The School Military Band

[cucuan]

The School Military Band

The School Military Band was started in the early years of the 1973. It was one of Mr. Moses Tay’s dream to have a school military band in ACS. Upon taking over from Mr. Tai Swee Kee, the first thing he did was he went down to Singapore and met up with an millionaire old-boy by the name of Mr. Tony Fong. If I am not wrong he donated RM10,000-00 to defray the cost of buying the Band’s equipment. I think the school must have chipped in with its own funds to buy those equipment. Initially there were 8 side drums, 8 trumpets, 8 clarinets, 2 trombones, 1 alto saxophones, 1 tenor saxophones, 1 baritone, 1 euphoniums, and 10 fifes (flutes), 1 bass drum and 1 cymbal, all in making a total of 42 members.

Somehow I was roped in to be the teacher in charge even though my knowledge in music was very limited. At that time the school chief clerk was very, very interested in the Band and he volunteered to play the bass drum. His name was Mr. Jebaretnam. Some of you may know him if you can remember his two sons, Leslie and Stanley Jebaretnam. Mr. Jebaretnam passed on about 3 years after the Band was formed.

I didn’t mind being the teacher in charge but what I was not happy was I was asked to be the drum-major. Normally that position was meant for a pupil to lead. Somehow I managed to wrangle out of it by getting one of our top pupil, Ding Ming Leung (now Dr. Ding, he’s got a PhD in some engineering discipline) to lead the band as the 1st drum-major. He was then in the upper 6th Form.

The Band then was taught by an instructor from Ipoh by the name of Mr. Kong Sing Soo. He was a jack of all trades. He could play the saxophones, the trombones, the trumpets and euphonium. Apparently he used to play the saxophones with the previous Sultan of Perak. At that time he was instructing in St. Michaels Ipoh, the Hwa Lian Band in Taiping and a school band in Sungei Siput. His style of playing these musical instruments was very much the night-club style of playing, loud but smooth.

Within 3 months after its formation we managed to put up some kind of presentable performance for the school sports by playing the Negara Ku, Berjaya, and some Malay folk-songs. At that time practices were conducted in the afternoons during the week-days and on Saturdays and Sundays.

The idea of organizing training camps during school holidays caught on only after I was invited to attend a training camp by the ACS Singapore Band. They were really very, very good. In fact I had the opportunity of watching the Singapore Raffles Institution’s Band performing at the Singapore sports stadium. They all really impressed me. In fact I was told that anyone who wanted to join the ACS Singapore Band must have a minimum of grade 4 music qualification. I was there for about a week, and that was enough to teach me what to do with our school Band. But then with my limited knowledge in music I couldn’t do much and then with the instructor still very much the old-school type, the School Band couldn’t progress much under my charge.

One of the reasons, the Band was formed was to make money for the school by way of attending funerals. Well, those who were on their last journey would engage the School Band, if they can afford to pay, to accompany them through the streets of Kampong Koh. Boy, I really dreaded every time when my name was announced in the school’s PA system “Minta perhatian Encik Ho Chu Chuan, sila laporkan diri kepada pejabat sekarang dengan segera.” And followed by “Semua ahli-ahli pacaragam berkumpul di bilik panacaragam (at that time it was a small storage room below the stair-case near the chemistry lab)”. Everytime my name was announced over the PA system my fellow teachers would laugh at me and say, “Chu Chuan, business coming.” and boy was I mad when a teacher tagged me an undertaker.

Notwithstanding above, I had fun-time with the members of the Band and today many of them have become my good friends. I really appreciated all their effort in helping me to run the Band. All their names flash in my mind and I don’t think I want to bore the Forummers to mention their names here but I do value them now as old friends and they made my work as the teacher in charge very enjoyable and less taxing for me ‘cause there normally would be three practices a week at least under normal circumstances. These are the few names I can remember off-hand.

