Song of the Month - February

The Song of the Month, February is
Uematsu Nobuo's Frontier Village Dali
from Final Fantasy IX.

#-----------------------------PLEASE NOTE-------------------------------------#
#This OLGA file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation  #
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From: "Andrew Muir" 
Subject: m/misc_comp_games/final_fantasy_ix_frontier_village_dali.tab
Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2002 23:11:06 -0800

"Frontier Village Dali"
Track 27, Final Fantasy IX Sountrack
Written by Nobuo Uematsu.
Tabbed solely by Andrew Muir - andrew_muir69@hotmail.com

This song should be finger-picked, and played at a slow tempo.

E |0---------0-----|1---------1-----|2---------2-----|1---------1-----|
B |--3---3-----3---|--3---3-----3---|--3---3-----3---|--1---1-----1---|
G |----0---------0-|----2---------2-|----2---------2-|----2---------2-|
D |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
A |3---------------|3---------------|3---------------|3---------------|
E |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|

E |0---------0-----|0---------0-----|----------------|3-1-1-----------|
B |--3---3-----3---|--3---3-----3---|1-------1-------|1---1-----------|
G |----0---------0-|----0---------0-|--2-------0-----|2---------------|
D |----------------|----------------|----2-------2---|3---------------|
A |3---------------|2---------------|0---------------|----------------|
E |----------------|----------------|--------3-------|----------------|

E |0---------0-----|0---------0-----|0---------0-----|----------------|
B |--3---3-----3---|--3---3-----3---|--3---3-----3---|3-2-2-----------|
D |----0---------0-|----0---------0-|----0---------0-|0---0-----------|
G |----------------|----------------|----------------|2---------------|
A |3---------------|2---------------|1---------------|0---------------|
E |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|

E |3-----3---------|3-----3---------|0---------0-----|--------4-|
B |--3-------2---2-|--3-------3---3-|--3---3-----3---|------3---|
D |----2-------3---|----0-------0---|----0---------0-|----1-----|
G |3---------------|----------------|----------------|--3-------|
A |----------------|1---------------|3---------------|----------|
E |----------------|----------------|----------------|4---------|

*Repeat from the start.

Here's the link to this tab,
http://www.guitarists.net/tab/print.php?id=24479.

There's a useful program, Power Tab Editor, that can creates, reads and plays guitar tablature in the .ptb file format,
http://www.power-tab.net/guitar.php#d5,

and the .ptb file for the Song of the Month,
http://powertabs.net/tablature.php?id=18020.


*Added: Here's another tab of the song with the melody included.

Frontier Village Dali
Final Fantasy IX
Composed by Nobuo Uematsu
Tabbed by Richard Schaefer (richard@gametabs.net)
9/22/06


Intro

e--0---------0-------1---------1-------2---------2-------1---------1----
B----3---3-----3-------3---3-----3-------3---2-----3-------1---1-----1--
G------0---------0-------2---------2-------2---------2-------2---------2
D-----------------------------------------------------------------------
A--3-----------------3-----------------3-----------------3--------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Melody

e--0-1-3----0-5--3------0-----------0---8--7--5---5-7-5-3---0-1-3---10--3
B------------------3--3---3-1---1-3--------------------------------------
G------------------------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------------
A------------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------------


e--3---0-1-3---12--5-----3--3-0-1-3-8---8-4-3-1---------0-----0-1-0-0----
B-----------------------------------------------1---3-----------------3-3
G------------------------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------------
A------------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------------

Repeat from beginning of melody

e--------0---7--3---------0--7-5-8-----5-7-8--5--1--0----------2-7-5-3---
B--1---3--------------1-3------------------------------4-----3-----------
G------------------------------------------------------------------------
D------------------------------------------------------------------------
A------------------------------------------------------------------------
E------------------------------------------------------------------------

e--0-2-3-1----------------------------------
B------------3---4-----6-4-3-4-3-----0---1-1
G-------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------
A-------------------------------------------
E-------------------------------------------

Here's the link to this tab,
http://www.gametabs.net/files/villagedali.txt.

Here's the MIDI file of the song,
http://www.gametabs.net/files/villagedali.mid.

