If you are thinking of appealing to RI (Year 5-6), you are definitely more than welcome to appeal through band!

Just let us know your name, the instrument that you play, and contact details by contacting either Joanne (82886587) or Danial (82686157).

If you have any queries, feel free to drop us an email at rafflessymphonicband@gmail.com.

We hope to hear from you! (:

Are you currently waiting for your ‘O’ Level results and have no idea what to do for the coming weeks? Well come on down to our Open House on the 10th of January for a day of fun and excitement! Themed ‘The Raffles Tribe’, this year’s Open House is all about showing you how RI isn’t just a school – it’s our second home, and all our teachers and fellow schoolmates are our second family. There will be many booths that will showcase the range of activities we take part in; our unique approach to academics, the exciting and varied enrichment programmes, our clubs and societies, performing arts and sports groups, the rigorous, challenging and exhilarating intellectual journey we embark on in RI!

So come and vist RI anytime between 10am & 3pm and bask in the magical glory that is our school (Haha jk), but seriously, come to our Open House!! Well, to make it much easier for you, let us suggest some of the most ideal timeslots to come to our Open House: 11:40am & 1:50pm! That is when the members of the Raffles Symphonic Band will be performing – at the Multi-Purpose Hall – one of Disney’s best Classics (come on down to figure out which one ) to show you the how great coming to RI can be! Who knows, there may be something there that wasn’t there before !

Once again, 11:40am & 1:50pm at the Multi-Purpose Hall! Just ask any friendly Befrienders there to bring you to the MPH.

If you need more info on the Open House, visit our Open House fb page here: http://on.fb.me/RIOpenHouse2012

If you’re hoping to appeal to RJC, you’re more than welcome to try appealing through band

1. Let us know your name, instrument, and contact details.
Contact Talia (98164122) or Johnson (82301755).

2. Come down for our practices this Wednesday, 12 Jan 2011, 2.30-6.30pm, or Saturday, 15 Jan, 8.30am-12.30pm.

All the best!

P.S. Same goes for ALL JC1/Year 5 students: you’re warmly invited for all practices Please contact us if you need more details.

Though CCAs haven’t officially begun for you all, please feel free to come join us for band pracs! It’d be wonderful if you could, especially since SYF is coming up soon. WE NEED YOU!

January schedule
5 Jan Wed, 2.30-5.30pm
8 Jan Sat, 8.30am-11.30am*
12 Jan Wed, 2.30-5.30pm
15 Jan Sat, 8.30am-12.30pm
19 Jan Wed, 2.30-5.30pm
22 Jan Sat, 8.30am-12.30pm
26 Jan Wed, 2.30-5.30pm
29 Jan Sat, 8.30am-12.30pm

(*we’ve got a photoshoot at 12pm on 8th)

How to get there
gothere.sg is a useful journey planner.
Our band room is in the RI Sec compound. From the RI Sec bus stop that’s along Bishan Road, get in the gate, climb up the nearest staircase you can find, and head up to the second floor. The band room’s just along that corridor. If you need help getting in the gate (which requires a pass), call Talia (98164122) or Johnson (82301755).

We really hope to see you there!

P.S.
Catch some of us performing in ensembles during RI (JC)’s Open House on 7 Jan! We’ll be at the Multi-Purpose Hall at about 11.55pm.

RJ band (RSB) warmly invites all of you to join us in our last few practices for the year! They will be on the 23rd nov, 25th nov and 26th nov from 1.30pm to 5.30pm! Instruments will be provided, but you are encouraged to bring your own/ your current school’s one if you still have it!

Our practices are at RI’s band room, a warm and friendly place at a secluded corner of RI hahah. To get there, you can take mrt to bishan mrt station and walk to RI! (:

Please drop us an email  with
1) name
2) current school
3) instrument
4) handphone number

at  johnsonchiu1001@msn.com or chocolate-buttons@hotmail.com if you are interested.

Thank you!

Hope to see you all!

<3 Pei Wen

So band practice resumed, which is a mildly important and uplifting thing to happen…who am I kidding AWESOME BAND PRACTICE STARTED AGAIN YAAAAYYYYY–ahem.

Last Wednesday was refamiliarising-yourself-with-your-instrument day, a.k.a. when-the-trumpet-section-gets-to-slack day (you did not just read that). We practiced our prospective SYF piece, Blessed Promising Future, to prepare for combined practice with Mr Oura on Saturday.

And we still turned out wholly unprepared on Saturday :\ in all fairness a major cause of this was the confusion over how the bars spliced and fit between the full version and the condensed concert one.

