Back to choir

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." (Psalms 25:4-5)

Whoa, what a busy day(this was yesterday). At 9a.m, I drove to school and met my long-time-no-see choir members and teachers. (at this point, I was thinking about the times when I was a choir member in my school -Time flies so fast). We talked for a while(update ourselves with the things going on in our lives) before going to the choir room to practice the songs that we were going to present at night. The songs were "Getaran Jiwa" and "Aduh, Sayang". These songs, I reckon, were some of the works of the renowned Tan Sri P. Ramlee, an actor, singer, and composer in the 50s-70s. Anyways, it was great to be with my friends again and we started to 'bla, bla' around. Soon, my choir teacher, Mdm. Luk, asked all of us to go and take a walk outside around the block 3 times(if you are guessing, this is a warming-up session to get you prepared to sing). And so it went.....

Scences - b4 everything started with Mdm Luk at the table(top), a walk around the block(middle), getting ready, the guy in black is Wee Cheng, one of the potential conductors of the choir(bottom)

Then, it's time to 'open' our voices. As usual, we sang the la la la la la, hummmm, roll our tongues and sing, relax ourselves, and the others to get ready(you can expect that b4 a choir practice). I took a look across the room and couldn't identify some members(I then knew them at the end of the day). I realised how young these new singers are and I put myself into my seniors' shoes when I first joined the choir 3 1/2 years ago. That time, I was still a greenhorn. Wow, time flies(I must mention this again). Anyways, after the warming-up session, Mdm. Luk introduced the ex- members who came back. There were 4(if I'm not wrong....hmmm..). They were Samuel(an ex-tenor of the boy singers), Azrin(an ex-soprano of the girl singers), Ryner(an ex-pianist, conductor and tenor boy) and me(an ex-bass of the boy singers). It was good to be together again after so long.

Ryner is at the piano, with Mdm. Luk beside him. The boy standing is Eugene, with Fiona sitting, both are violinists.

From left: Samuel, Jeremy(conductor and a bass), Wee Cheng, and Ambrose

This is Christopher, a new member that joined this year

So we practiced and practiced the songs and soon, it's time to get our costumes(let the pictures do the talking).

The girls chose first

Then the guys

To cut things short, we finish our practice after 2 hours and went home to get ready ourselves. We went back to school at 1:30pm to catch the rented bus to Crowne Plaza at Riverside.

In the bus

Me with Azrin and Chris behind

Group practice

The VIPs tables

On-stage Rehearsal

The hall with the SONS(State Orchestra) orchestra at the left

Men in black

Food, food, food!

Final preparation

Back to school again

And so, to cut the story short, we met our Chief Minister and the deputies as well as other ministers. We had to stand on the stage waiting for nearly 20 minutes(if i'm not wrong) before they settled down(the spotlight was like shining straight into my eyes, so you can guess how was the feeling). After the performance, we went back to our room. According to the teachers, we performed well and sang beautifully.

Looking back, it had really been a long journey. We went through times of difficulties, sadness, and joy. In all, it's not about how much we had won or achieved, but it was the time that we spent together as friends and members. It was indeed a memorable one.

Go Batu Lintang go!

God bless.