
Exams are round the corner!
So study hard everyone! We have standdown for a reason!
Don't let me catch you playing outside, or else...
HAHA okay, just do your best alrighty!

Jiayou!
-rachel

Sunday, September 12, 2010 @ 10:22 PM
Addressing your concerns.

Hey ringers!

Firstly,
I apologise if I seem to be very 'sian' during prac,
but I just want all of you to know that, its really not because I'm not interested to conduct you
but I'm just really stressed about the music coz Shannon and I,
no matter how much experience we've had in music,
have also only played handbells for the past 2.5 years,
we're not conductor standard yet so its really hard for us to pinpoint problems.
This problem arises the need for us to talk quite abit,
I'm sorry if we seem like we can't be bothered but we're really not thinking that,
we just really don't know how to go about telling you the exact mistakes and correcting it.

Next,
I may be the P and all but I'm just another 15 year old, not much older than you,
I cannot be perfect, I am not infalliable,
that's why I've said that we're all learning through trial and error together.
I appreciate your feedback, and understand the need for you to remain annoynomous.
However, please be tactful and you need to be more specific,
don't just tell me my attitude wasn't right, I need to know in what way
-there's the feedback box outside the studio for that purpose
(for example: you weren't trying to enjoy the piece)
Otherwise, I can't really improve from there, do you know what I mean?
And sometimes there may be misunderstandings, like the conducting part,
I would definitely gladly clear it with all of you.

Also,
I shall correct myself by saying MOST of you were not trying hard enough, not ALL.
But if you were trying to like the song, why did ALL of you say no when we asked if you like KTG?
Please, help to encourage one another, I know some of you are really putting in the effort,
but at the end of the day, its a team thing, EVERYONE needs to put in their 110%.

Finally,
if I seem to not be happy/bored/annoyed when I am practising,
Most of the time, its the quality of the music that makes me react the way I do.
I'm just looking for the turning point to make the piece better, to be its best,
but I can't hit the nail on its head.
That gets me quite annoyed (with myself, not you)
But definitely, how ever I act, its really not because I am not interested in playing or conducting you.
I may start to get bored at times, but I will not let it make me lose interest in practising or not liking the song
and I don't want it to affect you either.
I just want us to be our best, okay?

Thanks for wanting the best for CHE too,
do influence your fellow ringers to feel the need to want the best as well.
I hope I have cleared your concerns.
If you have anything else, feel free to drop a note into the box or come directly to me.

Most of all, please keep the passion for handbells burning!
That's what we're here for!

xoxo
Rachel!

Labels: Feedback

Thursday, September 9, 2010 @ 4:50 PM
A letter to my ringers.

Today's attitude was really unacceptable. All of you were so unwilling to play

Well, I was really bored too, but I still tried to play and like the song right?
I understand that you get really annoyed with the little notes you have, same here,
but at least TRY to put in some effort to play the song and try to like the song,
I mean what's the point in practising over and over when you're not even putting your heart into the song?
Seriously, even IF we get a GWH next year,
of course I will be happy, but inside I'll know we don't deserve it
as much as prev batches would have
with all the gruelling pracs and scoldings they get
and most importantly, their 110% effort!
Even if we didn't like the syf pieces (because we can't please everyone when we choose the song),
we had to like it and we really put all out heart and soul into practising,
why can't I get that kind of attitude from you now?
Did you know, that throughout the SYF period,
all we could think abt was SYF, the SYF pieces RANG in our heads!
Literally.
And at that time, 2 practices a week, 3hours of repetition of 2songs!
For around 8months+!
Today we get to play FIVE different pieces, pleaseplease value the fact that you have variation!

Have a look at our prac:
SYF 2009 prac (observe the SMILES tyvm)

I'm just hoping things will look up when we start prac-ing SYF pieces
If we do our best, the result doesnt matter
but what's the point of getting GWH if we don't even love our instrument?
You need to have PASSION for handbells
I know its annoying when you have almost nth to play
and some of you feel annoyed that every prac coz we cant get the effect we want
so we will talk to Ms Helimmi on monday and let her know that we want a challenge
rather than each person taking a single note.
However, if she still prefers to do it this way, we will need to learn to bear with it,
do you know what I mean?

But today's Celebration was great!
The dynamics and ornaments were awesome(:
If only our disney pieces could be as good!
So I'm guessing all of you prefer note assignment to be similar to Aladdin and Celebration?
Promise to talk to Ms Helimmi ok?
In the mean time,
pls put in more effort.

But of course, thanks for being so bonded,
that was one of our greatest problems previously, but now we have overcomed it
so PLEASE, now, we just need to love our instrument and our pieces!
Ring with joy and spread the joy to the audience, enjoy your ringing experience
with all your fun (and sick) fellow ringers!(:

I know all of you are AWESOME pple who can do it!
Let's jiayou as one!

CHE FTW!!!

With love,
Rachel

Labels: holiday prac

Thursday, September 2, 2010 @ 6:15 PM
Sept holiday prac details.

Hi everyone(:

this is the rough plan for next thurs' prac TENTATIVELY*:

7.45-8.00: Set-up
8.00-8.40: Lion King Medley
8.40-9.15: Under the Sea
9.15-9.45: Bonding
9.45-10.30: Kiss the Girl
10.30-10.45: Break
10.45-11.20: Aladdin Medley
11.20-11.30: Pack-up unused instruments+tables,mattresses
11.25-11.30: Debrief (those not ringing in celebration may leave)
11.30-12.00: Celebration

*there may be slight changes so please tell your parents to come a few minutes after the above stated timing, thank you. (esp those not in celebration)

If you are playing celebration
but think that you are not able to commit that extra half an hour,
you can tell me,
I will replace you with someone else who would like play the song
(I am sure there are others who don't have a chance but want to play)

Hope that we can all work together to have a fulfilling and fruitful practice next thurs.
<3, Rachel!(:

*if you would like to design or have any ideas on the syf 2010 costume, please inform me asap!*
specs are as follows:
1)nothing above the knee (i.e. nth shorter than APPROPRIATE sch skirt length)
2)shoulders and whole collar bone area need to be covered so that we can damp porperly
3)colours should NOT blend into the mattress
4) blouse+pants/gown/skirt/dress (no shorts/mini skirt tyvm)

Labels: holiday prac, syf costume