Don't forget what Peng Laoshi has taught us! :

• Neatness - Not too fast or too slow
• Sound - Loud/soft
• Movement - Hand/body
• Observe the conductor every now and then for signals

If in any doubt, always check your score sheet or consult the teacher/your buddies!

I know this is a little late but here's a minor change in our schedule.

Saturday practice has been shifted to Thursday on Week 5.

• 29 July, Thursday - 2:45 P.M. to 6 P.M.
• 3 August, Tuesday - 2:45 P.M. to 6 P.M.
• Practice every Wednesday as usual
• Saturday practice will be cancelled ONLY for the week above
  


* This change is only temporary!

Schedule will be as so until further notice, sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Having lots of fun!



Performance at the Chinese Culture University

On board the plane to Taipei, Taiwan

Presenting our token of appreciation to Municipal Fuxing Senior High School

Performance by Chinese Culture University Department of Chinese Music

Exchange programme at Tang Ming Guzheng Association

Taiwan Guzheng Exchange Programme Reflection

First of all, I would like to thank our school’s principal, Mr. Seet for giving me this wondrous chance to strongly motivate me. Without him, we would not have been given this chance to go overseas and exchange with the well-experienced Guzhengists over there in Taiwan.
Firstly, the objective of this trip, I feel that; it is to foster stronger friendship bonds and being able to stick together as a whole team throughout our secondary years in West Spring Secondary. Secondly, it is to better prepare ourselves for the next year’s Singapore Youth Festival competition, also known as the SYF.

After I had seen their performances, I am extremely impressed with them. They are able to perform songs that are related to other instruments like the piano with only the use of Guzheng. They are also able to play Jazz songs with Guzheng which makes the whole piece very exotic and unique. I have also been to places of interest to learn more about Taiwan’s culture, like trying their local delicacies and their building structure.

When comparing Taiwan with Singapore, I find that Taiwan is a very refreshing place for me as it is a different country and they have more land compared to Singapore. Well, I felt that the service quality in Taiwan is very much better than in Singapore. For example, the so-called “Atmosphere” between me and the staff is very serene and the staffs are very friendly. Compared to Singapore, their smiles would give you a chill down the spine and they would try to “force” you to buy their products because they are short of money. Singaporeans shop tenants should really learn from the Taiwanese.

In terms of bonding with each other, I find that this 6 days 5 nights Taiwan trip have further strengthened our bond and bind us together as one. Although there might be slight disputes with each other over trivial matters, we are able to get along well with fellow room mates. Although I am not staying with my closest friends, Clarissa , Jin pei and Yuting had given me a very memorable time. Staying with them makes me feel that I actually have more friends than I thought. Lastly I hope that in the next SYF competition, our guzheng members are able to become as one, and perform exceptionally well for our competition.

Culture

From the people in Taiwan, we learnt that we have to be friendly and approachable to everyone. Unlike the Singapore shop-owners, the Taiwanese shop-owners provide detailed explanation and warm welcome when customers enter their shop. For food stalls, they even allow you to have a free sample before you decide to buy.

We also visited a farm and experienced farm life. We had a chance to feed the animals and learn how people survive with the help of mother nature. For example, with rocks, they can form a small cave for us to cook our potatoes. Even though our hands were soiled, it was indeed a good experience for us as we are usually too pampered with the stoves or ovens provided for us at home. Apart from that, some of us had the opportunity to step into the paddy field to plant the paddy. It was a unique experience as we do not have the chance in Singapore to dip our legs into the dirty soil and plant our own paddy.

Also, we get the visit the Yehliu Geological Park, where we get to see the wonders of nature. The chilly wind there makes your mind calm and the refreshing air there cheers you up. It will be a very nice destination to go if you want to relax and enjoy a break from the hustle and bustle of city life.

Lastly we also visited the Wufengqi water fall. Even though the journey there was tiring, it was indeed nice to exercise after so many days of pampering in the hotel room. Of course, the view there was beautiful and definitely worth it after your laborious climb.

Music

On the second day of our trip, we went to a high school in Taipei for an exchange programme as planned in the itinerary. Unlike our school, theirs is an arts school, and they specialize in playing guzheng. They are tutored one-on-one, thus enabling them to polish up their skills in a more efficient way. They first performed us their pieces and it was indeed more profound than those that we usually learn as most of the pieces are solo pieces and did not require teamwork but require a lot of concentration and practice to achieve a good melody.

When it was our turn, we panicked. Not everyone has the chance to perform as they provided only 3 guzhengs to us. We were originally told that there will be about 6 guzhengs. The sudden change caught us off guard and immediately made us panic. Our teacher responded quickly and arranged for 1 from each section to perform. It was very stressful as they were alone, without any members of their section and they were also required to play their parts well to create the melody. Mistakes made would be exposed easily as there would be no one to cover for you. Thus, they were expected to make as few mistakes as possible.

At the same time, we sent Huiho to play a solo piece, it was her first time performing solo. Being a shy girl, she was near to tears when she played the song. Although there were some mistakes here and there, I believe it was a great experience for her. Upon stepping off the stage, she sobbed, without any reason, all the peers near her started to cry too. We could all feel a very mysterious bond amongst us, I was close to tears too. I believe that those tears were not shed out of embarrassment or loss of hope but were shed because we admire her for her courage to perform solo. Three cheers for Huiho!

