review: sbp wind orchestra competition 2009

MCKK shows an exponential graph of improvement where this year they really played well. The sound of the whole band was thick. One and clean. Virginia is one of my favorite wind ensemble pieces. Though it still is in the average Jacob de Haan, but it still is an entertaining nice song.

Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah, compared to its previous recording in the semi finals, has done their intensive practice. I could hear a clear progress from nonsense to results. The song speaks of a mature level of wind orchestra, despite that it is just a small orchestra with fewer students, they played well.

The disappointing part was that the trumpet section didn’t deliver well compared to the rehearsal on the day before. They sounded less confident, a little bit weak on the real day.

Overall, the sound of the band was precise, clear, and the part right after the strong introduction where it sounded Japanese-y was my favorite. Mysterious and cute at the same time.

Too bad the choral part sounded terribly weak, I won’t wonder if that took away a lot of marks. If only it was allowed that the orchestra could bring in a huge choir to stand on their sides, and that might be cool. Again, it’s the selection of the song that counts. Although this song is not my favorite to put in my MP3 phone, but I have to admit that this song could be a good competition piece, if not for the middle choral part.

STAR was daring to select a local arrangement to compete.
This arrangement is quite advanced relative to the arranger's former pieces.
Only that, more color of expression could be given especially during the main theme of the song.

SDAR, was not my favorite. Something huge is missing. Either the song arrangement was not nice, or they sound rough and messy.

Tunku Kurshiah College went contradict to the current trend. They played a Japanese high-level arrangement of Disney Festival. The brass was thick and strong, especially compared to their previous years. They played tightly, the arrangement was interesting, their solos were strong. They were good.

Sekolah Seri Puteri. I wonder what the intention of the song selection was. Was it catered to them for their capability? The previous year’s Omisoka was way better than this one. It is not worth the cost of effort for the trumpets to practice hard on certain parts of the song, when overall it wasn’t a really good/nice piece. Better luck next year.

SEMSAH, trying out again with their Danse Diabolique. I adore the improvement of the dynamics and strength, but they were playing a bit too fast. What's the rush? Especially during the middle part, the expression was not there anymore.

In conclusion, hm. I had fun watching the competition, and I see that there is a significant quality improvement compared to the year before.

Always strive towards excellence!

Oh, this is a video clip of the winner. Bear with the quality drop because recording was done with a personal video camera.