Well guys, it's the final week before our SYF. Nervous? Excited? I'm sure you are bound to feel something. It is perfectly normal to feel any emotions for the upcoming SYF. In fact, let's not care about what the result will be. Gold or Silver, doesn't matter. What matters is that you guys do your best and enjoy the performance. Music is not about competition. Yes, it might seem like an irony. Why have SYF if music is not about competition? Well, what I think the judges are judging is that how well you enjoy your music, how well you play together, how well you blend together, and all that. Not really comparison to other bands. If the judges really compare with each other bands, then that defeats the entire purpose of music. As what I know, there is no limit to the number of Gold with Honours each day of SYF. This shows that the judges do not compare any band to any other band. So the main purpose is to enjoy the music that you make, and the music that everyone else in the band makes.

To make nice music is not easy, really. We practice so much, just for about 12 minutes on stage. If we get our gold, or possibly Gold with honours, the time you put into band practices will NOT be wasted. You will probably remember the achievement we have for SYF in years to come. But if we get silver or below, time is not wasted too. The friendships that you make in band, the sense of belonging to the band. All of us experience what sadness, pain, anger, disappointment in this band. This is what cause us to be bonded. Bands that do not experience this are not really called bands. The definition of Band can be said as to unite as one big family. Although I personally know that there are some people who hate some other people in this band, but isn't that perfectly normal? In a real family, siblings are bound to quarrel with each other. It's the same thing. In our "family", we may quarrel, we may gossip, backstab, whatever, but ultimately, we all work for a common goal, the GOLD for our SYF.

Ask yourself, why did you join band? Yes, it may be an answer like "Cos my mother asked me to". Well, personally, I was in the same boat. My brother asked me to join band because he was from ACS(I) band and he liked it very much. So I was just like, "Ok, anything" and I chose band as first choice. Yes, I did not think much of it then, in fact I didn't even know whether I would be happy. I just did it. The first day I stepped into band, we had instrument tryout, and I managed to scrape through the mini auditions that they have for each section into Flute section. Well, there were about 5 or 6 other sec1s with me in Flute section at that time. Wei Jian was one of them. Well, I can tell you now I did not really enjoy being in flute section when I was sec 1. Through all the pumpings and punishments (for a simple reason: We could not play well), I was obviously not happy. Just like how all of you are not happy when there are punishments. But if you think about it, we do the punishments together and it'll help us bond together. Imagine if the band pumped but all the sec 4s didn't need to. Everyone would hate the sec4s, wouldn't they? That is why, All for one, One for all. Anyway, as a result of all these punishments, about 3 of my section mates quit band. Well, I do not really have much to say about these people who quit band. I respect their decision. If they do not like to be in band, I am not forcing them to stay either. Personally I am still quite close with one of my section mates who long left band and is now in Cross country. He is very happy in Cross country now, as much as I am happy in Band.

Well, basically Wei Jian was one of the closest friends I had in flute section then. He knew how much I sucked when I was sec 1. If you want to know more just ask him ^^. Well, no one started off fantastic in his instrument. I sucked a lot. I couldn't make a sound most of the time, just those kind of air sounds. Not a solid sound at all. But well, when you start off an instrument and can't make a sound, there are 2 things you can do. 1) Give up, or 2) Persevere! Needless to say, I did option 2, and I never said die. As a result, my studies suffered horrendously. My secondary 1 results in SA2 was top 35 in the entire cohort, but in sec2, i was 35th position in CLASS. Yes, the contrast is huge. It's because I devoted my time to music. Now, I am not blaming the band for my lousy studies. My studies is suffering only because I spend more time on music rather than on studies. It's as simple as that. I will never blame the band for my studies. Anyway, I had no tuition also, and as a result I nearly retained in my sec3 end of year. Criteria to promote to sec 4 is to pass English and 2 other subjects. Just to let you know, I only passed English in CA2 for sec3. That's how bad my studies were. I'm not that smart you know. It's just a matter of putting in hard work.

Then, I joined Moulmein Wind Symphony at around sec3, with Stanley. We played for one concert, then after that we left due to other commitments. Then I decided to try for Philharmonics Youth, just for the exposure and experience, and I managed to pass the auditions as well. Through all these years, I feel so blessed to be able to have gained all these experience and exposure.

When Mrs Tey selected me to go for the audition for the International Music Camp in US, I was totally nervous and excited, both at the same time. What kind of feeling is that, you may ask. You will know on the SYF day itself. Well, when I stepped into the audition room, I was totally on the verge of screwing up every single damn thing. My fingers were shivering and I couldn't hold the flute properly (Please don't do that on SYF day). But surprisingly, the next day the teachers told me I was selected to go for the camp! I was ecstatic, cause only 2 people in the entire audition was chosen. I mean only 2 people CAN get chosen. So obviously I was happy. Wouldn't you be if you were in my shoes?

Well I learnt a whole lot of things over there, be it cultures of other countries or music. And their food are fantastic. But that is not the point. I wouldn't have experienced all of this if I did not persevere after not making a good tone on my flute. As a result of going for the US camp, I missed the MSSB concert last year and National Band Competition. However, it's still all good. Soon after, at about november, I decided to try for Singapore National Youth Orchestra (SNYO), and also, I passed the auditions too. In case you would like to know, I used Carnival of Venice for audition piece (the one I'm playing for concert later this year). Again, the happiness I experienced is undescribable. That is because SNYO sponsors about $55 an hour for your private lessons with an SSO teacher. My teacher charges about $70 hour, so that means I only have to pay $15 an hour for a fantastic lesson each week. I feel so fortunate to have been able to achieve thus far.

Again I would like to illustrate my point. DO NOT EVER GIVE UP! Mr Kwok's stories of success is not wrong. If you listen properly, it all makes sense. It makes A LOT of sense. Failure does not mean you have given up, it means that you have not tried hard enough. Do not give up.

It's not only for SYF that you practice. There is a chance that if you just devote your entire time into music, that you will become so professional that you will just easily do music as your career in future. I do hope that, after reading this long post, you will understand why I cried last saturday. This is my last official week in Maris Stella Symphonic Band. I will miss you guys. Remember, without you, there is no band.

Chien Teng