Kindly be informed that there will be a training this Saturday and Sunday (26th & 27th May 2012).
Although I'm aware that Mdm Yeo had announced to you that practice starts at 2pm -6pm on Saturday and Sundays. Our training will still start in the morning but without drums. We only can beat the drums at 2 pm onwards. Below is the Itinerary for this week's training:
Saturday 26th May 2012
9 a.m - 10 a.m : Warm up
10 a.m - 12 p.m: Practice without drums ( Separate into groups: New members, Old Part 1 & Part 2)
12 p.m - 12.30 p.m : Group Review
12.30 p.m - 2 p.m : Lunch
2 p.m - 4 p.m : Group Practice ( New Members , Old Part 1 & Part 2)
4 p.m - 6 p.m : Group Practice ( New Members, Old Part 3)
Sunday 27th May 2012
9 a.m - 10 a.m : Warm up
10 a.m - 12 p.m: Practice without drums ( Separate into groups Old Part 1 & Part 2)
12 p.m - 12.30 p.m : Group Review
12.30 p.m - 2 p.m : Lunch
2 p.m - 4 p.m : Group Practice ( Old Part 1 & Part 2)
4 p.m - 6 p.m : Group Practice ( Part 1, 2 & 3 )
Attendance for Old members is compulsory while new members are advise to come as well. Thank you.
By the time you saw the title this blog, i'm sure you'll be asking why did i post this blog so late when i have supposed to do it earlier.... Being busy may be a factor that caused this but i'm going to be honest with you that i sometimes can be very lazy to blog too...My apologies ~ Just imagine, blogging alone for 5 years on drum can sometime be quite boring you know.... =P However, after i managed to get my new bloggers (Adrian, Ren Zhang, Jason and Wei Jie [did i missed anyone else ? ] ) ; i somehow felt motivated to blog again .Woohoo ~
Anyways, back to the main topic which is the drum camp..... This time around, i'll be blogging about 2 different drum camps whereby one is a camp i attended to teach you all about drums while the other is a camp i joined to learn on how to be a better drum coach.
Let's start with the CHWS drum camp :
The 2012 CHWS drum camp was held in the month of March where it's a camp to give the new student a fast track drumming program and to pool young talents in drumming at the same time. During the 3 day camp, new members have been undergoing some rigorous training but not as torturing as in the past camps CHWS drum team had. At the end of the 3 day drum camp, all new members managed to perform their first basic drum beats performance - Thanks to their leader Ren Zhang for training them earlier. We also managed to select 11 new members who will be joining the fast track drumming program where they are required to attend both the morning training for new members and understudy the afternoon training for old members - So, this will be a little tough for the new 11 members. Just a reminder for the new selected 11 members, although it might be boring when you're understudying the training in the afternoon but you must understand that this is an opportunity for you to learn as much as you can. So, feel free to ask your seniors to teach you whenever they are taking their breaks. I also trust that Ren Zhang , Yi Jen and other seniors will spend their precious time to teach you when they're free. As for those who were not being selected, please do not be disheartened but take this opportunity to polish your drumming skill and get better as there will be another chance given to you this August 2012 ~
Anyways, credits should be given to my senior drummers for putting their best effort to make this camp successful. Although there were some hiccups here and there but it was still manageable. Good job to all of you !
and here is another drum family picture that will last in our memories....
Before i start blog
about my Drum coach camp, let me share a bit about my experience as a drummer
coach. Being a 24 chinese drum coach for 5 years have been like a roller
coaster for me as i have kept trying all sort of ways and methods of teaching
drums effectively. Some did work very well while the rest didn't really make
it. The scariest thing for me as a drum coach is to see his students unable to
learn his drum beat when he has used up all of his knowledge in drumming to
teach his students. Thus, i would not want myself to get trapped in such
situation - which is why joining the drum coach camp was crucial for me to
bring my coaching skills to a higher level.
The camp i attended was
held on the 4th - 6th May at New Era Organic farm located in Bukit Tinggi. The
place is so peaceful and quiet. The only thing you could hear in the
surroundings are just insects and goose waiting to be fed ~ And not to forget,
the air is so refreshing and cool that you would sit down and think how
important it is to conserve forest on earth and felt obliged to play a part in
reducing global warming.
Basically, the main hall
is where we had most of our training where we would always kick off our morning
with yoga or jogging for an hour before breakfast. After breakfast, we will
have discussions and research on the history of 24 chinese drums in Malaysia or
attend talks from a few lecturers about the performing arts scene in Malaysia
and how it should be part of the Malaysian education system. I also attended
classes like Chinese calligraphy. Yes, you heard me......Chinese Calligraphy (书法) . I'm sure now you'll
be asking yourself what does Chinese calligraphy has to do with drums ? Well ,
believe me it does help me to think of new drum beats and moves when i was
attending the class.
On the second day of our
camp, when we started to warm up with our drums in this hall. We received
a complaint from the land owner but our colleague who was managing the group
couldn't stop us when we went crazy beating our drums for 15 mins non stop. It
was as if we were in a trance. Sounds crazy isn't it..? When we thought it was
all over for us to practice drums, Jacky ( the organic farm owner) brought us
to another nice place and little we knew that it was the shooting scene for
NameWee's Nasi Lemak 2.0 curry neh site..... How cool is that huh...? So, to
express our gratitude, we performed 2 different piece for the owner and his
guests to enjoy.
As towards the end of
our camp, our group were split into two sub groups and we're allocated 6 hours
to come up with a 3- 5 min piece of performance. Result was of course not
good but the idea came up for the piece was very creative and genuine ( by the
way, we called our piece "childhood") - i might even used it for our
future piece once i finish the current one.
That's all from me for
now.
Next thing to look
forward will be malam bakat's piece. I need to have the latest video in order
to give my drum beats which i plan to send through email next week. Also, i
won't be able to come to teach you all in May as my schedule is quite pack but
there will be more blog post on training from me this month. So , don't miss it
and remember to train hard ~
