Category: Activities

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Final Reflection Post on Skills: Playing cello in a Symphony Orchestra

For my NYAA I started my activity in September of 2017 and finished in October 2018. However, I am still in the orchestra and I hope to continue through my High School years. The orchestra has taught me many things and most of all has been a lot of fun. One of the most important skills in an orchestra is listening to other musicians, and I have developed this skill and have seen the impact on my listening skills.

Furthermore, every piece that we practice requires a lot of practice and having the hard-working mentality has been very helpful in my academic classes. In addition to that, I have grown as a musician, being able to play a variety of genres and also expand my knowledge of music. The orchestra has inspired me to play or at least inspire me to play other instruments. Nowadays, I sometimes record a piece on a piano and then play it while I play the cello piece. Although it is great to play solo, I  believe playing in an ensemble such as an orchestra makes the music experience so much more engaging and fun which is why I have tried to play multiple instruments to get that feeling. This makes music much more engaging and fun. My grandmother came and visited us in December and January of 2017/2018and we played together as an ensemble (she the piano and me the cello) for some Swedish tunes which were extremley rewarding and fun, especially in front of a crowd.

Thus, I think it is safe to say that I have made a quite considerable amount of progress as a cellist, and a musician in an orchestra or an ensemble. Finally, through the variety of pieces/genres (we have played rock, pop, classical, scene music, and more), we have played and from previous ensembles and orchestra from previous schools, I have now explored new genres of music for cello and piano. Right now, I am playing Bohemian Rhapsody by the queen on both piano and cello and have started composing new pieces of my own creation inspired by other pieces or from my imagination. For the future, I would like to play other instruments such as the French horn, drums, bass, saxophone, flute and more.

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Personal Statement

In the midst of the Midsummer’s day, or midsommarsdag as known in Sweden, and right at the coast of the southernmost point in Sweden stood a cottage so ordinary in Skåne (southern Sweden). Close to it, a juniper and moss-shaded green, and quite an ordinary forest shielded the fierce wind from the Baltic sea that day. However, what lay deep in the forest was a trädkoja, which in Swedish translates to a treehouse, but what was strange about it, wasn’t because it stood out, but rather because it blended right into the birches and ashes. You see, the treehouse was built with natural materials around it, no tools were needed in the construction except a saw, but there was a ladder from an old playground nearby. It gave a new meaning to sustainable architecture. Cousins, siblings, aunts and uncles from all over Skåne came, and either admire or aided the construction. Despite the few days when the logs from the second level fell down on unsuspected visitors or even one time when the whole structure broke down, we managed to build it up again and make it even sturdier. Hence, this expresses one of the fundamental passions that I have which has somewhat woven intertwined with each other is the environment and design.

Furthermore, in terms of academics, I don’t have any huge goals at the moment. I feel like the effort that I am putting in now is sufficient, sometimes even too much. Therefore, my “goal” in the academic side of things is to continue that effort and work that I am doing in academics. Of course, if there is anything that I in the future have trouble with, I will do as I have always done, to work hard onto improve that particular topic. As mentioned before my two passions are the enviornment and the design, or a least so far. Likewise, for service I am going to continue in Grade 10 to do the services that relate to the environment which are Climate Change and Clean Energy (college service), Urban Gardening (college service, East Solar Initiative (service started by a student) and Gili Eco Trust (Global Concern). Moreover, I used to play a great deal of sports, and a range of sports as well. I have been trying to balance academic and activities as well as service but it hasn’t worked out as I wanted to. Although I wish I could compete in a team, I don’t have time for that. This is why I have decided to do Floorball on Wednesdays and Badminton on Saturdays. Thus, for next year, I will do a similar sort of arrangement. In order to look slightly beyond my time in High School, I think it is safe to say, or at least at the moment, that my plan is to enroll in a university that considers environmental sustainability, and study/purse architecture (specialising in sustainable and “green” architecture) or something that relates to the environment. This isn’t the final plan, but I suppose it is good enough for now. The university that I would enrol in would probably be in Sweden, as I am Swedish and because they are free there, or possibly Canada, as I have a Canadian passport (my father’s Canadian)