At that time it would cost anyone engaging the Band about RM500-00 and on top of that they have to pay as “ang-pau” RM2-00 to each members. I declined payment for personal reasons of my own. The members were very happy and I was instructed to see that the members are provided with refreshments.

In 1978 I was very happy when I had the reasons to leave the Band much to the reluctance of Mr. Moses Tay because I told Mr. Moses that the Band activities were taking away too much of my time and I was about to embark on my University of London BA external degree programme. For the Mr. Moses, the school’s interest takes priority over my personal interest. In the end I managed to persuade Mr. Moses to let me go on what he termed as “sabbatical leave”, something like what lecturers in universities would get when they want time to further their studies or embark on some research work of their own. I was lucky in the sense that Mr. Ling Keng Neo was there to take over. Initially, he was suppose to take over until I finished my first degree. By the time I obtained my degree in 1984, he was so deeply involved and with his talent and leadership, the school Band had progressed so much that I felt it would not be in the interest of the School Band for me to take over. The rest is history.

cucuan

[JC]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to cucuan again.
Love reading your posts. Keep it up..:)

[SS2006]

The School Military Band

The School Military Band was started in the early years of the 1973. It was one of Mr. Moses Tay’s dream to have a school military band in ACS. Upon taking over from Mr. Tai Swee Kee, the first thing he did was he went down to Singapore and met up with an millionaire old-boy by the name of Mr. Tony Fong. If I am not wrong he donated RM10,000-00 to defray the cost of buying the Band’s equipment. I think the school must have chipped in with its own funds to buy those equipment. Initially there were 8 side drums, 8 trumpets, 8 clarinets, 2 trombones, 1 alto saxophones, 1 tenor saxophones, 1 baritone, 1 euphoniums, and 10 fifes (flutes), 1 bass drum and 1 cymbal, all in making a total of 42 members.

Somehow I was roped in to be the teacher in charge even though my knowledge in music was very limited. At that time the school chief clerk was very, very interested in the Band and he volunteered to play the bass drum. His name was Mr. Jebaretnam. Some of you may know him if you can remember his two sons, Leslie and Stanley Jebaretnam. Mr. Jebaretnam passed on about 3 years after the Band was formed.

I didn’t mind being the teacher in charge but what I was not happy was I was asked to be the drum-major. Normally that position was meant for a pupil to lead. Somehow I managed to wrangle out of it by getting one of our top pupil, Ding Ming Leung (now Dr. Ding, he’s got a PhD in some engineering discipline) to lead the band as the 1st drum-major. He was then in the upper 6th Form.

The Band then was taught by an instructor from Ipoh by the name of Mr. Kong Sing Soo. He was a jack of all trades. He could play the saxophones, the trombones, the trumpets and euphonium. Apparently he used to play the saxophones with the previous Sultan of Perak. At that time he was instructing in St. Michaels Ipoh, the Hwa Lian Band in Taiping and a school band in Sungei Siput. His style of playing these musical instruments was very much the night-club style of playing, loud but smooth.

Within 3 months after its formation we managed to put up some kind of presentable performance for the school sports by playing the Negara Ku, Berjaya, and some Malay folk-songs. At that time practices were conducted in the afternoons during the week-days and on Saturdays and Sundays.

The idea of organizing training camps during school holidays caught on only after I was invited to attend a training camp by the ACS Singapore Band. They were really very, very good. In fact I had the opportunity of watching the Singapore Raffles Institution’s Band performing at the Singapore sports stadium. They all really impressed me. In fact I was told that anyone who wanted to join the ACS Singapore Band must have a minimum of grade 4 music qualification. I was there for about a week, and that was enough to teach me what to do with our school Band. But then with my limited knowledge in music I couldn’t do much and then with the instructor still very much the old-school type, the School Band couldn’t progress much under my charge.

