Run by a team of eight students from various Junior Colleges, Band Initiative‘s common musical vision is to strengthen Singapore’s young music community.
“What began as a lighthearted conversation about Singapore’s band scene eventually became a reality,” said Masagos Khalid, president of the team.
“Our initiative aims to build an inclusive music community, and promote continuity for its players through a memorable milestone event. We hope to retain young talents in the music scene, be it as a profession or pastime,” he continued.
Called Da Capo Symphonic Winds, this is the first band to involve only the graduating batch of 2017 of tertiary institutes in Singapore. This evening’s concert is aligned with its vision, to inspire young musicians to continue the pursuit of music beyond formal education.
“We targeted students in their transitional phase as we find that many of them move away from music as they progress from tertiary level to university education. While the main reason could be a loss of interest, it may also be due to the school band experience not being representative of the music journey as a whole. Hence, we intend to make a positive impact on their band experience and inspire them to carry on with music.”
In line with the vision to make the event a memorable experience, the team gathered survey responses from their members with regards to music selection. Based on the results, pieces were shortlisted, and with the advice of conductor Adrian Chiang, a balanced repertoire of classic and pop was finalised.
“It is in our hopes that this band continues to function even after tonight’s concert, but only targeting one batch at each time. The organizing committee should be formed by members from the respective batches, in order to ensure a tight knit community within the batches themselves; which will then serve as the basis for the musical community at large.
We hope this will nurture leadership for Singapore in our younger generation.”
Prom Night!
Friday, 29 December
Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre Auditorium, 7.30pm
Tickets: $15
A contributing editor at TBP.