Tan Shi Qi
St. Margaret’s School (Secondary) Band
It has been a long journey in band. Over these four years, I have made a lot of friends among my seniors and juniors, who are all very friendly. I also became more outgoing after I became one of the band members. All the performances I participated in gave me different experiences, but they all have something in common — I enjoyed every single one of them. I especially enjoyed the CCA fair, where my friends and I shouted so loudly when we were doing the cheer. I am also very lucky to have been able to participate in both the 2023 and 2025 SYF.
First, I’ll be talking about the preparation for SYF. There were lots of extra practices, and it became more and more stressful as the SYF dates got closer. Sometimes, my junior and I would go for self-practice and work on the parts that we were not good at. The self-practice also allowed me to get to know my juniors better, as other than practicing, we would talk about our hobbies and friends that we knew. At first, for the whole band, we would work on a song during each band practice, and some sections would have tutorship. When it got closer to the actual SYF, we started to work more on our intonation and dynamics as a whole band. After this SYF, I learned that mistakes are inevitable, even if I did not make any during band practices. Moreover, the most important thing is to enjoy the music during the few minutes on stage.
Second, this year’s SYF is more memorable for me compared to the one in 2023, as I became the one helping my juniors and teaching them the techniques. Another reason why this year’s SYF is unique is that there were more juniors than seniors, so the seniors needed to spend more time and effort teaching the juniors to reach the standard. Luckily, the juniors were very cooperative and hardworking. A lot of them would go for extra practice to work on the SYF pieces every week. Therefore, this year’s SYF is more memorable for me.
Third, band has taught me a lot. It taught me to be more disciplined as I needed to cope with both my studies and CCA. I learned to use any pocket of time, even if I only had 10 minutes. I might not need to practice the whole piece and could just practice a few parts that I was unsure of. These small efforts would add up to success. Thus, band taught me to be more disciplined. Moreover, band taught me the importance of listening. This is because when we are playing as a band, we cannot play too softly or too loudly, or else the band will sound unbalanced. We need to listen to ourselves and to others when we are playing. I also need to listen carefully to check whether we are in tune when not using a metronome. Thus, band taught me the importance of listening.
Fourth, through band, I also managed to develop better communication skills. Communication is very important, especially when there are a lot of people. In band, the members need to communicate so that our ideas or how we understand the music will not conflict. It is the same in daily life. For example, during group projects, I could communicate effectively and work well with my teammates. This allowed my group to have fewer conflicts and become more efficient. Also, through band, I am now able to adapt quickly, as we needed to sight-read new scores when we received them. Once, when we were preparing for National Day, the teachers made a last-minute decision to let us play the school song. We had only three days left and no other band practices after that day. So, we had to learn the song very quickly and ensure that the performance was smooth. Luckily, the performance went well. So, when there is a sudden change to my plans, I am now able to adapt and do my best to complete the task.
Lastly, I think I will miss playing my instrument, as I really enjoyed playing the Euphonium. It is a wonderful instrument, and the name Euphonium means “beautiful sound.” I enjoyed the parts the Euphonium had, as they were always melodious. As a Euphonium player, I was able to play the melody, the harmony, and the rhythms.
I will also miss all my friends in band and every single moment I spent with them—especially the times when we were in the bus singing and laughing, making a lot of noise. These are wonderful moments that I will not forget, as they contain the joy and excitement we felt when we were going to perform.