One of the reasons, the Band was formed was to make money for the school by way of attending funerals. Well, those who were on their last journey would engage the School Band, if they can afford to pay, to accompany them through the streets of Kampong Koh. Boy, I really dreaded every time when my name was announced in the school’s PA system “Minta perhatian Encik Ho Chu Chuan, sila laporkan diri kepada pejabat sekarang dengan segera.” And followed by “Semua ahli-ahli pacaragam berkumpul di bilik panacaragam (at that time it was a small storage room below the stair-case near the chemistry lab)”. Everytime my name was announced over the PA system my fellow teachers would laugh at me and say, “Chu Chuan, business coming.” and boy was I mad when a teacher tagged me an undertaker.

Notwithstanding above, I had fun-time with the members of the Band and today many of them have become my good friends. I really appreciated all their effort in helping me to run the Band. All their names flash in my mind and I don’t think I want to bore the Forummers to mention their names here but I do value them now as old friends and they made my work as the teacher in charge very enjoyable and less taxing for me ‘cause there normally would be three practices a week at least under normal circumstances. These are the few names I can remember off-hand.

At that time it would cost anyone engaging the Band about RM500-00 and on top of that they have to pay as “ang-pau” RM2-00 to each members. I declined payment for personal reasons of my own. The members were very happy and I was instructed to see that the members are provided with refreshments.

In 1978 I was very happy when I had the reasons to leave the Band much to the reluctance of Mr. Moses Tay because I told Mr. Moses that the Band activities were taking away too much of my time and I was about to embark on my University of London BA external degree programme. For the Mr. Moses, the school’s interest takes priority over my personal interest. In the end I managed to persuade Mr. Moses to let me go on what he termed as “sabbatical leave”, something like what lecturers in universities would get when they want time to further their studies or embark on some research work of their own. I was lucky in the sense that Mr. Ling Keng Neo was there to take over. Initially, he was suppose to take over until I finished my first degree. By the time I obtained my degree in 1984, he was so deeply involved and with his talent and leadership, the school Band had progressed so much that I felt it would not be in the interest of the School Band for me to take over. The rest is history.

cucuan
Yes, I remember Mr. Ling Keng Neo as a very dedicated band teacher. I last saw him 2/3 years ago leading ACS band merdeka parade in Ipoh.

[tohmuda]

Chu Chua I watched the ACS School Band during the recent Merdeka Day Parade at Teluk Intan and they managed to come in 3rd.First place went to the MGS School Band form Ipoh.I think that they played very well.What amazes me is that nowadays even the bass drums have different chords??Please enlighten me on this.
Of course for Manjung District and Perak state,the Nan Hwa School Band is still top of the heap.They won 1st place at the Merdeka Parade in Putrajaya recently.But then they were going at it donkey years ago.They were the ONLY school band way back when.
I am really proud of Manjung District especially being the OBJ.of Manjung.We were always NO 1 ---hence City-A One.
No 1 in the country for the following
No 1 School Band
No 1 IT School(Dindings High School)
No 1 primary School Choir(Chung Cheng)

and we also finished as the winner for the best costume award for the Perak State Merdeka Parade. --people in Perak formerly used to scorn at us when we say we are from Sitiawan--they would say"Oh Kampong Simpang Empat"Now it is our turn to say "Manjung is the next biggest town in Perak after Ipoh in all respects"Well--there are the pros and cons--not everything in the name of development is much to our liking though and we have to voice our concern as citizens for things that are not really right.
Remember what I said about
Some people make things happen
Some watch things happening in front of them
Others wondered what happened??
Let us make ACS achieve some No 1 in the state and country guys and make us all old pupils proud of the achievements of our alma mater--its really been a long time coming since Mr Moses Tay did us proud by representing the country in tennis/Beng Hua in table tennis and Shaharuddin Jaafar in cycling/Daniel Tay also in tennis
Tell me about our other achievements to date,please

[kheng]

To add to our pride ... this year one of our under-18 girls, Lim Mei King, (Tina's sister) became Perak champ for tennis and a boy, Dang Tai Jiunn, came up tops in the U-18 high jump event in Perak Athletics meet. Both went on to represent the state but I do not have that results. Then we have an ex-student, Ling Yoke Li, who won three awards at the end of her Dentistry course in USM. Hopefully with the support of the community and parents, we will achieve more in the years to come ...

