YaY YAY YAYYYYYY! After what seemed like endless torture, exams are finalli over!! wipe brows* For the past month i have been frantically piah-ing my history portfolios, doing concert reviews, harmony portfolios, and many other miscellaneous things that i need in order to get through this two school terms of semester 1. Life in NAFA is really not that easy..basically, it may seem like music students live the easy life..just play ur way thru the years...TEHHHHH. WRONG.
Seriously, i think its kinda worse for us, cos we have to juggle our principal study which is our main instrument, plus concerts that we are always involved in thru out the terms AND the written tests; we have history, harmony, aural, sightsinging, music technology, study skills. Kinda like when i was studying DMD in NYP..the onli difference being that i love music. =D Even though me and the rest(my nafa frens)grumble non-stop, i guess all of us love the moments when we have our orchestra rehearsals where we play music. That very atmosphere when the music comes together from the sounds of the strings, brasses, woodwinds, percussion,chorus, vocalists; it is really grand and magical; I would never tire from it.
Anyway...miraculously, I managed to survive..I passed History, and my practical with okay results. Actualli i was kinda dissappointed with my history. I started revising for it like 5 days before..haiz. I have plenty to write , i highly suspect that i could have gotten at least a 30 upon 35 for my essay question if I hadn't spent so much time on section A. PUIZ. my marks gone just like that..i could have gotten a B..just 2 more marks..SOB. I was really nervous on the day of my practical exam..especially worried about my studies, but i did put in consistent work, not alot but at least some practising daily. I guess the work helped me pulled through in my studies..i played onli a wrong note in two of my studies, which is like..a miracle cos i always bungled up in my lessons with my teacher. The section that i bungled up in was my scales. The examiner was like asking me to play a F# major arpeggio in 3 octaves..and i was like HUH? got F# major in 3 octaves de meh?? Cos i only practised up to D 3 octaves. Seeing the puzzlement on my face, one of the examiners told me the lst 3 notes of the arpeggio and the two of them sat back with expectation. So i played the lst 3 notes and ANYHOW shift my fingers up the E string, trying to find the correct positions! faints. This was the lst time i ever played the F# major arpeggio..and its during the exam, how ridiculous could this get?? they told me to play E major arpeggio in 3 octaves as well, this time i could no longer bear to play impromtu le..so I told the examiners..very honestly that i did not practise the E maj, only till D. The examiners were realli kind people, so they picked the B major arpeggio in 3 octaves which i gladly play; 3 octaves to a bow..i did not go out of tune, transistions were quite smooth..surprisingly=). I guess it must have been the many many scales, arpeggios, chromatics they asked me to play, because i lost quite alot of my nervousness by the time i reach my studies. Remembering how i was gonna phrase the passages, i played through, like what i always did in my self practise..to think back on it..i was even less self-conscious then in my violin lessons with ms Santos..lols! I forgot to bring a copy of the studied that i was gonna play and one of the examiners was right beside me reading the notes from my Kreutzer score as i play! But for some odd reason i was not nervous, maybe he was right behind me and i could not see him=D Aww..why cant i perform with my back to the audience..haha. The other examiner was about 4-5 metres in front of me..not near enough to make me nervous.. and besides, he's the very smiley kind of teacher, twinkly eyes and kind, which calmed my nerves perhaps=D. He was a violinist in his younger days too! Many people found it hard to believe being the frail, gentle old teacher he is.
I went out of the exam room feeling quite relieved..cos i though that i didn't did too badly this time round. My teacher called me a few days later to tell me my results..i got a high B which was the 3rd highest in my class ..was really touched.I didn't really think that i could get this mark...and at that moment i felt that all the practices, the rehearsals, stress, competition among my peers were really worth it.
After the exams, i'm now busy working in cartel, teaching violin and preparing for my birthday..approaching adulthood soon..21st!! mygawd..i don't wanna turn 21..really. I booked a holiday flat in Changi village..hope they have a fridge in that apartment.Thinking of catering the food from continental..and making oreo cheesecake, baking brownies and making chocolate fondue for my good sec sch buddies who are coming over on the 9th dec. Anyone knows any good caterer must let me know okie. Poly people, sec sch people, cartel people tt i know of..Gene and my family are gonna come! so gan dong..hope that the apartment can squeeze in so many people..if not i dunno what i'm gonna do..=D. I want pressies ok..lots and lots of them..=)
