(61) Surviving the "How"

61 DAYS 'TIL TOUR!

Day after day, night after night, I find myself yearning for rest.


After each long day of classes, meetings, tasks and rehearsals, I find myself drained - longing for time for myself, which is usually just a wee few hours until I must go to bed and rinse-and-repeat the next day.


So much going on in our minds: so many things to do in so little time, and so many eyes upon us, waiting on us and counting on us all the while. It isn't easy, to say the least; not for an upcoming European Grand Prix Competition Tour.


However, despite all the difficulty, we're still all here, aren't we? The funny thing about doing what we do is that it can get ridiculously challenging - physically, emotionally and psychologically - but we choose to push through with it, trusting that it'll all work out and that it fosters growth in us in whichever ways.


I, myself, choose to be grateful for all this...

 Discovery: Intensive sectionals and vocal training sessions.

 Change: Learning or re-learning the new choreography.

Letting Loose: Stepping out of our routine lives with people just like us once in a while.

Acting Workshop and Motivational Talk with Onyl Torres

 

Motivational Talk with Aui Tamayo

Inspiration: Learning that we are not alone and that those who came before us are now cheering us on and wishing us well every step of the way.

***

Back in my Freshman year in High School, our moderator, the legendary Mr. Onofre Pagsanghan, taught us that you can survive the "how" as long as you know the "why." 


The "how" is very clear to us now; we see it in what we do - balancing our time and efforts among learning and mastering the pieces, attending to all our routine and non-routine tasks, knowing our priorities outside of tour preparations, and the list goes on and on. 


The "why", however, may be different for each of us, but one thing is clear and certain: peeling off the multiple layers of challenges and criticism, we find that we do all this for the love of our group, its people, and its passion for music. I'm certain, too, that these past 90 years were built upon this same driving passion we all feel today. We, and the entire Glee Club legacy, wouldn't still be here doing great things right now if it weren't so.


Let's celebrate what we have right now, and set out to do greater things with great love (Aui Tamayo). :)


Happy Sunday, everyone! :)

61 DAYS!

PS. Thanks John Cas for the acting workshop pics! :)

(68) Stop and Smell the Roses

68 days until we fly to Europe on the 30th of March!

Even with this most fateful date looming over the horizon, however, I can't help but be grateful for what is happening in the present.

Here are some of the simple, yet typically overlooked things that I think the ACGC can pride itself with right now:



Our new Assistant Conductor, conducting his first theory lecture for the trainees.


Our outgoing section heads making the most out of their final months...


While the incoming ones prepare to take the lead.



... And how the future looks bright for our Glee Club family.

Plenty of reasons to smile and keep pushing forward. :)

68 DAYS! :D

PS. See Ma'am Joy and the Soprano-Alto section in action! :)

L'important C'est La Rose

If you find you’re all alone, 

and the knots of love have bound you,

 tho’ the clouds are all around you, 

there’s a rose; 

Love will come and love will go,

 do not waste another hour; 

There is beauty in a flower 

like a rose;

 You and I must play our part 

in this world that keeps on spinning;

 And our time will come for winning 

if we wait. 

There’s a petal and a thorn, 

there is beauty and there’s sorrow, 

and we all must face tomorrow

 like a rose.

For as sure as there’s a sky 

and the sun so high above us; 

There is one who’s meant to love us 

in this world; 

There is rhythm to our lives, 

there is rhyme and there is reason 

and we all must find our season

 like a rose. 

L'important c'est la rose crois-moi.

***

It's funny I should pick today - the 22nd of January, with no known or actual significance - to start a new blog.

This blog, however, will not be about myself, but about the people, places, things and events around me that kindle meaning and inspire beauty in my otherwise ordinary life.

This blog will be filled with music - not necessarily actual songs or melodies, but more importantly the musicians who produce them; those who are called together to create something beautiful with one another.

Join me and my musical colleagues on our journey, which is, more often than not, not actually about the music itself, but about how it shapes our very lives every step of the way. :)