Professional Practice Journal 1
Week 5
Open Mic Night
First ever gig in LIPA. Performed with Orian Peled, her original songs. Played handbells, glockenspiel and some auxiliary percussion instruments. Many were curious about the handbells. Glad that I was given a chance to play proper handbells before I came to LIPA.
Self-practice
14 Oct 2011:
Vibraphone: Been working on Blues scale and all modes through last week.
Drum kit: Worked on Vic Firth “Tommy Igoe’s Groove Essentials” today. Tried out some 8th & 16th note rock patterns, had a little trouble getting the open/closed hi-hat.
7 Oct 2011 Self-Practice on Vibraphone
Titanic The Musical
Music Director, Simeon Scheuber, approached me on Freshers’ Registration day, to play in the musical. A casual conversation with him initially promoting the “Balloon Project” sparked off the interesting topic of me playing for The Titanic Musical.
Had my first orchestra rehearsal on 22 Sept 2011. We only had LIPA musicians on that day and sight-reading the pieces turned out to be a disaster.
Subsequently, we gathered more musicians from external sources (facebook.com etc.) and had LIPA graduates who came back to play.
This is the orchestra setup:
1. Keyboard 1 – Mostly Strings
2. Keyboard 2 – Harp, Piano
3. Keyboard 3 – Cello (Actual Cello player backed out after 1 rehearsal)
4. 2 Flutes + 1 Piccolo
5. 1 Oboe
6. 3 Clarinets
7. 2 French Horns
8. 2 Trombones
9. 2 Trumpets
10. 2 Percussion
11. 3 Violins
18 Sept 2011: Bought some necessary instruments for the musical. Glockenspiel, shaker and 2 triangles (different sizes) just to name a few.
5 Oct 2011: Just received the new schedule from Music Director.
Monday 10th – MR5 – 6-9pm
Wednesday 12th – MR5 – 6-9pm
Thursday 13th – MR5 – 6-9pm
[[Saturday 15th – SST – 10am-6pm – Band Get In (TBC)]]
SUNDAY 16TH – SST – 10-12am then 1-5pm = SITZPROBE
=====================
++++++TECH WEEK+++++++
Monday 17th – SST – 1-5pm, 6-9pm
Tuesday 18th -SST – 5-9pm
Wednesday 19th – SST – 1-5pm, 7-9pm (DRESS)
Thursday 20th – SST – 2-5pm (DRESS), 7:30pm (SHOW)
Friday 21st – SST 7:30pm (SHOW),
Saturday 22nd – SST 13:30 (SHOW), 7:30pm (SHOW)
14 Oct 2011: Had 3 weeks of preparation. Timpani arrived yesterday, had a good rehearsal with it. The orchestra sounds tighter now. Got to work on the tuning of timpani, wish LIPA had their own set of Timpani. Had some trouble getting it to be in tune due to the temperature changes, quite a different experience compared to Singapore. Never had to constantly adjust the gauge.
15 Oct 2011: Just bumped into the Sennheiser Studio Theatre. Got to thank my lovely band mates for helping me scout for instruments such as the cymbals (& stands), keyboard, bass drum (brazilian “surdo” with tissue stuck onto it to damp for more bass drum-like sound). This is my setup.
16 Oct 2011: Sitzprobe today sounded amazing with the casts. I particularly loved the songs where all the casts are involved. They made the pieces sound so full. We did face a few glitches along the way. An example would be the tempo changes. At times, the band altered the tempo to suit the singers (they tend to pull the song back quite a bit). I learnt that should never be the case and musicians should always watch for the Music Director’s cues.
20 Oct 2011: Had our first show tonight with Tim Pike watching the orchestra as the show went on, rather stressful I would say, got caught off guard a few times, missed a few notes. Nevertheless, we received lots of appraisal for tonight’s show.
The Public Reviews described us as the “sizzling orchestra”: http://www.thepublicreviews.com/titanic-the-musical-%E2%80%93-lipa-liverpool/
Looking forward to another “sinking Titanic” in tomorrow’s show!
21 Oct 2011: Felt that today’s show was not as tight as last night’s. It was “muddy” in the sense that we were slowing down during the songs, some strings were out of tune and even my timpani had to present some gauge issues during the show (the screw came loose)!
22 Oct 2011:
Matinee show – A night of rest paid off as the music this afternoon sounded a lot cleaner, with notes better articulated. I made lesser mistakes as well. Although it could have been better if we had came in earlier to rehearse rather than just do a soundcheck and dive into the show.
Final show – This was by far the best show. I was rather hyped up after a filling dinner and the Matinee-“practice” show. Musically, it was spot on, the orchestra was in sync and my notes were damped at the right places. We received another standing ovation during this show.
After final note, we had to tear down the SST and send instruments back to their original locations. Apart from that, it was also a chore erasing all forms of musical notes left on the original scores.
Managed to exchange contacts with the musicians to facilitate future musical opportunities.
Music Director (3rd Year BA Music), “Simeon Scheuber” and the orchestra
Problems faced/What could be done:
1. LIPA does not own a set of Timpanis, had to rehearse 2 weeks without it (did not get the chance to practice changing the tuning of the drums as there were constant changes in tuning even in the midst of the songs)
2. Rehearsal took up quite a lot of time especially closer to performances and I did not have time to deal with self-practice and other band rehearsals
3. I was down with a fever on the second day of performance, which affected my playing a little
4. Musicians did not get the recognition for the amount of hard work because we were in the SST & audiences could not see us at all (Having spoke to a couple, most do not realized that there is an actual orchestra)
Handbell Sampling
Recorded some samples of handbells.
Kids Project
Working on a song for children for 3rd Year Sound Technology undergrad’s project.
What it is so far: http://soundcloud.com/melodiemikeng/melodie-ng-thats-a-good
Robert Mulder
Going to be recording with Robert Mulder.
The 2ube
14 October 2011: Performed with Robert Mulder and band, played 5 of his original songs.
The Balloon Project (Education Branch)
To be advised. Spoke to Ben Brown a couple of times regarding teaching handbells in Liverpool as part of the Balloon Project.
Melodie Mike Ng 
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