NYAA
National Youth Achievement Award
NYAA: September and October Update
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NYAA
September/October Progress Report
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Starting off the new year
The holidays are over, and with it brings the last leg of the NYAA. I’ve already completed the requirements for healthy living, and my final reflection for that will be at the end of this post. However, my service goal is still ongoing, and so in this post, I’ll be detailing some of the new changes as well as my reflections and reactions to them.
Service
Since the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore service was cancelled, at the beginning of the year I was challenged with finding another service that aligns with my goal.
My goal: To make those with disabilities in Singapore feel more accepted by society through volunteering for them, communicating with them and building a relationship with them.
Thankfully, however, there are plenty of organisations that the school partners with that deal with this issue! Finding a new service that would apply to my goal, therefore, wasn’t very difficult, so I picked ‘Fitness with Hougang Care Centre’ as my new service. This service, through student-led fitness and wellness related activities, helps those in Singapore with mental disabilities and conditions, such as dementia or schizophrenia. (I’ve already talked about how the term disability can be applied to many many things, so it should lose its negative connotations.)
This service I feel connects to my goal because I think that wellness is also an essential part of acceptance and empowerment, which will help those at the Hougang Care Centre feel like a real, important part of society. The fact that sessions are student-led encourages communication and relationship-building skills, so I think that part of the service allows me to progress towards my goal.
And in the few meetings we’ve had, I’ve tried to get to know the service and the specific actions it takes to maximise my impact. We even had a guest speaker from the Hougang Care Centre come to one of our sessions and talk to us about what the people at the centre need, enjoy and how best we can help them – through being energetic, communicating clearly and showing our passion. I think this also connects to my goal.
However, since I am switching service, I feel a little burdened knowing that this was not what I originally intended, but bumps along the way are normal, and I’m ready to put my all into this new service.
Healthy Living
Now that I have completed the requirements for Healthy Living, I’m free to look back and reflect on how it went for me, as well as some of the things that I would like to continue with. I think that doing NYAA introduced me to a lot of new things that I can continue doing to improve my own wellbeing and quality of life.
I feel that music has really become an essential part of me since I started the goal, and I find myself turning to it whenever I am in doubt. Even though music is quite academic for me, I also found that it could be part of my leisure life. I also learned lots of ways to deal with the pressures of academic music, like finding pieces that I truly enjoyed to play and discovering my true music taste, or finding new exercises that I can do to improve my technique and therefore make me a lot more confident in my abilities, lessening my nerves. I did a lot of performance, inside and outside of school, and this has also boosted my confidence. It has shown me that I can forgive myself for making mistakes and accept that even though I made a mistake, it is definitely not the end of my path in music.
So, I think that I will continue pursuing music, whether as a hobby or a career, and take these skills that I’ve learned and continuing to use them in life, applying them to my exams as they approach as well as my career aspirations and inside service!
Conclusion
Even though the end of NYAA is approaching, I will take all the things I’ve learned from Healthy Living with me into the rest of my life, and I will continue to put my all into service as I always do. I’m looking forward to receiving the award!
-fin.-
Grade 9 End-Of-Year NYAA Reflection
Hello!
Above I’ve inserted the recording of my reflection for the end of the year. A couple of things that I want to add:
Firstly, this reflection focuses mainly on the past. Below are my plans for progress toward my goals over the summer and in Grade 10.
- I’m thinking about also volunteering at CPAS (Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore, where I do service on Mondays) with my family to gain more insight into other age groups who have to cope with Cerebral Palsy and what more I can do to help the kids as well as other people. I’ve really wanted to introduce my family to the service that has taught me so much.
- I’m planning to continue learning the guitar as well as the piano, and at some point pick up the violin. It’s a lot, but learning new instruments is really fun and I love being able to play a diverse range of songs. The guitar has been so much fun and I’m hoping that the violin will also offer a wide range of opportunities for reducing stress, learning about music and enjoying and relaxing myself.
- During the summer, I’ll be trying to access music and instruments as much as I can. Since I’m visiting one of my closest friends, who also plays the piano and her father plays the guitar, I’m hoping I can get some valuable practice and performance time in then.
- At the beginning of Grade 10, I’m going to be doing a large ensemble, which will be my first large ensemble performance. I’m excited to see how I’ll react and it’ll give me more performance practice.
