One Band, One Family

Some call it (or rather, spell it) as Kampung Gobel, some say it’s Kampung Goebilt and some, Kampung Gobilt. Let’s stick to Kampung Goebilt for now, shall we? (for that was how the name was spelled on the kampung’s school’s wall).

So anyway, what about Kampung Goebilt?

Well, last week, the band was informed that we were invited for a performance there, for the opening ceremony of the Blok Emas Building. Though we were only informed of this about a week earlier, the band leaders were quick to arrange practices and choose those who were to perform. Intensive practices were done and though some only had chance to practice once (like the choral speakers who were away for state level competiton. Well done choral speakers! State champion!), the band was ready by Saturday morning to perform.

We assembled at the Music Room at 6.45am. We got ready, and proceeded to the bus.

Headcount!

Our band teachers

Fitting all the instruments into the bus took a while, but we suceeded! We waited for certain matters to be settled and while waiting, snapshots were taken.

Smiles from the front :)

Smiles from the back!

After a while, we were off! On the way, we were informed that we might have to march so we had to memorise Abington Ridge, Hustle and Sideline Shuffle. Fortunately, those were the songs we played for Sports Day, so most of us were able to memorise the pieces before we reached our destination.

Practising.. in the bus! Truly a "whenever, whatever, wherever" moment

After about less than an hour’s drive, we reached our destination. Kampung Goebilt is like many kampungs but signs of current and future developments are clear, the Blok Emas Building being one of them. The kampung was beautiful and peaceful, a place where, I quote from a band member “a girl can sit in the middle of the road and not be run over by a car”. The people were really friendly, especially the makciks who were involved in the procession, greeting us with cheerful smiles, a clear sign that the Blok Emas Building must mean a lot to them.

We were told that we did not have to join the procession and therefore,  there was no marching. We got ready at the field and when the procession arrived, we played a few songs. Then we waited at behind the field as the speeches were presented.

:-)

While waiting, some posed for the camera.

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Some of our Form 5 band seniors

Find the hidden Lip Yi!

Bored, Dae?

Amanda, the horn player (not!)

Ginny

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Finally, after the speeches, we performed once again with the songs Mamma Mia, Tuxedo Junction and Freedom’s Light. We made it a point to enjoy the songs and move to the beat. We should do that more next time. It brings life to a performance.

Performing!

Percussion Section

Baritone sax and trombones

Basses

Flutes

We ended our performance and walked back to the bus. Once again, we had to fit all the instruments into the bus and thankfully, things were easier this time around as we already knew how to arrange everything. Last farewells were bid to the kampung and its people (and not to forget, its cute little kampung kids!) and we were off, back to our school.

One last photo before I end this post.

Bee Hoon!!

I must say that we should be thankful that good, proper food is often, if not always, provided for us. Besides, even if the food may not be what we like, food always taste better on a hungry stomach “bak kata pepatah, perut lapar, semuanya lemak” and after performances, we are always hungry. Therefore, appreciate your food (need I tell this to obvious food-loving Malaysians?).

That’s all for now.

Till then, sit tall and smile.

The school’s Koperasi has contributed a lot to the school. Though only a few years old, our school boasts of a very successful Koperasi, selling many products and having many loyal customers. Want ice-cream? Koperasi is the place to go. Pen running out of ink? Again, Koperasi is the place to go. Your ‘aunty’ came? Koperasi holds your salvation, hahax!

And so, the Hari Koperasi celebration. This was not initiated by our school, it was an annual celebration. However, this was the first time our school celebrated Hari Koperasi and the band was asked to perform.

The celebration started with the arrival of the committee and members of the Koperasi Lembaga Pelabuhan Kuching. Then the national and school anthem was sung, accompanied by the band. Speeches were given, a song was sung by the Koperasi members and finally! The band performed!

We played Mamma Mia. Yeap, Mamma Mia only but it was really good. The school loves that piece and whenever the band reaches the song “I Had A Dream”, many will start singing along to the song. After our performance, there was a dance-drama performance. The assembly ended with the state anthem, accompanied by us, the band, again!

However, the day was not over yet. A quiz was given with questions about the Koperasi. After that, a tree-planting ceremony was held near the Koperasi shop and finally, the sales by all the classes kicked off! Tasty food were sold at great prices! And so the band members along with the other teresians lavished themselves with good good food and went back that day happier (and heavier).

Pictures from the celebration will be posted up soon. That’s all for now. Buh bye!!

