--- I ---

I've just drunk my worst-ever teh-halial.

As usual, on the way home after booking out, I stop by the Malay eating house to get my packet of ginger tea. When I got it last week the quality was fine.

Today it is terribly diluted. I am drinking ginger water with a few tea leaves scattered inside to flavour things up.

Unsatisfied, I return back to the Malay drinks stall at the Block 14 Hawker Centre when I go to cut my hair for another packet of tea. Ah, yes, that's more like it. The brew is rich and strong, the colour a darker shade of light brown.

So much for the perfectionist in me.

--- II ---

Arts Central featured the Last Night at the Proms 2003 on television tonight.

By the time I tune in, the orchestra has just begun to play Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, the staple finale for all Proms concerts. Leonard Slatkin takes the BBC Symphony Orchestra at an exciting speed for the first part of the work. Even members of the audience are dancing to the music.

Then comes the famous trio, i.e. Land of Hope and Glory. Now it's slow, but steady. The tone is richly warm; you can feel the soft majesty and inner pride.

Drum roll and crescendo. The choir bursts out singing the song itself, with the audience singing along proudly and unabashedly. All over the Royal Albert Hall, flags are being waved about. The goose pimples stand up on my skin. I just wish I am there, sharing in the moment of jubilation.

The atmosphere is party-like; you could mistake the Last Night of the Proms for a rock concert, except that you have a symphony orchestra on the stage instead of a rock band. The people directly in front of the stage are standing; some dressed with party hats and other knick-knacks. There are balloons, flags, whatever toys. Even the conductor's stand is decorated. On the basket used to contain the scores, there is a sheet of paper with just three words: "Love thine enemy".

Not what you would expect out of a serious symphony concert.

Next, the orchestra plays Sir Henry Wood's (the originator of the Proms) fantasy on some English folk tunes. You've got to laugh at the final piece, which is the sailors' tune epitomised in the Popeye cartoons. Everyone tries to have a bit of fun. They do knee bends as the tune is played. At the end of the phrase somebody in a captain's suit raises his motor horn and blasts it: "Parp-parp!"

The orchestra doesn't loose out on the fun either. The violinists try to add discordant notes at the accented points in the melody (if you know the tune, it goes something like: da-da-da-da da-da-da-da da BAM BAM da-da da-da-da-da etc)

The melody repeats and repeats itself. As it does so, the tempo increases until the piece is moving like some bullet train. Yet the playing is perfectly steady and clean. The musicians seem to gum so well that as they pick up speed they take on the new tempo at the same pace with each other. Leonard Slatkin takes a very clean ending: one swipe of his baton and the orchestra ends with two feet on the ground at the exact same time.

Perfect.

Of especial notice: there are three other locations celebrating the Last Night of the Proms concurrently. Besides the Royal Albert Hall, there is Hyde Park, Swansea and Glasgow. All linked by high-tech communications equipment. Choirs perform a selection of pieces, one after another, at each of the three locations.

The grand finale: the singing of Auld Lang Syne and God Save the Queen. The British really know how to enjoy themselves, indulge themselves in music, and love their country.

Britain doesn't have a very long tradition of music, as compared to Germany and Austria. The British were so busy acquiring territories and building up their empire that they neglected their musical heritage, even when music still abounded during the Baroque period when Handel moved to London. British music really surfaced again during the nineteenth century, with people like Elgar, Sir Henry Wood, and thereafter Benjamin Britten, Vaughan Williams and so on. Watching the British at the Proms tonight, it is a scene which can never be repeated in Singapore. Let's not even talk about an SSO concert. Even at a rock concert, if fans want to really let themselves loose, they are forbidden to do so, thanks to entertainment laws. Spectators must be seated and not perform any movement throughout the concert. I cannot remember which singer or band it was, but the organiser was fined because audiences got up to dance and tried to get into close contact with the performers. To put it in simpler terms, the audience must be seated, shut up and just listen to the music. If they want to dance or act like monkeys they must go to the pub or bar.

Even the audiences of a symphony concert are rather dead people. No one really bothers to give a standing ovation. Even their applause is mildly enthusiastic, like someone is watching them with a stern eye lest their favour gets out of hand.

And are Singaporeans patriotic enough? It doesn't need a patriot to sing national songs passionately. Just compare the way the songs are arranged, and the settings in which they are sung. The British arrangements are rich and rousing, including that of "God Save the Queen", which is the national anthem. Even their other alternative anthems are well loved, such as "Land of Hope and Glory". At the Royal Albert Hall, and at the other three locations, when the national anthem is sung, everybody opens their mouth and sings with pride and passion; everybody knows their lyrics. "Majulah Singapura" isn't sung like that. Most people wouldn’t really bother to sing, except if forced to. And if they sing it usually is pretty muted.

Even in TJC: nobody really sings the college anthem. I myself don't even remember the lyrics, although the melody is almost stuck in my head because I once used motifs from the song for "Temasek Sinfonietta". Perhaps the arrangement is just pretty dull, uninspiring. No matter how good an ensemble plays it, it can't bring out the ecstasy an anthem should carry.