How To Organize A School Concert

So you've decided to organize a concert for your school, but you're clueless about dancing and music, you have no previous experience and you're completely lost in the planning stage.

Never fear! This user friendly, step-by-step guide will have your concert up and floundering in no time.

* Step One: Just Add Water

First, you need to consider what your concert is going to feature. It could contain acting, singing, dancing, or a combination of all three. A musical is ideal for this purpose.

Apart from being greatly enjoyable for audiences of all ages, a good musical has the potential to immerse your entire school in a warm blanket of song, dance and high spirits.

Observe the following. It's a promotional video for Sri Cempaka's We Will Rock You Musical last year. Yeah, they did a musical based on Queen. So what?

Click to watch. It's a really fun, inspired piece of work.

* Step Two: Pick A Theme

You see, every concert needs a theme. However, the less original the theme the better.

As I just mentioned, last year Sri Cempaka did a musical based on Queen. That wasn't very unoriginal. And worse, the entire soundtrack consisted of rock songs!

If you let rock into your school, sooner or later you're going to end up with rock and roll, and your school concerts are going to start kicking ass. We don't want that. No way. It's a school production. Ass kicking has no place in an institution of learning.

Going back to the selection of an appropriate theme, what about one that allows for diverse selection of content while retaining watertight criteria for selection?

...Yeah, you probably didn't get that.

What it means, is that with the right theme, you can have a whole lot of different performances, yet make sure that everyone in those different performances sticks to the plan.

Sounds like getting to have your cake and eat it too, doesn't it?

Figure 1.0 - Cake

Well the cake is present, it is delicious and it has a name.

Dances From Around The World.

No... wait for it... Traditional Dances From Around The World. See? That way you can have a whole bunch of people doing anything you want - you have an entire world full of nations and cultures to pick from - and an easy way to remove any aspect you don't want. Just say it's not traditional enough!

Crazy huh? And as if that wasn't enough reason to go with Dances From Around The World, you can even take the chance to seed a little patriotism into the audience. Or force it down their throats.

See, you could have a couple of actors going all around the world, checking out all the dances in all the countries and eventually coming to the realization that there's no place like home. Brilliance!

So what do you think? I think we nailed it.

* Step Three: A Cast Of Thousands

Before deciding how many students you want to include in your production, consider this. Three hundred students will inevitably have more parents than a hundred students. And as a school, parental support is important. Think about it. Would you really pay to see a show staring someone else's kids?

You don't exactly get a warm and fuzzy feeling looking at it, do you?

See? See! That's magic.

All parents would prefer to look at the second picture, the one with their child in it, compared to the first one, which is almost identical but full of strangers. Similarly, a concert with their own child in it will garner more of their support than one without. How do we ensure that we reap the benefits of this support to its fullest?

You guessed it: a cast of thousands.

* Step Four: Rome Wasn't Built In A Day, But We're Not Building A City Here

There are several fundamental rules to a production of any kind. Observe the following.


Keeping this rule in mind is vital. You can't have everything.

If you want to have an awesome concert with maximum student participation, the sheer multitude of factors involved mean it's obviously not going to come together in a couple of weeks.

If you want to architect a great show but you haven't got a whole lot of time, you'd most likely have to give the spotlight to a handful of students who already know what they're doing and don't need weeks of practice to prepare.

If you want to involve as many students as possible, but you don't want to mess up too many of their lessons in the process, some quality will inevitably be sacrificed in bringing the show home.

We've already established that we want to pack as many students onto that stage as the UN will tolerate, so what are we going to sacrifice? Quality or lesson time?

Back up a minute, why is this even a question? If you detract pupils from the syllabus, you're going to get lots of complaints from parents! Besides, most moms and dads don't care how bad the show is, as long as their kids are in it they'll whoop and cheer all the same. It's high school!

* Step Five: Burn The Ships

Cortes had a plan, he wanted to lead an expedition into Mexico to obtain its many treasures. He presented his plan to the Spanish governor, who was so excited that he gave him eleven ships and seven hundred men.

Cortes did not tell the men or the governor the complete plan. After months of travel the eleven ships landed in Veracruz. Cortes had the men unload everything from all eleven ships. As they headed into their new adventure the men turned back and saw all eleven ships burning!

Their reaction was to fight back, as surely an enemy had initiated such an attack. Cortes halted the men, as this was in his plan, he had ordered the ships to all be burned.