It’s that time of the year again. Our school’s annual Sports’ Day.

Oh how we love Sports’ Day.

We reached Jubilee Ground before daybreak (at 6.30 a.m.) and did our warm-ups. Then we were instructed to walk one round around the track to warm ourselves up before marching.

As the first event started, band members sheltered at the side and cheered for our own comrades as we do every year. It was a fairly hot morning to start with but most of us came prepared. Some squeezed their way under Ginny’s pink umbrella while others brought along China fans to fan themselves.

And some, with a stretch of creativity (or perhaps desperation), took cover…

… behind a bass drum.

Nonetheless, as the event came to an end, we got into our respective position in the block.

Gloves worn, instrument straps fastened and with our heads held high, we stood in attention.

Elaine and Ginny were the photographers of the day.

That was not us in attention but being nice, Elaine and Ginny asked that they posed properly with smiles and all.

Clearly the band members were still enjoying themselves.

We were allowed to be at ease after Elizabeth was satisfied with our block so Elaine and Ginny took the opportunity to snap more pictures. Sports’ Day is a day of fun and games. Therefore it would be wrong to strip band members off the fun of the day with strict-looking pictures of themselves.

As we always do before a performance on the actual day, the committee gave some words of encouragement after all the fussing on uniform and tuning the hour before. We had a short moment of silence before the start of the whole thing.

And then the opening ceremony began.

Leading the march past, the band played 2 pieces as it approach the Grand Stand – Abington Ridge and Sideline Shuffle.

Taking Sideline Shuffle, a swing piece to field was a bold move but the band did well as good feedback was received.

After the gong was sounded, the band was dismissed. We wished luck to those participating in events.

Sports’ Day this year was a success. With the fair weather on our side, the band performed brilliantly.

Every year, the band does its honour of leading the march past. Such an honour should never be taken for granted or be forgotten. None should ever take a Sports’ Day performance for just a performance. The pride that comes with it should be one that we remember.

After all, Sports’ Day makes many things possible – like the taking of that magnificent shot of our drum major.

BAND AUDITION IS NEXT SATURDAY, 17 JANUARY 2009.

First and foremost, welcome back and welcome to the new members. =)

It is a new year with some new changes. Firstly, band is no longer 3 in 1. It is now 2 in 1 so all members are required to join a sport. Sport practice will take place from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. Band practice will resume from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Sectionals for afternoon and morning sessions stay as usual.

Do not fear for your KK marks though because the school will only take the 2 best, which would normally be your band participation’s marks. You are now encourage to take up a sport to have an extra certificate, to keep fit, to learn something new and to slim down. But please return to band at 9 a.m. sharp. Punishments for latecomers are as usual.

However, should you choose not to take up a sport or there is no sport practice in the morning, then please come for band at 8 a.m. Time is precious especially since the practice time has reduced.

For the new members, a warm welcome to all of you. Band will without a doubt change your life. Joining band will not only give you good KK marks but it will also give you a family. You will have the experience of a lifetime. So welcome abroad. =D

We all have the human resistance to change so we understand if some of you might feel a little upset. But remember, change what you can’t accept, accept what you can’t change. And when you can’t accept what you can’t change, you adapt.

The second night was a busy night for the committee. The Quiz lasted until 11 p.m. After cleaning up and settling down with our sleeping bags, we divided ourselves into 2 groups to multitask. On one hand were those preparing the slideshow for the following day’s presentation and on the other were those wrapping up the prizes for the following day’s Prize Giving. While doing all that, we held a meeting to decide on the winners for the different categories. It was not easy deciding on the winners. So we had to come down with a system.

Burning midnight oil

The whole preparation for Band Camp Day 3 took nearly 3 hours. The committee barely got any sleep the night before so it was no wonder that the juniors ended up waking earlier than the committee. Once again, our alarms failed to work (so sad).

What we survived on at night

Due to the slight delay, the morning exercise was cancelled. It was replaced by a punishment session for those who broke their Pringles instead. In every Band Camp, each participant would be given a ‘pet’ (often fragile) to take care of. Last year, it was a piece of spaghetti. This year, it was a piece of Pringles.

Lining up for punishment

A punishment list had been prepared. The punishments varied largely from ‘interview your feet’ to ‘chase a bug around’. We did manage to discover some hidden talent though. Eleena for instance, could be the female Shakespeare of the 21st century. She got down on one knee and professed her love to the water cooler.

