Darius Lim

www.dariusmusic.org

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its back to work and more work.. lectures in school are getting more challenging as assignments and exam dates pile up.

had the platform today where the chamber choir sang. it was ''ok lah''. for the second piece though the soloist was a lil too nervous and ended early so towards the end the whole choir was like messY! hah.. other than that it was ok.

went home to rest and practice a lil and in the evening went down to junction 8 to collect my comp cert and taggs etc.

met lifeng ronny daniel ryan and giant later in the evening for dinner and a movie. watched munich. it was freaking 3 hours! jeez.. by the time it ended it was 12+. hah..

gtg slp nw .. nites!=)

Its been a great week at school and with my choirs. so much going on with so much fun and laughter. feel that my choirs are really improving much! keep it up all of you! =))

went to select my piano that day. i wanted a mahogany one, but i ended up feeling more for the black one because of her sound and exellent response! tsk!! love it love it. went back to the warehouse after 2 days to play on it again and guess what? i found my name on that piano in Gold -plated metal which stated "Winner of 2006 C. Piano Competition- Darius Lim Kian Siong" woohoo.. was shocked man. really happy =))

yesterday went out with ron to celebrate his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DEAREST BEST FRIEND!! had a great dinner eating pasta.. finally hes 18 man!! now i really feel old. the first time we knew each other we were just freaking BOYS with mushroom hairstyles!! hah... how time really flies.. now hes on for MOS!! muahahaha.. gonna drag him there.

school exams are all around the corner. these 2 weeks are gonnna be hell man.. running here and there and being tied up with so many things. wells.. thats life in april and may.. hahahaha

gonna run now.. hafta send my sister to the airport. shes flying to australia with her classmates for a study trip. gonna start getting paranoid again. you know me.. always the over-protective big bro. argh.. ciao! =))

Today was a day of great joy and excitement for me!! Its the day i took part in the finals of the 2006 C.M Piano Competition. This competition is organised by the Cristofori Fine Arts School.

And because i entered the Open Category, the competition was most challenging because pianist from all over the nation were allowed to join to compete for the top prize- A C146 Grand Piano!

As soon as i went to the venue of the competition, a certain air of tension greeted me as i saw so many competition participants from all the various categories reporting in.

For the Junior Cat aged 11 and below, there were 10 finalists and as for the Intermediate Category aged 15 and below, there were 9 finalists.

The Distinguished panel of judges consisted of:
-Mr. Chong Poh Kong
-Ms Gwei U
-Ms. Sharon Tan

Chong Poh Kong is a rather famous pianist in asia.. heard many stuffs about his performances and competitions etc etc.. as well as gwei u, who is a renouned pedagogy specialist, choral director and pianist.

As for the Open Category which has the age limit of 21, there were only 6 finalists. Soon, i was about to have the greatest shock that ive had in quite a while.

When i went to report for my attendance, i quickly snatched a glance of the list of finalists who were competing in the same category as me, and to my greatest surprise and shock, ALL of them were very well-known and famous pianists!

There was

1. Andris Koh, a multi-time National Piano Competition participant

2. Violette Truong, a yamaha gifted student whose teacher had taught me more than ten years ago when i was a kid

3. Liu Shunhong, whom i heard studies with the famous Fang Yuan; the Head of NAFA School of Young Talents

4. Wang Yu Shi, a child prodagy. she's only 10 going on 11 years old and she plays like a professional! Won a prize last year for the National Piano Competition. She studies with the famous Lim sisters; Lim Shui Fang and Lim Shui Ling

5. Jonathan Lim, another prodagy who is one of the most outstanding young pianists in Singapore. We are under the same teacher, but im so impressed that hes only 15 and has played so many concertos with so many international orchestras! He is also the first prize winner for the National Piano Competition Junior Cat!!

And... there was me.

I felt so demoralised after looking at the list! and what made me feel worse was the difficulty of their pieces!!

-Chopin Scherzo No.2
-Schumann Fantasiestucke Op.12
-The Liszt CONCERT PARAPHRASE in Rigoletto
-Klement Slavicky's BURLESCA AND TOCCATA

"?!?!?!"

All these pieces ARE REALLY super challenging and difficult pieces!

jeez... at that point of time i was so stunned i just kept staring at the piece of paper blankly. I really under-estimated this competition. Arhgz.

The Competition started at 2.15pm- late.

Junior Cat came first and then the intermediate. And by the time it came to the finals, it was already 4 pm!

ALL THE PARTICIPANTS had to sit through the entire concert! jeez it was so nerve-wrecking we (participants) could hardly sit properly in our seats! Moreover, we didnt have a piano to warm up with.

However when it came to the Open Section of the competition, Liu Shun Hong went on stage first, and for the first time, the hall was dead silent with the audience waiting to see what the open section participants had to offer.

