Embedded Files
The Creator -
The Music Union is a student-led organization managing a plethora of music teams and music-related events and activities. This year, the Music Union is led by Chairman, Alfred Yip (5D) and Vice Chairman, Vito Chau (5B). Alfred and Vito told us about the history of the Music Union, its future prospects, why the duo has taken up such demanding roles, and how they manage their responsibilities.
The predecessor of the Music Union was founded in 1965. Back then, it was called the Music Association and did not have oversight of the music teams. Instead, it was more like a club and aimed at creating a platform for music enthusiasts to get together and share their love and passion for music. In 1972, the Music Union became an organization under the Student Association, gaining a high level of autonomy, and started managing the music teams, such as the Symphony Orchestras, the Concert Bands, and the Choirs. Today, the Music Union is a huge and complex organization, with 16 committee members and 9 music teams.
You might ask: “But what does it do exactly?” We at SCOPE had the same question and we turned to Alfred and Vito to help answer that. The Music Union is involved in many day-to-day SPC activities—the Organ in the hall is played by a member of the Organist and Pianist Team during morning assemblies, and there are also Pre-assembly performances, which allow student musicians to showcase their musical talents to the whole school. For the recent 170th Anniversary Open Days, an array of music teams put on magnificent performances, including “Crown Imperial” performed by the Concert Band during the Opening Ceremony. The Symphony Orchestra also gave an outstanding performance on Speech Day this year.
Apart from making appearances in all these school events, many gifted SPC musicians will perform in the 75th Music Festival, with the String Orchestra and the String Quartet participating as groups and a large number of soloists taking part as well. The highlight of this year though will be in July, when the Choirs travel to Gangneung, South Korea to take part in the prestigious World Choir Games — the largest global choral festival and competition. This quadrennial event sees choirs from all around the world competing with one another on an international stage. We at SCOPE wish our brilliant musicians the best of luck.
Maintaining such a large and diverse organisation is a daunting task. A lot of pressure is placed on Alfred and Vito, and their positions require devotion and commitment. SCOPE editors are curious about why they took on such demanding roles. Alfred revealed that it is because of his competitive personality. He tries to do his best in every regard and aspires to push the music of SPC to the next level by building the level of dedication of the members. Vito has a simpler reason: his love of music. He hopes that he can contribute to the Music Union while enjoying making music himself.
The academic side of school life is demanding, and the added responsibilities of being a student leader make it even more difficult to juggle. Only with successful time management strategies can these demands be met. SCOPE asked for tips and tricks on how to cope with heavy workloads. Alfred told us that “procrastination” does not have a place in his dictionary. He maintains a practice of doing everything as early, and as efficiently, as possible so he won’t have a massive collection of urgent and important tasks overwhelm him later. Vito stresses the importance of multitasking. Sometimes it is just impossible to complete all the tasks linearly and that is when you have to work in parallel, juggling school work with other business.
Report abuse