Featured Image by Ms. Duncan/ The Gecko Times
This academic year I had decided to give boys voice (which is a lunchtime activity) a try. I decided to join the boy’s voice since I loved singing and I haven’t had the opportunity to sing in front of an audience since primary school. The boy’s voice members meet every Thursday at 12:30pm during lunchtime to sing fun pop songs. The end goal of the activity was to rehearse some songs and perform in the spring gala. Usually, there are two gala’s in a year, winter and spring. But this year, the winter was occupied with the school production and so, the group was just preparing for the spring gala. To prepare for the spring gala, we had a lot of time in our hands (from August to April) and the end goal for me was to become a confident singer and become confident performing in front of an audience as I hadn’t performed since primary school. All these plans were disrupted because of the coronavirus outbreak. The performance was on Friday, April 3rd. But the school closed due to the lockdown which was instated on 17th March by the Sri Lankan Government in order to keep the virus contained. Since the gala didn’t happen, I’ll be reflecting on the various things that we had worked on during the meetings.
The first day when I walked into the music room for the boy’s voice session, I was handed the lyrics to Ed Sheeran – What Do I Know? from Ms. Duncan. She informed us that the spring gala was a long time away in the month of April and we had a lot of time to rehearse and practice different songs. The song What Do I Know? is a really beautifully written song with the idea that music has a powerful effect on the world and to change the world through music. The only problems I had with the song was remembering the lyrics after the first verse (which got better as I attended more voice sessions) and the middle of the chorus where the song hits high notes. At the end of the first session, Ms. Duncan told us to recommend some songs that we would like to sing. So, I did some digging through my music playlist and found some songs which are most likely to be some options for the performance. The first song I recommended to her was a very unknown song from the soundtrack of an indie movie called Sing Street. The song Drive It Like You Stole It from Sing Street is a catchy pop/rock song with the meaning of taking control of your life which I thought would be a perfect fit for spring gala since its catchy, has a positive message and is not a very known song which means that audience would be more interested in it. Another song which I proposed was I’m Still Standing by Elton John which was again a very catchy pop song with a positive message of a successful recovery from a broken past relationship but the song is too popular and hence it was my second recommendation. Both of them were considered as an option for final performance especially Drive it like you stole it which Ms. Duncan really loved. Both of the songs alongside What do I know? were added into our rehearsing routine. In December, we added two more songs to the routine which was Sucker by Jonas Brothers and Wonderwall by Oasis. I personally wasn’t a big fan of these two songs since they were very popular and overplayed. Till the end of February, we followed this routine. In March, we narrowed it down to 2 songs which were What Do I Know by Ed Sheeran and Drive It Like You Stole It by Sing Street which was my favorite out of the bunch. My main challenges were remembering the lyrics and clapping hands during a non- instrumental part (out of sync). But by taking some time at home to go over these songs and practice, I was able to overcome these challenges.
The Spring Gala was supposed to take place on April 3rd but because of the lockdown, the Spring Gala is in a “To Be Determined” state. This whole coronavirus situation is very unpredictable and nobody really knows how or when will it end. Since It’s May 4th now (a month since the spring gala) and the government has kept extending the lockdowns. I can say that it’s very unlikely that the spring gala will be taking place during these last few weeks of school and even if the school opens, gatherings are banned so I can’t see us performing in front of a large audience of parents and schoolmates. But I am planning on joining the boy’s voice again next year and I hope to perform in the winter gala.
This post addresses CAS outcomes:-
LO1 :- Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
Students are able to see themselves as individuals with various abilities and skills, of which some are more developed than others.
LO2:- Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
A new challenge may be an unfamiliar experience or an extension of an existing one. The newly acquired or developed skills may be shown through experiences that the student has not previously undertaken or through increased expertise in an established area.
LO4:- Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
Students demonstrate regular involvement and active engagement in CAS.
LO5:- Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
Students are able to identify, demonstrate and critically discuss the benefits and challenges of collaboration gained through CAS experiences.
LO7:- Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Students show awareness of the consequences of choices and actions in planning and carrying out CAS experiences.