- I’m planning to take my Grade 8 exam perhaps in the middle of Grade 11, or at the end of 2020. This means I can start working towards my diploma towards the end of G11 or in G12, and that means I might be able to teach in university.
That just about covers it! Thanks for reading and listening, and I hope you, my reader, have a great summer!
NYAA: April Update
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NYAA
April Progress Report
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Since this month was short, and I was ill for half of it, I’ve combined both my reflections from Service and Healthy Living into one!
This month in Service…
I’ve felt a lot more comfortable interacting with the students at CPAS this month. Despite the fact that we’ve only had so many sessions, I think that the impact this service has had on me has been profound, and I realise that I’ve obtained such important practical knowledge that will help me for the rest of my life.
Something that I’ve found really intriguing is that the students won’t laugh whenever we laugh, they would only laugh when they themselves simply found something funny. It makes sense, also, when they laugh at something. Their sense of humour is as simple as the rest of us. Perhaps one student will flick something off the table accidentally, and another student will find that funny. There is nothing else that affects their sense of humour, only them. However, lots of psychological studies take place where people tell jokes that aren’t even funny, but the fact that other people are laughing makes it funny, but this isn’t the case.
This makes me think. There is no such thing as a disabled person, is there? We are all disabled in some way. I wear glasses. One of my friends sprained her wrist. That counts as a disability.
All in all, I think that I’m really starting to see these kids as individuals. I’ve been really striving to stop thinking of them as ‘Kids with Cerebral Palsy’ but more as just ‘kids’ who I’ve been spending time with and who I’ve been making friends with.
This month in Healthy Living…
I’ve been giving my practice schedule a lot more thought. In piano masterclass, we’ve been focusing quite heavily on skills and technique. I’m no virtuoso, but I know that my skills and technique definitely need working on, as I’ve never really given them the attention and priority that they deserve. This means modifying my practice schedule in some way to include more workouts for my fingers but also to give some structure to my practice.
One of the modifications I’m thinking of making is time. I don’t practice for long at all. Most of my practice sessions are from 20 – 40 minutes, and with exams around the corner, I don’t have time to practice every night. So, I’ve been thinking of rigorously timing myself for exactly 40-minute practice sessions at least 4 times a week. This gives me lots of time to work on my skills as well as my pieces. Practicing a lot more at home also means I run the risk of listeners, which will help curb my performance anxiety even more. I also think that putting a schedule in place will restore some order to my practicing life and relieve the element of chaotic, stressful practicing.
I’ve also been thinking of buying a ‘piano finger exercises’ book to warm up my fingers before I start playing pieces and to further develop my virtuosic side. This will help me feel confident about playing more difficult pieces; I want to show myself that I have the skills to be able to execute this piece perfectly.
In conclusion, I think that I’m going to work towards my goals in the best way I can while approaching exams and the end of the year. Please look forward to my end-of-year reflection in Grade 9! Thank you for reading!
NYAA Service: March Reflection
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NYAA: Healthy Living
March Progress Report
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This month in service with CPAS (Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore) I’ve really been focusing on building my relationship with the kids. One might think that this wouldn’t be that rewarding in terms of learning, but actually, every single session has been an experience extremely valuable to me.
One of my main takeaways this month is that when you trust someone to do something, they’re a lot more likely to do it. Because you trust the kids to give you an answer when you ask them something and they see that trust much more clearly they’re more likely to give you an answer. I realise that this applies everywhere, even in our ordinary lives. Trusting the kids to feel empowered about themselves shows when you interact with them, and they see it despite the fact they can’t communicate back, or they feel it on some primal level, so working on that means that they themselves will feel more empowered and therefore more accepted. This trust in the relationship is what I would like to continue building.
When it comes to next steps, I’m thinking about doing some volunteer work at CPAS with my family to further learn about the capabilities of people with CPAS and other truths about the world and the psychology of the human mind, and how to properly treat people. I think that working with CPAS has really shown me what it really means to be extremely conscious of another person, and putting their needs above your own, which is something that I view as important in my life.
Otherwise, I’m really looking forward to working more with that kids at CPAS and learning about how to help them more.
Thanks for reading!
How does religion affect the Bhutanese people’s daily lives?
