ON SYF

Well, if you've been wondering what happened to the online posts here, it's cos I've been busy with SYF. I think instructors have developed a love-hate relationship with this bi-annual event. Well, so what is it? SYF is the short form for Singapore Youth Festial Central Judging. It's a programme that MOE has created to keep track and assess the standard of the performing arts in schools. Every year, the event rotates between Primary and Secondary. This year it's Primary schools. Schools could send their students in for Central judging in Choir, Band, Dance, Drama, etc.

This year, SYF for Choirs started on the 15th April and went on till 22nd April. I must say that my experience of this year's SYF is definitely much much better. For a start, they got renowned international choral experts from Slovania, Taiwan, Korea, United States as well as two of our local experts to be the adjudicators for this year's event. I would say that it's the first time that we were assessed by such high quality adjudicators who were specialists in the choral tradition. So I'll give them 5 Stars for that.

Secondly, the conductors really got a treat this year after SYF when these adjudicators actually gave us free workshops in conducting! This is definitely a milestone in the history of SYF. I feel that overall, this year's event was organised very well as they also took into account the development of conductors in raising the overall standard of SYF.

There was also a dialogue session with the adjudicators at the end of SYF on the 22nd of April. This was also useful in getting feedback for the overall event and to know how the choirs did overall.

I conducted 3 choirs this time: ACS Primary, CHIJ Our Lady of Good Counsel and West Grove Primary School. They all came in Silver. Well, I was a bit disappointed that CHIJ didn't get a GOLD but I was pleased with ACS and West Grove. The event gave me some opportunities to talked to fellow conductors. One of them said, "Don't worry, Slow by SLOW we will surely all improve"... haha. I thought that was an apt comment.

Being a conductor has surely been a colorful journey for me. It's filled with wonderful moments and times in which I just wanted to give up. It is certainly not an art-form that one partakes on his/her own. So many factors come into play to groom an excellent choir. Most importantly, at the end of the day, I would say that SYF did provide a platform for choirs to have a chance to go on stage and do their best.

I hope that through this event, students will not just relate being in the choir to SYF cos that will be really sad. Being in a choir to me is really about singing together. I wish SYF could be more fun and less stressful and that conductors can have more fun. Sure, it is an excellent platform to learn about commitment, dedication and excellence in what we do. However a student is already faced with that every day at school. So my take is, why not more fun and creativity for SYF and give students a chance to interact, learn and listen to one another and celebrate being a child, celebrate friendship and celebrate being able to sing together, cos that is surely one of life's greatest joys!

Life's Greatest Joy.

To be able to make music, to sing, to play an instrument is surely one of life's greatest joy.... Last week, I finally got to watch a much talked about movie, August Rush.

"I believe in Music, the way some people believe in fairy tales." August Rush.

The movie celebrates the power of Music to unite people and to give them hope in life's darkest moments. It's a beautifully made film with many touching moments, inspiring words and a tribute to music and those who love with a pure heart.

To me, the greatest message in the movie, "It's all around us, all you have to do is listen."
Without listening, there would be no Music. So for today, simply listen and hear the music all around you.

School House Rockz Final Episode

Wow, we have finally came to the final episode! Its been an exciting road following Inka’s journey and the lessons she had learnt along the way, so now we will get to see how Inka has grown through it all.

In today’s special one hour episode, we learnt that Inka has agreed to return to FGS, to the delight of her two ‘friends’ Amni and Ros, therefore dropping out of the Brain Juice competition and leaving her Eastwood teammates with only two days to revise their performance!

But on the day of the competition, Inka finally learns the truth from Shawn, who tells her in a song that it was in fact Dawn that has helped her when her two ‘friends’ had intended to leave her in the lurch.

Poor Inka is now torn apart. But before she has a chance to confront her ‘friends’, the Brain Juice competition has started without her. Not surprisingly, the confident FGC team easily beat the still shaken Eastwood team; it looks like Eastwood’s chance of winning the Brain Juice competition is slipping fast!

Luckily, there’s still a second round to go; and what’s a TV musical any without song and dance items? As the final round of the Brain Juice competition, the four girls from the FGS team gave a delightful performance about friendship, blending their harmonies tightly even as they execute an exciting dance routine. It looks like FGS is gonna win the trophy again this year!

Meanwhile, Inka finally had an angry confrontation with her former schoolmates, both whom confessed that it was their plan to get her caught for shoplifting. At last, with a comforting hug from Daddy, Inka finally finds out who her real friends are.

And just in time too, for her to rejoin the rest of the increasingly panicking Eastwood team by entering the stage with a lovely accapella solo, which soon becomes a really cool dance song that easily tops the FGS team’s already impressive performance.

For their brilliant song and dance item, Eastwood was finally awarded winners of the Brain Juice competition! To top it off, Inka announces to her old friends that she has decided to remain at Eastwood. The episode ends with one last song and dance number that includes up to 50 kids, an excellent finale to the series!

I felt that School House Rockz was great entertainment for a Sunday morning. I was also very impressed by the collective performance of young cast; the multi-talented leads and many co-stars, including among them friends from Athenarts, did a great job in acting, singing and dancing their parts. Good job guys, keep up the good work!