Sunday, July 27, 2008
"Musicians are the architects of heaven."-Bobby Mcferrin
Seeing as how the season for RVCO's sometimes annual, sometimes sporadic concert is drawing near, or already in full progress, I decided to do a post on what these two words really mean to generations upon generations of RVCOians, as a break from all the flaming and philosophical posts I've been doing recently. So, Zhiyin. For those of you who can't actually read chinese, those two words at the top of my post are pronounced Zhi Yin, as according to the Hanyu Pinyin System. According to Wade-Giles Translation, that would be Chih Ying. Yeah.
So what do these two words actually mean? What are their origins? Well I won't profess to knowing the origins of why we decided to call our concert Zhiyin, so maybe the juniors can ask Miss Tay or some older alumni about that. But, according to a direct translation to english, Zhiyin would mean Knowing Sounds/Music. Or to be even more specific, A knowledge of sounds and music. I guess in typical RV cheem-chinese tradition, it is a pretty good name, showing that our CO has a good sense of the music that we play and trying to portray ourselves as like hehehe a uber good musical orchestral and what not. But I'm not here to discuss the significance of the name of our concert. Rather, I'm talking about the significance of the concerts themselves.
For me, I certainly remember my first and only Zhiyin Concert. It was Zhiyin III, in 2005, at the Victoria Concert Hall. The funny thing is, I don't really remember the songs we played, or how well we played them. Rather, I remember the friendships forged, the unity built in the CO over this hectic period, owing to 2005 being the SYF year as well. I remember as the Sec3 guys bonded with the Sec4 guys over LAN sessions and football matches after the practices. I remember how Cello/Bass bonded, as we slaved over Polka and
So, as we come to today, its only one month and 3 days to Zhiyin IV, the fourth in a sucession of a series of very successful concerts which have really come to represent what RVCO stands for, besides of course the SYF. To my juniors, the songs are of course important. Never neglect practice, for a concert is one of two ways to showcase our strength, our beauty of music, our greatness to the audience. And I know all of you can do it. Everyone of you has tremendous potential. Never forget that, and practice to your best and memorize the scores. Listen to your instructors well, for they are all experienced people whom have decades worth of music experience. But, just as you practice hard, forge bonds unbreakable across time and unite as one orchestra. Have fun while you practice, talk cock with the orchestra, bond, and carry on the RVCO legacy. Always remember, the bonds that you forge in RVCO, if strong enough, will affect you for a lifetime. Well an example would sort of be the RVCAB chalet last year.HAHA. It was indeed testament to the strong bonds between generations of RVCAB that 7 generations of CAB people gathered in that chalet that day and shared jokes and what not. This sort of bond, brought about by Zhiyin, is exactly what I'm talking about.
So, my dear juniors. Practice hard, forge bonds, and present a concert that will be unforgotten across time. Show the world what it means to be RVCO!! YEAH!
i want this to last 1:12 PM