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How does religion affect Bhutanese people’s
daily lives?
Grade 9 Bhutan Expedition Exploration
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Featured image depicts Tiger’s Nest Monastery (Paro, Bhutan)
Some say that “If you didn’t go to the Eiffel Tower, you weren’t in Paris.” In the mountainous, mysterious country of Bhutan, they say that “If you didn’t go to Tiger’s Nest, you weren’t in Bhutan.” If you’re wondering, Tiger’s Nest is a monastery located on a clifftop 3100 metres above sea level. The hike there is 4 hours up, 3 down. It’s definitely not like the Eiffel Tower.
This only showcases a small part of the reverence the Bhutanese have for their many, many monasteries hidden behind tree-topped peaks, and rock faces thousands of metres high. The Bhutanese people believe in Mahayana Buddhism, the type of Buddhism that dominates central Asia, but these mountain people have added their own twists and created their own legends, centuries-old tales that have been sheltered by the protective walls of the mountains, and kept safely in the rural towns and villages ensconced in trees. and still take part in Bhutanese people’s daily lives to this day.
In fact, Bhutanese people are always free to visit the monasteries, (well, during visiting hours, that is) and many often do. According to our guides, on weekends and holidays it is very common for people to visit monasteries to meditate and/or pray. When faced with the large, usually bronze statues of the Buddha, they press their palms together above their forehead, in front of their lips, and to their chest, each gesture in succession, and then bow down to worship the large, majestic statue in front of them. They also believe in gods, and oftentimes beside the Buddha you will see smaller (but still impressive) statues of various different gods. Some temples contain statues that represent the Buddhas of the past, present, and future (the present being the main statue in the middle), and others depict gods of longevity or important deities that vanquished demons. Tiger’s Nest, arguably the most famous monastery in Bhutan, was built for a man who rode to the cliffside on a flying tiger, to fight a demon that was terrorizing the people.
People can even visit the temples and monasteries where the King holds his court. Yes, Bhutan is governed by men sitting inside the walls of monasteries, which once again showcases the importance that Buddhism has inside Bhutan. Every major monastery, or dzong, holds a big festival for one selected month of the year, where music, dance, and drama take place to teach the people about Buddhism through legendary myths. Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, has its festival during September, and all the 100,000 people living there come to Thimphu-dzong to celebrate and learn about a religion that has infused Bhutanese culture for the ages.
However, religion and culture in Bhutan is not all song and dance. It would be untruthful for me to report that the culture in Bhutan wouldn’t offend many people. It can be extremely sexist. The following example describes a central legend in Bhutanese culture, and I say now that some may be affected deeply by these next few paragraphs. Now is the time to look away, if the issue of consent triggers you deeply.
One of the most common Bhutanese myths involves a ‘divine madman’. In Eastern Bhutan, young men take the stories of this ‘divine madman’, who was a great mythological figure that lived thousands of years ago, and then translate them to their own lives. The ‘divine madman’ was thought to be mad, as his name suggests, as he taught Buddhism in a way the Bhutanese people had never seen before. According to the stories, the ‘divine madman’ subjugated a fearsome demoness, and taught Buddhism using his three values. Unlike most stories, he did not value purity, honor, or anything of the sort, no, he valued women, alcohol, and the phallus. This is why the Bhutanese thought he was mad. However, the stories of his escapades involve the subduing of demonesses, which gained him the admiration of the people. I shall leave you to connect the rest of the dots yourself.
Some may have already heard of ‘phallic symbols’ decorating the walls of Bhutanese houses, and models of phalluses lining shop shelves for tourists to buy. The monastery of the divine madman’s brother, blessed by the divine madman himself, is the final resting place of the main demoness the divine madman subjugated, and is also known as the temple of fertility. Married couples go to this monastery to pray for the blessing of children.
The national sport of Bhutan, archery (which women do not participate in) also showcases these three values. When the man hits the target with his arrow (some targets are 150m away), female dancers perform a ritual song carrying jars of alcohol, another one of the divine madman’s values.
Another way the divine madman stories really affect the Bhutanese people’s lives resides in the harshly steep slopes of the Himalayas of Eastern Bhutan. The Bhutanese young men, in the spirit of the ‘divine madman’, climb the walls of the houses of the girls they like, and break in through the windows, to chat and get to know the woman who lives inside. It is deeply rooted inside Bhutanese culture for the girl to consent to such things.
