The Extra in the Ordinary
This picture is taken on the day of RV60, before the performance when we were all busy doing our hair and makeup. I chose this picture as it is by far the closest thing we have to a group photo and it means a lot to me to be with this group of people, enjoying ourselves on and off stage. Being selected to be one of the 60 drummers to perform for RV60 is one of my biggest honour. The time I spent with this people are irreplaceable and it has indeed left a deep impression in me. Seeing everyone doing their best to perfect the score makes me really happy. These people stayed together, no matter happy or upset, and together we presented our best version of the score on January 16 2016 as a birthday present to River Valley. These people made a great impact on my life as I realised that I can learn many things from each and everyone of them. Our time drumming together might have been short, no longer than 3 months, but to me they really are the Extra in the Ordinary, adding spice to my 6 years in River Valley.
RV60 Reflections
On January 16, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of River Valley High School. According to many people, it was like a miniature NDP. The celebration is held in the school field, where every Rvian contributed one way or another. Some were helpers, some were ushers and of course most of us were performers. I was part of the Festive Drums performance, which was the opening of the whole performance. The solo item we presented was the fruit of our hard work in the past 2 months. From the selection to the actual practices, the journey was definitely not easy. As the day to RV60 became closer and closer, we had to stay back almost everyday for practice. During the full dress rehearsals, we were ome of the last groups to leave as we still need to do runs of the set up of drums.
For RV60, we were supposed to have 60 drums in total performing. However, in every group, there will always be someone who is not as committed to the show and the practices. Many members of the initial 60 drummers just stopped showing up all of a sudden and we did not recieve any reasons regarding that. In the end, we had no choicebut to cancel their names and attendance from the performance. It might not be obvious but in the end, we only had 53 drummers for the performance. It went well though, so it wasn't a very big deal.
I feel that for a performance to be successful, everyone included in the performance must give his/her best effort so as to not drag anyone down. In a performance, a mistake is equal to a messed up show, so we must be sure that we have enough practice to prevent any mistakes from happening.
Rich=Happy?
Most of us might think that being rich equals to being happy, since you can get whatever you want, be it toys or a world tour. Definitely these things makes us happy. But the process?
Although Singaporeans lead quite a luxurious lifestyle, we are not happy according to the Happiness Index. Countries like India are happier than us, even though they earn lesser than us. Why is that so? In my opinion, it is exactly because we are rich, that's why we are unhappy. With more money comes the stress from work for adults and also students whose parents want them to score higher marks so that they can secure a stabilized job in the future. All these stress accumulates in us, causing us to be unable to smile when walking down the streets or buying food from vendors etc. It has also caused many students committing suicide to escape the frustration that has been building up.
Also, another result of Singaporeans having a high income is the busy and fast paced lifestyle. Everyone is so busy, some of us work even on transportations like buses and MRTs. It is not rare that someone would be sighted doing his/her homework or an adult rummaging through files and folders while scrolling through their phones at the same time. Surprising how well we multitask, isn't it?
Our fast paced lifestyle has caused us to not even have time to greet neighbours in the lift or put on a smile on our faces. Everywhere we go there is only students rushing to go to school or adults struggling to complete tasks before the due date. Even with money, are we satisfied with what we have now? In this case, does being rich really equals to being happy?
Reflections on Chingay 2016
What exactly is the parade about? Before the talk on Chingay on the 30th of January, I never thought that the Chingay parade held so much meaning. In the past, fire crackers were aften used to celebrate the annual Chinese New Year. However, due to the fact that there were a lot of people injured due to fire crackers, the government of Singapore banned the use of fire crackers. Without the iconic fun and loud fire crackers, the spirit of Chinese New Year was definitely dampened. Not wanting this to happen, the government introduced the first ever Chingay Parade in 1973, from Jalan Besar to Outram Park.
The Chingay Parade in Chinese is 妆艺大游行, which basically means "The Art of Costumes and Masquarade". The big and grand floats with all the people with beautiful and elegant masks are the very proof that indeed they have fulfilled the name of this parade. The grand choreography and arrangements of the parade every year never failed to impress the people of Singapore.
The theme of this year's Chingay Parade is "Lights if Legacy, Brighter Singapore". This theme is inspired by the Founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and the values shown by our pioneers, which are now our countries' core values. They include: Racial Harmony and Social Cohesion, Caring Community, Resilience as a Nation, Can-Do Singapore Spirit, and Uphold High Moral Values. The purpose of Chingay 2016 is to remind us of the past and mark the beginning of the next 50 years to come. As said in the beginning, the purpose of the first Chingay parade was to not dampen the spirit of Chinese New Year due to the ban of fire crackers. In 2016, the purpose has obviously changed dramatically. I believe this change happened as the leaders of Singapore are looking further into the future for Singapore as a multicultural country as compared to the beginning, where Chingay was just an entertainment. This purpose is most definitely fulfilled, as now, Chingay included performance troops from not only local, but also from overseas, and this practice started in 1977 when Malay and Indian troops joined the performance. I strongly believe that it is due to the fact the Singapore is a multicultural country and the reason why groups from other countries are invited is to allow us to build a closer and stronger relationship with them. Not only that, the Chinese New Year spirit is definitely not dampened due to the lack of fire crackers at all.
The parade at the F1 pit included many stunning performances. The opening itself was already very grand, with over 800 performers and a large float, with the performance title "Voyage100" on it. It left a deep impression on me as the performers were decked in LED sailors' costumes and the float was a large ship. Their performance was neat and pleasing to the eye and the fact that 800 performers could parade so neatly was impressing. Next up was cultural performances which comenced with the Dragon Dance, which in itself was impressing. There were the normal dragons, LED dragon, fire cracker dragons and the helium dragons. Not only that, there were Malay, Chinese and Indian dances. After that was "Friendship all over the World", which was a performance put together by people all over the world like Japan and a certain European country I can't quite recall. "United and Vibrant Community" has a range of vibrant performances put up by many societies and clubs like the Trampoline fitness club, Pole Dancing, wushu, taekwando, ballet, hula hoops etc. The finale item was "Lights of Legacy", which is a performance involving 3000 performers lightingup Singapore's skyline with sky lanterns with the commitment of the people of Singapore. The show ended with 4 ladies donned in long flowing white costumes being lifted up into the air.
Through Chingay, we learn to respect each other's culture and also are introducesPd to the culture of people from different countries. We learn to be grateful for what we have now as without the hardwork of the past generations we will not have what we currently possess. We learn to accept each other regardless of our race, language or religion to promote social cohesion, caring community, and racial harmony. The performers who showed us such a great performance showed the can-do Singapore spirit, as they never gave up even though the training must have been tough. One show showed our reliance to the core values of Singapore.
I thouroughly enjoyed myself at the show. Even with the lack of firecrackers, the Chinese New Year spirit is definitely not damoened at all, proving the organisers successful at fulfilling the purpose. The hardwork the performers put in has definitely paid off as i know that all of us were impressed and awed by the sow that was put up. It is indeed a very good experience going to the Chingay parade and if given the chance, I will definitely take part in it again.
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