Lunchbox Performance

Key Elements performed at the Esplanade concert hall at last!
Turn-out was surprisingly good, and sound system and acoustics was solid!
To read more about it click here

Photos Update

This goes out especially to Consonance: The pictures from 'Listening' and East Coast are finally up! Imagestation had been giving me a lot of problems lately, thus the long delay. Happy browsing =)

Key Elements gig at Equinox

Ogay! By popular demand, here's an update. Today was generally a cho-bo relaxing day except for Key Elements performance at night at the Equinox. The event is a celebration of the christening of a ship - LEWEK SWAN (don't ask). We thought what LEWEK? We turned to each other and smiled, "Later when you sing, don't forget your 'leweks' (lyrics) hor". Then we later found out that LEWEK is formed by assembling the initials of all the board of directors in the organisation (hmm how original) and SWAN because they are going by SW- series, they had SWIFT, SWING, and now SWAN ('SWANderful). Anywae, the dinner started late (surprise, surprise) and we only got to sing our 1st set at 10pm (that's when the Main course is actually served) !! And in between they had a several skits of drama on a murder mystery, it's bizarre, but nevermind about that, we just know we had to do 2 sets, 1st 20 mins and then 30 mins, and they overran. Great, so when it's finally time to do our 2nd set, ppl are having their desserts and time is already 11:20pm. We had to cut short our act, just sing 4 songs and ciao. And so we thought that we could go, but no, we have to do a closing act and round off the evening, and thank and guests and say goodnight. So, fine, we sang Rainbow Connection and my mic was switched off without my knowledge, and so when I opened my mouth... NO SOUND...and I happened to be singing LEAD for this song.. HOW SWAN-derful! Anywae the sound system sucked. There were no monitors and we couldn't hear ourselves properly and the sound technician (yes, I wouldn't call him an engineer) was just a flop. Our levels are screwed up and balance was off. "What balance?", u might say. But anywae, important thing is we get paid and the audience still loved us, and some came up and congratulated us. =) Quite an appreciative lot they are, we expected them to be busy eating and chatting and won't bother about us, but they actually turned around to listen to us when we sang.

Oh, I realised I have a gift for rambling, I can go on but I shall spare you. The night is young I know, but I'm le tired. So long, farewell, till then, au revoir and goodnight!

Welcome Phase 2 of RT

Today is IPPT day.
For those non-army readers out there, IPPT stands for Individual Physical Proficiency Test, and RT stands for Remedial Training (for those who didn't make it in their IPPT).

Anyway, cannot means cannot, so instead of struggling like hell and feeling shitty after the whole thing, I chose to flunk with style, and fall-out after taking the 4 static stations, as I have already flunk my chin-up station, the 2.4 will be unnecessary (u need to pass all the stations to pass your IPPT). Looking back, I used to be able to do 12 chin-ups, in the F-ing number4 uniform, complete with SAF boots (those glory days.. ahh), but I only managed X*()@#*@$@ chin-up today... So, I 'graduated' from Phase 1 of my RT into phase 2 which will last for another 4 weeks, 3 F-ing times a week. The point is, I moved on... MUAHAHA

Anywae... thank you fans and friends for tagging (or flooding) my board.
Jessica - your choir actually sounded pretty good! The soprano section had quite a full and non-airy tone, which was pleasant, and the choir on the whole had a good blend, only the balance wasn't so great, cos boys are overpowered.
Sin-neh - Welcome back to cyberspace! Yes I tend to agree with you about Ah Mahn =) and YES we did KICK ASS on 5th July! Woo-hoo! and Ok, English tutorial? and yes you're random...
Tammy - Um. No comments =P

More updates to come... Akan Datang.

Lunchbox:
Jazz from the Movies
Key Elements
Singapore
When: 26 Jul 2005 (Tue), 12.45 PM at the Esplanade Concert Hall

If you have an appetite for jazz or a cappella music and want to hear such music from your favourite movie, come fill your lunch-hour with a soulful, humorous and riveting performance by a capella group, Key Elements! They promise to satisfy you with familiar blockbuster movie tunes and standards like Fly Me To The Moon, Route-66 and even a Teresa Teng number! Each song will be given a refreshing treatment and guarantees to send you humming and swinging your way back to work.

