Home¶
Recently, some events in my life - some good and some less so - have led me to think about the people I’m close to and this idea of home.
I am friends with many people who do awesome things, and that means that (physical) distance is a feature, not a bug, of our relationships. Geographically, I have friends in NYC, Berlin, Paris, Gothenburg, LA, Sydney and more, not to mention the groups of people in Singapore and London.
Even though I don’t get to see them often in person, I do appreciate and value our relationships and conversations. They look very different in different circumstances, but the common thread is that they feel like home to me. It also happens to be National Day week, and I’ve been thinking about how my relationship to the idea of “Singaporean-ness” has evolved in my time away from home.
I’ve always had a complicated relationship with national day parades (NDPs). The fireworks are always nice, and it was an honour to be involved in 2020 as part of the Guard of Honour/SPF observation ceremony (while giving lots of chances for me to dress up in my No. 1 uniform).
However, I’ve never been a person for big ceremonies, or pomp and circumstance, and it also seems all too easy to have everything be “hype RAAAHHH I am Singaporean and proud to be one” which definitely comes across in the early NDP songs - “We are Singapore”, “Count on Me Singapore”, “Stand up for Singapore” - I think the names say it all. The visuals of a large military parade for the first half, followed by a carefully curated show of performance, with audiences waving flags, lend themselves very well to this idea of hype and overt displays of patriotism.
Emotions for me are more dialled down: there are parts of Singapore that I do enjoy and parts of Singapore that I don’t. While there is no shame in being proud of your country, the country as a division is incredibly arbitrary and functions as an imagined community. Unfortunately, I’ve seen that the people who are most vocal about their membership of the community are also the most keen to exclude others from their perception of Singapore and who is part of this community. More care needs to be shown towards others so that the inclusive community does not become an exclusive one, and pride in one’s community should not be built by denying others - now or in the future - that same ability to feel included.
However, I also have seen the best of Singaporeans and the people around us. I miss the people who I have volunteered with, who take time to listen and understand to others and to meet them where they are. Also, I think that the people I’ve met largely have been driven, altruistic and steadfast, and I do appreciate that about the people I’ve crossed paths with.
Anyway, I’m waffling. I made an arrangement of Home, a NDP song, and 细水长流, two songs that I think reflect how I feel about home and my friends for orchestra. You can find it here.
I do recognise the irony in me talking about not liking performative ceremonies and gestures and then doing this. But I view my arrangement as an expression of how I feel about my family, friends and community, regardless of passport or geographical location.
Key thoughts in this arrangement:
I think that for someone who says that “the deepest expression of emotion is restraint”, I was pretty self-indulgent in this arrangement.
I really love the sound of the cor anglais and harp together. It was a no-brainer to have them introduce the verse of Home. I think that there is a lot of nostalgia inherent in the sound of the cor, and the split arpeggio of the harp with tremolo strings gives a floating feeling.
I’m really proud of the French horn part in fig 35-36 (at the end of the first half of the first chorus). I really like the French horn sound and it gives a nice airy ambience but I was intent on not overdoing it.
Turns out the two songs go really well together! But this is probably the slowest writing of 细水长流 that you will ever hear.
In the second chorus, (and hints of it can be seen in the first chorus), the sextuplets were because I was hearing the sound of the trumpets at the end of the national anthem as triplets that really dragged it out.
The trumpet countermelody in fig 66-69 was something that is so simple but made me so happy. When I listened to the actual NDP song after that, I was consciously listening out for it even though it’s obviously my addition.
Probably I overdid the piccolo trills and I’m not sure how the piccolo register translates from MIDI to real life. Normally I don’t really like high registers but I think that it was good to have something float above the orchestral texture.
I think that Home would do really well with a big band-style arrangement, and I’d love to hear that. It already does well with the tresillo rhythm too.
Happy National Day to my friends in SG and I hope that you have a great long weekend :)