Cortes did not know what he and his men would encounter in their expeditions. What he did know was that by burning the ships he had completely eliminated their option of going back. At the same time creating an intensely powerful motivation to succeed.

Figure 2.0 - Burn them good

What does this have to do with your concert? Well, it's hardly on equal terms with an invasion of Mexico, but what both ventures have in common is that they're, well, ventures and whether a venture is made or broken depends heavily on the level of commitment of the people involved.

Since you have no ships to burn, how do you ensure that your cast remains dedicated? Here's an idea: why not issue a directive that requires students to remain in a dance once they sign up? Most students will sign up for the concert as soon as they get the chance, and often don't check the details first. In a way, it's kinda like making them sign a contract with the devil, but less fair.

If any parents complain, just tell them that their child should not be in the school at all if they are unwilling to follow the rules. Don't forget to mention how many people frequently beg for a place in the school, even if the last time that happened was in 1994.

Congratulations! Now you know how to organize your very own school concert!

Good luck, and don't forget to check out Around The World With Wesley on the 22nd of July (this month)! Our dancers have been practicing real hard an hour a day, four days a week for about three weeks now!

Wait... by the time you're reading this, all the tickets for seats in our own highly exclusive, limited capacity hall have probably sold out.

Oh well.

The High Life

There are two notes of interest I would like to bring to your attention before we begin.

The first is this: high jumpers of Wesley Methodist School, please be informed that Lee Ju Hann is your God. He is a man not taller than myself, but he broke the 153 on his way to becoming the form four gold medalist. And did I mention he's in green house too?

This is Ju Hann. Well not really.

And the second: from what I've seen of them so far the form four dancers are really good. They were having concert auditions today and I watched them for a real long time cause it was hard to look away. The girls are pretty good, I noticed Ain, Carmen and Sandra, but the star of the show has to be Deepaq.

The guy mixes his indian moves with hip hop steps that make a solid if not unbeatable combination. From what I saw, looks like he's been watching You Got Served alot too. I recognized at least three sets from the movie.

I'm really nervous about how good they are since I don't wanna be in anything less than the best dance during this year's concert.

I can imagine how last year's form fives felt when the best dance wasn't by the form fives but the form fours and I would hate to have to go through that.

When I say that I mean this.

Last year when Keangston made his end of year speech he mentioned his experience in "the best dance in the concert" and I was like no Keangston you weren't in Grease... then it turns out he was talking about America and I was like yeah right get real man but I didn't say anything cause he was leaving school and everyone knew he was wrong anyway.

I don't want to say I'm in the best dance we've got unless that's really true.

We haven't got Brian, Sanjay or Jon and now that Brian's watched Stomp The Yard he's on fire with ideas for his African dance. And it's gonna be tough to one up him cause that movie was seriously good.

Screaming, hollering and awesomeness.

If we're the third best dance this concert I'm going to jump off a bridge.

Well not really.

That's all I had to say about stuff right now.

---

So you step back and breathe in. You loosen up, you stretch and you bounce a few times to make sure everyone knows it's you they should be watching.

And you feel their eyes on you as you're given the all clear and you run towards the bar, slowly for effect, and you feel their eyes on you, and you're starting to get a little nervous.

But as you draw nearer, the pressure evaporates, along with the crowd, and all that matters is you and the bar. Your mind frees itself of distractions as the bar looms ahead, and you speed up, already smiling because you've done it before and your body automatically knows what to do.

And your legs lift and you soar through the air.

The launch is perfect. The whole world slows down around you as you ascend, and your back arcs up and your head falls back.

For a moment, you're vaguely aware of the crowd again as their excitement reaches its peak. They're waiting to see if you pass, and you smile at their uncertainty.

In your mind, it's already done. And the truth is it was over long ago, the truth is it was over as soon as you made the decision to jump. All that remains is to clear the bar. And you do. Bright lights flash in your mind as every image burns a snapshot into your memory to savor over and over again.

Then you land intact, your back to the mat, and the crowd roars. The song of their applause and their cheers reach every fibre of your being. And your heart soars, flying even higher than you did just seconds ago. Then you rise, head held high and arms outstretched, savoring every moment. The moment lifts you on high as you run back to the starting point. You feel like their praise could give you wings.

They're still cheering.

It feels even better than being on stage. All those times you were an entertainer, but this time you're a hero.

The bar is raised. The others don't do so well but you're still brimming with confidence. You've cleared this height before and the audience has you pumped.

