Hey guys.


It's 1 week of school before Tasmania. I have no idea how to put everything in words at this time, so bear with me for the randomness. Well, there's just to much to fill in...

'What you get by reaching your destination is not as important as what you become by reaching your destination.' - Dr. Robert Anthony; writer. I want you to know that this competition we're preparing so, so hard for, is something that is a chance for this batch of people going there to experience what is truly like to be a performer, a musician. The championship, whatever we get after reaching our destination is never as important as the vision that we'll have become better, as a person, as a performer and as a band after going through the process.

True music is what feelings sound like. And a true performer is one that will present music to anyone, be it anywhere, anytime. Undoubtedly, it's of utmost importance (x 10000000000) to practice, but the purpose of playing music is to make all audiences feel from our music. I'm very sure this purpose was not there yesterday during the exchange, unless any of the pieces was supposed to be expressing fear or anxiety, then we would have achieved our goal.

Any performer would feel adrenaline rushes on stage, yet the most difficult yet only goal on stage is to cope with this anxiety, communicate with everyone through the music and lastly, to express. On stage, relax, be confident, feel what you need to express and let your feelings touch the souls of your audience through music. The seniors have all experienced this on stage in SYF, and the juniors too at JBF, so I believe we are able to relive this experience as performers if we make an effort to. If we've practiced this hard for real perfection, when it's the real thing, we cannot happily let stage fright eat away the confidence and hardwork everyone has put in. Is it fair to those who really made an effort to control their anxiety? Definitely not. We are one band, with so many people. One person feeling anxiety can make the whole band anxious. Just like how enthusiasm can spread, fear can spread too.

Life still goes on after performance, you still have to sleep, eat, school, etc. 'Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.' - Berthold Auerbach. So since it is a passion, enjoy it, enjoy the time on stage, don't rush through it because you only have 10 minutes on stage after 10 years of preparation.

'We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake, never made a discovery.' Samuel Smiles, writer. This is for the sec2s. If any of the seniors haven't made 1001 mistakes in the past, they wouldn't have been good now. All of you make mistakes, but if you don't practice enough yourself, where do the mistakes come from? Only if you practice, you make a lot of mistakes, change it, then you'll be better and better. That's one, but for some of you, after you made mistakes, you repeat them because you are not thinking and mature enough, enough to be responsible and understand that since you've made a mistake, you know what it's like and by doing the opposite you will not repeat it again. Maturity is important in band. I truly hope that some of you start to think and reflect more, be more responsible on your part. You are not juniors anymore, you will be seniors in time to come. You may be known as a senior, but deep inside this kind of maturity, playing and attitude is definitely not enough to match up.

Last one. And the most important of all. 'One Band, One Sound' - AMKSS Band. We're a band that IS going to Tasmania. As one band, individuals put away all differences and we work, play, and lastly, perform as one with one sound, one music at any one time. One Sound means we convey one feeling on stage at one moment, and I hope that this wouldn't be anxiety. It's 8 days left to the trip. We have all the support from our alumni, teachers and conductors, fellow bands like commonwealth and our friends. I hope that at this last week we can clean up every little single part, have one commitment as one band and when it's time on stage, really

be performers.