[Anson F-Clef]

I really dreaded every time when my name was announced in the school’s PA system “Minta perhatian Encik Ho Chu Chuan, sila laporkan diri kepada pejabat sekarang dengan segera.”

Normal-lah THAT ANNOUNCEMENT TONE of Mr Appalanaidu ~ wondering where he is nowadays: Sitiawan or ~ ?

Psst......he is also well-known for pronouncing "selepas" as "selipas"

[alfred98]

Clap clap clap!!! Bravo bravo!! Way to go!!! keep up the good work....
One question being lingering in my mind for years now......how is the academic side doing??? Still the topper or not????:blink:

[cxtreme]

Hmm how come i've not seen this thread before?? The school band is something close to my heart..

As for academics, i believe we're still doing well year in year out...one of the proudest moment in our history was if i'm not mistaken 1999 where our 99'ers achieved one of the highest numbers of 10a1's in the country. 9 if iwas not mistaken we were second only to kolej tunku kurshiah...subsequently after that the school was given a sekolah lima bintang award thing.. something to do with being good in academic, cocurricular, character and 2 other things

For the debate team, we have been state champions two years in a row for 2005 and 2006 if i'm not mistaken. The last time we were this close was when SIeh Jin and team garnered the state championship when they were in...and subsequently the team i was involved in came up state runners up in 2000

But sad to say, in terms of infrastructure, the school is still greatly lacking behind all other great schools. In fact, the building i was studying in form 6 was earmarked for demolition (or was it becuase of termites?) certainly the facilities is not worthy of her great name....i think we're still pretty much bursting at the seams at the moment..

When dr Lee was in, he laid out a blueprint for the construction of a 3 storey building that costs 3 million ringgit..after that when he left, the plan was thought of to be abit ambitious..so it was scaled down to raise rm 1 million for renovation works instead and that target was set for the centennial year. I'm not very sure whether we achieved it or not.

Similarly for the band, we have garnered a series of accolades throughout the years, rising from being underdogs. Actualyl for your info, ACS band was first set up b4 nan hwa band...which was only set up about 5-10 years after ACS band. But its really hard to compete with all these bands when the instruments we have can't even be tuned.

And to answer another query, the percussion set has been changed to something called a multi tone percussion. And yes, drums are tuned to a certain note...and the 4 drums will eventually play out a chord. I can't remember exactly wat was the key it was tuned to. Hehe even our multi tone is semi pseudo cause it's not a complete set...the drums are all bought at different times and from different manufacturers due to cost constraint therefore achieving that unison is quite hard.

[cxtreme]

how do i find more threads like this?

[Chris C]

how do i find more threads like this?

Here's one cxtreme......school band (http://www.acs-sitiawan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=915&highlight=military+band/)

[Chris C]

p/s: cxtreme, my gal is in one of the pics......:D

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l84/skool6/tmpphpOyt4AP.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l84/skool6/tmpphpuunfvD.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l84/skool6/tmpphpmEVZYf.jpg

[Chris C]

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l84/skool6/tmpphpJS2SZL.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l84/skool6/tmpphpluLd1j.jpg

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l84/skool6/tmpphpkyKOPV.jpg

[Anson F-Clef]

Year 1987 under Ling Kay Chan's Drum Majorship

http://ansonfclef.multiply.com/photos/hi-res/3/151?xurl=%2Fphotos%2Fphoto%2F3%2F151

Wonder how ACS Band has been faring lately..............(besides being as high as number 2 in Perak b4)

[cxtreme]

aiks chris jie

your daughter is a band member??

