My Diary

Thursday, December 22nd 2011

- Woke up @ 0900 hours

- Pest control person came

- A wild dog entered the house

- Wished my friends, "Congratulations!"

- Lunch downtown

- Savored grandma’s tangyuan

- Jogged five rounds around the park

- Had a salmon feast

- Watched ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ on pps.tv

- Blogged since a long long time

Report on SjsBand ‘10

Year 2010 is a year where Josephians will never forget about what SjsBand had given. The season started off when the 08/09 Board handed-over the team to the 09/10 Board under the leadership of Jeffrey Law & Ian Rino. The first event was a parade performance for the Kuala Lumpur World Marching Band Competition (KLWMBC) 2009’s Opening Ceremony at Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur. In addition to that, the Drumline of SjsBand joined the Drum Battle of KLWMBC ’09 and managed to emerge 2^nd runner-up in the international competition.

In January 2010, SjsBand received tremendous feedback from the band recruitment drive where they received more than 50 interested new recruits joining the band. Unfortunately, only those who are strong willed & have high perseverance stayed on till today where their number compensate one-third the size of SjsBand this year.

In the month of March, the whole team was introduced to the 2010 Drill Show Music; an original composition of an American composer George Gershwin, titled ‘Concerto in F’ and was specially arranged by Mr. Jonathan Fox, SjsBand coordinator and local composer Mr. Anthony Wong. As for the drill show design, it was designed by a Musician cum Architect, Mr. Benedict Lo, an Indonesian colour guard instructor, Mr. Hassan Selamat and not forgetting Mr. Wilson Tan, the battery instructor for the year 2010.

In April 2010, SjsBand was invited by the Sarawak Sport’s Council to perform for the Majlis Sukan Sekolah-sekolah Menengah Sarawak’s (MSSS) Opening Ceremony held at the State Stadium. Their performance was an awe inspiring and made the school reputation went higher. This was followed by the St. Joseph’s School Annual Sports Meet held at the Jubilee Ground. Not forgetting all about the School Level Teachers’ Day Celebration.

After six months of hard work, the day SjsBand was waiting for came on 28^th June 2010 where their hard work paid off in full during the NATCOMP Preliminaries East Malaysia Zone 1 where they performed their 2010 Drill Show entitled ‘Concerto in F’. The band managed to achieve a score of 71.7 points, making them 2^nd runner-up in the top ten competing bands for the NATCOMP Grand Finals. The once believed to be a ‘kampung’ band now transformed into a ‘world-class’ performing middle school band. The Josephians Family was proud of SjsBand for being able to place itself among the top Malaysian bands.

Their 2010 season ended after the NATCOMP Grand Finals 2010 held at Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam on 15^th July 2010. Although it was just a two week break between the Preliminaries and Grand Finals, SjsBand managed to polish up their show to a ‘world-class’ classical-contemporary drill show. SjsBand shocked the whole nation by their awesome performance during the performance with their energetic gestures and entertaining show. As for the placing, they were placed 4^th with a score of 84.75 points.

Year 2010 was a historical year for SjsBand. They were the first middle school band in Malaysia to fully utilize a concert ‘pit-percussion’ instrument in their drill show. They were also the only band who performed a continuous 10 minutes drill show combining classical, contemporary, jazz and rock and roll music. They have carved their initials in the history of marching bands in Sarawak and Malaysia. All the time they have spent practicing under the hot scorching sun paid off. All the hard work and effort was worthwhile. They have given out their best during every performance. They also have improved themselves, physically and mentally. Once there were the little kids but now they are a fully awaken teenagers. Being in the band was an experience of lifetime and band members became more disciplined and matured as a result of their hard work. It was God’s work and blessings that SjsBand had gone this far for this year regardless of the hardships faced.

We would like to thank our teachers, instructors, alumnus and parents for their continuous and loving support in making this year’s program possible. Thank you and May God bless you all. ORA ET LABORA!

Drum Majors,

JORDAN WEE AND ADNAN ZAKI BUNYAMIN

Pertandingan Pancaragam Sekolah-Sekolah Menengah Peringkat Negeri Sarawak 2009

The marvelous competition was held at SK S.E.D.C in Sibu, Sarawak two weeks ago. Due to my hectic schedule, I only managed to blog about it today. =S



This years competition was indeed very different compared to the past. We stayed at a Pastoral Centre in Sibu which a very wonderful place where we have 16 dogs to guard the place. ;)

This year, before we enter the field for competition, I could say that 90% of the SJSMSB members cried not because of sadness or regretful of something but we felt something. When the instructors & teachers told us that we have supporters from all around Malaysia & also London, we were so touched that we cried & indeed we performed a superb show that caught all the crowds around SK S.E.D.C.





After our performance, I felt very relieved because I have done my best. I am sure the others felt the same way too. I told myself after the performance, "I have done my best. Even if we don't win this year, it's okay because we had performed a tremendous show. It is also quite impossible for us not to win. =.="

The results are as below:

"Result of the 9th Sarawak State Level Marching Band Competition 2009

Gold
1st - SMK St. Joseph, Kuching (76.50)

Silver
2nd - SMK Chung Hua, Miri (69.45)
3rd - SMK St. Joseph, Miri (64.15)
4th - SMK Green Road, Kuching (61.80)
5th - SM Riam Road Middle School, Miri (61.40)

Bronze
6th - SMK Bintulu (49.75)

Participartion Certificate
7th - SMK Tung Hua, Sibu (37.10)
8th - SMK Tiong Hin, Sibu (33.80)

Best Percussion: SMK St. Joseph, Miri
Best Color Guard: SMK St. Joseph, Kuching
Best Drum Major: SM Riam Road Middle School, Miri
Best Preparation: SMK Chung Hua, Miri


Proudly present, 2009 State Champion, Saint Joseph High School Marching Band!
A total of 7.05 marks difference, winning all the criterias which were judged.
Furthermore, we also won the Best Colorguard Award. :D"

copied from http://jasonyks87.blogspot.com/ ;)



I am sure what we had practiced before was fruitful. After the competition, we had a short session with the judges to hear about their comments on our show. I am sure we had to work hard & improve after this.

On the night of the day of competition, a parent from our SJSMSB sponsored us to a dinner at Kingwood Hotel & we really had fun that night. It was full of surprises that was unexpected.

After the competition, we came back to Kuching the next day & we had another performance in our very own school. We performed to our school mates & even visitors(primary school students from Singapore).





I had no comment about the performance. Haha. Overall, SJSMSB improved a lot since 2006 & we improved every time when we run through the show in Sibu according to our instructors. ;)

What's up? We will go to the Nationals which will be held in Johor Bahru in July(according to public sources). SJSMSB might also go to Wonju, Korea to join The 1st Asia-Pacific Marching Bands Championship Wonju 2009.

I would like to thank everybody for their continuous support towards SJSMSB especially our parents, teachers, instructors & supporters. THANK YOU. I would also like to thank all the readers of my blog & I really hope that you will pray for SJSMSB so that we can end our season in Wonju or even KLWMBC 2009. THANK YOU

GOD BLESS !! ORA Et. Labora !

Kuching Blogger,
Jordan Wee.