Cinta!
Saya suka padamu!
Matamu cantik macam… bulan!
eShape-mu agak curvy dan menarik!

Junior and senior

A photo taking session replaced the marching drill after that. Band Camp was the last band activity for the year 2008. It was only right for pictures to be taken as tokens of remembrance. Memories fade but pictures are forever.

Orange Group – Power Oranges

Lemon Group – Super Lemon

Durian Group – Royal Queens

Blueberry Group

Tomato Group – Tomato Sauce Divas

Strawberry Group – Strawberry Sundae

Band practice and sectionals resumed after breakfast. We decided on the pieces to be performed for the parents later that afternoon. We chose 6 pieces – A Regal Fanfare and Entrance (Glen Daum), Birdland (Josef Zawinul), Automatic (Utada Hikaru), Mamma Mia (by Abba), A Bugleloo Fanfare and Entrance (Glen Daum) and Tuxedo Junction (E. Hawkins).

The bass

Our Band Camp was slowly coming to an end. After lunch, everybody had to start cleaning up. The groups on duty cleaned the KH room where they slept, made sure that the rubbish stayed put in the overflowed bins and washed the toilets. Meanwhile, the committee tidied and arranged the Music Room for the arrival of the parents. We had to be responsible. =)

The clean toilets

At 2.00 p.m., the parents started arriving. We brought them to the Junior Lab 1 for a short presentation of the activities we held in Band Camp 2008. Unfortunately the movie presentation, which Amanda spent the whole night doing (poor thing), lagged horribly so we had to improvise. We ended up just showing them all the photos taken during camp. When it came to the photos of the Rhythm Game, Lip Yi was sure the band could no longer do it. The band protested loudly in return so they earned themselves a dare to perform it again.

It was really quite cool to see the whole band, crammed everywhere in the lab, clapping a single rhythm so confidently. We could not help smiling. The parents ought to be proud. We were. Madam Kong said to claim their prizes but Mr. Marvin said many mistakes were obvious because there were too many pairs of hands!

Too many hands spoil the rhythm

After the presentation, the parents were ushered back to the Music Room to watch the band’s performance of the 6 chosen pieces. Mr. Marvin conducted the performance. The performance lasted for about 20 minutes. Then we moved on to the climax of Band Camp – the Prize Giving.

Mr. Marvin and Pn. Kong

There were 7 categories this year. Some were made up at the last minute because we felt that these people or section deserves some form of recognition. It is in recognition that we find motivation so we must not be stingy. We spent more than RM 100 on prizes. So here are the winners:

Best Cheer: Durian

They won because their cheer reflected back on their team spirit and their group name (they actually said “bask in our scent!”). It was entertaining and more importantly, it was able to fire up the spirits of the members. That was really the main purpose of a cheer. It had to be able to be performed anywhere to menaikkan semangat.

Durian doing their royal cheer

Best Fashion Show: Durian

They won because they actually showed their designs. Many forgot it was a fashion show and hid the designs of their bandanas. Durian team waved their bandanas several times on stage. They also got extra points for crowd participation when they did their gimmicks. Besides, they had a fan. (Who was their retarded facilitator)

Durian members claiming their prize again

Best Group: Tomato

Tomato had good teamwork and team spirit and their performance in all activities, games or cleaning duties alike, was above average. The Tomato people were never once down (because of Joanna). They did their duties efficiently and they performed the best in games. (Yes, the points were nonexistent)

Tomato Sauce Leader and Assistant Leader on stage

Best Camper: Judith Beatrice (Durian)

A new member in the band, she had yet to master playing the Bb major scale. Therefore, she had to sit out on many of our practices. While the others practiced, she had to sit quietly on stage and stand the boredom alone. She was forced to miss out on a lot of things but it was really admirable that despite that ‘torture’, she was able to maintain her level of energy. She was excited when it came to the things that she could partake – even more so than the others. For that, it was really quite amazing.

Judith, Best Camper 2008

Best Assistant Leader: Alicia Eng (Orange)

She was the source of energy and enthusiasm in the Orange team. She had lots of ideas and lots of energy; so much that we could actually notice the difference she brought to her team. She channelled her energy effectively and got her group off many levels in the Station Games. Her contribution to her group could not be overlooked.

Alicia, Best Assistant Leader 2008

Best Leader: Clarissa Chai (Tomato)

The leader who led her group to the top. She was smart and strategic. She thought before she act and was able to control her members. She kept her team in top shape and made sure they did their jobs right. Her strong sense of responsibility and leadership earned her that title.