hmm

Form 5 means she's a committee

hmm dunno leh...u're not mrs yeoh are you? hmm not mrs yeoh cause she has an elder daughter in colege

the other girl in the pic. pick siu if i'm not mistaken has a brother..

then the third girl i ahve no idea

[Chris C]

aiks chris jie

your daughter is a band member??

hmm

Form 5 means she's a committee

hmm dunno leh...u're not mrs yeoh are you? hmm not mrs yeoh cause she has an elder daughter in colege

the other girl in the pic. pick siu if i'm not mistaken has a brother..

then the third girl i ahve no idea

:laugh: .....pick siu is correct, meaning my gal is 1 of the 2 gals u have no idea of lor......:D ....

[cxtreme]

actually i've already eliminated sing ning...

cause she has a sister sing yuin in college now..

and yuo said your two girls are 17 n 9 :p

means your daughter is the last girl...

[Chris C]

actually i've already eliminated sing ning...

cause she has a sister sing yuin in college now..

and yuo said your two girls are 17 n 9 :p

means your daughter is the last girl...

:laugh: ......so she's the only gal u have no idea of, and she's my gal....:D

[Big Chief]

Bravo Sir Cucuan,
I played the biggest drum once.

[cxtreme]

hmm..haha your daughter din join when i was around...i think she joined when she was in form 4 rite? due to parental objections? haha

speaking about this...a lot of my friends wanted to join the band but were not allowed to by their parents becasue they feel its time consuming. what do the parents here think? and also, are we moving in a different direction? i mean is this a new phenomena or one that has lasted throuigh the ages.

[t-wei]

great story cucuan! keep it up!

[Chris C]

hmm..haha your daughter din join when i was around...i think she joined when she was in form 4 rite? due to parental objections? haha

speaking about this...a lot of my friends wanted to join the band but were not allowed to by their parents becasue they feel its time consuming. what do the parents here think? and also, are we moving in a different direction? i mean is this a new phenomena or one that has lasted throuigh the ages.

:laugh: ....no, due to lack of interest and then trying to get more extra points after that for co-curriculum....:D

[t-wei]

all former and current band members in this forum.."raise your hands please"

t-wei - hands down ;) to busy running for Rumah Tai Swee Kee

[alfred98]

Bands!!!!! For what???? Need more points or something........And if join what is the benifits ah????? don't understand....unless U are interested in music!!!!:(

[kheng]

Chris... for ur knowledge ...
cxtreme was a drum major in 2001 and the centennial drum major in 2003 ... he was also the best all-round SPM student for 2001 and the best all-round STPM student 2003 ....
N u only hv to whisper 'band' to let his tongue wag non-stop ... :p .....

[Chris C]

Chris... for ur knowledge ...
cxtreme was a drum major in 2001 and the centennial drum major in 2003 ... he was also the best all-round SPM student for 2001 and the best all-round STPM student 2003 ....
N u only hv to whisper 'band' to let his tongue wag non-stop ... :p .....

:laugh: ....no wander he was excited about this thread...:D

[alfred98]

That's why for me the FM scheme is the best lor!!!! No need curriculum points leh.....just need to join one which U are interested like cadet military lah!!! My favourite.....oh wait do they have this in ACS??? Like the one in uni.....most of the students hunting for this points but when joined PALAPES automatic points lor.....

[Chris C]

That's why for me the FM scheme is the best lor!!!! No need curriculum points leh.....just need to join one which U are interested like cadet military lah!!! My favourite.....oh wait do they have this in ACS??? Like the one in uni.....most of the students hunting for this points but when joined PALAPES automatic points lor.....

Ada.......and many more others, compared to during our time.....

[SS2006]

Chris... for ur knowledge ...
cxtreme was a drum major in 2001 and the centennial drum major in 2003 ... he was also the best all-round SPM student for 2001 and the best all-round STPM student 2003 ....
N u only hv to whisper 'band' to let his tongue wag non-stop ... :p .....

wow cxtreme, you're an all rounder man!