Song of the Month - January

Song of the Month - December

Tabs Taken From : http://www.sheetmusicusa.com/guitar, where you can also hear the MIDI file of the song! Enjoy!
* The tempo is rather fast, so try to keep up with the rhythm

NYAA Entry - October and November - Electronics and Electricity

Date: 7/10/07 - 3 Hours

Date: 21/10/07 - 3 Hours

• Charateristic of Resistor-Capacitance Series Circuit.
• To verify the relationship between the supply voltage, voltage across capacitor and the voltage across resistor in a Rc series circuit.

Date: 28/10/07 - 3 Hours

• Charateristic of pure Inductive Circuit
• To show that the ratio of the voltage and current in a pure inductive circuit is equal to the inductive reactance, X of the circuit.

Date: 1/11/07 - 3 Hours

• Fixed sockets for Osim exhibition at Vivo City.
• Circuit tripped due to incorrect connections.

Entry For Skills--Competitive Swimming--October 07

Entry For Skills
Swimming Training For October

Participants: Thomas

Overview:
- Techniques for Butterfly Stroke

Venue: Geylang East Swimming Complex (Mon, Wed)

Date: 10/9, 15/9, 17/9, 22/9, 24/9, 29/9, 31/9,
Hours completed: 14 hrs

After training for a month and concentrating solely on freestyle, the coach decided to switch to perfecting our butterfly stroke. It is the most difficult stroke to learn as it requires the coordination of the whole body. In order to compete efficiently, one must be able to perform the stroke with grace and power. Grace comes with swimming smoothly in the water and power comes with the leap out of the water to create the distance moved through the water.

Hence, in order to attain these 2 criterion, both the upper body and lower body must move in sync. Firstly, we started off by practising the movement for the upper body. The arms must thrust forward and move through 360 degrees. The whole arm should be kept straight and not bent. Our fingers must also be constantly kept closed together so that the swimmer would be able to pull off a higher leap out of the water and move a greater distance, hence gaining an advantage over the other swimmers. The lower part of the body must ensure that the hips are able to move like a wave or a dolphin and the feet must give a powerful thrust to help the body leap out of the water. Lastly, we practised the movement of our hips. Placing the pull buoy in between our legs, we moved our hips to swim like a dolphin. The common mistakes made in the techniques for butterfly stroke is one; the arms would always bent when we enter the water again after the leap, two;our feet would always separate, causing the swimmer to slow down tremendously and lastly; our fingers would sub-consciously be open and as a result pull off a smaller leap out of the water, thus unable to travel a greater distance in the water.

Nevertheless, we hav to consider the techniques used for the swimming

Song of the Month - November

For the completion of our skill section, we shall be posting one song a month for all the guitar people to practice. After leaving Edvox,we plan to continue learning independently and will meet up in the 2nd and 4th week of every month for a group practice. This month, the song is Sonatine by Mauro Giuliani, of which the tabs are also provided. Please note that the relative closeness of the tabs are used to represent the timing of the notes played for the whole song. You can go faster and faster for this song once you get more proficient! Happy practicing....

Tabs Taken From : http://www.sheetmusicusa.com/guitar, where you can also hear the MIDI file of the song! Enjoy

NYAA Entry - Skills - Overview for October - Guitar

5th October 2007

-Individual assessment of third page of Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
-Finalized Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
-Practiced new song Lao Shu Ai Da Mi
-Music Theory
: Chords - Augmented eg. G+ ( + = Augmented )
: Octave - Open string note = 12th fret note
( 1 Octave is from 1 note to its higher note )
Eg.

• 1st string open = E note
• 1st string 12th fret = high E note

12th October 2007

-Practiced Lao Shu Ai Da Mi melody and chords
-Individual assessment of Lao Shu Ai Da Mi melody
-Bending - Push string -> Increase tension -> Pitch increase
-Harmonics ( 12th fret ) - Practiced playing Harmonics


19th October 2007

-Individual assessment of Lao Shu Ai Da Mi melody and chords
-Played Lao Shu Ai Da Mi together, some strumming chords and others plucking melody, and switched over.


26th October 2007

-Lesson on Harmonics. Natural and Artificial Harmonics
-Natural Harmonics ( Open-String Harmonics )
: 12th, 7th & 19th, 5th, 9th frets ( easy to difficult )
-Music Theory
: Semitones - Practiced Semitones scale ( for Artificial Harmonics )

More to read up about Semitones
http://www.musicarrangers.com/star-theory/p04.htm

-Artificial Harmonics ( Fretted Harmonics )
: Fretting a note & playing Harmonics with respect to it.
Eg. 12th, 7th, 5th frets away from the note.

