Ivan Ng
6th January 1989
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts
The Philharmonic Winds
Singapore National Youth Orchestra
Tagboard
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Why...
Why... Such a simple word that most of the time, comes with a bundle of answers wrapped in nice packaging...
Tuesday afternoon, 12.15pm... I wake up to the vibration of my mobile....
Classmate:"Hey can i have your accompanist's mobile number? Mine can't make it for the competition...." Me:"Sure!" (Proceeds to send number) Classmate to my Accompanist:"Hey, can you accompany me for the competition? I'm up on the same day as Ivan... 29th April..." Accompanist to Classmate:"Sorry, I have to return to Vietnam on the 26th..." Classmate to my Accompanist:"Okay then... Thanks anyway..... WAIT A SEC... Then how are you supposed to accompany Ivan?????" Accompanist to Classmate:">.<" I was still lying peacefully on my bed at that time... Unaware of the impending storm that was approaching... FULL SPEED AHEAD.... 12.30pm
Accompanist to Me:"Hey Ivan, when's your competition?" Me:"29th April" (I could already feel that the inevitable was about to happen) Accompanist:"Hey, really sorry, I have to go back to Vietnam urgently on the 26th... Can't accompany you... Very sorry..." (yes, my accompanist is Vietnamese) Me:"I'm dead..........."
That fateful message hit me like a jolt of lightning... It was as if someone had stopped the hands of time... My life was thrown into a complete stand-still... Like Dracula on nightfall, I got up immediately...
WHY?!? WHY?!? (Brush teeth) WHY?!? WHY?!? (Bathe) WHY?!? WHY?!? (Leave home for school)... I asked "Why..." But this time... The answer didn't come in a bundle... And certainly not in nice packaging....
I was screwed.... And i didn't need anyone to tell me that...
The only variables in this equation are, "who is my accompanist going to be" and "where am i going to find him/her"... The competition date couldn't be changed and withdrawing is NOT AN OPTION...
So off to school i went... On what was to be, the worst day of my life....
"Can you accompany me?" I must have asked at least 10 people.... And all of their replies somehow led to a simple "I can't" until finally, i was at my second last resort.... Get the help of a low profile pianist (They aren't as good as the more prominent pianists but usually have time to spare)....
I'll have to try working with him (yes, i did find someone eventually) and see how things go in the next couple of days.... If he can't handle the piece... Then it's time to call for back-up... Hire a professional pianist at a mind-boggling, face-smashing, tongue-rolling fee of at least 80 bucks per hour of rehearsing and performing... Money is such a panacea...
Even Weber was telling me that i was screwed, as i sat on the bus home in quiet contemplation, listening to the melancholy Andante from his second Clarinet Concerto... Why... Ivan
Asian Youth Music Competition 2007 29th April, 12.30pm-2.30pm Ivan Ng, clarinet Weber Clarinet Concerto No.1 in F minor, 3rd Movement Cristofori School of Fine Arts Event Hall Funan the Digital Life Mall Tickets $10
