The emcee introduced the theme for the concert, which was ‘Déjà vu’ – a French phrase used to describe the feeling that something has already happened before.
The first performance was – ‘Sonata in D major K.381’ (W. A. Mozart), played by Wang Sui and Cao Wenyu. This was a fast-paced and cheerful performance, interspersed with some soft, serene bits.
Up next was ‘You’ll Be In My Heart’ (Phil Collins) by Tan Sheau Maan and Li Rong. They brought the evergreen Disney classic to life.
The third performance was by Hao Yunpeng and Nia Mutiara – ‘Prelude, Cortege et Air de Danse from L’Enfant Prodigue (Claude-Achille Debussy). The piece was dramatic and alive with colour and warmth.
Following this was ‘Polka Italienne’ (S. V. Rachmaninoff), performed by Serene Lim and Lau Kai Ting. They delighted the audience with their attractive, melodious playing.
The next set of performers were Stephanie Lew and Nicolson Ng. This talented duo performed two pieces, the first being the lively and passionate ‘Hungarian Dance No. 4’ (J. Brahms). For the next piece, Nicolson switched over to the violin (indeed, some members of the Piano Ensemble do play more than just the piano!) and they played ‘Theme from Schindler’s List’ (J. T. Williams). The piece reflected the sombre and sorrowful atmosphere that existed during Nazi Germany.
Next, Ma Xiaoqian and Liu Xuzhao played the fast-paced, energetic ‘Radetzky March Opus 228’ (J. Strauss). This piece, in spite of its military nature, has a rather festive mood. The tradition is clap along with the chorus of the piece.
Fan Junkai closed with a solo performance of ‘Ping Hu Qiu Yue (Autumn Moon Over Calm Lake)’, a Chinese folk song written by Lu Wencheng.
As mentioned before, the ‘Radetzky March’ is associated with the tradition of the audience clapping along with the music. For a final, grand send-off, Xiaoqian and Xuzhao returned to perform the chorus of the march, and the entire audience united to applaud along with the beats.
And thus ended the NTUPE Lunchtime Concert. It was a treat to the audience's ears, one that would leave them longing for more! =)
Do keep your eyes peeled for more such amazing concerts; you are sure to blown off your feet! =D
The booking hours for performers have been increased to four hour per week. The limit of two hours per day still applys.
Great News!!!
We have a new web page to inform and allow all Piano Ensemble's member to sign up for the upcoming performances.
To access this web page, just go to main menu --> Member's Area --> Performances.
Hope you all have a great time with us!!
Hello Everyone!
NTUPE will be performing again at the ExxonMobil lunchtime concert next month. Do come down and support your fellow performers on 23rd Feb 2011 at LT19! SEE YOU THERE.
I just found a link of the podcast for Piano Ensemble's ExxonMobil Lunchtime concert 3 years ago! :D
Anyone interested in watching/listening/downloading the concert can watch it here:
http://gallery.ntu.edu.sg/concerts/2008/index.php?cat=NTU-CAC%20Piano%20Ensemble%202008
What are your views after listening to it?
Some words from SMU Piano Ensemble "The Ivory Keys":
why is my picture so lousy!! mine is the only one that is blur! nvm haha (:
Had fun anw, looking forward to sem 2 !
CAC Members' Night was a perfect opportunity to let our hair down after a stressful day in school. Well, in this case we put our hair up. :
As the adage goes, “All work and no play makes Jack/Jill a dull boy/girl”. It was a night filled with games, free food and an opportunity to get to know one another better. The games were simple but fun, like guessing the theme of a severely distorted singing and Treasure hunt aka searching for hidden items around the hall. In the process we also made a few friends from being in the same team as the Harmonic Band.
Our prize from the “auction” by bidding points earned from the games.
A big kudos to Ma Xiao Qian for being so sporting and allowing us to ‘decorate’ him as our team’s mascot.
Thanks to those who came down I’m sure all of us had a fun time.
That's true. and all these applies to practice and when u sight-read a piece.
Finger memory should not replace mental memory entirely.
Chunk the music. Chunking means grouping information so that your mind retrieves it in groups. I quote from a piano blogger:
“As a simplified example, if you've got a measure with 20 notes in it, you'd have to think and execute 20 separate things to get through the measure. But if you can group those notes into 5 groups of 4, you'd only have to execute 5 commands to get through the measure. That’s a quarter of the mental workload!”
