Chicago Trip!
18/12/06 (Singapore Time, Monday)
Brother came and fetched me to the Airport, reached there around 9pm because we had to meet Miss Tan at 9.30pm. Ilshan and Zhenxi were already there when we arrived. I smsed for awhile to kill time. At exactly 9.30pm, Miss Tan and Daniel appeared...lol (just nice) We thought Miss Tan might have been late like that time we went for WMC. Flight was at 11pm, but had to check in 2hrs earlier.
We were flying ANA (All Nippon Airways). We would stop at Narita and change plane to fly to Chicago. The flight to Tokyo, Narita was about 6 hours. I didn't sleep on that flight but instead, watched videos like "Just for Laughs", "National Geographic". Played the games they had as well...for example, "Blackjack", "Solitaire", "Chess", "Reversi". Was very tired after that...
19/12/06 (Singapore Time, Tuesday)
Reached Tokyo, Narita Airport at 7am. Our connecting flight was 4 hrs away...o.O
None of the stores were opened at that time. At around 9pm, stores started opening and we took a look around. Didn't buy anything but Daniel, Ilshan and I went to some Cafe and they had a sandwich while I had some sushi thing.
Got on the flight at 11am. This flight was even longer! 10 and a half hours. We made better use of this flight though. They finally had a movie I wanted to watch, "Pirates of the Carribean", the sequel. The movie was great. Good effects and at times, it was quite funny as well. Watched a little of Ant Bully as well.
Played cards with Daniel and Ilshan. Zhenxi was busy playing with his PSP. We played "diety" and "cheat". I won quite alot of those games...haha...due to luck but it was all in good fun.
I managed to get some shut eye also...but wasn't sure how long I slept...
19/12/06 (Chicago Time, Tuesday)
We gained one day when we went there, so it was 19th and not the 20th. It was quite cold, -4 degrees. It was quite cool to be able to see your breath when you breathe out. We took a taxi to the Hilton as we figured it would be cheaper than taking the shuttle bus which would cost more. The taxi driver was Elis "chubby" Miller. He was so called a famous Taxi Driver in Chicago. I think Miss Tan arranged for him to pick us up.
We checked in at the Hotel and soon went to the various clinics the "Midwest Clinic" had. The first one we went to was "Playing your own song: First steps to Improvising and A Game Plan for developing Mastery" (11.30-12.30pm). It was quite good and inspiring as the guy demonstrated on a cello and invited someone who played the Euphonium to play with him randomly. It was all impromptu, or so they said it was...but it sounded ok and yet abit weird. However, the thing he said was that "In Music, there is no right or wrong"...which made alot of sense. I was struggling to keep awake though as I think I was suffering from JetLag or lack of sleep...haha
We wanted to go for something else but we found out that it was spread across 4 buildings and we didn't want to worry Miss Tan because we didn't ask for her consent so we went for the Beverly Hills Intermediate School Orchestra next (1.45-2.30pm). It was mostly strings. It was quite good.
We were all feeling very tired so we went back to our rooms and decided to rest. However, what was intended to be a short nap, turned out to be a long sleep. We only woke up in the night around 8pm+. Miss Tan had smsed us to go watch the United States Air Force Band (9.15-10.45pm) . We went back to our room for Cup noodles as dinner after the concert.
20/12/06 (Chicago Time, Wednesday)
We went out for Breakfast early in the morning. We went to Dunkin Donuts and bought the donuts to take away back to the Hotel to eat. I bought the Mini Donuts along with a Strawberry Coolaid.
We went for the "Developing Successful Beginning Band Students" (8.30-9.30am). It was quite good as it gave us advice on how to start beginners on their instruments..etc...and Daniel and Ilshan had a few ideas they were thinking of using next year when they take over as leaders..haha.
Next, we went for one that was called "Playing without Pain: Physical Exercises for Dexterity, Flexibility and Relaxation". However, because they did not specify, it was a class for String Players. However, the exercises that they used for their hands and fingers could be used for the band as well...not very sure though...
The next one was infusing composition into the high school rehearsal setting but I didn't really catch what he was trying to say or found it interesting at all...After that boring class, we went for Lunch in our rooms (Cup Noodles) and went to look at the Exhibits they had there.
I went for the class that thought Jazz Concepts to Saxophone players...thought that it could help the saxophone section in our band. Went for the class that thought Intonation next with Daniel and Ilshan.
The concert we attended next was amazing! It was performed by the Musashino Academia Musicae Wind Ensemble. There was one piece where it featured the Clarinet section and they were so together, playing very effortlessly. There was another piece that was very good as well. This time the trumpets were featured and they double-tongued! A great concert!