Clarissa, Best Leader 2008

Best Section: Trumpet

They won because they won the Rhythm Game. So lame hor?

But they also won because they could cope with their pieces la. Trumpeters have been getting pretty hard pieces these few years. They were often forced to play outside of their comfort zone. So for their effort and their obvious improvement, they deserved the prize.

Amanda carrying her section’s pride

I know what you are thinking. ;p

We did go that detailed. As our system went, for every category, we had 6 nominees. Then we weighed their pros and cons to short-list them to 2 finalists. Then we would argue their pros and cons some more before we finally vote. That was why it took 3 long hours.

We even ate dinner at odd hours

After the Prize Giving, Band Camp 2008 officially ended. Thank you to the teachers in-charge who made this camp possible and to the other teachers who stayed overnight with us. Thank you to Mr. David who automatically offered his service when we screamed “Teacher! No water!” Thank you to Mr. Marvin who made the whole reason we had this camp successful. Thank you to the committee for all your hard work. And finally thank you to all the participants. Your coming and enjoying the camp made the committee’s hard work entirely worthwhile. It meant a lot.

It brought that much joy

We hoped everybody enjoyed camp. We are really sorry for the things that went wrong. This was our first and last time. But take some notes of our mistakes and plan a far better camp in the future. It’s how we improve anything and everything. =)

Graduating from  Band Camp 2008

The committee had actually planned a night patrol at every hour during the night but they all got too exhausted by the Night Factor that they decided the night patrol was ridiculous and dozed off to dreamland.

Band Camp Day 2 should have started with a trumpet and a trombone blaring in the KH room but unfortunately, all the juniors woke up too early for our “alarm clocks” (Elizabeth and Dae) to do their job. It was quite disappointing. They were going to play the army song. Believe it or not, they actually practiced (not so hard, but they did).

The people who woke up ridiculously early

Morning exercise was scheduled to start at 6 a.m. Since we failed to get our hands on a radio this year, there was no jazzercise. So we did the normal warm ups – jogging, muscle stretching and for some vain committee, cam-whoring.

Proof of vain committee

A short marching drill followed after the warm ups. Since we are always somewhat falling behind with marching practices, we are always forced to start right from the beginning – getting a straight line and a smart dressing. Wheeling and 45 degrees marches were taught as well.

Wheeling

Our Drum Majorette is particularly strict about watches this year. Watches are not allowed during marching to prevent clock-watching during the practice. Granted, marching under the hot sun is tiring but because of that, it also requires more concentration than usual. Having a watch to constantly keep up with when the practice will end can be quite distracting.

The watch offenders

After sweating some, breakfast arrived. A water-cooler is provided this year along with some Milo. Milo tastes extremely good during camp. Tea was also provided. The breakfast menu was Bee Hoon.

People enjoying their breakfast

After breakfast was sectionals followed by a full band practice. 2 new pieces were distributed – some fanfare entrances by Glen Daum and Tuxedo Junction by E. Hawkins.

Basses and horns sectionals

Band practice continued after lunch until 3.15 p.m. During that session, our instructor held a rhythm game for the sections to help them get their rhythm right for one of the fanfares. There were 3 rounds. Percussion forfeited the first round because they couldn’t get enough people to participate. But the tuba and the bassist were disqualified altogether because there were only 2 of them. =.=”

Round 1 – Flutes (sit down)

The bassist hence became the “marks counter”. For round 2, everyone in the section had to stand up and clap with their hands over their heads. Flutes lost their points because they didn’t stand up. Percussion participated in Round 2 after gathering 6 of them and scored a full mark.

Round 2 – Percussion joining in

Finally, for round 3, each section had to send their 3 best representatives to stand and clap. Every section sent the older ones. Percussion once again did no mistake.

Round 3 – Trombone’s 3 best clapper

After that, the marks were counted.

Lip Yi: Mr Marvin, how to count for percussion? They have no marks for round 1.
Mr Marvin: Oh. They didn’t even need to join in the other rounds actually!
Band: *laughs*
Percussion: Nooo~
Mr Marvin: Ok la. With that amount of people, they should make around 6 mistakes.

The ‘mark counter’ who had trouble counting

The section with the highest score was trumpet followed by the basses and horns. It was too bad for the percussion.

After the rhythm game was a short break and then came the highlight of the camp – the station games. There were 7 stations altogether, each in-charged by a committee. Clues were given at each station to guide the groups to the next station.