He played a very interesting Chopin Scherzo no.2 and it was so musical. Could hear that it was the good teaching of fang yuan that helped his musicality man. Although there were blemishes here and there, it was definitely a few notches up from the previous two categories

The competition went on and 10 year old YuShi played a most musical Mozart Fantasy K397! shes really so musical she kinda 'speaks' to you when shes playing. you can almost feel the little mozart in her!

After hearing her and the others. i was getting more and more worried and panicky. the contestants were playing so well!! This category was DEFINITELY national standard!!

Adris Koh was before me and when i heard her play back stage, i knew she was going to clinch the top 3 prizes. She had so much of flair and flamboyance; with her hands flying everywhere performing that eXtremely difficult Slavicky Burlesca and Toccata. it was amazing from backstage. arhgz. hate the agony of backstage waiting!!

When it came to my turn, the MCs announced my name and the audiences applaused to welcome me on stage. However after so much that was happening i was just stood rooted to the spot for whatever reason!!!

The MCs were stunned and they called out to me asking me if i was alright. i just told them i needed a breather.. and after taking in one big deep breath, i went on stage to do my thing. I tried my best, and was indeed contented with my "not-perfect-to-me" Schumann Symphonic Etudes op.13.

After me was Jonathan Lim who played the crazily difficult Franz Liszt's Transcriptions- The Concert Paraphrase in Rigoletto!!! It was so virtuostic and fast moving that my heart was pounding in the audience! he played it well!

Jon's my really good friend, and of course i cheered for him loudly during the applauses! =))


Finally the moment we have all been waiting for... the Results.

They announced the results for the junior section and as expected, the winners were all as i had predicted. As for the results of the intermediate, it was somehow a surprise for the 2nd and 3rd prize winners.

When it came to the open catogary, all the 6 participants had to go on stage.

jeez ... I felt like some contestant waiting to be eliminated from "america's next top model" or somethin... hah

When the MCs anounced that the third prize went to Jonathan Lim, i was utterly shocked!! i didnt expect him to get 3rd prize!($400) (expected him at 2nd or top prize.)

And as expected, Andris clinched the 2nd prize. ($800!!)

When it came to the Top Grand Prize, the MCs both shouted out


"AND THE GRAND PRIZE GOES TO--- DARIUS LIM!!"



"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

That was what went through my mind at that time!!! i felt this sudden rush of excitement and shock! i think i just stood there with my jaw dropped for a few seconds not knowing with to do or say. hah..

the audience were applauding so loudly i could barely hear anything else! I walked over to the judges as they gave me this meter long trophy and a huge letter which simply wrote "GRAND PRIZE."

I was overjoyed! I had won the top prize! and not mentioning... a grand piano! =))D

Soon i found myself shaking so many hands whom i dont even know or recognise, and fortunately i found my family and friends who came over to stage to congratulate me.

Really got some encouraging comments from the judges and they gave me much inspiration and motivation to pursue my goals and aspirations.

There were 2 reporters who interviewed me about this whole thing and started asking me questions like there was no tomorrow.

Massive photo taking sessions followed, and for the first time i felt like i was some hollywood star just standing there with my trophy and smiling till my muscles ached. hahahaa...

Soon after all the administration stuffs and all, i decided to pay my piano teacher, Benjamin Loh a visit at his place.

When i reached and showed him my trophy, he was delighted!! I'm really really fortunate and lucky to have such a great piano teacher man. Since the time i first went to him 3 years ago, he has really brought my musical understanding from an ammature level to a level where most teens my age can only dream about. i owe it all to him.



What a day man... what a day.

You know sometimes you feel like you're on the top of the world?

Well, today's one of those days.. =))



Cheers! =D
..The Music Is In You..

p.s pls refer to my photo bucket for the pictures! =))

I would like to dedicate this entry to my fellow musician and classmate; to express my heartfelt sympathy to hear that my classmate Benny, whose mom had peacefully departed from this world just a day or two ago.

Had gone for the wake today with all my fellow classmates and lecturers. it was a really solumn event where many prayers were made.



May the souls of all the departed rest in eternal peace in the hands of God our father.

