Band Journey(Part 1)

The band is the 2nd CCA i joined after being in sa for one year. That was in 2003.Before i even become the tic,i had heard lots of stuff abt the conductor n his temper. N it gave me a bad impression of him. So when i was put in this cca,i was rather reluctant to work with someone like that.

I was not from band,so to me,i had to learn everything from scratch. The types of instruments, the accessories,the scores, the various sections and how they worked. I started off with the admin. That time, the band was preparing for their band concert at Toa Payoh HDB Hub Auditorium. I went along. That was the 1st encounter with Mr G. As i was not the main in charge,so i dun really need to talk to him but just greet him. Later,he told me he needed to extend the rehearsal hours. Ok,i dun really know how to do it, so i went to check with my school admin n did the paperwork.

The concert was fun and the piece i loved most was "Can't take my eyes off u". Cos the way it was performed was fun. The presentation of the entire concert was unique. After the concert,it was the usual photo taking n loading of instruments. My god! the percussion instruments were real heavy!

The next event was syf. I still remember the nights when the band was rehearsing in the hall with mr g. They were playing "tales of the sea". I was memserised by the music, the goosebumps effect. On that day,i fell in love with the band. It was also on that night, Mr G came to me with a list of instruments he wanted to buy for SYF. OMG! They were like totally foreign to me. No choice, had to check with school admin again and then i realised the necessary documents required for the purchase were not in place,so had to obtain them from ccab website and learn all the procedures. N i was racing agst time cos Mr G wanted the instruments to be in within 1 week. There were like abt 8 instruments to be purchased. To me, it was a real stressful process :P

And there was a night when ganesh made his percussion section moved all percussion from the hall to the bandroom which was on the 3rd floor in 5 mins. OMG!they were running like mad but they did it!hahaha!

On the SYF Presentation Night 2003, when the name of the band was announced to perform on stage, my heart swelled with pride. Cos i believe there is no other bands that deserve to perform on the stage of the esplanade other than sajc.It was music making. Though we did not get the top band award,but the music spoke for itself.

That batch gave me the 1st gift which was a precious moment figurine and i was very touched.BUT someone from my office broke my figurine 2 years ago and no matter how hard i search in singapore,hongkong and taiwan,i just cannot the same figurine again. the pple said it is no longer in production. I was really very upset cos it hold so much value. It is the 1st gift from my 1st batch of band members......

Next,we had band dinner. I could still remember how Mr G said he would love it if his students invite him to their wedding so that he can witness their growth. How the batch dedicated their love to batch mates who were retained. It was my 1st band dinner and i had fun attending it cos i could feel the bonds among the batch mates. Oh, it was held in Carlton Hotel at $45.

The final event that moved me to tears was the stepping down of the JC2s. It was in the bandroom. The JC2s played "Twins" for their juniors. While playing,many teared. I still remember Joshua was one of them. The teachers who were present also cried. The love, the emotions that were entwined in the music. No other batch that came along played Twins like them, and Twins is no longer the passing down piece for the band.

And the other one thing i like abt the band is the band courtesy. I think it is really a tradition that needs to be kept but unfortunately it is lost.As the years go by, as the band changes with the nature of the batch, our tradition has also left us, so did a portion of the legacy even tho each band has left their mark behind, forming a part of each other's memory.

Somtimes i wonder,is it you or is it me,that dun know what we want? Have we ever thought abt where we stand, in each other's lives? Or we are just comfortable to be where we are at? if this is the case,y do u throw your tantrum at me as n when u like, without giving any thoughts for how i feel? N the irony is, y do i allow u to do it n forgive you time n again?Y do u think i know and understand you as well as u want me to?

It's weird and there seems to be nothing i can do. Cos time and again, as i reflected,what i am doing is constant with what i had been doing.But now, i am confused by your inconsistencies.

Let's take a step back and go back to square one. Maybe it would be better for both of us.It is so painful to love the right person but at the wrong place and the wrong time.

Most Memorable Birthday EVER!

