I can tell everybody frankly that choir has become my life. I cannot live without it. If you were to trace back to my primary school days of my choir history, I cannot give you a clear answer as to why I join choir. I think I joined choir because of peer pressure. Singing sounded normal then and for the sake of a CCA, I decided to join choir to occupy my time. I joined Dunman High choir not out of interest too, but because I want to get into Dunman High. (I joined choir through DSA) About three years have passed and I can tell you straight in the face that I LOVE CHOIR SUPER DUPER A LOT!

I would be telling you a straight lie if I said I enjoyed choir for every single practice. True, choir has its ups and downs and practices were not always productive. I was even irritated with the choir at some point in time, however, deep in my heart, my love for the choir is not one to be underestimated. If I were to write about all the events that happened in choir, this reflection will be never ending. So, I will just write about one event that is still vividly fresh in my mind, SYF 2009.

SYF is a truly god given event that he had specially put in my life. This competition has impacted me in a way that nothing else can. When our choir committee began to plan for SYF, our aim was gold with honours. This was not an unrealistic aim. We knew that we could do it. Nothing was going to stop us from doing it. To achieve our goal, we had to practice extremely hard in the months leading up to SYF. We did physical training three times a week and had choir for three hours every practice. The learning process was like a roller coaster ride. There were good days and bad days, but certainly more good than bad. Our three SYF pieces are THE WHITE HORSES, KYRIE and RI WENG DU ZHAN. Frankly speaking, we did not like the songs at first but as days progressed, we saw the uniqueness and the beauty of these pieces.

We spent a long time to set a solid foundation for the songs, but bit by bit, the songs were put into place. Dynamics, phrasing, rhythm, style, tone, sound etc were performed and notes were corrected. Our choir worked hard during practices and out of practice to do their best in DHS choir. We had exchanges with choirs from other schools, to learn from one another. Time passes. There comes a stage when our conductor told us that we were ready for SYF. We felt good, pure goodness. However, this did not allow us to be complacent and we still trained hard for the competition.

16th April 2009 marks the day that we had long awaited for. I was quite calm on that day and all that I could think of was to do my best in the performance. We had our last rehearsals in the choir room. Our kyrie had exactly the right sound that we had been hoping for. We had tall vowels and a round sound. Kyrie sounded very touching, even our conductor nodded her head in approval. Ri Weng was good! We did not rush even with a fast tempo. White horses was lovely. I can even picture the waves rising and dipping as they toss playfully. We knew we were ready. We were certain we were ready. We were ready.

We were the last choir to perform. I was trying to breathe deeply and keep calm backstage. I was thinking something humorous: What if I tripped on my skirt and embarrassed the choir? Anyway, when we went onstage, I felt a sudden outburst of confidence. This was the day that I had been waiting for. I was not there for a competition, but to showcase the beauty of choral music. As the piano started playing, the vision of waves had already flooded my mind. I am the wave, I will gallop and bound with all my other friends till we slowly dissolve in the mist. My mind was a clear enjoyment. I am a performer. I am here to sing and perform. I will do my best. Kyrie was better than anyone expected. Our singing touched my heart, especially at the e lei I son part. I felt touched, really touched. What beautiful music, what nice sound, O Kyrie. Before I knew it, Kyrie came to an end. Our last chord came to a stop. Ri Weng Du Zhan came in full speed. Our horses were black and full of energy. We did not have any legs missing, thankfully. We did not go out of tune. As our performance came to an end, I felt extreme satisfaction. That feeling was good. I did not want to step offstage. I want to perform the songs over and over again. Oh why, why must this magnificent day come to an end? I want to perform. I want to sing. I want the nice melody. I was full of reluctance as I made my way offstage. Lots of my friends burst into tears of joy because we performed better than we expected. We knew we had done our best and would leave behind NO regrets.

Ms Lin said our performance was fabulous. The year ones said that our performance was good. We were just hoping that we could do the school proud by getting a gold or a gold with honours. We held our breaths as we waited for the results to be announced. “ The 36th choir, Dunman High School, Silver” A stunned silence could be felt before the results sank in. People burst into tears, disappointed that they failed to achieve their goal. I was shocked but remained calm. I am truly proud of our choir regardless of the results that we get. I know that most people only look at results. People tend to assume of choirs as either a gold choir, a silver choir or a bronze choir. Actually, there are no such choirs. There are only good or poor choirs. Hence, Dunman High Choir is a good choir which attained a silver in SYF.

Through SYFs, we learnt that experience and friendship rule over results. It does not matter how people view us but how we viewed ourselves. We had put in our GOLD WITH HONOURS HONOURS HONOURS HONOURS HONOURS efforts and nothing matters to us anymore. We had made tremendous improvements together as a big family and had had lots of memorable experiences. I am truly proud of DHS choir.

My love for choral music has also increased greatly through this event. I want to be a performer. I can be a good performer. I will be a good performer. I would like to thank Ms Tham, our conductor, for patiently guiding the choir through months of practices. I would like to thank Ms Lin, Mrs Yeo and Mr Tan for their guidance and support, the committee especially our president Jane, vice president Shou Yi and Kasey and our student conductor, Zi Xuan for motivating and encouraging us during practices. I would like to thank God for providing me support when I feel down. Most importantly, I would like to thank all our choristers who sent me letters of encouragements and put in their best in the performance. I will never ever forget this wonderful experience. THANK YOU DHS CHOIR. I LOVE YOU!