Experiential Learning

Managing a group has never been more exciting. Not just musically, but also administratively. I think I’ve had the privilege of experiencing this through Expose, and I must say I am grateful for this experience.

- Planning the repertoire which doesn’t not end at just purchasing them over the internet or obtaining them from the library; you’ve got to arrange them yourself.
- Attendance during rehearsals can be heart-wrenching when absences are concerned. Parts may go missing and it’s difficult to balance; to top it off, everyone’s sound projection is different on the instrument.
- Performance during weekdays are not exactly easy to co-ordinate. With more 80% or more of the members as working members, logistics and sound test can be quite tricky. Sound test was scheduled at 6pm and I had only about slightly more than half of the members for the concourse performance, and with zero Alto 1 parts (2nd evening, Queen of Sheba).
- The numbers per part are constantly shifting, due to absences, leave, etc. I try to manage this part by taking in more players so that I have greater freedom with numbers, and also with the hope of training newcomers.
- Spreading solo parts to many more members is one of the policies I try to keep up to in order to expose more members to playing lead voices. Avenue for training provided almost equates to hearing more unusual stuff rendered.
- Rhythmic cohesion is probably one of the greatest hurdles for the group. I think Expose should aim to match Tsu ensemble’s standard, if not better. Anything less than that is basically somewhat acheivable by the main ensemble. This is not exactly a smooth sailing task; working with the members from different music training and background, can sometimes prove to be rather uphill. Reculcitrant mistakes and relentless laziness to count are some of the killer moves. - Patience is the essence, and some occasional begging.
- Projection trivia. Essentially it’s rather interesting to try to balance anything in a guitar ensemble. First it’s the highs versus mid versus bass, next is the funny thing about seeing 4 hands moving but only hearing 3 or 2.5.

I sure hope one day we can get engaged in some competition preparation, esp. if it’s overseas, like some guitar festival or something. That would be absolutely fantastic.