This Wednesday was a veritable bag o’ fun =D we managed to go through BPF (reads like BPA…nevermind) a little more shun chang-ish, and we tried our alternative (pw hint hint) SYF piece, A Weekend in New York by Philip Sparke. So now we’ll be practicing both songs to see which one we’d be sticking with!

Some commentary on both of the songs. At first I felt Blessed Promising Future was totally incomprehensible and guai lan, but having played it more I’ve grown to like it very much, especially the epic climax near the ending (: Weekend sounded hard at first, what with all the jazz and swing beats, but a slightly deeper analysis reveals that the piece is rather simple once the rhythm is settled. Both are nice pieces but I personally prefer Blessed Promising Future (topic for discussion!)

Well, that’s all from me for now. All the best to batchmates for the oral presentation, and all the J2s for their ‘A’ Levels!

yifan

P.S.: oh, and please please please be bothered to post stuff, alright? it’s no fun when 3 people do it :\

So, in light of several unforeseen circumstances [which should appropriately NOT be disclosed to the general public], REACT has been canceled ): Apologies to all out there who were looking forward to it for various reasons, but it seems like there’s been a lot of factors hindering the opportunity to have the event this year. Hopefully next year there will be one ><

On a brighter note, practices are going to resume! This means that people like me who haven’t been practicing for ages are going to need some warm-ups to get back on track tune. The next practice will be held on the coming Wednesday [27/10], from the usual time: 2 PM – 6 ++ PM. With regard to future practices, keep a lookout on this page!

Brandon

I’m sure everyone misses band practices oh so very much (as do I D:) There are 3 and half more weeks to go before we can resume, hopefully intensive 7-days-a-week, practices, so let’s all hold out till then, yes?

Just a shout-out to everyone in the batch to starting oiling your instrument-playing engines again! We don’t have a long window within which to hold official practices, so we gotta make sure we’re as close to being on form as we can be when we resume. So those with our own instruments please practice at home, those with our own mouthpieces please practice at home, and those without please grab them from the storeroom and practice at home =D

One last thing, don’t cha think our blog looks more than a little moody and emo right now? I mean, with all the grunge here and there, this looks less like a happy-go-lucky band than a I-want-to-kill-your-mother band…or maybe it’s just me.

yifan

edit: removed disgusting emoticons.

Interestingly our blog have over 80 views for the past 3 days! Milestone! Must be because I was asking you all for band accounts on Facebook.

ANYWAYS.

REACT 2010 will be held this year! Hooray! Our seniors didn’t get to host it due to certain circumstances, but nevertheless I’m sure the whole is band is very happy that REACT IS BACK! With a vengeance!

In case you don’t know, REACT is when members of RSB host an one-day event with RIMB and RGSSB to, you know, make new friends, play wonderful music together, yada yada. It’s gonna be fun! We have a really nice/random storyline with fun games and free food this year, so to all RIMB/RGS members out there reading this, PLEASE COME FOR REACT! DON’T PON IT!

The tentative date for REACT is mid Nov/Dec. More details at a later date!

As for normal band practices, they wont start until mid November. Please keep yourself in shape!

Oh right, SLs, the shortened version of our choice piece is ready, please contact Patrick for more details!

That’s all from the friendly band treasurer! OH RIGHT TALKING ABOUT MONEY! Some people still owe me band fund. Shall collect from you all when band practices start. Hee hee.

-linjin

Raffles Institution Wind Ensemble
Division 1
Gold, 91.57%, 2nd place

For the first time in history, the Year 2-4s from the Raffles Institution Military Band (RIMB) combined with the Year 5s from the Raffles Symphonic Band (RSB) to form the Raffles Institution Wind Ensemble (RIWE).

RIWE, SIBF day

RIWE started practising its pieces for SIBF, Machu Picchu and Pops March, 2 months before. After eight gruelling weeks of long practices, late nights, and sheer hard work, we emerged weary but victorious. RIWE was ranked 2nd in our division with a score of 91.57%, and was one of just three bands in the division that attained the Gold Award.

Read about it on our school’s website.

RSB would like to thank Mr Oura, for his invaluable patience, guidance, and determination – for never giving up on us all the way. Thank you, Mr Oura, for sharing your love for the music, and simply being such an inspiring conductor!

RSB would also like to thank RIMB for their great effort, and for cheerfully submitting themselves to our leadership where appropriate, one that occasionally manifested itself in slave-driving tendencies. Thanks also goes out to our seniors, who left behind a legacy for us to carry on.

Finally, RSB would like to thank our teachers-in-charge, and anyone else who extended assistance or supported us in the process. We couldn’t have done it alone.