[cxtreme]

haha yea i'm very round...round tummy :p

[EtcurtS]

Let us make ACS achieve some No 1 in the state and country guys and make us all old pupils proud of the achievements of our alma mater--its really been a long time coming since Mr Moses Tay did us proud by representing the country in tennis/Beng Hua in table tennis and Shaharuddin Jaafar in cycling/Daniel Tay also in tennis
Tell me about our other achievements to date,please

Well, with the Doha Asian Games just around the corner, one of the Gold Medal prospects for Malaysia is an ACSian. Some of the forummers might already know. Dr. Kevin Lim in the sailing event is from Class 93. He studied in ACS from Form 2 (1990) till part of his Lower 6 (1994) before he left to Australia. Mr Cucuan might remember him because he taught us PE in Form 2 (1990). Kevim was a Silver medalist in the previous 2 Asian Games, besides several Golds at SEA Games. If I am not mistaken, he is currently ranked tops in Asia, which makes him a high medal prospect for the country.

By the way, he is a medical doctor (graduated from UNSW Sydney if Im not mistaken).

[Oddfather]

Chris... for ur knowledge ...
cxtreme was a drum major in 2001 and the centennial drum major in 2003 ... he was also the best all-round SPM student for 2001 and the best all-round STPM student 2003 ....
N u only hv to whisper 'band' to let his tongue wag non-stop ... :p .....

wah.....cxtreme, way to go......keep up the good work and keep the ACS flag flying high.....*oddf gaive xctreme a BIG pat on the back* :D

[Anson F-Clef]

Eh - give him a greenie then! :D
wah.....cxtreme, way to go......keep up the good work and keep the ACS flag flying high.....*oddf gaive xctreme a BIG pat on the back* :D

[Oddfather]

Eh - give him a greenie then! :D

errr.....sibuk laa u.....:p

[cxtreme]

err what's a greenie?

haha

yea i know kevin...

when i last met him in 2001, he was still studying to be a doctor and his gf at that time was arianne , the national gymnast...wonder how he's doing now.

unfortunately a lot of ppl also mistook him for me..cuase our names are almost the same :p but no i'm safe and sound in singapore and not in doha

[Odysseus]

Chris... for ur knowledge ...
cxtreme was a drum major in 2001 and the centennial drum major in 2003 ... he was also the best all-round SPM student for 2001 and the best all-round STPM student 2003 ....
N u only hv to whisper 'band' to let his tongue wag non-stop ... :p .....
What's the diff between a normal drum major and the centennial one?

[kwimango]

err what's a greenie?

haha

yea i know kevin...

when i last met him in 2001, he was still studying to be a doctor and his gf at that time was arianne , the national gymnast...wonder how he's doing now.

i thought her name was au liyen? some ratu gymnastiks

here's a pic of him in the SEA Games 2001 taken by yours truly the paparazzi, click on the thumbnails for bigger pics
http://thumb18.webshots.net/s/thumb2/1/48/14/155214814GRYIPz_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1155214814056792118GRYIPz)http://thumb18.webshots.net/s/thumb3/1/48/30/155214830QBMBcG_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1155214830056792118QBMBcG)http://thumb18.webshots.net/s/thumb2/1/49/99/155214999mxlgIC_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1155214999056792118mxlgIC)http://thumb18.webshots.net/s/thumb2/1/50/24/155215024AYxTLQ_th.jpg (http://sports.webshots.com/photo/1155215024056792118AYxTLQ)

[Chris C]

err what's a greenie?

Look on your top right.....u have 2 greenies at the moment. They're +ve points that u have, given by the other members for post that they like from u. To see those, click on user cp, on your top left.