I am not that type of person who wants to be the best at everything (although it may seem like it to some people, I really wish it weren’t true that I am good (not perfect or best) at a lot of things) or the person who does extra work, doing internships or anything like that. However, maybe I should consider doing some work that relates do what I am passionate about. In addition to that, at times, I feel like I have too many services that I commit to. Furthermore, I am in the High School Symphony Orchestra because I like that type of music and playing the cello (although I really want to try some jazz instruments because that is also something I’m interested in). In fact, I had real trouble deciding whether to do RM (resistant materials) or Music. I want to be that type of person at the High School concerts who is in the background and plays a range of instruments. My goal for music is to play in the orchestra for High School Musical next year and to perhaps try a range or a different instrument, and be more involved in the school concerts.

For me, except for my passion and the importance of environmentalism, I think that one of the most profound belief that I have is that everyone should have some purpose, something that is significant, even it is small, it has to have some impact. Of course, I would hope that one would do something good, but even it is bad, it should be significant. I don’t believe in any higher deity, but I feel like if your alive, you have to do something that is worthwhile. In the back of my mind, I sometimes feel hatred toward obnoxious jerks or if I feel like some person doesn’t care about the environment or other people. That they are selfish or that if they didn’t exist (I am sorry about this, but this is truly how I feel sometimes) nothing would change, or that the world would be a better place. Of course, if all humans didn’t exist, the world would definitely be a significantly better place, but I think you know what I mean. Thankfully, I don’t lash out or do something mean to them, but this is a problem but also a deep belief that I have.

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Wavelengths Concert

On Wednesday the 13th in December,  I finally had a concert (Wavelengths) with my orchestra. We had to rehearse a lot before that. That Saturday during the week, we had to practice 2 hours with the middle school orchestra since our conductor wanted both orchestras to play “Dance of the Tumblers”. In addition to that, we had a sneak-peak or preview on Tuesday which at the same time, we talked about our instruments and the orchestra to the junior students (as in elementary school, not juniors in high school as they call it in the U.S.A). It was great fun that day but there was a lot of rehearsing and practicing before Wavelengths.

On Wednesday we had a two-hour rehearsal as well so as a result of that, I had to miss mathematics to meet this rehearsal. Furthermore, I was able to see the other performers and I thought all were really good. I liked the jazz bands, the singers, the Focus Africa group and even the Samba group as well. There were four segments in the entire concert. The first one was in the plaza where the Focus Africa group played their marimba and the Samba band played their instruments.

After that, the audience had to move to the second segment in the auditorium which was the bands such as the jazz bands. The third segment was the singers and there were many. I especially enjoyed the small group of high school singers which were really good. Kind of like High School Musical, just joking. Anyways, the final segment was the orchestral one and that is where I played.

During the second-half of the first piece which was the Holzberg piece or Suite im Alten Style prelude, my endpin of the cello slipped and some saw it who were at the front but luckily not my parents. In order to not cause any trouble, I had to hold the cello tightly and in some parts, fake what I was playing. However, the other two pieces went really well despite the fact that I didn’t have much room as I normally do because I was much closer to my cellist next to me on the left and really close to the violist on my right, therefore, hindering my performance.

Finally, even though there were some accidents and mistakes (not necessarily in the piece), my family, including my grandmother who was visiting, though it was amazing to hear me.

