After a relatively tough Feseni competition night, KK9 emerged tops again (much to the overall dislike of the audience I guess). After hearing the song probably a thousand times, it was easy to spot the mistakes but I guess a first time hearing of both songs left quite a good impression on the judges.
Thinking back now, there were a few good things that happened to us and also several large mistakes by other teams which might have contributed to the win (note that this is MY personal opinion and might not reflect the actual judges' opinions of which I know nothing of). Here are my own findings in no particular order
- They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I guess other teams must do so because it felt like I was watching cloned choirs on stage. This year there are more attempts at a-cappella pieces (more than ANY other year that I can remember) and also the lack of any conductor to guide the team on stage. What other teams probably don't know is that KK9 goes on stage without a conductor NOT because they want to show off or anything ... its just we can't get anyone to stay as the conductor. Those that DO want to conduct just can't handle the team or the piece or simply just can't conduct accordingly. As for a-cappella songs, KK9 is cursed (probably for life) to never have any good pianists/accompanists. What they have are pianists that can do solo pieces but not accompany a team and this is a NO-NO for a choir competition. A choir accompanist is someone who can adjust to the team's performance in terms of speed and rhythm and dynamics. Its hard to find someone who can do that ... so we've always settled for unaccompanied pieces.
- The first group on stage curse!! I guess this myth still survives up till today ...
- Choice of song played a big role as commented by the chief judge for the night. KK9 took a VERY big gamble on the competition with 2 Malay songs. One was premiered at the MYOF competition, albeit revised and corrected at parts, whilst the other was written for the Feseni use .. I don't think it qualifies as a song choice in any other competition :)
- KK7 took a very big gamble too with their "Speedy Gonzales" but unfortunately minor pitching and obvious tempo problems stopped them from presenting the song to its fullest potential. The spoken parts would have given a better impact had they changed them to local slang and sayings instead of the mexican/spanish lingo which no one understood in the audience. I noticed the judges writing something during this section of the song (second time round) which could mean they either liked or disliked this section too ... but for me it was a wasted opportunity.
- KK1's choice of doing Mamma Mia was very ambitious and although executed quite well, they had a very, VERY serious problem. Tempo - plain and simple. If they had sped up the song a bit instead of the dragging tempo which they did, it would have sounded sooooo much better. The song felt like someone driving a Ferrari with a semi-trailer truck tied to the back. A few missed opportunities dynamics wise (especially at the chorus/bridge parts i.e. "just one look and I forget everything")
- KK4's medley of I feel good and Stand by me also suffered the same fate as KK1 because of bad tempo. Although safer in terms of coordination, it really brings the song down in terms of emotional impact. And the "Owhs" were terrible ... instead of the excited exclamation it sounded like someone in labour about to give birth.
- KK9, although they won, also had serious problems. Biggest was volume of which there was none. Nervousness probably got the better of them and this brought the overall volume down. Additionally, the complexity of both pieces probably added on to their nervousness because everyone was scared about starting off key, tempo wrong etc. Some dynamics worked whilst others were forgotten or not noticable enough.
- KK11 ... dunno what happened with this one. Seems they hired an external coach, but from the performance it seems like their coach was tone deaf.
- Whichever team (I forgot) that presented Shenandoah had to be commended on their attempt at an American classic but its execution was poor. Balancing was off and pitching was bad.
- Which brings me back to KK9, pitching wise although it sounded stable to the audience/judges ... it was actually off at quite a few places. Thankfully (or maybe luck had something to do with it) the team somehow manages to auto-tune back after the checkpoints (hint hint to other teams, use checkpoints!)
- I really liked KK7's Setia arrangement and thought it had great promise but repetition of the entire song without any changes just brings the excitement down. Simple changes such as girls VS guys, ostinato parts or a soli line would have heightened the song in the second round. Singing the same thing twice only allows judges a second attempt to hear/confirm any mistakes. If there were any changes, I guess there weren't enough 'cos I didn't notice them.
- Sister groups KK8 and KK6 did very well considering the amount of practices involved. KK6 did their kolej proud with a first time second place finish whilst KK8 only had problems with the sops in the first song. Else, I think they could have easily have gotten better placings ... but fifth is good nontheless.
- Mic-ing problems. This problem surfaces with every team but I think it was worst with KK4 (I could be wrong though, so apologies before hand) DTC is somehow plagued with bad acoustics when mics are used. So when the mics are placed at mouth/voice level it tends to bring out individual voices and thus cause the choir to sound noisy. KK6/8 had the best mic-ing overall of the night since they used the same arrangement
Now to wait another year ... more stress ... more pressure ... *sheesh*
I should probably give up now and move overseas.
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