More to read up about Harmonics :
http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/lessons/lesson46.htm
( Lesson on Harmonics )
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/harmonics.html
( Videos on Natural & Artificial Harmonics )
http://www.learnclassicalguitar.com/harmonic.html
( Harmonics in music notation and guitar TAB )

-Tuning
: Normal

• 1st string open = 2nd string 5th fret
• 2nd string open = 3rd string 4th fret
• 3rd string open = 4th string 5th fret
• 4th string open = 5th string 5th fret
• 5th string open = 6th string 5th fret

: Harmonics

• 1st string 7th fret = 2nd string 5th fret
• 3rd string 7th fret = 4th string 5th fret ( *2nd string have to do normal tuning )
  
• 4th string 7th fret = 5th string 5th fret
• 5th string 7th fret = 6th string 5th fret

More to read up about Tuning using Harmonics :
http://www.guitarnoise.com/faq.php?id=31

NYAA Entry - September - Electronics and Electricity

Date: 2/9/07 - 3 Hours

• Theory on three phase circuit diagram.
• Usage of Wattmeter.

Date: 16/9/07 - 1.5 Hours

• Phase Test

Date: 30/9/07 - 3 Hours

• Practical on Capacitance DC circuit
• Theory on different capacitor such as mica capacitor and electrolytic capacitor and its usage

NYAA Entry -Overview for September - Guitar

7th Sept
- Revised on Slurs
H.O is a smaller to bigger note progression
P.O is a bigger to smaller note progression
slides- fast progression of notes played

-grace notes
illustrated in very small numbers
very fast progression in playing,
such that it does not add onto the beats in a bar
can be left out if very complicated

-individual assessment of Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
Jiawei, Calvin, Joseph went through first page of tabs in a one-to-one session with Chris
due to time constraints, Edmund and Boon Kiat will be in the next session

14th Sept
Edvox Term Holiday, no lessons for the week.

21st Sept
-individual assessment of Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
Boon Kiat, Edmund went through the first page with Chris in a one-to-one session with Chris
Calvin, Jiawei and Joseph went through the second page of tabs during their session

28th Sept
-individual assessment of Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui
everyone goes through the second page of song, third page will be in following lesson.
-learnt new song: Lao Shu Ai Da Mi

Guitar Update

Hi to all,

Although i am not in charge of this section, i want to do a post regarding this in order to record down what has been going on with the Guitar: Skills people recently. Please post or tag if you have any doubts, queries or changes with regard to this post.

- Guitar lessons @ Edvox to finish by end of October
Due to the many overseas trips and hectic schedules that involve all of us, we have decided to quit the music school Edvox before this period should we be unable to commit ourselves. We have also decided not to continue in the year of 2008.
So far, we have told the counter lady that we are planning to leave on the 21st of Sept, which gives us 1 more month to learn under Chris. We will have 5 more lessons, namely on 28th Sept, 5th 12th 19th 26th Oct which are all on Fridays. Note that we have to make 1 more payment on 5th Oct and that we can only collect our deposit earliest on the 26th of Oct. (Put 26th of Oct on the leaving form and hand in next week, with your last payment of 50 dollars)
According to the order of posting, I will be in charge of the month of Sept while Joseph will be in charge of the last post in the month of Oct.

- Future Plans
As our skill requires us to develop and improve over a span of 18 months, we will need to sustain it for the next 1 year or so in order to pass. (We started on the 1st of Mar 2007, and will end on 26th Oct, maybe about 7 months?) We have learned the basics of Guitar playing which is substantial for us to carry on learning independently for our skill.
So far, we have suggested to meet up once every fortnight to update and plan for our skill entries. We can also play the same songs together and meet up to practice and evaluate our skills for easier coordination for the diary entries. We also plan to cover at least 1 song per month during this time, to show constant improvement and learning. Our estimated date of completion would be around 2008 Sept or so.

For the Skills: Assessor's Report, we will have to come up with a report on our progress throughout this period of 18 months that Calvin will be in charge of. Chris would be our assessor and would be required to sign our award diaries and acknowledge the report, thus all of us should ready our award diaries to be verified within the next month or so.

