Sing Your Hearts Out!
Annual Interclass Choir Competition 2019

Jointly by:
Ng Choon Hau (Sr1A)
Ashley Chin Li Yi (Sr1ScD)
Ng Ting Hui (Sr1ScF- Photography)

The relevance of music in Kuen Cheng is once again stressed in the grandest way imaginable – in the form of a choir competition. After the heated preliminaries in mid-May, 7 finalist classes have been selected from the Juniors and the Seniors respectively.  Saturday, 4 July 2019 marked the day for the students to prove that their hard work had not gone to waste in a heated choir battle in front of a Junior 1 and Senior 1 audience gathered in the grand hall.

The finalists and audience members arrived by 7:30 a.m. so the competition may be able to begin on time. After a quick introduction of the three judges of the contest, the show commenced with the junior finalists’ performances. Jr2F kicked off this section with their song “Tadpole”, a popular song about teenage years and growing up. “A Whole New World” from Aladdin performed by Jr1I came next, and was succeeded by Jr3E with their medley comprising “A Million Dreams”, “The Brightest Stars in The Night Sky” and “Those Years”. Afterwards, Jr1C brought some excitement to the stage with “Carrying You”, the theme from Laputa: Castle in The Sky, sung entirely in Japanese.  Next was Jr1N with their holiday themed performance of “Ode to Joy” and “Let it Snow”.  What followed was “A Million Dreams”, “Tadpole” and “The Brightest Stars in The Night Sky” composed into a medley and sung by Jr2G. Finally, Jr2A concluded the juniors’ section with a medley featuring “The Ocean’s Heart” (How Far I’ll Go in Chinese), “Moon Tooth Bay” and “Reversed Light”.

A short intermission featuring a comedic clip on the many possible hilarities of choir was played before it was the senior finalists’ turn to perform at around 8:30 a.m. First off was “When You Believe” by the angelic looking students from Sr2ComA. Up next was Sr2ScA who brought a very savannah themed show to the stage with their song “The Circle of Life” from the Lion King. A medley composed of “Suddenly Thinking of You”, “Let Me Stay by Your Side”, “Reversed Light” and “Can Only Think of You” was accompanied with a heart-wrenching drama in Sr3ScA’s dramatic performance. Thereafter, was Sr2ComC with them singing the popular hit “Say Something”. French Revolution energies filled the hall with Sr1ScA’s take on the Les Miserables soundtrack, which consisted of “I Dreamed a Dream”, “On My Own” and “Do You Hear the People Sing?”. The second to last finalist was Sr1A, who brought a very contrasting set of songs – the upbeat “New Heartbeat” and the calming “Under the Flying Clouds”. Sr3A closed off the seniors’ section as well as the entire show with their 6-song medley on adolescence which included “No Fun No Work”, “Stubborn”, “Don’t Want to Grow Up”, “Let Me Stay by Your Side”, “When We Get Through This Together” and “Incomparable Beauty”.

Another intermission featuring another fun clip followed and shortly after the highly anticipated results were announced. Jr2A snatched the juniors’ first place title with Jr3E gaining the runner-up and Jr2G achieving the second runner-up. Jr2F and Jr1I didn’t walk away empty handed as they got the two consolation prizes while Jr3E had two awards to their name as they had also won the Creativity Award. For the seniors, Sr3ScA, Sr3A and Sr1A achieved first, second and third place, respectively, while Sr2ComA and Sr1ScA received the consolation awards. Sr2ScA certainly wasn’t going home empty-handed as they had won the Creativity Award.

In the end, although the show was dragged on for much longer than it should have, it was a complete success. Students from all classes got to bond with their classmates while hectically practicing to achieve success. Although some classes failed to win any awards, many students from finalist classes have stated that they did not feel like it was a complete waste of time as it was still a fun experience. Rumors of unfairness or complaints on the judges’ incompetence were completely thrown out the window when you realize that what matters in the end is everyone being brought together with the beauty of music and the spirit of teamwork.