CLAUD

Saturday, June 04, 2011

YJC 25th Anniversary Concert 'Domus'

Ok this post has been long time coming, given how it took place on 21 May 2011….But I've just been too lazy to update anything due to my preoccupation with London and L4d2 ( still suck!).

In any case, this year's concert, everyone has been calling it the art's fusion, but I stubbornly named it Domus, the 25th anniversary concert. Alas names have power and everyone just keeps calling it the arts fusion. I'm pretty miffed about it, given how the students spent time conceptualising the concert and all.

OK, shouldn't be ranting about the concert. let's touch on the nicer points in life.

I have a few things I wanna remember this concert by and they are:

Firstly, I'm pretty glad that the juniors volunteered to play for the alumni band and they actually put in some effort in helping us perform. This kind of effort sometimes makes me want to tear and smile at the same time, simply because cooperation between the alumni band and the current batch is not something to be taken for granted. Therefore, I'm always grateful.

Secondly, the concert decorations. Guanyu and Kristelle sat with me at Mosburger in AMK Hub one day to just brainstorm with me the wildest ideas, for supporting me in making the audi pretty and for also making it come through. Casper, Lynn, Sylves, Xinglin and Nicolas also stayed back or come earlier, to help out with the decorations in the audi. Guanyu and Lynn also didn't need to buy lightsticks for every single person in the audience. I'm happy that such initative still exists within the alumni. Let's hold on to that =)

Thirdly, SUNNY BIG_ASS_SUNFLOWER SUNZILLA. Guan yu found this near her house and it was god-sent. It's just a nice touch to our whole concert, it being all garden-y anyway…I'm pretty glad for Xinglin to bring it to school, and for Qabir for bringing it back home on the MRT. It's tough to haul this big ass around, but in any case, it was worth it.

Fourthly, I'm grateful for the alumni. It's not been easy coordinating and getting the room for practices. I'm especially grateful for Chun Siang for taking leave off his work (although he doesn't have much of a choice given how we were giving him pitiful looks). I also wanna thank Nisa, the few from her batch that came back for practices and Winson for having the courage to conduct us without a score. We all know you're nervous!

I think it's great to keep this thing going on strong and the fact that we're getting organised, is a sign that we're maturing as a YJ Band. It's not about juniors/seniors, but as much as a big family. I'll miss the late night dinners after band practices, I'll miss the meals we have together outside the band room - most of all, I miss playing together and sounding together.

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This concert has opened my eyes to plenty of things: hypocrisy, compassion, sacrifice and perseverance. Although I never wanted to think about the negative part of things, and mostly I just want to shut them out. However, for any of this to work effectively we need to have the full picture of things, and we cannot simply work based on partial information. Then again, it's a matter of privy. Not everyone has the need to know all information, and sometimes knowing is counter-productive.

In any case, I don't like to be lied to. But pushing through all the lies, I think we have already achieved the maximum, given the current set of circumstances. I won't change anything (except technical details) and I stand by everything I have done. It has always been a personal belief that the ends will justify itself - people who have no vision only obtain sight once the End present itself.

There is no impossible, only improbable. Personally, this concert just proves what I've known all along, and it proves what Friedmann asserts in his book about good City Governance: A vision is what is lacking (in a city), it is a right to have human flourishing, an autonomous life free from direct supervision and control (by the state). It is not just about blueprints or fixed plan, but it also guides a normative vision that defines as a right to have.

It is of course not sacrificing the ideal for the practical. It's about using practical means, to reach an ideal. Everyone's actions can be different, but ultimately the vision is what sets everyone on the same path, albeit different means, to realise something that is bigger than themselves.

I learnt that in school, and I wished this lesson was passed on the students during this period of concert preparation: I wished, I had successfully partake a little in inculcating education into their schooling.

10:28