Hello band. Kel lee here. True to our word, we will post all 'reflection' letters here. This is Ebel's letter, and it is really what I call a reflection.

On Friday, 30/01/09, I skipped band practice as I thought that since Mr Goh would not be coming and there would be sectionals instead of combined band practice, it would be a waste of time as my part is mainly the bass one and I'm the only person in my section and had no juniors to teach, I decided to take a break and skip band practice. When I came back the following Monday, I realised that I had parts that needed to be either perfected or projected out. I felt guilty that I had skipped band practice during a crucial period where SYF is around the corner and when the band is not at its strongest. I realised that it is not about me but the band as a whole and what I did on Friday by skipping band practice was childish, immature and unbecoming, especially since I had prior experience in a concert band before. I apologise and promise that I will not repeat this again. I do not blame anyone as it is my choice to skip band practice and will accept full responsibility for my actions.

Doesn't this sound more like a reflection compared to the other?

ANYWAY, bad things aside, HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR NEW SEC 1S? Be sure to treat them like diamonds ok? They are our future successors! PP's IMPART ALL YOUR SKILLS TO THEM.

Bye~

Okay. Janis here to clear up some misunderstandings.

This issue is on the previous post.

1st: It is a reflection, NOT A LETTER for leaders to read.

2nd: We post up almost all the reflections given to us. (Please refer to Zelai's reflection on why he broke the uniform rule like a few months ago)

3rd: Even if it was an ideal reflection or one that Joel wrote, WE WOULD STILL POST IT UP. Reason being, we want the band members to learn from their other band mate's wrong doings and not repeat them. In Joel's reflection, I feel that he brought up a topic; importance of sectionals, which most or almost all the band members fail to understand.

Please question our intentions. The limelight of the previous post is not Joel's reflection, but what Kel Lee posted at the end.

I am sure that many of the band members feel the way Joel feel; come on we are not deaf/blind.

I think that the importance of sectionals is felt by the seniors only; probably because we went through SYF 2007 and know the process and everything. Everyone feels that sectionals is dry, and sucks the life out of everyone. That, everyone knows. But it is the importance of it that not everyone would know.

Ask yourself this question;
If each band member have gotten their part/pitch/tuning/notes etc right during sectionals, would we waste time during practice with Mr Goh when he tries to balance out everything?

When Mr Goh comes to practice with us, it is not the time for us to fumble over our notes/pitch/tuning. It is the time for us to put all the parts together. But usually during practice, how much time is spent for sections to get the right pitch? Or to get the right rhythm?

AND, if you think that we are not respecting Joel for posting this thing up, or that we are overboard, please question our intention and not the situation. Think deeper into the whole situation, don't look on the surface.

While we are at the issue of respect, please think from the leaders' point of view. To whom is being disrespected?

To belinda, we know why people skip band. I myself have skipped band quite a few times when I was in sec 1. But my attendance became regular after a few things happened. Not much people skip band now and attendance is quite good. I agree that Joel is not one that skips band often. And, skipping band with no reason and missing band with an excuse is two different things. A lot of people give us letter of excuse/mcs when they miss band. Some of you may not know this but the current situation now is, Yes, a lot of people never come BUT they got excuse, not cause they pon. If I am not wrong, no one has missed band on purpose since the last holiday practice.

But why is he given such heavy punishment like he says? I don't think this punishment is quite "heavy" because usually when people skips band intentionally, we will bring it up to the teachers, which we did not. Instead, we made write one page long of reflection.

I am not going to address this issue any further unless necessary because I am really at loss of words.

Hi band, Kel Lee here.

