Senior Band please report in school uniform by 7.30 =D. Do remember to get gifts for the other bands. Thanks =D

Hi, Lim Bo Geng here, the I/C for Band Camp.

This shall be the packing list that you can use as a guideline for your packing. Do note that packing list INCLUDES the attire you report in, which is band t-shirt and long pants/khaki shorts for Secondary students 2-4 on Monday, and PE Shirt and PE Short for Secondary Ones on Tuesday.

Students are reminded that they are highly discouraged from bring valuable items or electronic devices. Do note that the Band teachers, conductors, or majors will not be accountable for any loss of belongings. Please take care of all your items =)

Packing List for Secondary 2-4:

Packing List for Secondary Ones:

Guys, please read Po En’s previous message, and understand that TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. Get it into your heads that in a mere 27 days, it will be SYF, the day that we have been working so hard for. 3 months has passed since we started preparing for SYF, and less than 1 month remains.

I would like to share a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam:27, 1850

Hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all

Some of you may be feeling disheartened, or even demoralised, that our band is still not adequately prepared, despite SYF approaching day by day. However, we must realise that we CANNOT give up here, we CANNOT let the effort we have put in go down the drain, we CANNOT lose faith in our music. We hope that everyone in the process of trying so hard for SYF, will learn to love band and love the music you produce, and that, is what will truly express our feelings and our desire for GwH in our music. We can’t turn back time, and neither can we turn our backs from SYF. To all those you feel insecure or lost, understand that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we can reach that light together as a band, together as HWACHONG BAND.

Lets continue working hard towards SYF and accomplish as much as possible during band camp! =D

P.S. Everyone who owns money for the metronomes or those who have sold Band Fiesta tickets please pay up =)

Hi Secondary 1 students =D,

This is Lim Bo Geng, the Band Major of HCIBand. Firstly I would like to thank you, for taking the time to vist our website and expressing interest in band. In this post, I shall of course, promote band such that YOU will completely enticed and compelled to join band. Some of the advantages of joining band include:

• CIP opportunities with your friends
• LEAPS and leadership opportunities (both necessary for the All-Round Excellence award, as band has many positions in the executive committee as compared to other CCAs)
• Exposure to music and new skills that will stay with you for the rest of your life. (You can choose to join the military band in NS if you do not prefer the physical torment =P)
• A lot of chances to meet like minded peers, via exchanges, the HCI JC Band, music programs etc.
• A chance to shine! Face it, if you practice and lot and become very good with your instrument, recognition and many future opportunities will come your way.
• Play music that you enjoy listening to and creating. (Pop, Jazz, Classicial, we play many different types of music)
• Enjoy wonderful facilities, as the band has many rooms available and you can treat the air-conditioned outdoor band room as your second home, available at anytime.

However, no matter what I say, the final decision is up to you. If you are still undecided, I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE for you to come for our trials and have a first hand experience of playing instruments and getting a taste of our band. Regretting after having tried something is much better than regretting after having not tried something. Either way, regret is always there, so might as well gain a new experience XD.

I hope to see all of you at our trials, anytime between 3.00 pm to 6.00pm on tuesdays, wednesdays and fridays. If you have any queries or questions regarding band whatsoever, feel free to call me at 97369106 =D

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the exchange on 20th December has been cancelled, as the band is unable to come. Therefore, this Friday’s band practice shall be postponed to 20th December, where we will go through songs of the 22nd Dec exchange. THERE IS NO BAND PRACTICE THIS FRIDAY. The next band practice will be on monday, from 12 nn to 5 pm. Please be punctual and be on your best behaviour as we do not have much time to go through the 3 exchange pieces.