We went for Dinner at Bennigans'. I ate the Monte Carlo which was some sandwich with ham and cheese inside along with Fries as a sidedish. Quite tasty...
Miss Tan, Daniel, Ilshan and Zhenxi all had the Sirloin Steak. Their portions of food there are extremely big and the drinks are refillable.
The last concert we attended was called "Circus Maximus". It was a new piece that had been composed. However, we found it quite weird as some of the sounds came from offstage and the sound was just very bizzarre. To the Americans, however, some were sold that the piece was very good..(go figure..)
21/12/06 (Chicago Time, Thursday)
Woke up quite early again. This time to see the exhibits again. A question on our minds were that how to practise during our free time. That question was answered when we went for the class at Palmer House. The guy demonstrated on the Marimba. He adviced to do soloing, reading, working on the rhythm and the eveness of the playing.
The next one about Careers in Music was also at Palmer House, in the same room. It was quite interesting as they told us the very vast options of jobs in the music industry. Djs, composers, performers, retailers of music instrument, designing instrument, repairing instruments, recordings, etc...
The Hill Country Middle School Symphonic Band was ok. In U.S, their middle school is in the range of Pri4-Sec2 while ours is Sec1-Sec4. After that was the 1st clarinet class. It was good as the speaker was entertaining and made everyone laugh. He gave very good tips on the misconceptions of the clarinet.
Up next, chamber music. They played Mozart's pieces as a tribute to him. It was quite nice as the instruments blended well and brought out the sound. The last one was the Dallas Wind Symphony conducted by Jerry Junkin. He is one of the great conductors as he used alot of movement in his conducting and managed to get the sound he wanted out of the band. They played two all too familiar pieces to us. Festive Overture and 1st suite! Ilshan said that the Clarinetist playing the solo for Festive looked like tzung siang...haha...
22/12/06 (Chicago Time, Friday)
Daniel wanted to go for this as it was Flute. It was practice plugins for Flute. Daniel was obviously very interested and even asked her how to double tongue at the end of the class.
Exhibits, Exhibits and Exhibits! haha... The exhibits were just too good, we had to go back for more as there was so much to see and buy. Miss Tan also told us that the Exhibits for first priority. Therefore, we spent about 2hrs in them, looking at books, looking at instruments and equipment for our instruments. I bought a "M30 mouthpiece", "Vandoren Ligature", "2 Plastic Reeds from Legere" and a "Sabine Metrotuner". I also bought some Clarinet books that could help improve our technique. Daniel also bought alot of books for flutes, some of which had been recommended by his teacher.
2nd clarinet class of the clinic. She gave advice on the type of Repertoire that a Clarinetist should have at certain levels like what piece, how many scales, musical terms to know...etc...
she also gave notes on good equipment for Clarinet.
Vandercook college of Music Symphonic Band and McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band were ok. We slept after those two concerts. Woke up around 10pm...because Miss Tan asked us if we wanted to go out and sightsee the town. We went to do a little shopping at Walgreens.
23/12/06 (Chicago Time, Saturday)
Today was the last day of the "Midwest Clinic".
Most of the events today were concerts.
The first was the Fairfax Wind Symphony.
The second was practical rehearsal strategies.
Last but not least was the Saitama Sakae High school wind orchestra.
They played for the closing ceremony of the "Midwest Clinic".
After the concert, we took a bus to town, to the Oriental.
The Oriental was showing the Musical, "WICKED".
"WICKED" is about the witches of oz, based on the story of the wizard of oz, except that this takes place before Dorothy came to the land of oz.
It was a great play, coupled with an interesting storyline. (seems that the wicked witch was not really wicked but made to seem wicked...something like government manipulation...etc...)
It was actually sold out...but we managed to get tickets through some guy who had bought tickets but were selling them outside the theatre. We bought them for 50(u.s) dollars although the ticket price was originally 90(u.s) dollars.
After the musical, we went to sightsee somemore and do more shopping...or rather, Miss Tan was the only one who did buy something from there...
We went to the Outdoor Ice Skating Rink where it was crowded with people. We took some pictures of it and the area near it.We walked back towards the Hilton, taking pictures of buildings, cars along the way.
Miss Tan brought us to the same Japanese Restaurant we had eaten at one of those days. We ordered some dishes that were shared among all of us. It was quite filling and we even had to take away some of the left over fish. Back in our room, we packed our clothes in advance as we would be going to the airport the next morning.
