JC Choir SYF 2011

This is going to be a one-off blog post, hence the blog name.

I've had the privilege of watching most of the JC choirs SYF performances, courtesy of my choir junior, whom I had happened to meet just outside the judging venue. Since its a major event within the choral scenes of Singapore that occurs biennially, I thought I'd just share some afterthoughts pertaining to it.

Disclaimer: I'm an ex-chorister with no musical background. Whatever I'm about to say are merely my own opinions regarding this event. Please take them with a pinch of salt.

Yishun Junior college Choir

This is the first choir I've managed to listen to, and it was made possible only cause of a kind soul who handed me her am session ticket after she was done watching her own school's choir performed.

Basically, I thought they sounded okay. The acoustics of the hall in which the judging had taken place appealed greatly to us audience, but I think it made it difficult for the choirs performing to hear themselves. This resulted in some pitching problems with several choirs.

Coming back to Yishun Junior College, I thought they sounded rather good at some points, and the balance of the four sections was somewhat there. pleasant chords could be heard occasionally. However, the overall sound was shallow and airy. They'll be able to achieve much better results with more technical trainings.

Prediction: Silver
Actual: Silver

Nanyang Junior College Choir

If I didn't remember wrongly, the choir in quartet for their set piece, and one tenor had a strange tone which stuck out. It sounded like somebody who is still in the process of learning how to bridge his passaggio properly. Disregarding that one flaw, the choir had quite a rounded and healthy sound that had allowed for some form of interpretation by the conductor to reach the audience as the choir was able to execute change in dynamics fairly well. Their Kalinda was a bit rushed, and messy at times as the four sections did not managed to anchor their parts well enough, hence it went sharp too. However, given the quality of sound that they managed to produce,I thought they could probably get a gold.

Prediction: Gold
Actual: Gold

Hwa Chong Instituition (College) choir

As expected of Lim Ai Hooi's choir, the sopranos and altos were outstanding, given that a lot of them had probably come from reputable all-girls choir that are conducted by her. The extent of their brilliance was such that the two sections were able to blend immaculately hence producing a warm and glorious sound that could lull anyone into slumber. Notice how I haven't mention anything about the tenors and basses yet. Well... its not that they were bad, but they just weren't able to match up to their female counterparts in terms of their techniques. The basses were quite good actually, being able to anchor their parts effectively when need be. The tenors sounded a little too shallow for my liking though. Their antics during their last piece could have come off cheap and gimmicky, if they did not have the voices to pull it off, what with the whole choir erupting into a state of anarchy and that Miss Lim stopped conducting entirely for at good thirty seconds before ending the piece with the clash of the cymbals which she inexplicably walked to the side of the stage to retrieve. Still, I thought it was a little too self-indulgent. After all, its SYF central judging. I personally felt such antics should be left for concerts. Nonetheless,I figured that they were impressive enough to be awarded Gold with Honours, and it would probably still remain that way even if they had moonwalked or performed somersaults on stage.

Prediction: Gold with Honours
Actual: Gold with Honours

Meridian Junior College Choir

The very section that had helped HC choir secured their GWH did the exact opposite for MJC choir. On a personal note, I would rather listen to airy and soft sopranos than sopranos who have insufficient techniques and resort to blasting high notes from their throats should all else fails. This was what exactly happened to MJC choir. They guys were marvelous. Both tenors and basses had good techniques and sounded bright and robust. The altos were okay too. But the sopranos were sometimes painful to listen to, and it doesn't help that the sopranos had to surmount high notes after high notes after high notes, and they just kept getting flatter with each subsequent jump. I think that the songs selection could be done a lot better. Also, some chords didn't form due to pitching errors of the sopranos.(mainly cause they were flat). if the adjudicators had closed one eye to the inadequacies of the sopranos, they just might be able to scrape a Gold with honours.( I shan't dwell on how I think that the idea of scraping a Gold with Honours itself is rather paradoxical.) Alas, having good male sections weren't enough. I think they could have done a lot better if the pieces chosen only requires the sopranos to sing within the mezzo sop range. (Think Kasar?)

Prediction: a very strained Gold with Honors
Actual: Gold

Serangoon Junior College Choir

Well, both of their chosen pieces were sung with piano accompaniment. That says a lot about their expectations of themselves. If they is one thing they lacked, its TECHNIQUES! All 4 sections had the same fault. A shallow nasal sound that will never blend however wonderful the acoustics are. They simply blasted their respective parts through out their ten minutes on stage. The guy who did the solo sounded okay, in spite of his blatant lack of techniques, which actually means that his tone is good. His falsetto sounded totally untrained though, to the point of being laughable. Despite all that, I still think that their performance didn't warrant a COP. Hopefully they'll do better the next they come back for SYF.

Prediction: Bronze
Actual: Bronze

Temasek Junior College Choir

Apart from Jennifer Tham's zennish way of conducting, I cannot remember a single thing about the choir. I can't even remember what was their actual grade. Just by extrapolating from past experience, TJC choir shouldn't fare that badly. So...at least a silver? Or Maybe a Gold? My apologies to any tjc choir member reading this.

Prediction:???
Actual:???

Pioneer Junior College Choir

I remembered them sounding average. What interested me was how fast they got through their second piece, cantate Domino. The piece by itself is already quite short, yet the choir sang it so fast that I think it lasted less than a minute and a half, and as a resulted it was very messy and a lot of pitch problems occured. It was as though they sang did this piece just to get to the next one. Maybe Terrance Toh had his own interpretation but I felt that not enough efforts were injected into this piece. I've forgotten what they had sung for their third piece. I had predicted that they would probably get a silver, but they ended up with a bronze. I wonder if they recieved extra penalties for their second piece being too slip-shot.

