Saturday, June 03, 2006
10:41 PM
Haha. Today is the annual Sentosa Balloon Hats Festival 2006! It was fun and exciting! hah except the part where i had to help them eat the chicken wings and carry water =x.

I think that band is more than what many people see it as in Singapore. Take this balloon hats festival for example. Many people view it as a band event. For me, i would think that it is a simple entertainment event. Yes i know bands and playing and stuff are involved, but i mean any other group would do. It is also supposedly to waive from the marching component in the syf the following year. Well something positive to say, this year is not as crappy as the last time we were there. At least some 'technique' is involved in the event, not just purely crap walking and playing. I mean if it is to waive people from the marching component in syf, it better incooporate some marching and stuff in it what! I think it is just logical.

I think that there are very extreme schools of teaching in bands. Some enrol to the entertainment viewpoint and some others prescribe to the academic viewpoint. I think that both extremeties would not work out. A balance point is needed and thats what i think makes Japanese bands so good. Japan is like the leader of the Asian music scene, the de facto country and what most bands in Singapore look up to. They perform well, and are entertaining. Contrast that to many other countries or reigon. European bands prescribe to the scholarly audiences with the art of the music itself. Shostakovich, Barnes and Jan Van Der Roost to name some. Their music are mainly scholarly. Constrast to that, many people write pieces that are catchy and well received. I would think that Japan really strike a good balance between techniques and entertainment. They play pieces that show a relatively high standard of technique display while remaining very entertaining to the average band people.

I know that this opinion is very personal but i think that it is some way to make a school band look presentable to the public. Most bands in Singapore are very Japanese in nature, and i think that is somnething very nice. I like the style. Maybe because i am brought up in that environment and may not tune in to the other styles well. But i think that the local band scene still can develop further =)

`someday my princess will come. She just took a wrong turn, got lost and is too stubborn to ask for directions]]* ;