24/12/06 (Chicago Time, Sunday)
Checked out and Chubby picked us up from the Hotel to the Airport. We went to the wrong terminal as we were not sure where our flight would be at but with plenty of time to spare, we were not in a hurry as we took the airport's train terminal to terminal 1. We had to go through the usual checks and Miss Tan had some problems because of the many bottles of water she brought back in her bag. We went ahead first and told her we would meet her at the gate.
We bought some popcorn to eat. Ilshan bought the caramel one while I bought the white cheddar. It was not bad, salted slightly but still nice. We went on the plane around 10.30am.
The flight back was again 10 and a half hours. Watched "You, Me and Dupree", "Monster House". Played more cards and played Zhenxi's PSP. Slept for about 2hrs on the flight.
25/12/06 (Singapore Time, Monday)
Arrived back at Tokyo, Narita Airport. We went through more checks and waited 2hrs for the connecting flight. We went to look see in the shops and I bought a tapestry with a colourful picture of the names of the cities in Japan with pictures of some of the sights.
Ilshan was feeling hungry, so we went to a cafe and ate. It was not the same cafe as the other time. Ilshan bought some noodles while we wanted to spend our coins, decided to buy some fries that cost 400 yen. However, they didn't accept U.S coins so we ended up with more yen coins...-_-
Some lady had a short chat with us about where we were from and she was quite surprised that we could speak english well...lol...I think she is an American or smthing...anyways...we soon went to the gate and waited for boarding.
On this flight, we were supposed to finish our Journals on our experience at the Midwest Clinic, so we did not sleep nor were we tired in the first place...We were seating quite seperated because the flight was full and so I had to entertain myself with the games they had. They were the same games anyways...-_-
26/12/06 (Singapore Time, Tuesday)
We arrived back in Singapore at midnight. We went through custom checks and were soon with each of our families. Said our goodbyes and went our seperate ways. Was raining when I left and was also raining when I came back...lol
Missed all my friends in Singapore and was abit sad couldn't spend christmas with them or go for the cell camp. Unpacked a little before going to sleep and unpacking the next day. No jetlag...yay!
Thoughts
The trip was quite beneficial in certain aspects though it was expensive, and it was a good exposure and experience at the same time. Too bad it didn't snow...:(
Hmm...performing for the Watchnight service on 31st december...preparing for it...
Anyways...that was a super long post...
My next one will be on the Band Camp I had from the 27th-29th of December.
Thats it for now. Bye. (Pictures are below)
Pictures: (that was a long post... o.o)
Brother came and fetched me to the Airport, reached there around 9pm because we had to meet Miss Tan at 9.30pm. Ilshan and Zhenxi were already there when we arrived. I smsed for awhile to kill time. At exactly 9.30pm, Miss Tan and Daniel appeared...lol (just nice) We thought Miss Tan might have been late like that time we went for WMC. Flight was at 11pm, but had to check in 2hrs earlier.
We were flying ANA (All Nippon Airways). We would stop at Narita and change plane to fly to Chicago. The flight to Tokyo, Narita was about 6 hours. I didn't sleep on that flight but instead, watched videos like "Just for Laughs", "National Geographic". Played the games they had as well...for example, "Blackjack", "Solitaire", "Chess", "Reversi". Was very tired after that...
19/12/06 (Singapore Time, Tuesday)
Reached Tokyo, Narita Airport at 7am. Our connecting flight was 4 hrs away...o.O
None of the stores were opened at that time. At around 9pm, stores started opening and we took a look around. Didn't buy anything but Daniel, Ilshan and I went to some Cafe and they had a sandwich while I had some sushi thing.
Got on the flight at 11am. This flight was even longer! 10 and a half hours. We made better use of this flight though. They finally had a movie I wanted to watch, "Pirates of the Carribean", the sequel. The movie was great. Good effects and at times, it was quite funny as well. Watched a little of Ant Bully as well.
Played cards with Daniel and Ilshan. Zhenxi was busy playing with his PSP. We played "diety" and "cheat". I won quite alot of those games...haha...due to luck but it was all in good fun.
I managed to get some shut eye also...but wasn't sure how long I slept...
19/12/06 (Chicago Time, Tuesday)
We gained one day when we went there, so it was 19th and not the 20th. It was quite cold, -4 degrees. It was quite cool to be able to see your breath when you breathe out. We took a taxi to the Hilton as we figured it would be cheaper than taking the shuttle bus which would cost more. The taxi driver was Elis "chubby" Miller. He was so called a famous Taxi Driver in Chicago. I think Miss Tan arranged for him to pick us up.