(30mins, no intermission)

Admission is FREE

Another Esplanade Presents Programme
Key Elements is a YMCA associate for the arts 2005
For more information on Key Elements, visit http://I-Lurve-KE.com

MUSIC IN MOTION

Well, these two days had been the longest day I had in the last few months, with rehearsals starting early morning and ending late. But it's worth it, the concert was a blast. And best part of all, Le Voci Entro has done exceptionally well. It was indeed a extraordinary performance. LE VOCI ENTRO has really really made me so proud. Guys and girls, you have outdid yourself once again, you managed to prove that size does not matter. We did a compelling performance of all 3 songs in our 1st set. The energy and concentration level was high, response good, expression dynamics spot on, pitching and tuning great. I think you never sounded better. Even in the second half, despite some hiccups on various levels, and through no fault of the choir (except in opening), the choir managed to hold the fort and pull through.

Let's see what happened there, first I must admit I am partly to blame for the screw up, as I heard the opening line by the sopranos who were a demi-semitone sharp, I went "OH MY GOD" in my heart and I blacked out, and so I forgot to give Vaughan Tan the cue to gong and went straight into the refrain. Joel on the other hand was also a bit blur and he was in a world of his own for a while, not knowing what chords he was playing, and the flautist also screwed up, through no fault of the choir, and he came and aplogised to me later on. But despite all that, the choir managed to find back their pitch and move on and we ended on a good note, and audience was impressed nonetheless. That itself is to be celebrated. This only shows that the level of musicianship of the choir has gone up a knotch, enabling them to discern and to correct pitching problems on the spot and not break down. Kudos to everyone for that. I think we all deserve a pat on our shoulder.

Well, having said that, I must also thank the wonderful teachers who did all the behind-the-scene work to help the choir in one way or another - Ms Chew, Mdm Chia, Ms Abraham, thank you. And to the friends and fans and ex-choristers of Le Voci Entro who never fail to support, thank you all! And thanks also to Consonance, who gave us an added boost and especially to the senior members who, despite their O levels this year, dedicated their time and energy into making this project work. THANK YOU.

Finally, I just wanna say, Le Voci Entro ROCKS!!!

c'est un succes

Vox humana and Consonance's collaborative concert - 'Listening' was a blast! Our hardwork for the past 6 months has paid off handsomely. Thanks to all who has slogged and pulled out emotional hair to make this concert work. It has been such an awesome experience working on this project. Thanks especially to all Consonance members who's sang their hearts out.

Thanks also to all my compulsory fans - family members, friends, Le Voci Entro, Serangoon Gdn choir, and everybody who's showed up and given your support and encouragement. God bless you all!

Now one down, another one to go - 5th July at Victoria Theatre. See my earlier post. This is one mega project also, hope it will be just as great, if not better. Till then, take care and cya.

Later.

Choirs from Bishan Park Secondary,

Bedok North Secondary, Dunearn Secondary

and Peirce Secondary present

MUSIC IN MOTION

5th July 2005

7:30 P.M.

Victoria Theatre

Tickets at $12

(free seating)

Directed by

Jason Ong, Benedict Goh & Vaughan Tan

featuring choral works by

Carl Orff

Aaron Copland

Jennifer Leong

Karl Jenkins

and more

also featuring

original arrangements by

Jason Ong & Benedict Goh

Come and share the magic

in an exciting evening

that combines sound

colour and movement.