The first station was Colour-blind, held at the Koperasi Field. They were first asked to pick 2 colours out of red, green, white and yellow. Then, they had to slide down the Koperasi slope (everybody loved that!) on a mat that had been spilled with detergent.

Wheee~!!

Then one chosen member had to wheelbarrow the rest of the group members across a distance to where a container of beans and 2 empty containers were.

Wheelbarrow-ing

Once there, they had to start separating the beans according to the colours they had chosen.

Carrying out the most tedious task

Then, in an effort to try stealing their concentration, the committee (Elizabeth) and their facilitator would throw random questions at them. It seemed that everybody had memorised the twisted Mozart sentence by then. But the famous question was:

What is 75 square?

That got them working…

Battling over 75 squares

Bet they will never forget the answer to that ever again (5625).

After 20 minutes, they were allowed to move on to the next station, The Fishing Game with Erica in the field. Here, they had to tie a sponge to their hands and carry it across a distance to fill up a bottle.

Anxious people

It does take some strategising. With a good strategy, a group can fill up to 6 bottles in the allotted time.

When the bottle is full, they would have to ‘fish’ it back to the starting point and empty it into a bucket.

Bottle fishing

Station 3 was an obstacle course with Amanda. They had to carry a cheapskate smarties on a spoon with their mouths and go through a short series of obstacle.

The Smarties Obstacle

At the end of the obstacle, they had to empty the smarties into a small container.

Dumping of the cheapskate smarties

After 6 minutes, they were allowed to leave. After all the obstacles, they were given a break with an easy station with Elaine in the classroom. It was called ‘Spin the Egg’. They only to decide which egg was cooked and which was raw between 2 given eggs.

Spinning the egg

That station became a bit too easy when we switched soft-boiled eggs for hard-boiled ones, thinking it would be ‘harder’. But an easy break was always welcomed.

The next station was in the field again, with Ginny. This time, there was a banana hanging down.

Tuk banana

And… that’s what they were supposed to do – stick as many toothpicks as possible into the banana. That’s the big, big, long, long banana Elaine bought at the last minute because the bananas brought by Amanda got rotten (because she kept them in her BAG overnight).

Amanda’s rotten bananas

Anyway, the banana was hung according the Marilyn’s and Lip Yi’s height (which was a bit high) and band had short people (like Amanda) so they must really co-operate to achieve their noble goal – poke the banana until it’s rotten.

Yes, carry them if you have to

It was fun to watch the banana got squeezed out of its skin and got stuck to people’s foreheads… but the game had to end at some point.

The last station was Lysandra’s Transferring station. At first, the teams had to line up and transfer balloons with newspapers. But who knew that 100 balloons couldn’t be enough for 6 groups so Lysandra was forced to improvise. At the end, they had to transfer newspapers instead, which was harder because newspaper is weightless.

Transferring newspaper with newspaper

Once the crumpled newspaper had reached the last person in line, she would have to throw it into a bucket a short distance away. It was easier said than done. The air resistance was stronger.

It became easier though when they realised that they could use the water nearby to wet the newspaper to give it some weight.

Preparing to launch

After that last station was the finale – Tug of War between the groups. The two first groups to finish – Tomato and Durian were against each other in the first round.

Tomato getting ready…

Durian: Eh, why they got newspaper?!
Us: TAKE LA!!

So Durian also started warming up. Meanwhile, the two groups’ facilitators started going against each other.

The two groups in place…

Marilyn: My group sure win one! Got Joanna!
Lip Yi: NO LA! My group sure win one! We got Judith!

And so the battle began.

Marilyn: Ready? Set! GO!

And so the two groups tugged as hard as they could…

Ahh?

And the string broke within 1 second…

-.-”

Sweat the whole world…

So we had to find yet another finale for the groups. With what little balloons we had left, we gave them the challenge to blow the balloon until it popped. Each group had to send one representative. Tomato, as usual, sent out Joanna.

Joanna: I need to concentrate!

Blueberry was missing so only 5 groups took part at this last challenge.

Working hard for their groups

POP!

Joanna, the winner

Joanna won first place. Tomato was overjoyed.

Meanwhile, things got tense among the rest, especially for this poor Orange girl…

Blowing a stubborn balloon with a strong will to live

Poor Valerie. She blew and blew but the balloon just wouldn’t give up.