Apart from that, we visited many other guzheng related organisations. One of which is Tang Ming guzheng orchestra. We learnt a lot from this visit. Tang Ming uses a new type of guzheng which enables the player to change the notes efficiently. It is made such a way that it looks like two guzheng being combined into one, allowing the player to play on both sides. In this way, more variations can be made to the music to create more effects. They also showed us that there are many ways to present a guzheng piece. In fact they used guzheng, along with many types of combinations to play a mozart piece.

Team spirit

Through this trip, I believe all of the members are now more bonded. By sharing the same room, we learnt to understand one another and be more organized. Of course we also learnt to co-operate with one another and learn from one another. Apart from the Taiwanese we met there, the peers around us are also our learning partners, we learn from each other.

We learnt to be more aware of one another when we are required to be in a group. Everyone is responsible not just for themselves but also for others. We learnt to look out for one another. In a group we each have a role to play. For example, one will be leading the way, and the other will be tracking the time and some will be keeping track of where we are going. In this way, we reduce the risk of getting lost or reporting late.

Also, we learnt to respect one another, in terms of privacy of others. When travelling, we kept quiet to allow the tour guide to speak. We also thanked the driver when leaving the bus and we realized the importance and the impact of such small little gestures. Even though it may be just a small word of thanks, it makes the driver feel appreciated and now we learnt be more grateful and not take things for granted.

I’ve gained a lot of experience during the past 6 days 5 nights of the Taiwan tip. The main objectives of the trip are the things we have learnt from the schools in Taiwan and the rest of places that we have gone to during the entire trip.

I learnt a lot of skills during the second day in Taiwan when we went to to Municipal Fuxing Senior High School especially the importance of movements and sound when playing Guzheng. The girls were a little nervous but they did not show it on their faces and put up a good show for us to enjoy. After my solo, I felt that I had a lot more to work on because I played a note wrongly during my solo and made a facial expression which showed that I have made a mistake. I expected my solo to have a lot of mistakes but little did I expect to stop when I have not played until the first half of the song. Nonetheless, our visit to Municipal Fuxing Senior High School was fun and enriching as it was our first time at a Taiwanese school.

We’ve been to many places of interest such as Ximending, Yehliu Geological Park, the tall mountain that took us a lot of energy to climb and so much more! On the fourth day when we had to split to have dinner at a night market, Victoriette was lost and alone. That taught us a valuable lesson not to leave a member alone even if we dislike her because once something happens to her, the whole ensemble will be held responsible. Moreover Taiwan is a big country and once a foreigner gets lost in a place or in a crowd, finding him/her will be a huge problem. It taught me and the rest that team spirit is important and if we dislike a certain person, we must not talk behind her back but confront her instead and tell her what she should improve on.

Dinner at the night market with my friends was very enjoyable. What appealed to me the most was the fried ice-cream – It’s hot and crunchy on the outside but cold and soft on the inside! It was my first time eating a unique ice-cream and we did not regret buying it.

At the Tang Ming Guzheng Association, I learnt that there are different types of guzhengs and the Japanese guzheng is totally different from the Chinese’s. The Japanese guzheng can be played on both sides, the left-hand side and the right hand side. The number of strings on the left-hand side is two times more than the strings on the right hand side. The tune of the guzheng can be easily adjusted just by sliding a little piece of compartment at the ends. I also learnt that it takes years of practice to get up to the level of the girls at the Tang Ming Guzheng Association as they can play English songs such as Mozart’s piece on a Chinese instrument! The Japanese guzheng is harder to play as both sides can be used and the distance of the strings on right hand side of the guzheng, which is where we normally play, is slightly further apart from each other.

On the last day of the trip, we went to the Chinese Culture University Department of Chinese Music. We were very nervous when it was our turn to perform on stage and many of us played wrong notes. If that was the SYF performance, we would not be able to achieve the gold medal. We did not perform well due to a few factors. Firstly, we were very nervous. Secondly, we had no confidence in playing the song and lastly, we were not used to playing a guzheng which do not belong to us. This taught us that with enough practice, we will be able to play a piece together with ease and it also taught us that we have to adapt to change and should not always rely on our own guzhengs in school or at home to play a song well. As the saying goes, “Change is inevitable”.

I hope to see a huge improvement in our guzheng standard as our aim for next year’s SYF is Gold with Honors. To achieve this we should practice hard and not laze around when the teacher’s not around to coach us. I would also like to see us bonding well with one another and with the juniors too.

The culture of Taiwan is very different from Singapore and the Taiwanese are very nice and gracious. Taiwan’s highways and expressways are very clean compared to Singapore’s roads where rubbish can be found on the roads even though we are considered a “Garden City”. Even though there are no cleaners in Taiwan, we hardly see any litter around as the Taiwanese pick up or keep the litters themselves and throw them away when they see a dustbin. In Singapore, we can still find litter around us even though there are cleaners to help us clean the streets.