Come sway with us

to the music in motion!

bookings:

Jason Ong 97636365

Benedict Goh 98177689

Vaughan Tan 96406698

Flipside @ Esplanade

Thanks to all who has come to support Key Elements at Flipside, especially to my dahhhlings from Le Voci Entro - Sin Ne, Priscillia, Wei Sinn and Paul. Muah. The show was a success but not if you all weren't there to give us your encouragement and applause. We hope to bring more good music. Keep a lookout for us, we'll be singing at Esplanade Concert Hall on 26th July (Tue) in a lunchtime concert, and on 5th November in our own full-length concert at VCH. Meanwhile, for you music enthusiasts out there, there is a couple of concerts coming right up.

24th June (Fri)
'LISTENING'
featuring Consonance & Vox Humana
venue: victoria concert hall
time: 7:30pm
tickets: $12 (free seating)
bookings: fu deqiang (9824 7012)

5th July (Tue)
'MUSIC IN MOTION'
featuring choirs from

Bedok North Secondary,

Bishan Park Secondary,
Dunearn Secondary and
Peirce Secondary School
venue: victoria theatre
time: 7:30pm
tickets: $12 (free seating)
bookings: benedict goh (98177689)

Hope to see you there =) Till then, take care and God bless!

New Skin

Yay! I love this new skin,
Thanks a lot to Sin ne for her design.
=)

consonance & vox humana present

LISTENING

friday, 24th June 2005
7:30pm
victoria concert hall
tickets at $12 (free seating)

directed by
benedict goh &
gregory chen
featuring choral works by
chen yi
cesar franck
alberto grau
zoltan kodaly
jonathan larson
leong yoon pin
jennifer leong
anotonio lotti
wolfgang amadeus mozart
john rutter
luduvico da viadana

bookings
fu deqiang 9824 7012
benedict goh 9817 7689

Flipside @ the Esplanade
featuring Key Elements

Date : 13th & 14th June
Time: 6:30-7pm & 8:30-9pm (on both nights)
Venue: Esplanade Concourse

How do you combine Honey Pie, Opus One, Stomping At the Savoy, Five Foot Two, Blue Skies, The Best Is Yet To Come, Fascinatin' Rhythm, Rhapsody in Blue, I Got Rhythm, The Sound of Music and New York, New York all into ONE song and sing them all under 4 minutes? Come join Key Elements on this spectacular evening of vocal acrobatics and find out how they do it!

Comprising key elements from other well-known a cappella groups - In-a-Chord, BCoz and Impromptu, Key Elements have charmed audiences with their beautiful harmony and interesting and witty arrangements of Jazz, Pop and R & B numbers, often giving the songs an ingenious and surprising "face-lift".

Since the group's return from Taipei in October 2004, where the group clinched 2nd prize in the 4th National taiwan Sing, Sing Together Competition, Key Elements is hard at work preparing for their first full-length public concert in November 2005. They have already started work on their first a cappella album.

For the Flipside concert, Key Elements will perform a series of songs that showcases the wittier side of the group. From "Honey Pie", a Beatles song which includes a collage of 10 other songs woven intricately to swinging jazz riffs, to "Lean Baby", a tribute to the lead singers particularly 'thin' boyfriend, Key Elements is set to delight the audience with their humourous yet beautifully harmonized music. Enjoy!

Today is the day which I shall break the tradition of posting verbal diarrhoea of a semi-poetic kind to just plain verbal diarrhoea. So here's goes the faithful day.

'Twas another boring Monday where I had to go to school (dreads). After my 3-week long break, I am pretty much still in the holiday mood, and the thought of having to work just isn't very welcoming. Anyway, school turned out ok altho' attendance wasn't fantastic, people are just getting back into the groove after having not sung for 3 weeks, things moved a little slow but it moved at least.

Then the highlight and high point of the day came. It started out just as an aimless wandering about and thinking of where to have dinner. And mr heng our dear friend, suggested 'sushi'. So we all trotted happily down to the basement of J8 for Sakae. Little did I know, that what happened in the next 2 hours or so would be so dramatic and almost totally insane that people from the tables around us would stare occasionally astounded and stunned (althought they try very hard to pretend not to notice anything).

