Winter's coming. Still have  a few months to go before dismiss. I'm a bit frustrated recently...........messy inter-personal relationship......UYL sucks.......What the hell!!

No achievement this year. All goes wrong. Nothing comes as i expected.

Despite that, I have something to say about the music atmosphere in my school. I think music lacks support. People show no interest in singing in the choir, or joining the orchestra, even there are joint-school functions. Sometimes I don't really understand that. Only a few schoolmates are willing to take part in the senior choir. Although the school gives lots of support this year, my fellow schoolmates are not stimulated at all. What's more, the music festival result was disappointing. Only the junior choir could capture a 3rd place. All other group events were failure. In spite of all the resources offered by the school, no adequate results came. After all, I think it is the problem of inadequate resource allocation (not diminishing marginal returns of course. )

There are not enough students to utilize the students resources. One particular case in the new music stand. The guys are treating them as some useless steel bars. Most importantly, metal music stand should not be used in our school. Plastics ones would be much better. Also the trolleys for carrying music stands cannot really fit the music stands. No one knows how to use the trolleys.

Another problem is the lack of sufficient talented players. There are lots of hardworking students who attend all the rehearsals and pay full attention to what the conductor requires. I must express my deepest gratitude Yet, they cannot meet the level required. They pay a lot, but they receive a few. This is because they cannot have outstanding counterparts for them to follow. The conductor cannot teach them everything. Therefore talents players are desperately in need. The successful cases of DBS and DGS demonstrate the importance of genius.

Moreover, the music activities in La Salle are not diversified enough. In DBS, they have senior, intermediate, junior choirs with many branches: mixed, quick study, Chinese and English. Students actively participated in these organizations. They are proud of being a member of the choir or the orchestra. They have a 'Music Department' for centralized control over each organization. This is very effective. In addition, half of each class of students are involved in music. This is really different in La Salle. Here, we only have a few students in each form who are involved in music. The situation is even worse in senior forms. As we spend more time in La Salle, we will find that music does not get enough attraction as sports. Therefore people become reluctant to join choirs or orchestra. This leads to low morale which in turn further weaken the music atmosphere in La Salle. See, the heroes at Wan Chai Stadium enjoy cheering from the whole school. They practise very hard and they deserve that. Yet, no one seem to know the musicians are working, silently, but equally diligent. I know the principal and many teachers are very supportive towards music, but the attention among students have yet to be attracted. Otherwise, no one will continue to work in the field of music.

Of course, you cannot create some virtuosos in a short time. However, besides the lack of 'skilled' players, we (I mean music groups ) also lack team spirit. Look at the sports teams: team coats, slogans, banners............all sorts of extravagance. They all have a sense of belonging to a very respectable organization. Then take a look at the string orchestra: 20+ members, no adequate place for practice.........You can see clearly the difference. So what they can achieve is also different: Omega Rose Bowl vs ..............(sorry, I cannot find anything comparable). Rome was not built in one day. We have to be patient. Again look at another successful case: St Paul's College. The players are obviously less skillful than those of DBS. Yet, it is well-disciplined. The members realize they are not as good as DBS but they did their best. They got the spirit. At last they beat DBS by 1 point in the senior school orchestra section. I must say the preference of the adjudicators really affected the result. Yet St Paul's College deserved the prize.

Being one of the best boys' schools in Hong Kong, La Salle is really quite weak in music. La Salle is 'something more' in many areas, but obviously we are 'something less' in music. Occasionally, there are some real geniuses who are able to make History. There were La Salle boys winning the 'SCMP student musician' award in the past. Yet we do not have this kind of virtuosos every year.

I do hear some oppositions from others schoolmates, saying that the school should not put excess emphasis on something unnecessary (which refers to music). They claimed that no one can excel in all aspects and we should not invest too much into something we do not know. I do not agree with that. Being a top school, diversification should be its policy. We should be so stubborn to escape from challenges. Boys of courage should have the heart to conquer every ill. Music is not something merely as a extravagance. It is something practical, something with actual uses. The development of music is something urgent, some desperately needed. Indeed, unbalanced development (the biased concentration on sports) does no good to every LaSallian. The school organises a summer fitness program for Form 1 students. This is an excellent approach to encourage students to lead a healthy life. So why dont the school organise a program concerning music?? Summer singing courses, music appreciation, musicianship...........many programs can be organized. It is just a matter of whether you want to do it or not.

Obviously, I dont want radical reforms to be undertaken. That would do no good to anyone. But I really hope the school can provide a better atmosphere for those who really wanted to dedicate their school lives for music, just like the athletes. Of course I am not saying we cannot practise music at present. I am just saying it is not a very good environment. And In fact, we are continuously losing many talented players. Just like next year, we will have several core members of the orchestra furthering their studies overseas. Also, 4 years ago, a violin genius in La Salle Primary School chose DBS rather than LSC. He made this choice because: DBS would provide him with a better music atmosphere. And he achieved what he wanted. He won the scholarship class in the 51st music festival. That was the most prestigious event of the music festival. So we, La Salle, missed a genius, missed a chance to build up our reputation as a strong music school, and more importantly, an all-rounded school.

Although we are in a sticky progress in the field of music, we should not be frustrated. In short-term, we should focus on what we are good at: Chinese Ensemble, junior choir and senior string orchestra. I think these 3 groups will have great chances of getting prizes in music festival next year. In long run,  we should have prompt reforms which is based on a long-term goal: to be comparable with the top schools, to be diversified  and to win a few champions in group events. I sincerely hope all students would be proud of the musicians of La Salle in the near future.