NYAA Entry – Overview for August – Guitar

10 August 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and plucking/strumming of chords for Qing Fei De Yi
- Learnt the stumming patterns (all strings, for two chords in one bar: down-up-down, change chord, up-up-down-up; for one chord in one bar:down-pause-down-up-pause-up-down-up) for the chords and the different chord sequences for different parts of the song, the introduction and chorus verses (C-G-Am-Em-F-Em-F-G, ending of chorus: F-G-C), bridge (Am-Em-F-G-C), and ending verses (D-A-Bm-F#m-G-F#m-G-A)
- Played notes of Qing Fei De Yi individually

17 August 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and plucking/strumming of chords for Qing Fei De Yi
- Learnt combination of plucking and stumming of chords for Qin Fei De Yi
- Played notes and strummed chords of Qing Fei De Yi individually
- Played song (from introduction verse to chorus verse) as a whole group then switched between notes and chords grouping
- Learnt the uses of a capo, how it changes the key of the notes played to become the key of the notes heard (eg. Play: C, Capo: 2 -> Key: D)
- Learnt the common chord sequences of certain keys (eg. Key C has common chord sequence C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am)
- Learnt what the time signature means (eg. 4/4 -> 4 beats in a bar)

24 August 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and plucking/strumming of chords for Qing Fei De Yi
- Final assessment of Qing Fei De Yi (playing the notes and strumming the chords of the song individually and as a group)
- New song given: Yu Jian
- Learnt and practised plucking of notes and chords for Yu Jian

30 August 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and chords for Yu Jian
- Learnt plucking of chords for introduction verse of Yu Jian (timing of plucking and holding the chord)
- Assesment of Yu Jian (playing the notes and chords of the song individually)
- New song given to practice at home for next lesson: Dang Ni Gu Dan Ni Hui Xiang Qi Shui

Entry For Skills--Competitive Swimming--August 07

Entry For Skills
Swimming Training For August

Participants: Thomas

Overview:
- Techniques for Freestyle

Venue: Geylang East Swimming Complex (Mon, Wed)

Date: 1/8, 6/8, 13/8, 15/8, 20/8, 22/8, 27/8,
Hours completed: 18 hrs

After the competition, we rested for about 2 weeks before returning back to the normal routine and training. As our results were not up to expectations, we needed to work even harder in preparation for the next competition. We had to push ourselves even further to achieve better results as compared to our current timings. Thus, the coach decided to start off by teaching us the correct techniques to our strokes as every little detail accounts for a great difference in our speed.

Starting off with freestyle, he begin with the techniques for the upper body. First of all, our arms had to stretch out straight and reach forward in order to stretch and glide well in the water. Secondly, our fingers had to be closed up at all times to ensure that we pull through the water with maximum force and thus result in a greater distance moved as we glide through the water. Thirdly, we had to ensure that our hands do not cut into the water surface when reaching forward as our arms enter the water to pull ourselves forward. It has to enter the water surface with grace and try to stretch forward. This is to also ensure that we glide through the water with a greater distance covered. As an indicator to whether we are performing the strokes with accuracy, there should be minimum splashing of the water when we sprint through a lap of 50m.

Going on to our lower body, our feet would have to be constantly kicking to ensure that we are still moving in the water when our arms are not pulling. In order to kick and move with maximum distance covered, our feet would have to move like a dolphin or in a wave motion to push us forward and cover an extra distance. We would also have to ensure that our feet does not bend inwards as it would instead cause the swimmer to be pulled backwards and slowed down tremendously.

NYAA Entry - Skills - July and August - Electricity and Electronics

Date: 8/7/07 - 6 hours

• Online self learning in the morning on basic concepts of electricity such as safety regulations as well as resistance and circuit breakers etc.


• Afternoon practical on usage of analouge ammeters and voltmeters, how to operate them at the correct range, positioning of meters and reading of meters.

Date: 15/7/07 - 3 hours

• Practical lesson in the afternoon to verify ohm's law using simple circuit and multimeter.
• Also, practical drawing of simple circuit diagrams.

Date: 22/7/07 - 3 hours

• Practical lesson to verify the resistance of several resistors using mulitmeters in a series circuit.

Date: 29/7/07 - 3 hours

• Practical lesson to investigate the value of current flowing through various series circuit using a DC power supply unit.

Date: 12/8/07 - 6 hours

• Morning self directed learning on the use of series and parallel circuits in domestic apartments.
• Afternoon practical on the investigation of voltage drop across each of the parallel branches.

Date: 26/8/07 - 3 hours

• Practical lesson on the usage of series-parallel circuit.
• Drawing of schemetic circuit diagrams.