Everybody cheering her on

It took really long for the silly balloon to pop. But by then, everybody was happy for her, not only the members of her own team.

Durian showing her support

The station game ended with that final pop. The committee as usual had to clean up the mess. But to ease up our burden, we bribed them with non-existent points for any groups who would help clean up.

It was a good idea too. A lot of groups showed up.

Cleaning up

Further band practice followed after dinner. Then it was Chill Out time. The groups were asked to present their group cheer. Some groups had to make changes due to a sudden shortage of members.

Tomato’s Cheer

After the group cheer presentation was the Fashion Show. They had to show off their group’s bandana design.

Kher Ching, the Fashion Queen

Some groups went off the course a little bit and came up with a fashion talk show or something similar. But it was really those that we were thankful for because those were the funniest ones.

The Lemon’s Fashion Talk Show

Eleena was the talk person, Audi was the designer and all those behind were her very kesian models.

Audi: This one. You wanna know how I came up with this idea? Well, this is a burglar. One night, I saw him run off from my neighbour’s house with NOTHING to cover his face you know! So I called him over and made him this!

That’s not the burglar. That’s the one with the weird Superman-style tube

The last activity for the night was a short quiz about the band.

The Quiz

And with that, the second day of Band Camp hence ended. The groups on duty cleaned their places and the committee cleaned the Music Room.

We’re sure they had fun.

Showing off their wet backs

Lights out.

Every year, the band holds a Band Camp to learn new pieces and to promote interaction among the members. This year’s camp was held from the 6th of November to the 8th of November. It was a 3 days 2 nights camp.

Camping in an air-con room

Our band camp started on the afternoon of Prize Giving Day so we had a performance in the morning. Check-in started at 2.00 p.m. so the members were allowed to go home first.

For Band Camp this year, the members were divided into 6 different groups categorised by the different types of fruits. A facilitator is assigned to each group.

Red = Tomato Group (Facilitator: Marilyn)
Green = Durian Group (Facilitator: Lip Yi)
Blue = Blueberry Group (Facilitator: Dae)
Yellow = Lemon Group (Facilitator: Erica)
Pink = Strawberry Group (Facilitator: Olivia)
Orange = Orange Group (Facilitator: Michelle)

The fruits were picked by the facilitators by the way. =P

Band picture is extremely colourful this year

Bandanas (just a piece of cloth actually) of their group’s respective colour were also given to them. There were 3 rules to the bandana:

1. They must wear it all the time.
2. They must design it. Every member in the same group must have the same design.
3. When their group is on duty, the members must wear the bandana on their heads (so that people know who are the kuli-s for the session)

A picture paints a thousand words (That’s their group cheer la)

During briefing, a single sentence was revealed to them. Their task was to memorise the sentence:

The phenomenon that was Mozart was a hunger for life, a thirst for love and a foreboding of death that in his hands became incomparable music.

It was meant to sound rather twisted.

Lip Yi: The phenomenon that was Mozart-
Joanna: What the heck!?

Laugh at Joanna!

Notice that all the facilitators were wearing t-shirts the colour of their group, except for Erica who owns no yellow shirt at all.

The camp rules and the camp schedule were distributed later on. Rule no. 6 crushed the hearts of many hopeful campers:

Partying after lights out is strictly prohibited.

They got too depressed over the lack of party

Our previous instructor once said: Lights out, mouths open! They could no longer live to that. =D

After briefing was ice breaking. For ice breaking, we did charade. Some got to act really funny ones such as “Giving birth” and “Shrek”. The hardest one was probably “Dead man’s chest” acted by Stephanie Nina. Nobody could get the word “man” so she was forced to resort to desperate means… until someone (ahemkherchingahem) actually screamed out “penis”. =.=” Amanda and Lip Yi acted the last one, “Car lights”, before letting them off to plan their group name and group cheer.

Durian planning its cheer

After 30 minutes, band practice resumed. Mr Marvin, our instructor commented on our performance that morning. He said that the long wait had tired us until we all look sour-faced during the performance. He had to suffer an earful from the lady sitting next to him. So he proclaimed the band’s vision for the next 5 years:

Sit tall and smile. :):)

He noticed that we talked a lot during practice so he made yet another vision – master sign language.

Not that sign language!

After practice was dinner followed by the mysterious “Night Factor”. At 7.30 p.m., all the campers were gathered in the Music Room. The lights were dimmed and the campers were briefed.