[cucuan]

Well, with the Doha Asian Games just around the corner, one of the Gold Medal prospects for Malaysia is an ACSian. Some of the forummers might already know. Dr. Kevin Lim in the sailing event is from Class 93. He studied in ACS from Form 2 (1990) till part of his Lower 6 (1994) before he left to Australia. Mr Cucuan might remember him because he taught us PE in Form 2 (1990). Kevim was a Silver medalist in the previous 2 Asian Games, besides several Golds at SEA Games. If I am not mistaken, he is currently ranked tops in Asia, which makes him a high medal prospect for the country.

By the way, he is a medical doctor (graduated from UNSW Sydney if Im not mistaken).

Yes, I remember, I think I taught him sains paduan in Fm 3 or maybe I was his Fm teacher. In fact I met his parents 2-3 years ago in Cyberjaya. His father was my childrens' sailing instructor I think at the base. But I have seen him since he left school.

cucuan

[cucuan]

Bands!!!!! For what???? Need more points or something........And if join what is the benifits ah????? don't understand....unless U are interested in music!!!!:(

Alfie, looking back at some of the comments from the other thread about the school band, the main motive in joining the band are the interest in the girl members and the ang-pow money from the funerals. When I was in charge then I didnt want to get involve in the recruitment of members because parents would call me and ask why you get my daughter involved-hah? So I leave that to Mr. Moses and I would go round with him to round the better classes and he would choose pretty and cute girls into the band. For him the side-drummers must be cute and good looking and the skirt must be short.

Oh yes, serong a bit. There was this year when we had a fun-fair for about 2-weeks in the school compound during the CNY and we even held a Miss ACS contest and a number of girls from the Band participated in the contest and two of our girls won, one the winner and the other one runner-up. During the fair some classes had to cross the road to have their classes at the church premises opposite the school.

cucuan

[Odysseus]

Alfie, looking back at some of the comments from the other thread about the school band, the main motive in joining the band are the interest in the girl members and the ang-pow money from the funerals. When I was in charge then I didnt want to get involve in the recruitment of members because parents would call me and ask why you get my daughter involved-hah? So I leave that to Mr. Moses and I would go round with him to round the better classes and he would choose pretty and cute girls into the band. For him the side-drummers must be cute and good looking and the skirt must be short.

Oh yes, serong a bit. There was this year when we had a fun-fair for about 2-weeks in the school compound during the CNY and we even held a Miss ACS contest and a number of girls from the Band participated in the contest and two of our girls won, one the winner and the other one runner-up. During the fair some classes had to cross the road to have their classes at the church premises opposite the school.

cucuan
Cucuan, when was the fun fair. I remember the fun fair but only vaguely. What was the fun fair for? Of course, it's to raise fund. What's the purpose?

I remember the day when Mr Moses came to my class to do school band recruitment. Everyone knew how Mr Moses did band recruitment. If you are in Form 1A, you should be a band member unless you have good reasons to offer. He will come at the end of the year to recruit so that new members can join the badn camp during the school holidays.

As I have no interest in music, I chose to escape by joining the scouts. Had lots of fun with the guys. Minus pretty gals :(

I can remember very well how Mr Moses recruited Zazu. Maybe I shall leave it to Zazu to share his story.

[alfred98]

Alfie, looking back at some of the comments from the other thread about the school band, the main motive in joining the band are the interest in the girl members and the ang-pow money from the funerals. When I was in charge then I didnt want to get involve in the recruitment of members because parents would call me and ask why you get my daughter involved-hah? So I leave that to Mr. Moses and I would go round with him to round the better classes and he would choose pretty and cute girls into the band. For him the side-drummers must be cute and good looking and the skirt must be short.