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Orchestra

I am also apart of the High School orchestra where I play the cello, A.K.A violoncello. We will have a concert on December 13th and we have been working on Beethoven’s 5th Symphony Finale and the Dance of the Tumblers by Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakoff from “Snow Maiden” which was arranged by Sandra Dackow. However, we have also been working on another piece called Suite Im Alten style composed by Edvard Grieg, a Norwegian Composer, which I thought was a rather difficult piece than the first two.I have been working a lot on my articulation and bowing which are the two areas I struggle the most. We have got a lot of Violinists but only two playing the viola. We also got many playing flutes and clarinets, and some playing brass instruments as well.  Although it can be tough because many have been playing for many more years than me because they are older, it has been really rewarding and I have improved a lot. Furthermore,  my grandmother will be visiting in December and it it will be a great pleasure to show her what I have done in my concert. My aunt, a composer and music enthusiast, really like the music we are playing and I have kept the music as a surprise to my family, including my grandmother. All in all, it has been great pleasure joining the Orchestra and the pieces are really good.

Update: 15th March
I am now playing a piece by Carl Nielsen which is the Scene Music for the play Aladdin. It is also called the Oriental Festmarch. I am also playing a piece by Joseph Hayden and it is called Menuette in D major. We will have a concert on the 24th of March and I feel really good about the pieces. We have focused on intonation as well as tempo.

Ludwig van Beethoven:

Me standing up after a Middle School Performance with the cello:

 

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakoff:

Edvard Greig:

Carl Nielsen:

Image result for carl nielsen

Joseph Hayden:

Image result for joseph haydn

Aladdin:

Image result for aladdin

Courtesy and Quick Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAI_National_Symphony_Orchestra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_van_Beethoven

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Haydn

https://www.paladino.at/people/nikolay-rimsky-korsakov

https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/edvard-grieg-462.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Nielsen

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Final Reflection Post on Physical Activity: Rock Climbing

I have been apart of the Rock Climbing activity which is located in @Onsight in Geylang which is for the Advanced group.

In the first few weeks, our first lesson to rock climbing and for most of the lesson, we talked about what would happen over the next few weeks. We explored our site and learnt all the basics and the important information we need for the next few weeks. Later on, we continued the introduction into rock climbing. We reviewed belaying and some rock climbing techniques and skills. Furthermore, I also tried belaying in a different way that I am used to. This new technique was much safer than the one I used to do before. Moreover, I tried some very unconventional holes that were flat on all sides. This was a bit challenging but I overcame these sets of holes.

After the first few lessons, we tried some difficult routes on the top climb. We tried the 6a and the 6b which were challenging but most of us managed to get to the top. One of the challenges was to try a 6c with holes that are all flat on all sides. However, I cheated (as in using nearby holes not part of the route which had an easy grip) and my goal was that I would like to learn new techniques when climbing such routes. I have tried new techniques but some of the holds have a very hard grip. In order to improve, I learned that I definitely need to warm up my hands and try to use more chalk in order to get a better grip. I also tried the very high wall. But after a while, I was able to comfortably take on the challenge of 6a and 6b and I have managed to climb a few 6c routes.

After that, I started to focus more on bouldering. I learned more about how to hold holes that were called jug, pinch, crimp sloper, pocket, jib and mono. I learnt new techniques in bouldering and surprisingly, it is much harder to boulder than to top climb because you can rest when top climbing, but with bouldering, you need to do everything in one go, otherwise you fall. In the end, it has been very fun and I will continue this activity for the next few weeks. I will probably choose another activity, but it has been really challenging and rewarding joining this activity. 

Here is an image of the grips and holes that I learned through this activity:

Monday, Febuary 5th, 2018, was my last climbing session. In my opinion, I have expanded my knowledge on climbing and I believe that as of right now, I am a decent rock climber, in terms of the average person. It has been exhilarating and awesome to be part of this activity. I will start the Dragons Badminton for my next activity.

Courtesty and Quick Reference:

What are some of the biggest mistakes beginners make, and what techniques should I be focusing on as a beginner? from bouldering

http://thesmartlocal.com/sg/facilities/1742-onsight-climbing-gym

http://sg.asia-city.com/singapore-venue/onsight-climbing

https://www.facebook.com/events/759954907506878/