The day started with lots of birthday wishes from my students n alumni. Zachary was the 1st to send me the birthday wish :P In school, my Chinese class n band members wished me happy birthday whenever they saw me. It was really sweet of them. Zexun even went to tell his classmates whom i dun even know, that it was my birthday. It was quite embarrassing!

My chinese class, 10S12,gave me a sweet surprise by singing the birthday song(which was really quite loud!) n a sinful,fattening cheese cake. BUt it was really nice! the cake!yum yum!The next surprise came when Russell came me the trophy on behalf of the J2 band members. It was something really quite unexpected cos it has really been a long time since the band or rather a batch has given me a birthday gift. The last batch to do so was the 2006 batch :) But the well-wishes do make my day :)

Besides the trophy, Wansing designed a card with a batch photo taken on the day of the concert. It was such a memorable day :) My birthday ended on a happy note,a day when i felt showered with blessings and love. It was in fact the most memorable birthday i ever had in SAJC. N a surprise came when uncle sim msg me @ 8 plus to wish me happy birthday cos i had never expected him to remember my birthday :P

Then on 14th April,my JC1 band members gave me a real BIG surprise when they gave me a beautiful card,with their well-wishes.I heard that Zachary opened the bandroom every morning to let pple in to sign the card. OMG! it was really such sweet thoughts. Yongxiang lied to me,saying the medal was made of chocolate :o That horrible Brian go n post the video of the "unofficial" gift. So embarrassing!! i will just die!!!!

But the moments then would always be in my mind! To all the Band members and my dear students,thanks for making this last birthday so memorable!!

My last concert came to an official end on 28th March 2010@ Esplanade Concert Hall. It is really my last cos after 27 June 2010, the title of "band teacher" would go down history as this is a position i would never take up again.

It was heartening to know that my JCians enjoyed their performance on stage cos this is one of the objectives of the concert.

Of course i had heard comments abt this concert. I understand and accept the different feedback. In fact, it was all within expectations. And all these feedback threw me back into the initial dilemma again. They kept me thinking for days, after the concert,till i realised i'm going in circles. In the end,i gave up. The main reason for me giving up was, all the thinking was affecting in a -ve manner, to the extent that i dreaded going for wed prac......

For the entire month of March, it was solely devoted to band concert preparation. There were so many ups and downs but i was grateful for the pple who were there with me thru'out.

The most memorable moments were spent in band camp, with the jcians. Tho every night, there was a late night discussion and a crisis which ocurred that made me miss my NODAME!!! midnight show!!!! on sat (2nd day of band camp,was supposed to watch with uncle sim) but the crisis was more pressing. We had mcdonald's supper on 2nd night till 3am plus plus, and before that, i was engaged in a 5hr discussion with uncle sim on the concert rehearsal schedule. Come to think of it,i dun really recall what we had discussed. But i dun think for the entire 5 hrs,we were concentrating solely on the schedule. Oh well. nvr mind.

3rd day of band camp,haha,got personalized mcdonald's breakfast delivery from uncle sim. It was REALLY sweet of him and also for remembering how many packets of creamer n sugar i need for my tea :) so i shall forgive him for not answering my morning calls on that sun (the 1st time i ever encounter someone who ask me to give morning calls but dun wake up :P)

Over the 3 days of band camp, we shared a lot with each other. Or rather, it was more of him sharing with me his unhappiness rather than me saying anything. I think it is nice to be given the chance to understand each other better.

After that, i left for Shanghai and it was REALLY NICE of him to remember that i'm returning on sat cos he sent me an sms to ask me abt the trip n once again, there was quite some nonsense going on via sms.

