Hello! Although this is my first post its not my first time blogging. I have created this blog especially for my assessment: to provide my point of view of Renaissance Gold! First of i shall provide an acronym for Renaissance Gold! = RG because it is a mouthful of pronunciation. So now on to the RG update..... RG was performed by my school band, SJIMB. Being a bandsmen myself(but I did not perform, I wasn't good enough. so was another 25 of us), I was well aware of why the band decided to perform in a grand place. It was the 50th anniversary of our band. Congratulations!

Anyway, I did not get to sit with my class 102, which I consider the best class in the world, as Mr Colin Lai( a teacher-in-charge of the SJIMB) decided to put all the non-performing Sec 1 bandsmen together. I was disappointed at first because if I were to sit with 102, I could get to sit with Justin and Joshua who happens to be two of my good friends. Although pupils at their area supposedly did ‘The Kallang Wave’(technically it should be the NUS UCC wave), I later realized that the view from their seats were very bad as they could only see half of the stage. This made me relieved because I wasn’t missing out on anything good. So I was sitting with, Daveraj and Ryan from the band. From the place I was sitting, the conduct of the audience was excellent(except for a particular SJIJ student who was being an extra care affair) as I was sitting with some parents. However, this was not the case in the area where 102 was seated. Apparently, many students from other classes were being very noisy and immature. Mrs Kwok had to patrol the area to control the 'monkeys'. Haha. Poor Mrs Kwok. Couldn't enjoy the show.

On to the music. First of all I would like to commend the percussion section as they were VERY VERY still when they were at ‘cerdiya’ position during the start of the performance. They were practically like statues. Anyway, the first song was ‘Josephian March’ where the trumpet and trombone sections marched into the stage while the rest of the sections marched down the aisle onto the stage when it was time. The sound was crystal clear. Next up was the ‘Generation March’ which was conducted by Mr Vincent Undasan, an prominent ex-bandsmen. Then was the ‘Welcome’ and our usual prayer which was led by Brother Michael Broughton. Foolishly, majority of the audience clapped for prayer and when Bro Michael reminded them of this, there was a sudden pang of shameful silence. After that was a series of wonderful passionate songs like 'Fantasy on a Japanese Folk Song', 'Tears on Moon' and 'Overture Jubiloso'. The songs had WONDERFUL emotion and feel. A few bandsmen, who displayed these emotions very well are

1. Jeremy Ng (Flute) (Concert Master)
2. Lucas Teng (Clarinet) (Company Administrative Sergeant)
3. Tan Zhibin (French Horn) (Quarter Master, Section Leader)
4. Melvin Ng (Saxophone) (Staff Sergeant, Section Leader)
5. Ng Pin Yi (Saxophone) (Recruiting Officer)
6. Samuel Han (Saxophone)

After the intermission, the best and the worst songs were performed. First of all, the 'Fumbler's Lament' was extremely hilarious. This performance filled everyone with laughter and I was not out of the ordinary. My stomach ached after laughing non-stop and I almost cried. Literally. After that, the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' was exciting and full of suspense. Just like in the movies. The alumni band was still not rusty in their music even after years being away from the SJIMB. The oldest was 37 years old and even he was performing like ever. However I felt 'Spaceship Yamato', 'Do En Kai Express', 'Theme From 'Rocky'', 'Hallelujah', ''Holy God, We Praise Thy Name', and 'The Count of Monte Cristo' was a bit draggy and boring. This almost sounded like a lullaby and put SOME people to sleep. I felt they should have performed songs that were more eye-opening and fast to keep the audience on track.

A sing-a-long was also good. This was fortunately provided by 'You'll Never Walk Alone', the theme song of Liverpool Football Club, which was originally sung by the renowned 'Beatles'. Although I am not much of a Liverpool fan, I enjoyed the song thoroughly and I naturally sang along during the chorus. Its good that there was no theme song of Arsenal or something like that because Arsenal seriously sucks. I don't know the reason why anyone would want to support them. *(no offence to Joshua and some OTHER fans, of course. xD)*. Anyway, drifting back to music, the final song, Auld Lang Syne, was excellent, especially with the Bagpipe Section complementing for the fast version.

About the venue, I felt it was a good location as the seats were comfortable and there was sufficient leg space unlike in the SJI PAC. However, looking at the price of the food offered there at the NUS UCC, it made many of us stand rooted to the ground. A can of drink or a curry puff costs $2. This is almost 2 times the prices at SJI. However, ‘the boring feeling’ is not there unlike in the SJI PAC where we know the way around the school. The seating capacity at the NUS UCC is also almost 2 to 3 times more than the SJI PAC allowing more people from the public to view our eminent band’s performances.

The two emcees had a brilliant sense of humor, making fun of the fact that one was kind of…bald? And the other was kind of…gay? Haha, anyway they did a commendable job of entertaining us.

The performance ended off with the school rally and a traditional ‘Alma Mater’

Overall, I felt Renaissance Gold! was a complete success and I am proud to be a Josephian, and more importantly, a part of the St. Joseph’s Institution Military Band!

(And here are some photos of the fun time 102 had before the show...)