NYAA Entry - Skills - Overview for July - Guitar

6 July 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and strumming of chords for Wen Rou
- taught interpretation of certain notation on music scores, to repeat or to jump to another line
- Individual playing of Wen Rou

13 July 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and strumming of chords for Wen Rou
- Finalise songs with assessment
- Started on new song Ai Wo Bie Zou

20 July 2007
- Practised plucking of notes and strumming of chords for Ai Wo Bie Zou
- Music Theory: Chords - Major, Minor, Dominant, Addition, Suspended, Augmented, Diminished.
eg. C Key - 1-C 2-D 3-E 4-F 5-G 6-A 7-B
eg. Cadd9 = C Chord + High D

More to read up at:
http://jmdl.com/howard/music/chord.html (Guide to Chord Formation by Howard Wright)
http://www.guitarchordsmagic.com/guitar-music-theory/guitar-music-theory.html (Chords Formula)

- Individual playing of Ai Wo Bie Zou
- Started on new song Qing Fei De Yi as teacher will be away and there will be no lessons for the next 2 weeks

Entry For Skills--Competitive Swimming--July 07

Entry For Skills

Swimming Training For July

Participants: Thomas

Overview:
- Inter- JC National Swimming Competition 2007

Venue: Geylang East Swimming Complex (Mon,Tue)
Toa Payoh Sports and Fitness Centre (Competition)

Date: 4/7, 5/7, 9/7, 11/7, 13/7, 16/7
Hours completed: 12 hrs

On the 4^th of July, it was the start of the Inter-JC National Swimming Competition 2007. Almost every JC in the nation participated in the nationals. Strong competitors of VJC would include that of RJC, ACJC and TJC. As usual, I will be taking in part in the 50m and 100m freestyle. We have been training extremely hard these few months in order to prepare ourselves for this major competition. The Nationals would last for 12 days events ranging from 50m, 100m,200m 400m, freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly. There will also be freestyle relays and 4x100m medleys. My event was on the 5^th and 11^th of July. For the 50m freestyle event, I came in 5^th out of 8 competitors for my heats with a timing of 30 secs. This timing wasn’t good enough for me to enter the finals where the average timings hovered around 28secs. Next up was 100m freestyle. Even though it wasn’t my stronger event, I managed to clock a timing of 1min 10 secs which was considered pretty good as my average timings were usually 1min 14 secs. The rest of the period of the competition was spent going down to support my other teammates who took part in several other events. Overall, VJC did not perform up to expectations and came in 5^th overall. Even though all the individual events were not performing up to expectations, we still did a great job in the team relays. We managed to get into the finals and came in overall 6^th but still it was good enough for us. Although I did not get into the finals for any of my events, I still felt that I have gained a lot of experience from this competition which would drive me to train even harder and strive for better results in the following year.

Entry For Skills--Competitive Swimming--June 07

Entry For Skills
Swimming Training For June

Participants: Thomas

Overview:
- Start of intensive training for competition season
- 2nd Inter JC Swim Meet 2007

Venue: Geylang East Swimming Complex (Mon,Tue)
Chinese Swimming Club (Wed)
ITE College East(Competition)

Date: 4/6, 5/6, 6/6, 8/6, 11/6, 12/6, 13/6, 15/6, 18/6, 19/6, 20/6, 22/6
Hours completed: 24 hrs

Entering the month of June, it was the start of a month long schedule of intensive training for the swim team. Trainings became more frequent and demanding, pushing ourselves to the limits. Trainings under the coach at the Chinese Swimming Club became even tougher, setting extremely high standards and expectations of the swim team. We begin to focus more on our own specialized events, which in my case would be the 50m and 100m freestyle. Every training consisted of time trials in which timings for own specialized events were taken. Even though the trainings were tough, every mark of improvement was a motivation for me. My timings had improved gradually. At the start of the month, my timings for 50m and 100m freestyle was 33secs and 1min20secs respectively. Around the end of the month, my timings had improved to 31secs and 1min 15secs respectively. On the 13th of June, it was the 2nd Inter JC Swim Meet 2007, held at the ITE College East. Around 6 JCs had participated in the competition. I had signed up for the 50m and 100m freestyle event. I came in 3rd out of 5 participants in my own heats for the 50m with a timing of 31.42secs while I came in 4th out of 6 participants in the heats for the 100m with a timing of 1min17secs. It was a pretty good timing but there is still lots of room for improvement to get into the finals for the nationals.