We went to Starbucks with Chen Lin on 26th Mar and stayed till ard 12.30am. Cracked lots of joke n talked nonsense again. i realised we were always talking nonsense :P actually i did not know he was waiting for me to leave on 26th mar till he came to ask me "are you done?" cos i was happily counting $$. haha

the next SWEET thing that he did for this month was he gave me a bottle of chicken essence on concert day. It was TOTALLY unexpected but it was a sweet gesture.

on 31st mar,that naughty brian n joel wanted to go home n leave me n uncle sim at mcdonald to discuss the exco list.OMG!but luckily we all went and had a long discussion. the long discussion was mostly between joel n uncle,cos brian n i were too restless n so we ended up talking to each other.

as i looked back,i realised we spent a lot of time together this month,sharing each other's growth n experiences. It was nice and it certainly helps in our working relationship.

now that the concert is over, there are still things to do:
1) Band Dinner preparatio
2)Induction of Ex-Co n leaders
3)teaching n learning
4)arts enrichment framework
5)activities for h1cl Arts students
6)band trip

I realised there are really lots to complete before i leave :(

Let's just stop all this nonsense once n for all. I'm very tired of all these emotional trauma.It's disgusting and affecting my life. If u are not sure of what u want or rather if u are not aware of what u r doing,it's time u seriously think abt it cos i'm really quite irritated. My life dun rotate around you or your emotions. It's abt time u grow up and be more accommodating, than being self-centred. While u believe u r not such a person, ur actions speak otherwise.

Because of u, i nearly lost a friend, someone who has been so supportive for e past 7 years. If you believe what you had done is considered as support,maybe it's time u sit back and look at how others really do it.

Open your eyes and really look at how this world works. Stop being so emotional and getting whiney over obstacles. Obstacles are not there for you to practise your whining but to strengthen ur character. So just grow up and move on cos i'm really tired of it all.

Yesterday was an eventful day. Last time giving out results and tho the class did not do very well in GP,but their rank points are above 65 which i think it is a testimony of their hard work.

Good to see them again, and I'm elated with the academic achievements of my band members. Esp when they took part in the SYF when they were JC2s. It was never easy to handle both academic n music excellence but they DID IT! n i'm SOOOOO proud of them! :) This is the BEST farewell gift ever!

After band prac, i was supposed to discuss stuff with my dear friend but i had to like practically wait for him for half an hour to settle down, before we can start discussing abt the trip. N that took another 45 mins :( n it's not very fruitful tho we did reach a common consensus. We fought again in the bandroom, n Zachary practically had to put his hands on things that were within my reach, so that i dun threw it at my target. It had been a long time since we last threw things at each other. I think the last time was when we threw cushions at each other during band camp when we were talking in the lounge. We left college at around 9.15pm :( Dropped him off at the train station. The day ended well, though something rather embarrassing happened whil we were talking in the cab. OMG!

It's really a very tiring day and i went to bed after my supper :p

Hwa Chong has emerged top in the nation for Mathematics and the Sciences in the 2009 A-Level Examinations. This adds to the existing list of accolades as the top performing school at the 2009 Singapore Mathematical, Chemistry, Biology and Informatics Olympiads.

Continuing the school's tradition of excellence, 7 out of 10 students scored 3 H2 Distinctions and better.

With 92 perfect scorers, more than 200 students scored the maximum of 90 points for university admission.

In General Paper, with 4 out of 10 scoring a Distinction. This is double the national average for the third year running. Also, virtually all students attained at least a pass.

9 out of 10 students scored Distinction in H2 Biology, up from 8 last year. This is double the National Average.

8 out of 10 scored Distinction for H2 Physics, double the National Average.

8 out of 10 students scored a Distinction in H2 Mathematics, for the third year running.

7 out of 10 students scored a Distinction in H2 Geography, more than double the National Average.

8 out of 10 scored a Distinction for H2 Art.

7 out of 10 scored a Distinction for H2 Chemistry, for the second year running. This is double the National Average.

7 out of 10 scored a Distinction for Knowledge and Inquiry and H2 Literature in English.

Attained a 100% Distinction rate for H1 and H2 German and H1 French, attained 100% Distinction rate for H1 Geography, 3 times the National average.

(Taken from HCI website)

Congratulations to all Juniors who have done Hwa Chong Proud!!! Continue to "Live with Passion, Lead with Compassion" :)