We checked in at the Hotel and soon went to the various clinics the "Midwest Clinic" had. The first one we went to was "Playing your own song: First steps to Improvising and A Game Plan for developing Mastery" (11.30-12.30pm). It was quite good and inspiring as the guy demonstrated on a cello and invited someone who played the Euphonium to play with him randomly. It was all impromptu, or so they said it was...but it sounded ok and yet abit weird. However, the thing he said was that "In Music, there is no right or wrong"...which made alot of sense. I was struggling to keep awake though as I think I was suffering from JetLag or lack of sleep...haha
We wanted to go for something else but we found out that it was spread across 4 buildings and we didn't want to worry Miss Tan because we didn't ask for her consent so we went for the Beverly Hills Intermediate School Orchestra next (1.45-2.30pm). It was mostly strings. It was quite good.
We were all feeling very tired so we went back to our rooms and decided to rest. However, what was intended to be a short nap, turned out to be a long sleep. We only woke up in the night around 8pm+. Miss Tan had smsed us to go watch the United States Air Force Band (9.15-10.45pm) . We went back to our room for Cup noodles as dinner after the concert.
20/12/06 (Chicago Time, Wednesday)
We went out for Breakfast early in the morning. We went to Dunkin Donuts and bought the donuts to take away back to the Hotel to eat. I bought the Mini Donuts along with a Strawberry Coolaid.
We went for the "Developing Successful Beginning Band Students" (8.30-9.30am). It was quite good as it gave us advice on how to start beginners on their instruments..etc...and Daniel and Ilshan had a few ideas they were thinking of using next year when they take over as leaders..haha.
Next, we went for one that was called "Playing without Pain: Physical Exercises for Dexterity, Flexibility and Relaxation". However, because they did not specify, it was a class for String Players. However, the exercises that they used for their hands and fingers could be used for the band as well...not very sure though...
The next one was infusing composition into the high school rehearsal setting but I didn't really catch what he was trying to say or found it interesting at all...After that boring class, we went for Lunch in our rooms (Cup Noodles) and went to look at the Exhibits they had there.
I went for the class that thought Jazz Concepts to Saxophone players...thought that it could help the saxophone section in our band. Went for the class that thought Intonation next with Daniel and Ilshan.
The concert we attended next was amazing! It was performed by the Musashino Academia Musicae Wind Ensemble. There was one piece where it featured the Clarinet section and they were so together, playing very effortlessly. There was another piece that was very good as well. This time the trumpets were featured and they double-tongued! A great concert!
We went for Dinner at Bennigans'. I ate the Monte Carlo which was some sandwich with ham and cheese inside along with Fries as a sidedish. Quite tasty...
Miss Tan, Daniel, Ilshan and Zhenxi all had the Sirloin Steak. Their portions of food there are extremely big and the drinks are refillable.
The last concert we attended was called "Circus Maximus". It was a new piece that had been composed. However, we found it quite weird as some of the sounds came from offstage and the sound was just very bizzarre. To the Americans, however, some were sold that the piece was very good..(go figure..)
21/12/06 (Chicago Time, Thursday)
Woke up quite early again. This time to see the exhibits again. A question on our minds were that how to practise during our free time. That question was answered when we went for the class at Palmer House. The guy demonstrated on the Marimba. He adviced to do soloing, reading, working on the rhythm and the eveness of the playing.
The next one about Careers in Music was also at Palmer House, in the same room. It was quite interesting as they told us the very vast options of jobs in the music industry. Djs, composers, performers, retailers of music instrument, designing instrument, repairing instruments, recordings, etc...
The Hill Country Middle School Symphonic Band was ok. In U.S, their middle school is in the range of Pri4-Sec2 while ours is Sec1-Sec4. After that was the 1st clarinet class. It was good as the speaker was entertaining and made everyone laugh. He gave very good tips on the misconceptions of the clarinet.
Up next, chamber music. They played Mozart's pieces as a tribute to him. It was quite nice as the instruments blended well and brought out the sound. The last one was the Dallas Wind Symphony conducted by Jerry Junkin. He is one of the great conductors as he used alot of movement in his conducting and managed to get the sound he wanted out of the band. They played two all too familiar pieces to us. Festive Overture and 1st suite! Ilshan said that the Clarinetist playing the solo for Festive looked like tzung siang...haha...
22/12/06 (Chicago Time, Friday)
Daniel wanted to go for this as it was Flute. It was practice plugins for Flute. Daniel was obviously very interested and even asked her how to double tongue at the end of the class.
Exhibits, Exhibits and Exhibits! haha... The exhibits were just too good, we had to go back for more as there was so much to see and buy. Miss Tan also told us that the Exhibits for first priority. Therefore, we spent about 2hrs in them, looking at books, looking at instruments and equipment for our instruments. I bought a "M30 mouthpiece", "Vandoren Ligature", "2 Plastic Reeds from Legere" and a "Sabine Metrotuner". I also bought some Clarinet books that could help improve our technique. Daniel also bought alot of books for flutes, some of which had been recommended by his teacher.
