I'm so relieved. I just handed in my PSA Proposal and it's like a huge weight just lifted off me! In fact, I'm so grateful to this huge release of relief, I'm going to dedicate a song to it! Well, to the PSA Proposal, that is. Now, in case, you're wondering what the #@%$#&%% is a PSA, it stands for Public Service Announcement, like your 'Be Vigilant, Be Resilient' or '1800-XDENGUE".
So, here it is, entitled PSA Rock, sung to the tune of Jingle Bell Rock. I know you probably forgot how it sounds like so I'm uploading it as my blog song. It should play automatically.
PSA Rock
PSA, PSA, PSA Rock
Don't forget your cover page!
Target Market and Content Page,
Let's not forget your storyboard!
PSA, PSA, PSA Rock
Half a minute to One
Production Schedule, Cast and Crew,
Proposal has just begun.
Size Twelve, One point five Spacing,
Remember to number each page.
File it, and Hand it,
Please remember to write your name!
PSA, PSA, PSA Rock
oh yes, there's your approach
Motivational, stylistic
Have a wonderful description.
PSA, PSA, PSA Rock
Do you know it's just begun
You're gonna film
And edit and cut
And that's your PSA,
That's your PSA,
That's your PSA Rock!
You'll be amazed at what one can blog about with just four hours of work. Honestly, I'm beginning to love working at my workplace, not just because of its high wage, but also of the interesting events that happen. Let me relate.
I started work sleepily and slightly restless. Besides, ushering for the SSO performance isn't exactly very awakening.
So there I was, hoping to get a bit lucky with eye candies. I mean, hey, it's an orchestra performance, and artsy-fartsy people tend to have more pleasurable features.
Then the tourists came. Hong Kong Study group. Their first time in my work venue. Definitely.
How do I know? By the waa-ing and ooo-ing audible expressions and their numerous photo cameras and video cameras. Honestly, surely it is common sense that if the person seated at your right is told that photography is not allowed, the same rule would apply to you right!
My goodness! It was simply exciting, like a see-which-camera-can-evade-the-usher game. Telling one patron the no-photography rule resulted in two more cameras being whipped out! Not to mention their video-graphy too. Alamo's!
Then another group of patrons came in. A group of girls, in their early to middle teens. A music class, if my ears served me accurately. The most bizarre thing is, they look around to see if there are any ushers in the vicinity watching them, and because when they look around, their head moves, which grabs my attention, and so they exchange eye contact with me for a split second or two and they proceed to do whatever they wish to do, be it using their handphone or taking a photo!
Wah piang! Talk about folly of all follies!
Finally, the best for last, snoring during the performance! That's right. there's no typo error there. There was this male patron, middle aged, alone, who slept and snored during the second half of the performance. Hey, I know some musicians determine the receptiveness and enjoyment of their performance via the number of people dozing but snoring?!?!?! Furthermore, when I gently tapped him on the shoulder to rouse him awake, he stared at me!
As if I did something wrong, which perhaps i did, after all nobody wishes to be awakened during their sleep, and also perhaps he felt humiliated, but hey! his snore was low, audible and a crescendo! IMHO, it was disrupting the performance!
After the performance ended, he walked right up to me and stared me in the face! He then walked out to the door, turned and then stared at me again before proceeding off.
Well, that's all. Four hour performance. Eventful. Can't imagine what it would be like when I work tomorrow. Oh well, till then, take care ya beloved reader and God bless!
You know what's most important in a band? it's not the size or how musically talented each musician. but the bond. and its effects.
The bond ensures that the band stays connected and united. It makes sure that the tuba's tempo is the same as the drumset's or the flutes' or the trumpets. It is the bond that I have with the bassoonist, that puts a smile on my face because when i play, i hear neither my sound nor my section's but that of the bassoon despite him sitting two rows in front of me and his instrument angled towards the front.
To me, this highlights one thing. We are bonded, not in its foundation stage but higher than that.
Insecurity happens to most people, especially musicians. We glance nervously at the conducter, our eyes roll from side to side, seeking security from those beside us.
But it should not. True, the conductor has his or her usefulness but I certainly don't think it's to be a metronome.
A band can thrive without a conductor or even without its members, as long as each section has one musician for each part. Why?
Because at the end of the day, it's not the size nor the commitment nor the strength but the bond itself that is important that cannot be judged in terms of monetary value or strength due to its lack of comparison that results from zilch classification values.
Which is why I love my TP Band. True, we may not be the best band in the nation, neither have we achieved any standards of excellence, but what we have is the bond. The knowledge that the bassline doesn't just play together, we breathe together, we feel the same pulse. The pulse that pulsates at the heart of each band. Whether it is to push the band forward, or to let it flow and provide foundational support, it moves together.
How do you measure a bond? In strength? If so, how do you measure strength? In numbers? What numbers? In length? Days or hours? Times laughed or length of interaction? How?
By love. By moving together as one without cue. By being in sync with a nod or the meet of the eyes. That cannot be trained. Not by words nor by nudges or pre-arranged signs and body languages.
Yet, the bond is as important as the unity within a section. For a section is no section if it is divided, just as how strong can a defence be if it is just made up of one brick? Rather, let it be joined together with other bricks and the defence would be superb.
So then, what makes a band strong? It is both the bond between musicians of all instruments and the bond within each section.
Is it hard to form and foundationalise this bond? Yes. But at the end of the day, the satisfaction that comes, and best of all, the marvelous tale told in music is the clincher for knowing you're not just a member but part of a team, a family.