Todays post is not good news. I'll post first, explain later.
This 'letter' is from Joel. He skipped band to go out with a few other people, and we told him to write a one page reflection. This is what he wrote.(This is 100% authentic other than spelling mistakes changed)

Why I skip Band is because I find it a waste of time on that day. I could always practice at home since I bring home my instrument every practice. Moreover it was a Friday and I had Saturday and Sunday to practice. Sectionals were more of like a practice session to me. What other description can you find the meaning of sectionals? Sectionals is practice and I can do my own 'sectionals' at home. Friday was a day meant to relax. I feel that if I go for sectionals, it would be a waste of time. Even so, I seldom skip practices. This is my second or first time skipping band practice and yet I suffered such scolding. Terng Fei lied to the top 4. His relatives came back from Malaysia the day before Friday which is a Thursday. We finished doing our stuff at 3pm or around there and suspect practice to finish at 5 or so. Even if we did come, what would one hour practice make a difference? It wasn't me who plan this idea and yet I get too much scolding from the top 4. Truthfully speaking it was Enrique's idea and I didnt not see him getting any scolding. I see this as unfairness and not partial. I also don't believe that everyone in band did not skip before. I have made effort in contributing to the band by practicing and I believe I am not as good as others because I learn slower than others and somehow I feel I am being penalised by this. I find it difficult to live with this pressure in band since last year. I actually wanted to leave band because of the pressure and I decided to ignore comments made by my senior from time and time again. The only reason that made me stay was Terng Fei because I felt I have gained a promising friend in band. When Terng Fei and I skip band on that day, we had no regrets. We take whatever punishment awaits us. We hold full responsibility to it.

This was what his 'reflection' letter said. And just to make things clear, this is not directed at Joel. If this is how the band is feeling, me, Timotheus, Janis and Sin Pei will have to do something about this. Firstly, I'm sure you all have different feelings towards this letter. Can you imagine how we feel, seeing our own members say that band is 'a waste of time' ?

Lets analyze his letter. His first point, band is a waste of time. We don't need you to be a musical genius to join. And we do not penalize people for not being able to play. All we need is your commitment when you join. If you think its a waste of time, I really have nothing to say.

Secondly, Joel says that 'Sectionals were more of like a practice session to me. What other description can you find the meaning of sectionals? Sectionals is practice and I can do my own 'sectionals' at home. Friday was a day meant to relax. I feel that if I go for sectionals, it would be a waste of time.'. We have sectionals for a reason. It is not for you to practice on your own. Its for you to work out your parts as a section. If you don't come because you think its a waste of time, and you can do it at home, think again. Your section wont be in your pocket to have sectionals whenever you like. You need to work together as a section. Like what we always say, ONE BAND ONE SOUND. Its not about playing individually.

Next, Joel said 'Even so, I seldom skip practices. This is my second or first time skipping band practice and yet I suffered such scolding.'. This is not true. Anyone who skips band is going to get scolding as well. You mean that if you skip once or twice, we are supposed to pretend like nothing happened? We chase after everyone to come for practices, and to give MC's or excuse slips. Not talking about the top 4 alone, there are still others in band with 100% attendance. If they can do it, I don't see why you are complaining.

Fourth, the part about 'It wasn't me who plan this idea and yet I get too much scolding from the top 4.'. This shows you don't understand why you got scolded, and you are still resentful. Let me explain to you. Even though it wasn't you who planned this idea, you still didn't come for band. So if someone tells you to not come for band for the whole year, are you going to do that and blame that person for giving you that idea? The fact is that you didn't come, no matter who instigated you. If it really is Enrique's idea, we will do something about it. You did not see him getting scolded because we did not know that he planned it until now.

Next, you said that your senior makes comments about you. If you are unhappy about it, you can tell us, and we WILL DEFINITELY do something about it. If you keep it all to yourself, how would we know what you are thinking?

Please do not think we are shooting Joel down. Seeing this will make us wonder whether its just an opinion by Joel, or if the whole band thinks this way. We asked him for a 'one-page reflection letter', and what we got is just one page of complaints, blaming everybody. It is still a fact that you didn't come. We are really not targetting anyone, and as Joel said, 'We had no regrets,' and 'We hold full responsibilty to it.'. If you even wrote it, you would not be ashamed if we posted it, and as you said, hold full responsibilty.

If any of the other band members feel this way, feel free to give CONSTRUCTIVE comments on the tagboard, its there for a reason. If you are shy, you can email us or put it under an anonymous name. Better yet, tell it to us personally. We dont entertain any criticism under 'anonymous', and retarded comments from people not from the band are not welcomed. If you are ex-member or teacher etc etc, your feedback is greatly appreciated.