~hciso.hkmoy//3~

Today was CONCERT DAY!!!!!

We started practice early in the morning at 7.30 a.m. We came to school droopy-eyed but still ready for rehearsal. After briefly playing Summer with Mr Sze for a while, he released us to have a break. After that, the HKMOY players practiced their own pieces. This lasted until about 12, when everyone was glad to tuck into lunch. After about 45 minutes, we crammed back into Chengyi Auditorium to do a final round of practice. Mr Siu became extremely picky...also known as "吹毛求疵"!! But it was all for our own good: we had to show our best for the concert. With the concert starting at 7, we were released at 5.30 to change into concert attire and to have a quick bite of spaghetti. At around 6.30 we were gathered into the backstage to make final preparations. Honestly I was rather stunned to see the HKMOY players in their SCHOOL UNIFORM!?!??!?! Seriously, they could be more creative than that. Even ours is at least a black suit with a silver tie. The first piece, the one in which we could show our stellar performance, was epicly ruined, with the cellos and basses coming in two beats before the soloist, messing up the entire rhythm. After performing, we retreated into backstage for the BPS to perform their two pieces. Mr Sze hoarded us into a small room at the backstage and gave us a verbal licking. Our spirits were dampened by that but we still picked it up and got ready for the final piece of the night: the splendid Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. This was really the main show of the night, and it went flawlessly. I mean, flawlessly apart from the fact that the audience misclapped a total of 6 times within half an hour... After the concert ended we were all given a good pat on the back by Mr Siu for our exemplary performance. Any unhappiness was eradicated with his praises. We had a fast supper, then loaded all the instruments back to the orchestra room. It was certainly a unique experience for me, someone who has never played in an orchestra before.