Prediction: silver
Actual: Bronze

National Junior College Choir

I shall make Hwa Chong Choir the basis of comparision since they are both conducted by Lim Ai Hooi. In a nutshell, they sounded similar, just that njchoir's sopranos weren't as vivacious. In fact i think the sopranos had some slight pitching problems as they didn't anchor their sound enough. Their performances weren't as tight either. There weren't any huge errors in their 3 pieces, but I somehow just felt that they would drop to a gold this year.

Prediction: Gold
Actual: Gold

Tampines Junior College Choir

Don't know if its due to the weather, or that Dawn Wind had started to have a soporific effect on me, I admit I was was only semi-conscious when TP choir was performing. Overall I thought they were pretty much on par with the previous choir, , maybe just slightly worse. I was really about to experience a complete shutdown, as they performed their last piece, where the female sections kept repeating the same parts over and over and over and over and over and... Anyway, I thought they would have gotten a gold.

Prediction: Gold
Actual: Silver

River Valley High School Choir

I find it amusing that there was an increased level or murmuring when it was announced that RVchoir was going to perform binanma as one of its chosen pieces. I think this piece has been oversung, having been milked by Nelson Kwei for all it's worth. But the fact remains that it continues to serve as a crowd pleaser, with all the gimmicky movements and rhythmic chants. I had the feeling that everyone was just waiting for them to get past their first two pieces in order to hear them sing binama, and so was I.
Well, I kinda felt that their binama was not tight enough, and was rather lacklustre. This composition was supposedly inspired by an epic flood that took many lives. I think the piece might have been re-interpreted to remind us locals about the whimsical orchard road flooding incident which had occured last year. They simply didn't inject enough energy into the piece. However, I haven't heard of a choir faring badly with binanma being one of its performing pieces. Just for that, I predicted that they would end up with gold.

Prediction: Gold
Actual: Gold

Anderson Junior College Choir

First choir of the day that managed to convince me that it was of gold with honours calibre the moment the four sections formed a chord. I think it was not long after they started singing. The sound was full, warm and robust. All four sections were equally competent, allowing them to achieve a perfectly balanced sound. Every chord formed was pure gold. There was virtually nothing much to pick on, apart from how their third piece being a little too controlled and subdued for my liking. Granted it was an extremely difficult piece (Qua Rico E Mambo) to pull off, I still feel that they could have pushed the dynamics a little more towards the end, and finish off more impressively. Nonetheless, they were clearly a notch above all the choirs that had performed, and were truly deserving of the Gold with Honours award they've managed to attain.

Prediction: Gold with Honours
Actual: Gold with Honours

Catholic Junior College Choir

Kasar Mie Lagi! Yet another crowd-pleaser. Yet again, it was lacklustre. The choir could have erupted towards the end by putting in a lot more energy and pushing the dynamics more. Then again, I might have been too subjective pertaining to the appraisal of their performance of this piece as I've heard many other versions on youtube previously. Toh Ban Sheng had given it a new interpretation, causing the piece to have an mystic and ethereal feel to it.
Coming to the technical issues, I feel that the sopranos had compromised some of their pronunciation in order to achieve a rounded tone. Their 'kasar mie lagi' felt very muffled and I couldn't hear the words sung properly. Also, some of their phrasings that were employed in this piece felt contrived, as though they deliberately disjoint some parts to make room for breathing time.
Overall, the four sections sang with good techniques, and I think credit must go to Toh Ban Sheng, who is probably experienced in helping young singers to develop their voices. Their sound is controlled, warm and rounded. However, its too small for my liking, though its probably attributed to the small size of the choir rather than the inadequacies of the singers. Still, I didn't forsee them sustaining gold with honours this year.

Prediction: Gold
Actual: Gold with Honours

Anglo-Chinese Junior College Choir

Although the prestige of the choir's brand name had dwindled a little these few years. ACJC choir still remains a force to be reckoned with within the Choral Scene. They had similar problems with Hwa Chong Choir, very strong girls, comparatively weaker guys. However, at their third piece, the tenors and basses sounded like they were from another choir. They somehow supported more and sounded a lot more stronger than they did in the previous two pieces. the chordings for the third piece was extremely tight, and the choir executed perfection control in their delivery. Their outstanding performance in their third piece alone should allow them to retain their gold with honours title this year.

Prediction: Gold with Honours
Actual: Gold with Honours

NUS High Choir (Dept of Mathematics and Science)

I felt sympathetic for this choir. This is their first syf ever and they were landed with the worst spot possible-sandwiched between two powerhouse choirs. Hopefully, they''ll not get too tramuatised by their results and that the school will continue supporting them such that the choir can strive for better results during the next syf judging. There's nothing much to be said about the choir's performance, its simply...forgettable. I thought they would have gotten a silver, but getting caught between two very good choirs probably did them in.

Prediction: Silver
Actual: Bronze

Victoria Junior College Choir

Hands down. Best sounding choir of the day. Rich tones, supported sounds, excellent techniques... Despite their technically flawless performances, I was left cold as they walked off the stage. I wasn't moved at all. The choir just felt like a horde of really good singers coming together to sing the crap out of everyone. Perhaps its due to the fact that all of them are such competent singers, they do not really have to spend hours working together on the essential basics such as blending and vocal production, as a result, their sound is not as nuanced as other gwh choirs. Of course, not to take their achievement away from them too. The gold with honours title doesn't just fall into the hands of good singers. I'm sure that the VJ choristers had put in their fair share of hard work too. Its just that...ok, I shall cease my inane ramblings. Congratulations VJchoir, you've once again proven yourself to be the choir to beat.

Prediction: Gold with Honours
Actual: Gold with Honours