December 1, 2013
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There is a story behind this song.
In 2001, TKC commissioned the start of a wind orchestra to
replace our long-standing, nationals-winning marching band.
After having learned the devastating news of our marching
division’s ‘disbandment’, the school brought in a cocky,
eccentric orchestra conductor in March that year to
whip us into shape.
Enter Mr. Sani, into what would be a grueling
five months. We hated each other upon first sight.
Us; still stinging from the betrayal of having taken
away our love for marching band. What assholes,
forcing us to conform to orchestral music.
Him; at having been forced to take up this job.
To whip up a bunch of degil, busuk marching
bandgirls and turn us into refined musicians
in just five months.
It was an emotional journey, however short
those months were. We fought over everything -
his teaching style, the tone of our sound,
the costumes we had to wear, the songs he
wanted us to perform at the championships.
Like this one. The first time we listened to it,
we could only gape back at him in shock.
Was he nuts? We’d never be able to pull this off.
But all fights and emotional band-related tantrums aside,
we got down to work. This piece was short, but until today
it remains the hardest I have ever had the pleasure of playing.
Because, see, despite him being a mad, inconsiderate,
insufferable genius, he actually penned a beautiful
orchestral score for us to play.
And because we had such a huge desire to prove him
wrong in every respect (“Your sound is terrible! Berkarat!!
You’ll never win this way!!”), owning this song and
playing the shit out of it became everything to us that year.
Come July, we began videotaping our evening practices.
Rehearsing at night was my favourite thing in the world.
Our playground was TKC’s enormous dining hall.
While the rest of the girls were away at evening prep,
over on our side of campus, our music would be
the only thing one could hear for miles.
And what we began to realise when we rewatched our
videotaped sessions was how different we sounded.
We were better than ever before.
It’s funny, when I think about it now. How such
hatred between two sides can feed off each other
and instead produce something so beautiful.
To cut a long story short, we went to the finals
in August 2001, shocked the hell out of everyone,
and placed 2nd out of 20 orchestras.
For a ragtag bunch of marching bandgirls who,
just five months before, knew nothing about
and sounded nothing like an orchestra,
that is a testament to perseverence, my friends.
I realised that year, the strength 0f the human will.
The ability to do things can surpass our wildest
imaginations when we put our hearts into it.
We are all extremely talented creatures.
And I guess sometimes it takes an asshole of a
genius, like Mr. Sani, to channel these abilities
and package them into something kickass.
I literally stumbled onto this video quite by chance.
Throughout our days with Mr. Sani none of us
had bothered to copy Adiemus’ cd, upon which
he based his arrangement for Sol Fa.
I never heard from them again.
After twelve years though, it still gives me the
same chills I felt when I heard it for the first time.
What a magnificent work of art, Karl Jenkins.
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