NYAA Entry - Skills - Overview June 2007 - Piano

Overview
• Scales and Arpeggios for
• Piano pieces
Venue: Tampines (Piano Teacher's House)(Wedneday and Thursday)
Dates(in year 2007): 7/6, 13/6
Hours completed: 2 hrs in total

In June the piano lessons were focused more to improve individual pieces such as the 3rd piece, Rumba Toccata as well as the scales due to certain weaknesses there, especially the aspects of scales which covered a wide range of keys.

The 3rd piece was practised more to try and correct recurring errors in playing and create familiarity with the piece as it was the newest piece among the three thus far. By focusing on the piece, I had to learn to become more fluent in it and express the dynamics of the piece more accurately. As for scales, the Major and Minor(melodic and harmonic) scales in similar motions were drilled more intensely to ensure that i was bale to respond more quickly to the scales that upon verbal instruction i.e. playing the scales quickly upon verbal request, hence requiring much practise with all the different keys.

NYAA Entry - Skills - Overview for June - Guitar

8th June 2007

- Individual assessment of the song Xing Qing (Chords, from 1^st verse to bridge)
- Play melody of Xing Qing as a group
- Practice the chords and melody in chorus of Xing Qing individually

15th June 2007

- Divide to two groups, one playing melody and the other chords
Play song as a whole then switch between melody and chords grouping
- New Song: Qing Tian
- Learn to read tabs for the song (Intro of song)
Pluck single notes with chords
Strumming pattern (last/first 3 strings or all string and upwards/downwards strum)

29th June 2007

- Individual assessment of the Intro of the song Qing Tian
- Learn about plucking ‘sharp’ note (such that if there is a B-sharp, then all the B in the rest of the bar is also played as B-sharp)
- Practice the melody and then individual assessment
- Divide to two groups, one playing melody and the other chords
Play song as a whole then switch between melody and chords grouping
- New Song: Wen Rou
- Learn about navigation markers
Coda symbol: Jump to the separate section headed with the symbol
dal Segno sign: Repeat a passage starting from the sign

NYAA Entry - Skills - Overview May 2007 - Piano

Overview
• Scales and Arpeggios for
• Piano pieces
• Sight Reading

Venue: Tampines (Piano Teacher's House)(every Wedneday)
Dates(in year 2007): 2/5, 9/5, 16/5, 23/5,
Hours completed: 4 hrs in total

In May it was the touching up and practise of the three piano pieces , Sonata in F (by Casanovas), Moment Muscial in F (by Schubert) and Rumba Toccata (by Paul Harvey). On top of that, the scales and arpeggios were also revised and sight reading was started and practised throughout the month on short extracts in a sight-eading music book.

Entry For Skills--Competitive Swimming--May 07

Entry For Skills
Swimming Training For May

Participants: Thomas

Overview:
- Introduction to IM Relay (Individual and Team)
- Practicing of pulling and kicking in alternate pairs

Venue: Geylang East Swimming Complex (Mon)
Chinese Swimming Club (Wed)

Date: 3/5, 7/5, 10/5, 14/5, 17/5, 21/5, 24/5, 28/5
Hours completed: 16 hrs

As usual, we started our trainings with some stretching to prevent any cramps and injuries. As the competition was nearing, our warm-ups increased. We had to swim 16 laps of our own specialized strokes, which in my case would be the freestyle. There would be no rests, thus we would have to carry out somersaults at the end of each turn, also known as “Tumbleturns”. After our warm-ups, the main sets for the trainings started to roll in. We were introduced to IM Relay, both individual and team. In individual IM Relay, one would have to swim 4x50m, in the following order: Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterflystroke and Freestyle. The only difference in the team IM Relay is that these 4 strokes would be divided among the 4 members, each swimming only 50m of their own swimming strokes. Thus, the coach split the team up into groups of 4 as we prepared to race each other in teams of 4 for the team IM Relay. My team had clocked a total timing of 2:09:48 mins which was a fairly good result. We also had to continue to practice our own events in preparation for the competition, thus we had to train both our pulling and kicking. The coach came up with a new routine to train us in that which is to practice our pulling and kicking in alternate turns and in pairs. We would also be given timings for this practice. The first partner would practice his pulling for 50m with the second partner following closely behind but instead he would be practicing his kicking by doing “Flutterkicks”. After 50m, both partners would then switch roles and the process repeats for another 10 laps.