Hmmm. I thought i had posted on monday but i guess i ran into difficulty in technology again. Oh well. What a week it has been anyway. All the choral workshops (formal and informal, more later) have been absolutely taxing but totally inspiring.
2 words, Novo Concertante. Going around with them this past week has been life-changing. Old critical me for the first time has really really fallen in love with a choir. Never before has any choir made me tear so its been an incredible experience, especially with that extremely talented man with a very nice surname, Arwin Tan. Genius, he. Don't think the folks who claimed i'm obsessed with them really know how good they are. On Monday for instance, SFX Choir went for dinner with them andwhen they started singing, it was the most beautiful thing i have ever heard. Seriously.
The amazing thing is how humble these folks are. Cholo, the big guy with that even bigger voice is just so nice and great to hang out with. You look at some of our Singaporean choristers and they turn your smiles upside down. And they're not even that good. So when the left this morning in church, everyone cried. They sang Irish blessing and it was bad, because everyone was choking too much to sing. It was so emotional to have them leave after touching our lives like that.
Of course, Novo was the highlight of the week but there were sessions with Mike Brewer and Jonny Velasco and they are super cool people. Brewer's the most energetic and enthusiastic guy of his age and Velasco's as funny as ever. Really really learnt a lot from these 3 great men and SFX have another session with Brewer tomorrow so its gonna be great fun.
AJChoir had a pretty good two sessions on Wednesday in my opinion. We kinda made Jonny Velasco like a song he had never heard before so i suppose that's good. Brewer was also quite impressed with us and that's an even bigger plus if you consider the fact we were singing one of the songs he chose for our festival choir. Speaking of which, he went completely crazy on stage and it was a blast being conducted by him.
Uncle Denis (which is a pretty cool way to address him) says we'll go to Manila soon and Novo promised to host us, hope it doesn't clash with anything here in Singapore because we will all love the experience. Til then, pa alam Novo, see you soon.
"If you'd say goodbye to me tonight
there would still be music left to write
what else could I do
I'm so inspired by you
that hasn't happened for the longest time
Once I thought my innocence was gone
now I know that happiness goes on
that's where you found me
when you put your arms around me
I haven't been there for the longest time
I'm that voice your hearing in the hall
and the greatest miracle of all
is how I need you
and how you needed me too
that hasn't happened for the longest time
maybe this won't last very long
but you feel so right
and I could be wrong
maybe I've been hoping too hard
I've gone this far
and it's more than I hoped for
Who knows how much further we'll go on
maybe I'll be sorry when your gone
I'll take my chances
I forgot how nice romance is
I haven't been there for the longest time
I had second thoughts at the start
I said to myself
hold on to your heart
now I know the woman that you are
you're wonderful so far
and it's more than I hoped for
I don't care what concequence it brings
I have been a fool for lesser things
I want you so bad
I think you oughta know that
I intend to hold you for the longest time"
mark nicodemus at 8:33 pm