After months of hard work(since last October), we have finally achieved what we wanted and even more. Here's my SYF Choir experience...

Last October. We received two completely new music scores. They were titled Hark All Ye Lovely Saints and Janger. We sang it through and started learning...slowly...step by step, part by part. I remembered me saying that Janger sounded so weird at that time. And I felt that Hark was too holy sounding. I was not sure that those two were our SYF pieces then.

Last November. We received a new score that month. By then, we knew that Hark and Janger were two of our SYF pieces. Having taken part in the SYF before in Primary School, I knew 3 songs were the requirement and I looked forward to learning the set piece. Then we knew what it was. The Wind. Composed by Kelly Tang. The same composer for my Primary School SYF Choir's set piece as well. The teachers Ms Chung and Miss Ho tried their best to play it on the piano to let us hear how it sounded like. I knew it was going to be a difficult piece. One particularly high Soprano part caught my ear. Those in choir should know which part I'm talking about. So now we have the songs. The set piece, The Wind. The old english music, Hark All Ye Lovely Saints and the foreign language song, Janger.

This Year. We went through even tougher training. Staying back almost every day of the schooling week and even on Saturdays. It was really hard work and all of us felt like giving up. But we didn't. We went through it all and persisted. There were times when the teachers would scold us for not paying attention or cooperating. But I felt that they were right. Not all of us were giving our all then.

10 Days Before SYF. We started to get even more into rehearsals. There were days when we stayed back till 9pm+. For Mr Toh's masterclass and other rehearsals... We improved tremendously during that ast fnal lap of our preparations. I know and I think all of us choristers should know as well.

SYF Day. We headed to SOTA after some rehearsal time at YMCA building's studio. We were all well-rested and when we reached SOTA, we were all nervous but there was a sense of anticipation in the air as well. When it was our turn to perform, we gave our all and impressed the judges with our pieces. My mum, who was in the audience said that we sounded way better than when we were at the Bishan Salvation Army during our choir exchange with some other schools. We were all relieved when it was over and we excited ourselves, predicting what results we would get. I don't think any of us expected what we would get.

Around 5.30pm that day. The results were revealed. Some of us were outside the choir room and the seniors came screaming and running. We immediately knew that it was about our results and we followed them. At first, we thought it was a Gold. Nevertheless, we were already really happy that we met our target and started screaming and jumping around. Just then, one of the seniors came to where we were gathering and said, "Who said it was a Gold?" we immediately kept quiet. Then she said, "It is a Gold WITH HONOURS!" more shrieks of excitement. Things got pretty emotional after a while. Cries and shouts were heard. I myself was crying away. After about an hour of impromptu excited 'partying', we went home. The teachers, Ms Chung, our conductor and Miss Ho and Mrs Lau were so proud of us. Mrs Lau finally showed the kid-like side of her when she came running towards us and hugging those whom she can reach!

I'm really proud of my choir. We've come this far. Let's continue and give it our all that we do! SYF 2013!