So ends my third semester in ICOM. For the first time ever, I ended up playing much more saxophone than clarinet. I like the saxophone. I like the clarinet too, but the sax is more 'friendly' when it comes to difficulty of playing. Also here in KL, if you want to cari makan as a musician, you have to be versatile. And obviously you're not gonna get many gigs playing clarinet.

"Clarinet ah? What's that?"

"Eh cannot la, can you play saxophone for me? Clarinet sounds too 'prim and proper' la..."

You get the picture. But that doesn't hide the fact that I have a national tour with the MPYO with rehearsals starting next Monday. It doesn't help that we're gonna be playing in Kuching. It also doesn't help that I'm playing the 1st clarinet part for the Dvorak Cello Concerto which has a lot of exposed sections. Suddenly I feel that I was so lucky when Choong Yen and Brien got the solo parts, because it meant I could sit back and relax, and let them do the worrying about screwing up. And yeah they're like better clarinetists compared to me so they can handle it.

And now the unthinkable - I did consider whether it might be a good idea to leave the orchestra. I have many great friends there and we have made beautiful music together, but my heart has always been in the contemporary music scene. Not that I have anything against classical music, which I enjoy very much as well, but for me as a musician I see myself heading in a different direction.

But then my sister texted me from Kuching, she said that she just had a press conference with Kevin Field and apparently he said some very nice things about me, and the thought about letting all of you guys down.....

So to all my MPYO friends, if i screw up this camp I apologize in advance.



YES I WILL TRYYYY TO START PRACTISING NOW...