This year, the Symphonic Band and Uniform Groups from Maris Stella High School were given the opportunity to take part in the National Day Parade in the Military Tattoo. Alongside the SAF band, we had weekly practices to prepare for National Day.
When I was given the opportunity to sign up for the military tattoo, I immediately signed up and hoped that I was able to learn and gain many invaluable experiences from this opportunity. However, I was a little worried of my studies being affected because I had to sacrifice all my Saturdays for this performance. Nevertheless, I signed up for this together with my friends.
I still remember the first training session we had, where we were shown the choreographed performance. It was thrilling as we were excited to be able to take part in the performance. Although we struggled (because Maris Stella High School is not a marching band), and were doing quite badly compared to other schools, we managed to pull through and lead to a successful performance.
During every break after the practices, we had different snacks to enjoy, from kinder bueno to ice popsicles. The popsicles were very popular amongst us, and they helped with the sweltering heat we had to endure every Saturday.
After a few weeks of practice, there was a time where we had to decide who becomes our reserve and who performs during the actual day. It was quite a stressful period as we all wanted to perform, but because our school was still lagging behind compared to others, we had no choice but to make a few people reserves. However, we did not let that deter us from doing our best.
During the term 2 holidays, we also stayed back to prepare for our performances. We had many things to work on, but we were proud that during the 3 days of preparation, we managed to catch up and do better. My contingent finally managed to do the “circle allusion”, a part of the video that required precision.
Some videos of what we have done during the holiday practices:
During that time, we had another 3 rehearsal at Nee Soon Camp before we move to Padang for the combined rehearsal.
First Day at Padang
For the first combined rehearsal at Padang, we were very excited as we went inside our holding area. It was very lively, and there were different snacks given out to us for free. For example, we had free soy milk from Mr Bean, and free bubble tea from Liho. They definitely helped me endure the long hours of us staying at the holding area.
When we went to the stage, there was not much time for us to rehearse and we kept getting interrupted. We were then reminded by our trainers that it was a very normal thing as it is such a big scale event with many different parties involved.
Although it was quite stressful, as we only had 2 more rehearsals before the first NE show, we persevered and managed to overcome it.
Weeks went by, and National Day gets closer week by week. We continued training hard, and even sacrificed our CCA days for practices. However, I really enjoyed those practices as I made new friends from Band.
Catch the circle allusion at 1:48 – 2.27 at the video below!
Video of our rehearsals at Padang:
It’s time… after about 20 days of practice, and about 130 hours…
It was the National Day. After many days of practice, we finally had the chance to perform. It was definitely stressful as it was raining for about the whole day, including our rehearsals. As it was the final day, we managed to take many pictures 🙂
All in all, the NDP was a great experience that I enjoyed. If my school is given the opportunity to take part in the NDP next year, I would definitely sign up.
There are many people who I have to thank. The band conductors and trainers for spending hours being patient and guiding us, encouraging us to be the best that we can be, The band majors for ensuring our wellbeing, the army for providing us with so much food and taking care for us, my friends who have been supporting each other, and the teachers who have went to our trainings with us. This performance would not have been possible without everyone!
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