go with the flow.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

My Choir

ng Haha. No awards for me this year for Speech Day, which easily translates to me not doing well at all last year. Sigh. Lucky Mum and Dad didn't realise that they didn't receive an invitation this year!

One love.

But this Speech Day performance marks the end of my 4 memorable years with Dunman Choir. It is our very last performance with the choir before officially stepping down and taking a break from CCAs. We rehearsed for this performance, persuading our hearts and minds not to wander off and think too much about this being the last time on stage, but time flies man. Before you know it, the performance has already ended with a wave of Mr Toh's conductor hands as you belt out your very last note on crescendo. Sigh.. Then you step off stage, your toothy grin eventually resulting in teary eyes. Has reality finally hit you? Such reluctance to let the curtains close..

Prague 2003

Man. It's really sad to leave. Entered the choir as a blur Sec 1 and got into Tenor in 2003. Learnt a whole lot of things to begin with, and got transferred to Bass in July when my voice broke too quickly. Had a bunch of new friends, new seniors. The first year ended with a school concert which was staged in the school hall and I finally got to taste the thrill you get up on stage. The adrenaline and the kick. The bright lights and the audience's applause. Then the day after that wonderful concert, we departed Singapore for Prague, Czech Republic to take part in a competition. We toured and bonded well, and that was when I truly felt this sense of belonging with my choir. We came back, triumphant, with a Gold award, Best Conductor and Best Repertoire. Then it was off to Helsinki in Finland and back home again.

Grease Medley

2004 was another busy year. I was beginning to get my techniques right, and learnt well to work it all together. We had a choir camp with a Talentime, and nights that weren't spent sleeping at all during the camp itself. I grew closer to the choir, and realised it was something that couldn't be removed from me, ever. December, we staged a Reunion X'mas Concert at the Victoria Concert Hall and it was such a journey for all of us. We sang so well in songs we didn't know we could, danced and grooved to Grease, went all merry and jolly to christmas tunes, and fell in love with the choir once again! Unforgettable! It was also in this year that I joined the choir committee and contributed as a sectional leader for my section, Bass. Initially, it was tough for me, but I learnt how to handle things slowly and ensured that we performed well during combine. We'd not face any problems and we'd avoid scoldings from Mr Toh. In short, we'd rock!

As Long As I Have Music - VCH

And then came the SYF year, 2005. Preparations were stressful and intense and practices were frequent. Lots of our efforts were put in, and we managed a Gold although we were targeting a Gold with Honours. We were consistent, but we had to improve much more than that. the experience and the learning we went through was priceless. Nobody could beat that amount of things we learnt during that period. Things that would ultimately benefit us in our future - its impossible to measure. The end of the 3rd year was another tour to Prague again. This time, we visited Wroclaw in Poland and Vienna in Austria too. We got to see fantastic scenery and it was an entire unforgettable experience yet again. We made a Gold award and did Singapore proud.

Prague 2005

This year, we all knew that our days in choir were numbered. With the pressures that came along with studies, we savoured the very last months of choir, though we were plagued with fatigue from everything else, and made the best out of everything we could. We educated the Sec 1s and made them feel at home, we did our best to have great times with the juniors, cos afterall, we were the seniors, and we wanted to leave behind a legacy.

BASS

Think choir has really changed me and moulded me into an entirely different person. The opportunities, the life lessons, the scoldings, the joys. They all came at a price. But this price was not a hefty sum, it was just putting in my all, allowing myself to be immersed entirely in Dunman Choir and its people.

Farewell Party - Basses

I really hope we have left behind a legacy, made a difference to the ones around us, and proved ourselves right everytime we were wrong...

The Choir Committee

Sigh. My Tuesdays and Fridays will never be the same again!