A Night to Remember may not have been the subtitle on Monday night, but all things considered – subtitle or no – that was exactly what it was. For me, possibly and probably my last MUSE Concert and performance at the Esplanade Concert Hall; and yet possibly and probably the best one so far. A bittersweet feeling it gave me this morning when I fully realized this – I guess after six years, many of us have come to regard her as something of a second home, becoming attached to everything from the backstage labyrinth, to the acoustics that make every note you play beautifully/horribly conspicuous, to even the passes that somehow manage to have a different permutation of your name on them every time (got a little chain of them in my cupboard). Good times.

The order-of-the-day began at 10am, at which point I squirreled up to the Band Room photocopy machine to get it printed for the IB Band – which saved a lot of breath at the 10.15am turned 11.35am briefing. Buses were loaded efficiently, and passes distributed; the printers didn’t disappoint, cutting nearly everyone’s English name out this time (mine raised particular hilarity for reasons not to be disclosed).
At the Esplanade, I took care to savour each all-too-familiar moment, from soundcheck to backstage wandering and phototaking. The professional photoshoot was done by Jono outside Circle 3; during which numerous less professional photos were taken in the background, Pyung brought back Chocobo, and at one point we just sat on the stairs and absorbed. After which Justin and I received a summons back to the backstage, and on passing through the Concert Hall and realizing we were the only ones in it, carried out a little acoustic test of our own (which involved much foot-stamping) as something we’d probably never be able to do again. Dinner out of styrofoam boxes outside the Artists’ Lounge was followed by a return to the dressing rooms for wardrobe adjustment (Ge’s hair suddenly popped out and John looked professor-ish for 20 minutes); and then, 40 minutes before the concert would start, we meandered out of backstage to finally do Max Brenner’s.

Then the concert began, there was frantic tuning in the dressing rooms, and we stepped on stage at around 8.10. It was a nice feeling, leading the section onto that stage. Blue Shades went alright, not as clean as it should have been, with quite a number of squeaks, but impactful nonetheless. Persis was probably the most technically sound of the ACS(I) pieces, and it was great accompanying the (pwnag3) oboe solo, not to mention good ol’ running at 174! I left the stage with what can only be described as a good feeling, and many others did too.
Then it was back on for the IB Wind Ensemble; more tuning in the corridor before that, and a reed upsize. While we were seated, Teow said “Eh, Turandot ending must move k”. And so we did – and probably wouldn’t have been able to help not doing it anyway, the emotion of Nessun Dorma was that overwhelming. Interestingly, I was not as drained as I thought I would have been after, with just enough left for With Heart and Voice. It was a fitting last piece.
MUSE ended with Charming Asia and Feng Yang Hua Gu, and the combined band did a fine job. I relaxed and had fun for these two, just enjoying the music that was being made.

A tranquil feeling of great satisfaction stayed with me after saying goodbye to the Esplanade stage, and continued all the way through the bus back to school and then home, till sleep at 1am. It was the ineffable feeling of having done justice to the conclusion of six years at the Esplanade. Nice.

(edited 27 Mar 2008 ~ Whoops, confuse. thanks Amos. back to Math portfolio.)