“This is not a game for those with a weak heart. You will be blindfolded and you will be tied. Then you’ll be left in the darkness. It will test you mentally and physically. If any of you would like to quit, please say so now.”

Lysandra made the game sound so scary during the briefing that some actually did quit. For the rest who stayed, we instructed them to shut their eyes and we proceeded to blindfold and tie them.

Poor children…

After that, they were led out one by one to wait in the darkness for their turn at the stations. Some waited for 10 minutes, some waited for 2 hours. Some quit along the way because they were tired. Some quit because they had to pee. -__-“ Only a few quit because they got scared.

The wait

While they were waiting, the committee tried to scare them. We really did! We steered them away to here and there. We blew hot air to their necks and brushed against them for an instant. We made ghost-whistling sounds. We banged the tables, banged the door, even took out some tongs to make the tapping sounds. Olivia even pretended to cry!

Lysandra: It’s ok… It’s ok… You can give up…
Olivia: *walks around like nothing happened while sniffing*

That part was hilarious. Some participants may have heard muffled laughter. But Dae made the worst attempt. She actually let out several bloodshot screams! Crazy, man…

The hantu-hantu

Initially, they probably got scared. But as time passed, they all got immune to the attempts. No one even flinched anymore. Hopefully after this, no one would be afraid of school at night anymore.

After 10 minutes, we brought in our first participant to the stations. There were 5 stations altogether; each designed to test the participant from a different angle. The stations were set in a classroom, set up by the committee to feel ‘scary’. Wet newspapers and cooked rice were splattered across the floor. The participants had to take off their slippers before entering.

Bringing in the first participant

The first station, Brain Power was to test the participant’s IQ and alertness. 15 items were scattered across a table and the participant was allowed to see them for 30 seconds. Then they would be blindfolded again and asked to name at least 8 of the items shown to them.

There was a book, a watch, a Pringle, a ribbon, a hairclip, a rubber band, a plastic, a Nestum packet, a duster, a piece of paper, a plastic bottle, a comb, a toothpick, a pin and Lysandra’s nametag. A torchlight was just there to provide light.

Going through the first round

The second station, Tampui was a bit more traumatising. A diaper was drenched with green tea to make it look like urine. Then it was further stained with curry to look like faeces. We were supposed to use asam bois but they got out of stock. Luckily dinner had curry.

Anyway, the participant would be let to see the gross thing for 3 seconds. Then they would be blindfolded again and be asked if they would like to have a taste of that. Out of all the people who took part, there were only 4 or 5 who answered yes. We fed them green tea (fresh ones, of course!).

The trauma room

That station was to test their reflex and to teach them to take calculated risk because really, none of committee would dare to make anybody lick a diaper. Common sense.

The next station was about trust. The station’s called Faith. The participant was asked to fall backwards without the knowledge that someone would catch them. But of course, there was Joanna standing right behind, ready as ever to ‘sambut’ everybody. Anyway, in this case, the participant would just have to trust that the committee wouldn’t hurt them. The most important thing in band after all, is to always trust that every band member has got each other’s back covered.

Gathering her courage…

Moving on the station 4, Bop to the Top which was a bit more physical. Several chairs were stacked up and wet tissues were smeared on the chairs. The participant would have to climb up those stacked chairs, still blindfolded, guided by the facilitators in-charged. They had to learn to trust the facilitator and more importantly, they had to learn to trust themselves.

But of course, despite how we made it sound like, the whole game was actually more light-hearted than that. At the end of the game, none of them got terrified. The constant whispering by the facilitators (out of boredom) probably spoiled the mood even more.

Ghost in yellow crocs

The last station served as an anti-climax. The participant was to step into a basin filled with water balloons and newspapers, then they would be asked to repeat the twisted sentence we asked them to memorise earlier. Many actually laughed at this station because they couldn’t get it quite right.

The disgusting basin

Overall, that station was just to make them listen to instruction. We did ask them to memorise. But the purpose of the whole game was a lot deeper than that. A post mortem was carried out after the whole thing to explain to them the purpose and the reasons behind each station. They had to learn that tiredness is no excuse to quit… but the need to pee… ah… no comment.

The first day hence ended with the night factor. The groups on duty cleaned the Music Room, the KH room and also the toilet. The committee cleaned the classroom – it was mess.

Our mess

No partying.

A football match was held in conjunction with TYT’s birthday this year. The band was invited to perform for this particular occasion.