Amen.

yesterday was a really long day. went for chamber choir and jen ran through all the songs needed for the concert. there were slight confusions on the concert dates because we had to decide which date to hold the concerts. so the choir had to vote. finaly it was decided for platform on a wed in april. thankfully. hah..

am a little worried for the choir. really feel that the intonation is not clean AT ALL! sigh.. although for some of the pieces the feel of the music is there, the singing is really all over the place. theres one or two more rehearsals to concert. and if we continue like this i think the standard will be far worse than the last concert.

balance is another issue because the choir isnt really listening to the balance. and there were instances when both rows of girls were singing TWO completely DIFFERENT keys in some of the gospel pieces!! jeez.. the right side of the girls section which was further away from the piano was singing in a slightly different key from the left side where the piano is nearer to the girls. it was nightmare to my ears. what was scary was that one had almost half a tone difference. sometimes i just feel like yelling out something. but of course i wouldnt! it would be disrespectful.

the other worry is for one or two or the singers who are SO OUTSTANDING in their singing they sound like they are singing a solo. perhaps its the ''solo singer'' kind of thing. but i have to say in terms of blending in theres a definite No-no to it, trying hard not to think of his/her out of tune and ''laggy'' singing (this person always sings two bars ahead of the whole choir.) lol.

sometimes i think that chamber is capable of much more amazing stuffs. almost all of us are singers or conductors/composers. we undestand and analyse the music better than many other choirs. but somehow the standard is in my opinion, not even half of our potential.

maybe its the factor that we play and joke too much. sometimes especially, we DO go overboard when the whole choir can go laughing for MINUTES ON END!! and some of my friends and i would go "like can we get on with it!!" haa... but then again, whats chamber choir without some good crap and jokes once in a while huh.. maybe our fusion of serious and play work hasnt found its distinguished difference and borders yet.

despite all the short-comings, i must say that i do learn quite a bit from jennifer, she sees music in both a very analytical and musical way. some things which are said are really interesting and helpful too!

anyway i'll be leaving chamber this semester already. hope the choir would do better in the coming years..

got into the finals for the piano comp. the finals are just next week! have to practice like mad now. jeez... really like mad. hah. also far under-estimated the competitors. a few of them are so amazing! sigh.. well hope all goes well.

ok the past few days have been really damned for me man... lost my student card, then lost my nafa card, and then my thumb drive containing all my semesters work just crashed (and i have to redo everything!), AND then i got into a car accident.

ok im slowly trying to make up for all these damned things here.. well except for the accident coz you cant make up for an accident right? hah..

was with shao suan, shao ying and jay in the car after we went for sushi and a concert. we were all happily full and chatting (although i was just dazing off... stoning? hahahha..) then while suan was driving near raffles place suddenly i heard a loud thud on me side of the car! it was so loud the girls screamed and the four of us almost went hysterical. i was so shocked as i looked to the right side of me and saw that a car had just banged into ours! jeez.

everyone was quite shaken for awhile, but fortunately all were safe and came out of it without a scratch. well not for the car sad to say. im just thankful that we are safe man.. coz at the end of the day thats all that really matters (besides the fact that their poor new car got scratched!!)

no ones to be blamed anyway. hate the traffic in the city! arhgz. now i know one is to be extra careful when driving in the city.

These 3 days have been mainly days of many celebrations for my 20th birthday. Its really been one of the most wonderful birthdays ive ever had man! had more than 6 birthday parties, and although im a lil exhausted after all the late nights and all, im grateful for all those great times spent with you guys. =))

on the first of march lifeng, shihua, rene, bernard, minyu, may and yinsher brought me to fish a co. for a birthday lunch. it was really great man!! hahahaha... and ironically, we started the afternoon with my birthday cake. it was this chocolate moose thing with chocolate dust on top. really delicious it was man!! AND GUESS WHAT!? after we finished our meals and all, ANOTHER CAKE CAME!!! they bought me 2 birthday cakes lar!! jeez... really touched. i dont know if it was accident or on purpose. hahahaha.. but they were really really sweet man. touched! =))

then at night shao suan and shao ying treated me to Qian Zhou's violin concert at the VCH. well, wanna know what i think about her concert? go read shao suans blog. hahahah! =P i think she spoke my mind.

after the concert the three of us including jae went to the Ritz Carlton for Dinner! The sisters treated me to the buffet, and trust me you dont want to know how much it costs. haha.. i think its the best birthday dinner ive had in yeaRS!! hahahha. the food was so great!! and i just kept eating and eating. was really stuffed towards the end. thank you ying and suan! =)) reali love u guys man.. and not to mention that that night there were really hilarious stuffs going on on the dining table. hah...

the following day had to run here and there for lectures and then parties at night. was FUN!~!! as for today, i just came home from meeting kel, ky, and dan, they gave me a birthday treat at Marche!! ive never had birthday treats from friends at marche before. thanks to them now i do.. really love u guys to bits! hahaha.. anyway we ate and ate.. and i think the bill came well over a hundred plus. after that i think ky ate too much, and she wasnt feeling so well. so she had to rest. hope shes feeling better!

these few days have been really fantastic.. wanna thank everyone for their birthday wishes, presents, parties and not to mention treats!! hahahah.. love u guys! =)))

finally the day has come when im 20...

im 20.


=))