2nd clarinet class of the clinic. She gave advice on the type of Repertoire that a Clarinetist should have at certain levels like what piece, how many scales, musical terms to know...etc...
she also gave notes on good equipment for Clarinet.
Vandercook college of Music Symphonic Band and McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band were ok. We slept after those two concerts. Woke up around 10pm...because Miss Tan asked us if we wanted to go out and sightsee the town. We went to do a little shopping at Walgreens.
23/12/06 (Chicago Time, Saturday)
Today was the last day of the "Midwest Clinic".
Most of the events today were concerts.
The first was the Fairfax Wind Symphony.
The second was practical rehearsal strategies.
Last but not least was the Saitama Sakae High school wind orchestra.
They played for the closing ceremony of the "Midwest Clinic".
After the concert, we took a bus to town, to the Oriental.
The Oriental was showing the Musical, "WICKED".
"WICKED" is about the witches of oz, based on the story of the wizard of oz, except that this takes place before Dorothy came to the land of oz.
It was a great play, coupled with an interesting storyline. (seems that the wicked witch was not really wicked but made to seem wicked...something like government manipulation...etc...)
It was actually sold out...but we managed to get tickets through some guy who had bought tickets but were selling them outside the theatre. We bought them for 50(u.s) dollars although the ticket price was originally 90(u.s) dollars.
After the musical, we went to sightsee somemore and do more shopping...or rather, Miss Tan was the only one who did buy something from there...
We went to the Outdoor Ice Skating Rink where it was crowded with people. We took some pictures of it and the area near it.We walked back towards the Hilton, taking pictures of buildings, cars along the way.
Miss Tan brought us to the same Japanese Restaurant we had eaten at one of those days. We ordered some dishes that were shared among all of us. It was quite filling and we even had to take away some of the left over fish. Back in our room, we packed our clothes in advance as we would be going to the airport the next morning.
24/12/06 (Chicago Time, Sunday)
Checked out and Chubby picked us up from the Hotel to the Airport. We went to the wrong terminal as we were not sure where our flight would be at but with plenty of time to spare, we were not in a hurry as we took the airport's train terminal to terminal 1. We had to go through the usual checks and Miss Tan had some problems because of the many bottles of water she brought back in her bag. We went ahead first and told her we would meet her at the gate.
We bought some popcorn to eat. Ilshan bought the caramel one while I bought the white cheddar. It was not bad, salted slightly but still nice. We went on the plane around 10.30am.
The flight back was again 10 and a half hours. Watched "You, Me and Dupree", "Monster House". Played more cards and played Zhenxi's PSP. Slept for about 2hrs on the flight.
25/12/06 (Singapore Time, Monday)
Arrived back at Tokyo, Narita Airport. We went through more checks and waited 2hrs for the connecting flight. We went to look see in the shops and I bought a tapestry with a colourful picture of the names of the cities in Japan with pictures of some of the sights.
Ilshan was feeling hungry, so we went to a cafe and ate. It was not the same cafe as the other time. Ilshan bought some noodles while we wanted to spend our coins, decided to buy some fries that cost 400 yen. However, they didn't accept U.S coins so we ended up with more yen coins...-_-
Some lady had a short chat with us about where we were from and she was quite surprised that we could speak english well...lol...I think she is an American or smthing...anyways...we soon went to the gate and waited for boarding.
On this flight, we were supposed to finish our Journals on our experience at the Midwest Clinic, so we did not sleep nor were we tired in the first place...We were seating quite seperated because the flight was full and so I had to entertain myself with the games they had. They were the same games anyways...-_-
26/12/06 (Singapore Time, Tuesday)
We arrived back in Singapore at midnight. We went through custom checks and were soon with each of our families. Said our goodbyes and went our seperate ways. Was raining when I left and was also raining when I came back...lol
Missed all my friends in Singapore and was abit sad couldn't spend christmas with them or go for the cell camp. Unpacked a little before going to sleep and unpacking the next day. No jetlag...yay!
Thoughts
The trip was quite beneficial in certain aspects though it was expensive, and it was a good exposure and experience at the same time. Too bad it didn't snow...:(
Hmm...performing for the Watchnight service on 31st december...preparing for it...
Anyways...that was a super long post...
My next one will be on the Band Camp I had from the 27th-29th of December.
Thats it for now. Bye. (Pictures are below)
Pictures: (that was a long post... o.o)
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