15th September 2005

THE VIOLIN EXAM!

This has to be the day that i am waiting for a very long time....its been two years! can u imagine with me? 2 years since i took up that form that WAM is looking for musicians during that fateful Sunday when i was serving as an usher....saw that WAM needed more musicians including violinists...i signed up right away...

Was a rather new member to Hope then...already serving in usher some time le....was hoping this is another direction to serve God in...always felt that i have a betta tendency to music...having served in the Christmas Choir in 2002.

Got through the auditions waaaaaaayyyy back in September 2003, i was serving as a Core Team in my CG, taking care of 2 sheep, even urged by my team leader then to rise up to be a Team Captain for Usher team B...too many responsibilities i guess...too little time for God...hence could explain why i fell away for a while..:) Could vividly remember the time when i first stepped into the audition...it was way back in Joo Chiat at our church office cos we used to have that place on the ground floor as our storeroom...:P played with the band for the very first time...hahah remembering meeting the Hope Twins...Geoffrey and Gerald... and Jacob ...played the worship song "No Greater Love" ...subsequent first time i played for service was in dec 28th 2003...can imagine Kim saying this now..."mega memory" hhahah was telling my friends that i rem the weirdest things....cannot rem my studies!! hahah..i had then decided to take up violin lessons to improve my skills again to play betta for God...

The journey to this path has not been easy..i had actualli stopped taking violin lessons for more than 11 years!! altho i played to different scores myself...the process can be really tiring when you had school and projects to meet ....so then it took me 2 years to prepare for this violin exam...to get my basics right again...

The morning i sprang up as usual...after much praying start to rehearse already for the violin exam...must be too nervous..all the basic scales sounds soooooo terrible!!! then my mum needs help in her computer stuff and keep asking me for help....my stress was already up my neck!! i nearly lost my temper at her...my mum actually then blessed me with 50 bucks more to pay for the transportation! wow! regretted i was so irritated with her moments ago..

Rushed down to Kovan where my exams will be held to meet Salome...warmed up a bit at the studio before heading down to the actual exam venue...The exam testimony is really amazing i tell u...both me and Salome are Christians so we prayed before we went into the studio...think ah..God must be preparing me for this exam cos having put me to work in "ang mohs" in DHL...haha i was not that afraid already as compared to my younger days when i took the exams...i was greeted by a really friendly looking guy and already my fear is dropping...i started on scales first....ahahahh can you imagine? I FORGOTTEN MY DIMINISHED SCALES IN A!!!!!!!! arghhhh

smiled and keep trying the scale...cannot come out....think ah its really times like this that God wants u to trust Him....i keep smiling lah and trying to remain calm....hahah then the examiner urged me to play another scale instead..that's the dimished scales in D...played it...then i managed to peep at my score cos i was rather tall mah eheheheh..i got 18 upon 21 marks!! that's God's grace for you!! then played the exam pieces....all the difficult notes could come out altho i still make many silly mistakes....ahahah....sight reading was awful...could barely manage the piece at first sight have to play leh....then another testimony...for the Aural and Sight Singing component...i was passed a passage whereby i have to read the notes and sing......it was EXACTLY the passage that i had practiced the night before!! can you imagine my surprise? felt like telling the examiner there and then.." HEY, i know how to sing this!" hahah of course not lah....throughout this whole exam God was really with me...treated myself and the pianist to a lunch at Sakae's Sushi afterwards..hehe

Thank God for bringing me through this whole period of struggling during rehearsals and actualli setting aside money to pay for all the fees....really God provides....as i look back on this path that i have taken...i appreciate the times of stretching....its only at the times when you are weak then you can only cling onto God!! May my results edify God! awaiting 5 more weeks...:P