Ressonnant Inc. : The Official Blog: Performances

The moment of truth.

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:38:13 GMT

2003-2005

The girls were unknown, and their purple outfits made them infamous. They were sniggered at by people, laughed at by the reigning teams, and kept on flunking at the preliminary round.

2006

Dressed as KLCC toilet cleaners, they made their debut in the semifinals and for the first time in eight years, advanced to the finals. Securing first place in the KL Finals, they brought the reigning teams to shame. They went on to the National Finals in Negri Sembilan but only got sixth place.

2007

With a new Sister Act act in place, the same choirgirls went to the Malaysian Tourism Centre Hall and became champions in the state - again. They became the in-group replacing the cheerleading teams (way overrated !) and lauched several projects - Bukit Idol, the Grease musical and the breathtaking Jalur Gemilang in the Independence Day Congress. It was then that they named the team Ressonnant, a corruption of the French word "resonnant" meaning resonating. They went on to the National Finals in Terengganu but only got fifth place, thus being denied of a prize.

2008

Early semis, early finals and early Nationals describe 2008. With a new line-up of choirgirls, we geared up for the National Finals in Ipoh on the 26th of June. And now, readers and Ressonnant fans, take delight in this message, as we say it loud and clear :

Presenting Ressonnant, the #1 choir in Malaysia !

We are overjoyed ! After practising, taking a tour around Lumut, entering the competition and winning it, we are returning to Kuala Lumpur ! And I hope the KL Tower is decked in purple again (just as it was last year).

Special thanks to our teacher advisors for being with us, to Ms Joaan for believing in us since 2004, to Rebecca Ong for her playing, to Celyn Ng for getting the students in perfect pitch and timing, and for arranging the scores (oh, and that breathtaking Jalur Gemilang !), to all Ressonnant members for the training, the sacrifice and the sweat ; to our alumni for being there with us in spirit and prayer, to our parents for giving us the drive to carry on, and to all students and teachers of Convent Bukit Nanas for supporting us right to the end.

Our 2008 sucess story may seem like a Cinderella story. But well, we made it because we believed, because we worked hard... and because YOU believed. And then again, just as Ms Joaan tells us over and OVER again,

Allez Ressonnant !!

And now, the new videos...

Sat, 24 May 2008 05:45:45 GMT

Friends, this is Jalur Gemilang.

And this is Stand By Me.

These are the two songs which propelled our dear choeur to top spot for the third time running ! The vids are up the official blog on popular demand and well.... it'd be a sweet thing for all the seniors (ah, such videos make us cry). Allez Ressonnant !

[Friends, the webmistress has an announcement to make : if you have photos of you and/or the choir during the preliminaries and the finals of 2008, please send them to our e-mail address, choeurressonnant@hotmail.com so the photos can be soon uploaded to this space. Quickly, now !

And for those of you who have MSN, add us at choeurressonnant@hotmail.com]

Defeat.

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:50:52 GMT

Just like last year, we did not obtain anything.

But that was momentary spiritual dampening - the next day, in the bus, we were singing Queen's "We Are The Champions" and that was part of the testimony. The other part was this : the rest of the hall (except the judges) were rather impressed by Ressonnant's performance. The conductress, Lyana and the pianist, Annette earned their due reverance.

So 2007's standings are as follows :

1 - Sarawak (SMK Methodist Sibu)

2 - Selangor (SMK Kepong)

3 - Sabah (SMK Convent St. Francis)

Three cheers for Sabah and Sarawak because their teams were super-friendly. We became a part of them just as they have become a part of us.

Merit Award - Perlis

Quite surprising for that team, really.

So we were left in the lurch with one position short of the coveted merit award.

As many people have speculated, and said, "You did not win because you were too good."

So we merit nothing for that ??? We shall not be sad, we shall not hang our heads down low but we shall raise them high (not too high though) ! Although some did look devastated and shed lots of tears because they could not realise that hope of winning while they were there, many of them just calmed their frayed nerves by touring the whole of Terengganu the day after the concours.

When we returned, the KL Tower was actually decked in purple and shimmering white lights (never before seen !), as though it was actually celebrating our "victory". As though we were triumphant. That really lifted up our spirits as the KL heroines (by the way, the KL Tower and the institution we belong to are not very far).

Now, we hope the KL Tower will light up with a proper reason next year.

Heck, #I, #VI, #VIII and #XIII, and the seniors will not be here.

And off we go to Kuala Terengganu...

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:57:30 GMT

Six hours of rides and winding roads. Three hours of English for Science and Technology papers. Four hours of rehearsal. Several hours of post-curfew. And one big celebration, and into the hall where the star high school choirs will battle it out once again....... and all of us going gaga over our new T-shirts...

...the National Finals are coming up !

Wish us luck as we leave for Kuala Terengganu on 2007/09/04. The next day is the competition. Honestly, we hope to get proper accommodation, and proper meals ! Last year's meals just stank ! Oh, and a proper performance in front of the rest of the teams present in that hall, wherever we will be.

We at Ressonnant need your prayers - do pray for us !

Thanks Joaan and Michele for the training and lifting our spirits, and to Pn See Tho and Cik Faridah, our beloved teacher-advisors ; Pn Chee for seeing us out every now and then...

P.S. Hope we may raise the Wilayah flag once the competition is over.

At the Congress

Sun, 19 Aug 2007 03:40:53 GMT

With last minute notice, very little practice, laughter from our rivals (the Victorians), and little preparation, we headed to Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) for the rehearsal.

We sucked big time.

Having realised this, we began a gruelling four-hour rehearsal in school.

The next day, 2007/08/18/ was Kongres Kemerdekaan Remaja (Independence Day Youth Congress). So once again, we headed to PICC - this time in full dress. Back with our assymetrical blouses and purple skirts and ribbons, we decided to wow the crowd. Oh, and yeah... we had the honour of performing in front of the Prime Minister and Education Minister themselves - they were all there !!

Still do not believe us ? The pictures of Kongres Kemerdekaan Remaja in the Photos section will tell you more. However, as we were performing in front of a formal audience, we did not snap any pictures of the performance out there.

We came there as early as 8:00 a.m. to check out the technical bits. And when the seats were filled, we were itching to sing. Notably at every single replay of "Jalur Gemilang" (a patriotic song), we were rehearsing our parts !

At about 11-something, it was our turn.

It was a wave of purple on the steps as we took our places. No need for us to give any comments on our performance - the VIPs said it all.

"That was an enthralling performance. We enjoyed it."

"Your playing was awesome, Annette."

"I love your hair !!!" ^^

"You girls sang exceptionally well."

The funny thing was, when we were actually itching to watch ourselves live on RTM 1 (a local TV channel), others had the opportunity to do so, while we had not ! This is so sad. Sweat.

Anyways, about the feedback... hope this would be for the National Finals !