Oh yes, serong a bit. There was this year when we had a fun-fair for about 2-weeks in the school compound during the CNY and we even held a Miss ACS contest and a number of girls from the Band participated in the contest and two of our girls won, one the winner and the other one runner-up. During the fair some classes had to cross the road to have their classes at the church premises opposite the school.

cucuan

Hehe!! Now I know lah......For girls, money and glamour!!!!!! I would have joined if given chances!!!!:laugh:

[cxtreme]

wahahaha perhaps we should bring back this tradition..

now girls not allowed to take up the drums ....except for exceptional cases..

wahaha i had the time of my life as the dm trying to explain to the younger members y girls not allowed in percussion :p

[cucuan]

Cucuan, when was the fun fair. I remember the fun fair but only vaguely. What was the fun fair for? Of course, it's to raise fund. What's the purpose?

I remember the day when Mr Moses came to my class to do school band recruitment. Everyone knew how Mr Moses did band recruitment. If you are in Form 1A, you should be a band member unless you have good reasons to offer. He will come at the end of the year to recruit so that new members can join the badn camp during the school holidays.

As I have no interest in music, I chose to escape by joining the scouts. Had lots of fun with the guys. Minus pretty gals :(

I can remember very well how Mr Moses recruited Zazu. Maybe I shall leave it to Zazu to share his story.

The fun fair was held in 1973 basically to raise funds to build the school hall. Mr Moses had that funny idea of getting made in China product like blankets, canned food and he managed to get some old boys who were in the business to sponsor some of those products. It was sort of a trade-fair kind of thing. At that time the favourite product was made in China blankets and it was selling like hot cakes. We had also request station where we blare out music and songs on request. It was tough cause we had to forego our CNY celebrations and for 2 weeks we had to teach in the morning and work at night supervising the work assigned to us.

cucuan

[cxtreme]

wow...what dedication...i think if u'd do it today, the current teachers will complain to the ministry and on and on...teaching isn't really a passion anymore..it's just a means to make ends meet...even given a bit of extra work like cocurricular activity, a lot of teachers are not keen already

[cucuan]

Hehe!! Now I know lah......For girls, money and glamour!!!!!! I would have joined if given chances!!!!:laugh:

If Dr. Alfie join and if I am in charge probably I will give him the bass drum:eek:

cucuan

[cxtreme]

What's the diff between a normal drum major and the centennial one?

Hi Odysseus,

To be honest i really have no idea what's the difference between the two. I was given the title and was announced as such during school assemblies but other than that nothing else was done..i.e. no cert, and certainly no name on the wall..

anyway

i can tell you what i did in both capacities tho

as the drum major, together with my committee we set ahead to set the direction of the band..together with mr lkn of course...basically as drum major, my role was not only ceremonial as at that time i was also in charge of the band...i had two assistants who assisted me in running the band

when the centennial year came about, the year was 2003, i was still semi involved with the school band but we had another drum major then who was i believe lim chang yung. during the centennial year, i was the head prefect and as part of the celebrations we established a student union (unofficially..i.e. no paperwork to verify such things) where we could get all the cocurricular bodies involved in the celebration. For the major part, we organised the school concert (very grateful to my friends for helping me support this) which was held in June and partially for fund raising purposes as well....and subsequently a field show a week later. This was really a very fun and interesting experience for me as we set up the concert from conception to execution in 3 weeks, starting with totally no budget at all...in the end we raised i beleive about 4 to 5k. And the concert was a major sell-out, tickets sold out plus ppl watchin from outside the hall....the most memorable moment was when at the end of the concert, the school anthem was played, and everybody sang with much gusto and pride that you could just feel the vibe...never b4 have i heard it at that volume..haha the roof almost caved in :p

the centennial celebrations, the major one which was done in the school field with the big dinner was organised by the OPA and teachers if i'm not mistaken. Din't realy involve students as we were then having trial exams

So i guess i'm nto very sure what's the true definition of a centennial drum major, but on my part, together with my friends, we did our best in putting up a good show for the centennial

[Anson F-Clef]

Hehe!! Now I know lah......For girls, money and glamour!!!!!! I would have joined if given chances!!!!:laugh:
:rolleyes: