10th KL's Mini-Concert: KL State Boys' Brigade

By Mr. Darryn Chiew, Lieutenant, 2nd Kuala Lumpur Company

December 6th, 2014

CHERAS, KUALA LUMPUR - One of the highlights of the activities of The Boys’ Brigade in Malaysia has always been its numerous bands. Even from the early days of BB in Malaysia, companies had fife and bugle bands, bagpipe bands and eventually led to the emergence of full wind bands comprising a plethora of brass, woodwind and percussion instruments, all playing together in musical harmony.

In KLBB, almost all companies have bands in some form or another. The 4^th KL and 10^th KL Companies are two such companies blessed with their own bands. On 6^th December 2014, the two of these companies alongside the St. Mary’s Girls School Band decided to join forces for a mini-concert, hosted by 10^th KL.

I decided to go with my friend, Mr. Michael Lee (Warrant Officer) of 1^st Serdang Company. As he was staying slightly nearer to the venue, he arrived first. Upon my arrival, the band was already seated and ready for performance. Shortly after, the performance commenced.

The band instructor, Mr. Sunny Hoh was in a jovial mood. He quickly stirred up the band by running through the warm-up routines and started off with a song aptly titled “Happy”. The other songs played by the band included “Jupiter”, “You Raise Me Up”, “Disco Lives” and a drumline performance.

We were then treated to a simple intermission with sandwiches, hot coffee/tea and sausages. Excellent! I also used the intermission to catch up with a few fellow BB officers and friends, especially from the host 10^th KL Company.

Back in the hall, the band continued their seemingly endless repertoire with songs such as “å¯çˆ±çš„çŽ«ç‘°èŠ±", “You are beautiful”, “Hey Jude”, and “Holiday Season Medley “ – consisting of “We Gather Together”, “Deck The Halls”, “Silent Night”, “We wish you a Merry Christmas” and “Auld Lang Syne”.

The concert ended on a happy and somewhat grand note (no pun intended) with the finale song “A song for friends”. As like all BB band concert, the BB members in the audience were in high spirits and it was inevitable to hear shouts of “Encore”. There was a loud cheer as Mr. Sunny stepped back into the middle of the hall to lead the band to play “Can’t take my eyes off you”. Since one encore is never enough, shouts were heard again. This time, the Drumline went up to present another percussion routine.

At the end of it all, were the customary closing speeches and presentation of tokens of appreciation, especially to Mr. Sunny, the band instructor. Cpl Wan Rui Ming of 4th KL delivered a short testimony thanking Mr Sunny for the 5 years of wonderful musical journey under the guidance of Mr. Sunny. Chatting with Ms. Julie Loong (Lieutenant) of 10thKL, I found out that Mr. Sunny was well-liked by the band members of 10th KL who adopted very well to his style of instruction and he was definitely a blessing to the band. I also found out from Ms Esther Chew (Captain) of 10^th KL that the band members from all 3 organizations (4th KL, 10th KL and St. Mary) had stayed for a night or two in the school to rehearse and finalise the repertoire for this performance Although it was a simple concert, it ran smoothly and the audience enjoyed the music. Furthermore, admission was free and there was food, so that is a big plus point! A t-shirt was printed specially for the event and the band members were seen proudly wearing them. It was definitely a memorable event for the participants and the weeks of rehearsals and fellowship together would have honed their musical skills as a band, since a band is a unit that consists of one body, many parts. As I departed that day, I found myself recalling fond memories of my own days playing in the band as a young BB Boy. Congratulations, 4th KL, 10th KL and St. Marys Girls School for the successful mini-concert!

Page Created: 25th March 2015

Last Updated: 25th March 2015