Early March 2015, I was called by
my superior department, requesting me to form a new group of choir, this time
restricted to only teacher-members, to specially perform during the state-level
Teachers Day celebration. Having the experience of training students, and
conducting them, for the same occasion, for two consecutive years, I sensed
then that the people up there were expecting a miracle; as pooling 30 talented
teachers, as needed in a good singing team, is a mountain climbing task. Not to
mention discipline and commitment.
Seeing the list of names in one
of the handouts distributed during the meeting, all music teachers, some
already established names, I braved myself to decline the list, citing the reason that I would not be able to handle them. Instead, I suggested non-music
teachers but talented, mostly young and energetic and would be able to serve
for at least 10 years. The strategy was to get all in the meeting, mostly
people who have been involved in the business for some years, to determine talented
teachers whom they know would commit themselves.
Everything was then agreed, including the training schedule that only involves school hours, and that the training venue should be my school, cause I hate travelling. So the 10 to 1.00 o'clock training started, every Monday and Wednesday. Each session saw only 70 -80% of attendance, forcing me to slash some names off the list to be replaced by new names suggested by the committed members which were only confirmed in the third week. 5 songs being practised, starting with the usual National Anthem and the Guru Malaysia, followed by Akal Budi of the JPN Terengganu, Transformasi Pendidikan of the Ministry of Education and the new state government corporate song Transformasi Terengganu Baharu.
The vocal training, the voice
arrangements and step practice went smoothly for 8 weeks, with minus one
accompaniment. So far this team is the best I have ever trained, each group of
voice mastering its very own part,
except of course the memorising of the lyrics that seemed difficult for some of
the guys. Officials of the education department came visiting the sessions,
with compliments for the commitment and great progress made after listening to
the vocal performance.
One week before the actual
performance, for the first time the group joined the woodwind orchestra of SM
Sains Sultan Mahmud. Suddenly all the harmony and singing skills went chaotic.
The orchestra had arrangements that are totally different from the minus one
arrangements that we used during the practice. Some members came to me,
insisting that we go back to the minus one accompaniment. Everything changed, however, on
the second day when everyone started getting the hang of the orchestra. They
sang even better during the rehearsal, and superb on the actual event, with the
help of the expensive audio system of course. The day ended with everyone
feeling contented, compliments coming through the Whatsapp application for the
next few days.
Opps… forgot to mention the
beautiful batik baju kurung by the women, and the black and white suit of the
men, with red neckties. I salute them for their willingness to fork out their own
fund for the costume, which, in most of the compliments texts received, seemed
to be highlighted more, compared to the singing performance.
At the meantime, before they
dispersed, I reminded them the single practice session and the dates of
rehearsal and Teachers Day celebration for the Kuala Terengganu District level
exactly a week after. The practice was very informal, as there was less tense.
Time was spent more on discussion over the costume. While the men decided to
stick to the same black white and red, the women followed suit. Deciding on
black blazer and skirt, with white blouse and red scarves, once again I saw
them spending some money for costume. Women are women I guess, willing to spend
whatever amount just to look beautiful! And they achieved in doing just that. And
above all, the performance, this time was just as superb, only this time
without the woodwind orchestra.
The day was especially meaningful
to me as the group leader, as I received a special PPD award, which was given the loudest applause among all the recipients. Yes, the choir group clapped and
the audience followed suit!
The occasion ended and everyone
went home thinking that was our last activity. Days went by, that
saw everyone still in contact through the Whatsapp. I guess they really got
acquainted through the 2-month activity. Surprisingly, one week later, I
received a call by an official of the JPNT, requesting the group to perform
once again, this time only the national anthem and TTB, to start the APC- the
Excellent Service Award Ceremony of the state education department. It wasn’t a
surprise when everybody was excited to come for the rehearsal on the 15th
of June, and the actual event the next day, a day before the fasting Ramadan
month, as I have started to know them as close dear friends. This time there
will be no practice, let us just see what happens during the rehearsal. And
this time around, I think they are deciding on purple, after the red in the event last
week.
After that it will be the fasting
month and the Hari Raya Festival. Would there be any more request for the
choir? Let’s just wait.