Furthermore, we may be joined by around 20+ kids from the Cherry Hearts Childcare on Monday, so if you happen to meet any of them, I expect all of you to be very welcoming and very kind towards them. We will pick representatives of 5 different instruments to entertain them in room 210. Therefore, please brush up on your knowledge of your instrument, because you may just get picked to tell the kids about your instrument =D

Enjoy your holiday…while it lasts =P

Hi everyone =D

I would like to congratulate everyone on a job well done during the concert. I understand that it has been harsh on you guys the past few weeks, having to practice the songs time and again. Even I became pretty bored of the songs =P The majors appreciate your effort and commitment to band, and are all very pleased with your performance, especially the juniors =D It was very heart-warming to see people take the initiative to organise the others and help out with the moving of …stuff.

HOWEVER! The end of NOEL 2010 is not the end of HCIBand. We still have a loooong way to go, with the upcoming exchanges and SYF 2011. This will be the batch of students that will go up the stage during the next SYF and sweep the judges off their feet with astounding music. (or at least I hope it will) First up, we have the two exchanges on the 20th and 22nd December, so I hope that everyone will welcome the malaysian band with open arms. Please keep in mind that the band coming on the 20th will have some malays, so you will be expected to behave appropraitely =D

IMPT: The next band practice will be on Friday, 17/12/2010. It will be with the JC band, in order to go through the 3 songs that the malaysian band sent us. The band practice will last from 12 nn to 5 pm. Please help move everything from 12 nn to 1 pm to their original locations so that we do not waste any time for the songs when Mr Leng comes at 1. Po En and Kang Ming will be unavailable for this short period between now and the exchanges, so if you have any queries, please contact Jay or moi. My number is 97369106; Jay’s is 96675169, for those who still don’t know.

That shall be all for now, please enjoy the rest of your holidays =D

One day has passed, since NBC. Today, I believe that all of you understand the mistakes that were made during NBC and how we can improve as a band after your section debriefs.

In terms of how we performed on stage, many of the seniors have said that the music actually sounded okay from where they are sitting. But can we actually tell ourselves that we played music on stage? Did that music come from the heart? Did that music express the meaning of the song, our effort put in, and our very own dreams? The day before NBC, I felt something. It wasn’t much, but I felt a tinge expression and movement in the songs. However when we went up on stage, everything was gone. All that musicality and expression, all down the drain.

For some of you, this would be your first performance, your first experience. Perhaps this first experience wasn’t what you expected, perhaps it was not as amazing as you thought, perhaps you already tried your best, but learn from this experience. We have to get used to going up on stage and performing for others. Stuff like, “Oh, we didn’t play our best because we were not used to the hall”, or “Oh, we didnt play 100% because we were nervous” are just excuses to delude yourself that you could have done better. We all need to get used to going up on stage, because I hope that whatever mistakes we made at NBC, will not be repeated in the future.

But now is not the time to be emoing over what happened at NBC, neither is it the time to be emoing over what your SL said during the debrief. Fixation on the past is the last thing that we need right now. What we need is the strength to stand up again, and learn from this experience and aim to do better for the upcoming events. It’s time to move on. We cannot change what results we got, we cannot change the past. But we can treasure the present and improve, to change our future. Because the present, is a gift. It’s up to us if we choose to treasure it. But throwing away this gift, is the same as throwing away whatever hard work and effort we had put in. I do not want to see the band’s standard drop after NBC, that should not be the case. Treasure whatever time you have in band now, in order to maintain and standard and raise the bar even higher.

My senior shared a quote with me after NBC, a quote from the poem – Invictus

“”I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.”

No one else is going to help us do well for SYF next year. We control our fate, our destiny and this band. Us, not anyone else. We have to learn from this experience, and take the initiative to start practicing and aim to do better in the future. The band’s future lies in our hands. No more dwelling on the past, no more obsessing about NBC. We have to be the ones to move on, because no one else is going to help us if we do not help ourselves.

This is also the first time that the current Exco have been in charge of a public performance, and we did make mistakes. But we’ll learn from them. We’ll try harder. We’ll see this through till the end. As we learn from our mistakes, you also have to learn from yours. Together, we’ll learn to be professional musicians, learn to be one band, and see this band through till the end.

Lim Bo Geng