Here's the summary - we devoured a total of 26 coloured plates and 6 (omfg) red plates worth of sushi, highlight being the salmon sashimi (oishi neh!). And meanwhile, mr heng was on a super-extra-normal-unbelievable high. Must be the effect of raw fish i reckon or just the intensified nerve stimulating realisation of the fact that the bill will be settled by not him but by uhem, yours truly =( well, let's not go there. At the end of the session, our jaws and cheek bones are so 'sour' from the laughing fits which lasted as long as the dinner. In short, wei sinn was the source of it all, and tammy just have to make it worse by unleashing her contagious horse-neigh-hyena-wild-boar laughter.
Weisinn could stop his bastardised american twang and vicki also couldn't resist adding oil to the fire. Sinne was exceptionally reserved, except she would be among those who easily get fits and can't stop their giggle. In conclusion, the evening was so lame that even the crippled can run.

I realised I might have exceeded the word-limit set by myself for each entry. I apologize for wasting your time in reading this much of crap. But I'm lovin' it. Muahahahahahahaha. Thank you for staying with us thus far. Have a nice day and godspeed.

yours truly,
B

ps. neoprints are up peeps, check out the link and enjoy.

unheard whisper
drizzles on the pavement
like flakes of ripped tissue
thrown into the air
a little beam of light
obscure as a pin in the hay
sneaks into the lonesome bay
of untrodden earth
lay down by recessed ancestors
only to chew on the fractured minerals
of desperate immortality

Moderation
is what a nation in botheration
to aid cessation of degradation
would so in affectation
be in temptation.
The illumination to
the negation of substantiation
seeks the wanton resusitation
of a congregation of fabrication
Fornication and defecation
seems like flirtation
and obligation
to inite cremation
in a time of globalisation
to send fumes of annihilation
into obliteration
lest preoccupation
with pervasion
would be in ovation
and invasion
of regimentation
would lose its station
only relation
to institutionalisation
can breach mortification
of rationalisation

THE COMPLETE RULES
OF GOOD WRITING (I)
To help avoid any misunderstanding about the scope of this book, it would be as well to pay close attention to the following rules.

A writer should not annoy half of his readers by using gender-specific language.
Always finish what you star
Avoid overuse of ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
Always avoid annoying alliteration.
Avoid trendy locutions that sound flaky.
Always pick on the correct idiom.
A writer must not shift your point of view.
Avoid cliches like the plague - they're so old hat.
Be more or less specific.
Consult the dictionary frequently to avoid mispeling.
Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
Contractions aren't necessary.

- Eats, Shites & Leaves

THE COMPLETE RULES
OF GOOD WRITING (II)

Do not use, unnecessary, commas.
Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
Do not use hyperbole; not even one in a million can do it effectively.
Don't repeat yourself and avoid being repetitive.
Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
Don't indulge in sesquipedalian lexicological constructions.
Don't overuse exlamation marks!!!
Don't repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
'Don't use unattributed quotations'

- Eats, Shites & Leaves

Speech Day photos finally up.
Have fun!

LE VOCI ENTRO

Bishan Park Secondary School

is hereby being awarded a

BRONZE with HONOURS

for their outstanding performance

at 2005 Speech & Prize-giving day

Congratulations BPS choir!

You have indeed

outdone yourselves once more

and has made me even prouder

of you than I already am!

I really enjoyed conducting and

making music with you

and you have indeed proven the potential

in everyone of you to achieve greater heights.

Thank you all for giving me such a wonderful

experience and a sweet memory.

Let's go on and wow our audience on 5th July

and bring back more beautiful memories

of this amazing young choir.

Love you to bits!

~ Your conductor

With some strange sonority,
a surge of surreal subconsciousness
steals into the solid surrounding,
stinging like serpents of the sea
and scorches the subterranean solitude.
Only oblivion would liscence a sordid serenade
to sooth the suffering soul with a sickly silence
that only Sycoras,
flailing seductively in her sin,
would summon with slithering suffocation
to enslave the sulphur of man's senses.