In summary, identify any sequences or patterns in the music. J For example, recurring bass figures, a section that goes through a cycle of fifth, subjects in a fugue etc. Instead of thinking several separate notes, try thinking of the next few notes as “one”.
Perhaps the reason why a seasoned pianist is able to play incredibly complex works is that he’s practiced so many different patterns that he's able to chunk almost anything efficiently.
So it’s interesting how the mind is handling information in chunks. Could it be that getting the music to flow is also an issue of correctly timing these "jolts" of mental energy?
(To read the full article written by Matt, the piano blogger whom I quoted, go to http://www.pianoblog.com/piano_blog/2010/01/the-mental-side-of-playing-the-piano.html#comments)
NTUPE Welcome Tea 2010
NTU Piano Ensemble had its welcome tea held on 16th September 2010 at Nanyang House Function Room. Wonderful piano performances and enjoyable activities made the welcome tea a memorable one.
Event gets started by introduction of main committees to the freshies. It was then followed by a welcome speech from the Chairperson of NTU Piano Ensemble, Ms Sophia Yue, to greet the new members. She then shared with us about the history of formation of Piano Ensemble and also our club’s past, present and future. It was then followed by a presentation of Music Director, Mr. Hao YunPeng, to teach new members on how to borrow piano sheets from Nanyang House Library. After which, Logistics Controller, Mr. Jackson Tan, taught us how to book and use the music room, as well as the rules and regulations in booking music room.
After the presentation, here come the games that new members awaited for, hosted by our Music Director. All new members were divided into 2 teams: Mozard Team and “I-Don’t-Know” Team. It was like a brain challenge game. Music Director will ask question about music, it could be the history of a musician, or even their background. Team who get the answer correct will get 20 points and the team with the highest point wins. Mozart team dominated the game initially with 40 points.
The game proceeded into second part with new imposed rules. 40 points will first be awarded to the first team which gets the answer. Hints and tips will be given if none of team guessed it correct. Point awarded will be cut with more hints or tips given. Soon, the game ended with the victory of “i-don’t-know” team. Winning team get to enjoy the refreshment provided first, while losing team had to queue up and pay for club fees.
The event was then followed by amazing piano performance of Assist Music Director, Ms Wang Yifan, and nevertheless, the performances by new members. Meanwhile, new members started knowing and talking to each other like a big family.
Finally, welcome tea marked its end with taking of a group photo. (:
Hey Aditi, I'm agree with you that music is a universal language, everyone can understand it...
hope you have a good time in PE`~~
^_^
Hi everyone!
Having joined the NTU Piano Ensemble recently, some thoughts about music have been floating about in the recesses of my mind. I thought I’d share one particularly striking thought with you here.
Have you ever thought about why music is universally popular? It seems to be the one language everybody speaks and understands. I think one of the reasons behind this is the ability of music to bring people closer. Madonna too sang in her song, ‘Music’ – ‘Music makes the people come together’.
This is indeed, very true.
One of the easiest ways to make friends or break the ice with a stranger is to talk about music. Whether it’s discovering that you play the same instruments, or listen to the same J-Pop band, or even debating about which genre of music you find more interesting, music gets you talking. And before you know it, you’ve made a friend!
Ever noticed the kind of unity an audience at a rock concert shows? It’s almost as if the audience is one, really big person =9. People cheer, scream for encores, let rock stars crowd surf – all together! Music forges a connection among these people who are, in fact, completely unknown to each other.
Music allows people to bond on many different levels. Emotional bonding when a song has sentimental meaning for you, physical bonding when music makes you want to get up and DANCE, and of course - social bonding, which leads to an overall sense of well-being and happiness.
This is the very thing that happens at the Piano Ensemble too. We’re all different people, from different courses and different countries, with different cultural backgrounds - but the one thing that binds us all together is our love and passion for music and the piano. =)
Come to think of it, the word ‘ensemble’, in French, means ‘together’.
Guess music really does bring people together!
The pink pink banner~~~
Our attractive poster and cute publication officer.
Our business manager is always very busy. You see, beauties surround him. ^_^
Our cute assistant music director.
haha~~ Our business is running very well.. many new members are going to join our club this year~BRAVO!!
The whole blog will be moving into forum and the blog category will be remove from the menu of NTUPE website.
Note that there will be some error in statistic (post counts) in the forum due to this move.