Carolling at Ritz

Yesterday, I went to City Hall to meet the choir members in group 2 to go to Ritz Carlton for carolling. It was a pleasant surprise to see the senoirs join us to reinforce our group. We were ushered into this room with food!!! Looks can be deceiving. They had 4 plates of tiny sandwiches which were not filling but they were DAMN NICE!!! Then we did warm ups and then sang some carols. At 6, we were brought to the hotel lobby. We started with Joy To The World and boy did we rock. The acoustic was damn good. There were reverbs and it improved our sound. Most of the songs were ok...Some songs like Jingle Bells were flat cos the second note onwards were flat and we were unsure of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. The only song we were sharp was Deck The Halls. That was my fault. I was supposed to use the pitch pipe to give the note. I couldn't hear Jia Yun say the note so I asked Wei Lin. He said it was E flat but it was a tone lower. Opps man. The basses strained to hit the E flat and the tenors struggled in the A flat. Whhaaa I felt damn bad. By the way, I was also nervous when it was my time to sing solo in Gaudete. Luckily Chin Leng (the bass solo) and me did a good job. The sound was nice all thanks to the acoustics :) . If it wasn't for the acoustic, I think it wouldn't be so nice...

After that, we went to eat dinner at a food court. Then we went to Raffles to help the group 1 people. Whaa Jian Hao was conducting. The way he conduct was quite amusing... Well, with group 1 and 2, we were like an 80 strong choir. I decided to sing softer cos there were so many blasting tenors... I sang the bass part for Joy To The World For Fun! For Gaudete, my senior Kim Seng stepped up to sing the tenor solo instead. I could afford to slack at that song. Haha Kim Seng solo was cool but really slow. Haha so funny. After the carolling, Wei Lin, Shawn, my junior Dennis and me went to BK to eat supper. When we reached Bedok, we met Joel and Fatt Sheng and followed them to supper too...

Gaudete is a damn special song to me. It is easy, nice and reminds me of the first time I sang with VJ choir. I remembered last year I went to Genting to sing with Tk choir after Os then 1 day our conductor Mr. Kwei called me to ask me to join VJ male ensemble for the same competition in Genting but different category. I said sure and that was the starting of my adventure in VJ choir. I sang 3 songs with them and we won that category which means I'll be performing with them in the finals!!! Unfortunately Tk choir got 2nd in their category... Anyway we reused 1 song and decided to sing another song. The guys chose Gaudete and I learned it in 5 mins. After we sung it 3 times, it was performance time! So cool. Now 1 year later I am singing the solo for that same song that I performed last year in the finals of the Genting competiton. Time really flies......Well here are the lyrics to this beautiful song...

"Gaudete Gaudete Christus Est Natus
Ex Maria Virgine Gaudete
Tempus Ad Est Gratiae
Hoc Quod Optabamus
Carmina Laetitiae
Devotete Damus
Gaudete Gaudete Christus Est Natus
Ex Maria Virgine Gaudete
Deus Homo Faetu Est
Natura Mirante
Mundus Renocatus Est
A Christoregnante
Gaudete Gaudete Christus Est Natus
Ex Maria Virgine Gaudete
Ezekelis Porta
Ciausa Per Transitor
Unde Lux Est Orta
Salus Invenitor
Gaudete Gaudete Christus Est Natus
Ex Maria Virgine Gaudete
Ergo Nostra Contio
Psallat Jam In Lustro
Benedicat Domino
Salus Regi Nostro
Gaudete Gaudete Christus Est Natus
Ex Maria Virgine Gaudete"