#soundwizard

To begin with, we were suggested by Mr Choy to think of our own individual ideas first and sketch it out for out IDJ. Without further ado, I went and listened to the sound clip and let me say that, my mind went blank when I first listened to it. When I thought of an idea, some random voice bugged it and I had to think of other options. It took me quite some time to figure my perfect script and I was proud of my own creation. Sound clip 2 and 3 are the most interesting ones for me and thus I got to produce my own ideas of the stage performance.

My group consisting of Yevon, Jess, Cherly, Aus, Shu Jin, Justin, Joseph, Angeline, Fion and I then settled upon a date to do a final discussion on the idea and we all agreed on sound clip 3. I’m glad that I could share a part of my ideas which was being considered as a part of the performance. Definitely, it was not exactly the same as what I came up with as we did some changes to make it more interesting, but I am more than glad to have contributed in choreographing for the performance. We wanted to make sure our ideas were lay out well so it took us almost 2 hours to discuss on the overall moves. Tiring, but that was what we have to do if we want to achieve the best outcome!

After confirming on the dance move, we stated listing out what kind of props we need. Eventually, our next meet up were focused more on preparing props while our leader drew out a more detailed maps of our performance. We got to use some leftovers materials that we have to do the props, but still, some of the materials were bought because we were short of it. We managed to finish up some simple props on our first meet up as everyone was busy with their classes and we could not stay long, but during our second and third meet up, we actually finished most of the props, and even got to learn the parts for the performance. I remembered that it was a Friday, after our class we head to D’ Latour as there were ample of space for us to practice, without having to struggle on whether will we be disturbing other students.

I am in charge of being the “number” for the safe box and also the “dinosaur”. Being the number, I just had to squat down and scroll the papers and stop it during the allocated time. As for the dinosaur, I just had to move from side to side so that I would become the target of the “aeroplane”. Seems like something simple, but it was tough. Our team leader was really strict and stern on our performance. She wanted us to do our best so that the outcome can be on top notch. At the end of the day, being only that 2 characters had drained all my energy away, I couldn’t even imagine for those who took a bigger role in the performance, their soul must have left their body when they were done practicing. Nonetheless, we knew the motif of our choreographer, which was to be the best, so we throw in 200% hard work too (though I still remember going back to my hostel having a really bad headache because I was literally out of energy).

As my part was done, during our next meet up, we just went ahead and practiced our part while the others continue with theirs because there was one last scene before the finale of our performance. I thought I was done with it but eventually I was told that there was a scene that we would appear. And so, my journey of torturing appeared once again :’). Our meet up days were not many, but the time was long, so it felt like decades when practicing, as we had to make sure we perfect our moves every time. Gladly, some other friends came to help to record our performance so we could revise back on our mistakes. Extra thankful for their help!

I remembered clearly our last meet up was the day before the performance day. This time, we gathered at campus, so that we could use the lecture hall to determine whether the audience can actually see our performance. And it was at that moment when we noticed that there was a huge table that cannot be moved on the stage, and it covered a bit of our performance. Within the very last minute, we managed to just change a bit of our position to make sure everyone had a great view of us. One of the problems I faced was the backstage. The place was crowded with props and stuff and I only had a small path to walk across the other side. It really challenged me to jump all over the obstacles to reach to the other side within a short time while getting my props on HAHA. I did stumble once and everyone was really worried for me but luckily I did not hurt myself so it was all good. With a few more practices, we ended our practice and head back to our respective home.

We were all so glad that the day is finally coming, but deep inside everyone was nervous as to what the judges would say. Would they like it? Would they hate it? Would the people be entertained? Would we fail miserably? I threw away the thoughts because I did not want to burden myself. With the other members constantly giving motivation and encouragement in our group chat, it boosted me to achieve the best outcome.

And finally, the day has arrived. We wanted to make sure we were all in good condition so we met at 7 ish in the morning to check on our props and do our makeup. Since my role would not appear that much, I got minimal makeup while most of them had full blast of face painted with lipstick and eyeliner. The performances started at 8.30, a bit late but it finally happened. Our group was 7th in line so we had some time to chill before our turn. One by one, the other groups finished performing, and one by one, our heart started pounding even rapidly. It was at the 3rd group when we noticed the sound system was a bit off as the volume was not as loud as the first 2 groups. We did asked them about it but they mentioned that there was no problem which got us worried as we the thing we fear the most appeared – we can’t hear the music well.

As the 6th group was done with their performances, we walked down the stairs to get to the stage. Worried, we still proceed with our performance. The music started playing and let me tell you, we were all shocked by how the music became so soft because most of us could barely hear a thing, especially for us, “the numbers” who had to scroll the papers which will limit our hearing to the music as the papers created a particular sound when brushing around our head. Without panicking, I tried my best to pay attention to the music beat. Since I was the first “number”, I stopped at my allocated time and guided my members next to me on when to stop since I was able to hear the sound better than they do now (as I’d stop moving my papers).

Everything eventually went well after that and I was so sacred that I couldn’t make it on time to appear on certain scene but I did it! At that exact moment, I got to once again know the importance of practicing, as the saying goes, “practice makes perfect”. Tick tock tick tock, the minutes counting down for the music to end. Yes! We finally finished our performance, my heart kept pondering with excitement! We did it! We were done performing! I remembered how we hugged each other as the performance ended since the crowd love it so much.

There, it marks our last CTS assignment. As the lecturers went on the stage after the last performance and announced that we were finally done and we should leave the lecture hall since there are other classes, everyone left the lecture hall with smiles on their faces. It was a complicated feeling as class is finally dismissed for the last time! We did take bunch of photos, to save down the memories on the best performance we had, and how glad we were at the outcome.

Since this is another group work among the 4 assignments that we had, it is definitely a must to have great teamwork. This project has taught me that teamwork is an essential key to make sure everything gets to be achieved to what we want. Practice as well, without practicing, how can one get to make sure that their project will be in top shape? This “sound wizard” project had also opened up my imagination, not limiting me to only a certain answer. Since there are other groups that used the same sound clip we used, we found out more versatile choices in what a sound can actually mean. It was a fascinating experience.