The band played 3 numbers including a Happy Birthday tune for the TYT. We had to play during the half time break and also during the end of the competition. It was a match between Kuching and Samarahan. Kuching won. For most of us, it was the first time we watched a live football match. We were actually quite excited.

While waiting for half time, we were free to whisper and eat. Food was kindly provided. It was not a very long wait so our performance ended quite early.

In the month of August, the band had 3 back-to-back performances. It started off with the school level’s Merdeka celebration on the 29th August.

The school celebrated Malaysia’s 51 years of independence grandly. The whole school was asked to come in traditional clothes to symbolise racial harmony. The band members were also spared from wearing their band uniform on this day. It was the only band performance where its members were allowed to perform in heels.

On the 30th August, band was invited to perform for Taiyo Yuden’s Family Day. It was a nice celebration in the big company. There was a stage prepared for performances and the band performed 3 pieces. Automatic was one of the selected pieces.

31st August was the official state level celebration. It was a grand celebration in the State Stadium. Band had to combine with bands from 5 other schools to play 12 pieces. Practices for this event were numerous but practice made perfect. It was a good experience playing with band members from other schools.

1st of August marks not only the beginning of a new month but also the start of our city’s most well known festival, the Kuching Fest. This year, for its grand opening, the annual City Day Parade was held in conjunction with it. The band had been invited to participate in the event.

It had actually been 3 years since the band last joined the parade so only the Form 4s and the Form 5s knew what to anticipate. Our last parade had lasted for 3 miserable hours with eternal stops. For most, it had been a horrible experience.

City Day Parade 2005

But! Alas, the parade was nothing close to miserable. It was fun. Nobody fainted. Nobody complained. Even the Form 4s who had expected the worst enjoyed themselves that night. They had their supporters, they said – their friends who came to visit them even though one of them could not even cross the longkang properly.

Drum Majorette, Siti Nor Amirah with Erica Thian as the club bearer, led this parade. The band played 3 numbers – Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever, P. Ramlee’s Kwek Mambo and the ‘80s hits, The Hustle.

City Day Parade 2008

The parade officially began at about 7.00 p.m. Along the way, there were many short stops to allow the band to rest. The band could talk, could move and could drink or eat at those times. It was probably the talking that helped the most. The Form 5s were the water girls, also dubbed the Fan Girls because they went around with those mini Chinese fans to fan the hot members (pun intended). They would fan each member for 10 seconds before moving the next one. 20 seconds for those with big instrument.

Band girls have always been known to be quite creative though. When 3 fans could not circle fast enough, what would we do? We improvise.

Suddenly, our heroic club bearer’s assistant came with the club and started fanning 5 people at one go. “I-say-man”.

The water girls who never left

At one stop, the band had so conveniently stopped right next to a satay stall. Whoosh… the wind came blowing. And all at once, the entire band started coughing. Out of the blue, our heroic club bearer’s assistant appeared once again with her club. With all her might, she started fanning the choking fumes away… right in front of the stall. The poor Apek. Business must have been ruined for him for the 5 minutes we rested there.

Marching away from the satay stall

As the band neared the Grand Stand, those short stops started to last a little bit longer. It was during those stops that the band received surprise visits from their supporters who had gone to the Kuching Fest; they came with food. Glorious food. One horn player was so hungry she gobbled up 3 and a half Taiwan sausage (the other miserable half was eaten by a miserable tubist).

Finally, it was the band’s turn to perform. At the Grand Stand, we performed P. Ramlee’s Kwek Mambo to fit the 3 minutes time allocation. After that, the band was dismissed. Some screamed shouts of joy, others grinned foolishly, but all were glad that it was all over. We made our way back to school from Padang Merdeka by foot. After keeping our instrument, we bade each other goodbye. Some stayed on for a while to cool down before leaving.

The front line

Anyway, to all the members who had worked so hard for this performance and who had persevere to stay in the block even when your limbs felt like falling, thank you. To the water girls whose appearances there had just made the parade even more interesting and bearable, thank you. To the teachers who had accompanied us, thank you. To the instructor who had helped us prepare, thank you. To the Red Crescent members who had walked with us to ensure our wellbeing, thank you. And to the suppliers of Taiwan sausage, thank you. Without you, we couldn’t have made it that far – literally!

Quote of the night:

No one fainted! When I asked if they are okay, they answered, “I’m ok! Hand blister NIA!”, “A bit tired NIA!”, “Thirsty NIA!”. Haiya!

-Ervina, the RC member who accompanied us that night.