Your turn comes and you do everything the same, your mind working to remember all the steps and all the angles. But the bar draws closer and something's definitely wrong. But there's nothing you can do about it so you try anyway.

The launch is... less than perfect. The world slows down again but it doesn't last very long. You clear the bar but some part of you strikes it and it falls, and the crowd's disappointment is obvious. You shake your head slowly as you get up. It was close. You've cleared this height before. You can do it again.

So you try again. This time you scrape past the bar and for a moment you think you've made it, and so does the watching crowd. Then the bar shakes and falls, and you've got one more try.

You don't quite make it.

You could give any number of reasons why you failed, but somehow you feel like it was just bad luck. You're disappointed, but not devastated.

You gave it your all, though it wasn't your best. And that might not make sense to anyone else, but it means everything to you.

"Glory, Brian. One word. Glory." - Sanjay

Release Animals

Daniel: So you're having a sketch? And Marcus is God?
Marcus: That's right.
Daniel: How can Marcus be God? God isn't that ugly.
Marcus: Hey, watch it. God never looked this good! *turns away and prays* Sorry, sorry...

Here we go again.

Okay it's like two thousand seven now, and this is my first post of the year and also my first post in a long, long time. One year ago...

Note: These words here are like SO OLD they are like une year old. I did say that already though didn't I?

At the urging of those who said I should, and in defiance of those who didn't, I have created a blog.

So this, right here is my first post. It is also the first day of the new year. To commemorate this occasion of dubious significance, you might expect a celebration of some sort, an inspiring mission statement of my broader objectives, or at least a few words. Well, no. That is, there will be no instances of merrymaking, nor will there be commandments, but of words, there will be plenty. This whole New Year deal, are you supposed to somehow know when it happens? I actually feel slightly different, but it's not like anything special has happened. Sure, today was a busy day, what else is new?

Maybe you understood that block of text there. Maybe you got lazy halfway through. What it means is that I thought the first post of the first day of the new year was special in some way.

Keng Yee: I read your blog once. Didn't understand a word.

I don't feel the same way about this post. I already tried blogging a couple of times in the past few months, didn't really work out. I never got back into it.

The reason why I'm blogging now is cause there is something to bitch about, and now I'm going to use my powers of blogging for good instead of evil.

So, here's like... I dunno. I just had to post this.

I wanna say a few words about this whole concert thing.

The concert is in like June or July but they've already started planning stuff. They're sorting us into groups already. Their theme this year?

Dances From Around the World.

Wow. I mean, that's like fucking Shakespeare.

Seriously though. I heard this from my brother. (I don't know why I had to hear it from my brother) They're planning to have 31 dances.

Jun Ian: I can't believe they're having 31 dances.
Jun Shern: I could have misheard. It's either 31 or 21.
Jun Ian: There's a real big difference between 31 and 21.
Jun Shern: Maybe it was 21. But I remember Mdm Anne said 31. She's doing South... no North America. No wait, North India. South India! She's South Indian. That's either the dance she's in charge of or the part of India where she's from.
Jun Ian: ... I don't trust your memory anymore. So which part of India is bhangra from? North, South, Central or Calcutta?

- African (Brian and Wilkin)
- Indian (Sarah, all girls from Grease, Daniel and I)
- Bhangra (Deepaq)
- 28 other dances, out of which at least 20 are going to suck.

Sanjay and Jon are actors now.

That's just... genius!

How can you have another indian dance when Deepaq's already doing bhangra? Even Bollywood wouldn't know what to do with that guy.

We're only allowed one dance too. That really hurts, guys.

Update:

-Vicky says its 21 or something like that. That's still alot.
- The form threes are doing Central America.
- Somehow my brother put his name in for African, but he's form one and I don't know how that's going to work out.
- Just found out: Hawaii, Brazil, Hungary, Italy, New York, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Spain are ON THE LIST. Are YOU on the list?

Nerdcore Rising PAX is so nerdy. It is SUPER NERD. I didnt know my heroes were so nerdy! Those nerds are just... NERDS. There is no other nerd for it. I mean, no other word.

I mean, that nerd just got down on his knees on stage and proposed to that other nerd! IN FRONT OF ALL THOSE NERDS. And they had their lightsabers out and stuff.

I like Star Wars too but...

Whatever.

Here's the video if you were interested in watching them nerds.

Presenting. NERDS.


I knew that the stereotype had to come from somewhere and... no offense to you nerd guys but seriously it is weird.