Jumping on the 'band' wagon

CCA is considered a very significant part of secondary school. It's taken very seriously and the time spent on your CCA can almost be as much as curriculum time, especially if you choose a competitive one.

In primary school, Lesley-Anne was in the library CCA, which she never fails to blame me for. The story behind it was that she was in p4 and had just gotten into GEP. I was worried about the upcoming workload and so urged her to take up a light CCA. Since she wasn't into sports, library seemed ideal - just a couple of hours of duty a week and you perform them in air-conditioned comfort. Quite shiok right? Except she found it supremely boring. I guess wrapping and shelving books isn't exactly heady stuff.

So when it came to secondary school, I'd learnt the error of my ways (basically never make certain decisions for your kid or you'll never hear the end of it). "Go choose whatever CCA you want!" But old habits die hard and mummy always thinks she knows better. So while I didn't force her to choose any path, I couldn't resist planting some ideas.

You see, I always wished that I'd joined a concert band when I was in school. There's something very appealing about playing music as a group - it's a much more dynamic experience then playing solo. So I made the suggestion to Lesley-Anne, even nudging her to speak to my sister who played percussion in her JC band (which if my memory serves me well, was also instigated by me. Once a kaypoh, always a kaypoh.)

Quite to my delight, Lesley-Anne was rather taken by the idea and decided to opt for the concert band as a CCA. Such is the power of suggestion. Or maybe projection. She auditioned and was accepted, thanks to her music background. Initially, she'd wanted the flute but there was only one vacancy and it was quickly filled so she ended up with the clarinet which was her second choice.

Since the sec 1s are newbies, they take almost a year to learn their allotted instruments under the junior band. They stay back after school twice a week, 3 hours each time to have sectional practices as well as practices together as a band. Each section has its own music teacher and there is a main teacher who leads the entire junior band. When they have progressed sufficiently, they will join the main band towards the end of the year, to take over the outgoing sec 4s.

It's been about two months since Lesley-Anne started the CCA and she's enjoying every minute of it. She has already begun to play simple songs although I haven't heard her play as the students are discouraged from bringing their instruments home for now. When she talks about the band, her eyes light up - it's clearly one of the highlights of school for her.

I can see that the appeal is more than simply playing music. Being part of the band means bonding with a small group of like-minded students. The clarinet section (which happens to be the largest section) holds regular bonding sessions and activities, it's like a mini club and the kids form strong friendships. Eventually when the band enters competitions or plays in concerts, I can imagine the shared experience will only serve to strengthen ties.

Before I wrote this post, I asked Lesley-Anne, "So was joining the band everything that you expected it to be?" She didn't hesitate. "No. It's even better than I expected." Well, one thing's for certain - it sure beats library. Phew.

Ballet, piano... and exams

Lesley-Anne has had a hectic past two weeks. While other kids were probably enjoying the one-week break, she was busy preparing for her ballet exam (Grade 5) and piano exam (Grade 6).


What with starting a new school, new curriculum, tons of homework, demanding CCA, she ended up with little time to practise and it became a rather stressful period. Shakespeare claims that music soothes the savage breast but I'm sure he never accounted for ABRSM exams. Amidst the flurry of activity and frayed nerves, we wondered why we even made the decision for her to take both exams at the same time. In such situations, my reply is always: "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Anyway, it's done! I thought I'd post Lesley-Anne's piano exam pieces so I'd have a record of them since she's probably never going to play these again in her lifetime. That kinda tends to happen to exam pieces.

The first piece typically is a fast one in classical style.



The second piece is a gentle, lyrical song. When I was doing exams, I tended to love second pieces as they called for less finger technique and more expression.



Finally, the third piece is a contemporary, rambunctious one that I love best among her three pieces. Maybe it's because it's such an antithesis to Lesley-Anne's character that it's fun to watch her play it!

Let's hear it for art, music and PE!

I gave a little cheer when I read the headlines of yesterday's Straits Times: "Schools to develop 'soft skills' - Greater emphasis to be placed on physical education, art and music"

I can't provide a link as the online articles are deleted weekly and the full article is too long to post here. But for those who didn't read it, here's a condensed version reproduced from Straits Time online:

Focus on soft-skills

SCHOOLS will emphasise more on soft-skills such as creativity, innovation and global awareness to prepare students for work in a fast-changing and technologically advanced world.

The Ministry of Education on Tuesday announced that such skills will be stepped up through a range of strategies such as assessing them through project work other than pen and paper tests, increasing opportunities for co-curricular activities, more time for physical education lessons and placing greater importance on music and the arts.

The Ministry recognises that PE teaches student important life skills like team work and resilience and it will increase the time for PE lessons for Primary 1 and 2 pupils from 1.5 hours per week to 2 hours.

Primary 3 to 6 pupils will also attend 2.5 hours of PE, from 1.5 hours now. Sec 1 to Sec 4 students will attend 2 hours of PE from 1 hours now. These changes will be implemented in phases.

All new art and music teachers will be trained to teach only music or art so that they can specialise in the subject and improve lessons.

I think it's a step in the right direction. I'd previously mentioned how the Singapore education system is too overly focused on academic subjects, especially at the primary school level. It's not just about the number of hours allocated to art, music and PE. Right now, these are already at the minimal level but yet, they are constantly being cannibalised for more academic time. I've lost count of the number of times my kids have complained to me, "no art today, the teacher used the period for maths."

I've also heard many, many anecdotes of parents who enthusiastically start their kids on art or music lessons but gradually replace them with extra tuition or enrichment classes instead. Like it or not, these are generally still considered peripheral and almost always the first to be sacrificed.

A friend of mine once made a poignant comment on my Facebook account, which I'm taking the liberty to paste here: "I loved music and PE when I was in school but of course, they're never "important". I read somewhere 'when we teach our kids to draw, we're teaching them to see; when we teach them music, we're teaching them to listen.' Creativity and imagination are , in my opinion, far more impt than being able to spit out facts in record speed."

Isn't that what we need really? Not more kids who can work out algebraic equations faster than a calculator but creative individuals who can see beyond the end of their noses and listen amidst the cacophony of sounds.

As for PE, Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen acknowledged that sports allow students to acquire physical fitness and values such as self-esteem, teamwork, fair play and a can-do spirit. He also agreed to a comment from an MP that sports should be for all, not just for athletes who can win medals.

Sounds familiar? I've made all these points before on my blog. BUT the fact that they're finally publicly acknowledged by the authorities can only be good news moving forward. Hopefully with art, music and PE formally given more importance in schools, teachers, parents and kids will come to see these as so much more than just peripherals.