~hciso.hkmoy//2~

Being the second day, today things settled down slightly. After a brief two periods of Chinese, I grabbed my viola and headed back to the SALT Centre to gather. We then took about one and a half hours loading a hired truck with the various instruments and stands, then pacing over to Chengyi Auditorium to unload the instruments, and set up the stands. It was hectic but rather fun: we rode in the back of a truck, which although was not a first for me, was exhilarating anyways. Finally, after we had set up everything, we could start the real practice. This time, we went slowly through movement by movement, section by section, with Mr Siu picking up the fine details that we failed to spot. I was glad that the viola section was not arrowed for solo playing as we often were during normal practices. Rather, the winds kept on going off beat and out of tune; a certain bassoonist repeatedly entered in half a bar too early! Even the horn in its solo could not make the cut, and was strictly pointed out by Mr Siu. Although we had a two hour lunch break in between from 12 to 2, it was still a tiring rehearsal. By the end of the day my arms were sore from pulling the bow and holding up the viola; my back was aching from sitting up straight as a pole; and my feet, after long periods of numbness, had the unpleasant sensation of pins-and-needles. We knew it was tiring but we had to pull through: it would all pay off tomorrow during the concert!