It is difficult to see such things in our modern world. We have come a long way from pitting slaves against each other to fight to the death for entertainment, but it could still be argued that we have not come far enough. Subjugation of our fellow human is the snake that slithers through the whole timeline of human history, even now, and this trip to Bhutan let me catch a better glimpse of the scales of such a beast. I hope that in the future, we will finally see the whole body of this serpent, and prevent it from injecting its venom into civilization.
Thank you for reading.
NYAA Service: Introductory Reflection (February)
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NYAA: Service
Introductory Post and February Reflection
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So, the service aspect of the NYAA is finally starting up, and I’ve picked a local service to focus my efforts on this time. I’m really looking forward to working with them, so without further ado, here’s some information on why I picked my local service and my ambitions for the next year (perhaps even longer) in local service work!
My Local Service:
This term, I’ve signed up for the activity titled ‘Music Buddies with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPAS)’, and every Monday we travel to the CPAS School to get to know kids our age with Cerebral Palsy. I won’t go too in-depth into the specifics of the disease, but I know that I originally picked this local service because I already love music and I’ve worked a lot with lots of different kinds of people and I wanted to try something new.
However, nothing really went as planned and it turns out we’re helping out with ‘Life Skills’ class instead, but I think this type of action is a lot more meaningful and allows us to interact with the kids on a deeper level, helping them with aspects of their daily lives and really getting to know them as people.
My Observations from the Past Month:
I feel like they process everything happening around them, but find it difficult to respond, and I find that really sad. I’ve been trying to interact with them, and it’s been really fulfilling because one girl, Rain, will reach out her hand for me to hold or clasp and the fact she’s making the effort to reach out to me really touches me because it gives me a sense of hope that maybe one day she can be more accepted in society, and hope that she’ll be able to build meaningful connections with others just like any human would.
I’m still nervous about visiting the kids, but I sincerely hope that we have a positive impact on the kids’ lives. I want to work on observing them as much as I can, to learn more about them. I talked to one of the teacher facilitators as well, and he talked about how he was helping to ‘enable’ the kids, and how he was comfortable with them, which makes me realise that it actually is very difficult to get to know them at first, but I think that over time I should really be able to build a connection with them.
My Goal:
Everything I’ve said so far is tying into my goal, which is “to make the cerebral palsy group feel more accepted by society through volunteering for them, communicating with them and building a relationship with them.” I chose this goal because I really want to focus on the idea of human connection here. I’d also like to continue thinking and working on the idea of Human Connection because I feel like the intricacies it contains may help me discover things about the inner workings of the human brain and also help me form better relationships not only with other people, but with myself as well.
So, those were my hopes and first perceptions of CPAS, and I’m genuinely looking forward to exploring this topic more and doing more work for CPAS. Thanks for reading!
NYAA Healthy Living: February Update
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NYAA Healthy Living
February Progress Report
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This month in Masterclass we’ve been doing a lot of practicing our pieces. I’ve been finding it really challenging as I don’t know if I have enough time to fully master the piece before performing it. Practice is a really important thing for me as the more I practice, the more confident I will be in the performance and the better the performance will go. I’ve had multiple experiences with performing in the past where I wasn’t prepared enough, and that definitely really impacted my performance in a way I didn’t want it to, so I’m really worried about the piece I’m playing in March as perhaps it’s not prepared enough.
I think acknowledging this is really helping me as I now fully realise the implications of not being able to practice enough. I think this will definitely help me manage future performances and practice schedules for that to help make me a lot less stressed about performing. I’m thinking about using google calendar to set up a practice schedule as well.
I’ve also been doing some practice for the upcoming March performance in my ITP classes and also learning some theory and new pieces. I’ve been learning some new scales that perhaps I will be tested on, and I’m definitely gaining more control over my fingers and becoming more confident in playing. It’s been really enjoyable and de-stressing as I finally get to play pieces that I like (since I’m finally at that level) and I’ve genuinely enjoyed playing the piano this month. It’s been very relaxing.
I’m nervous for the performance upcoming in March, but I vow to continue practicing hard until the performance to make sure I can give the best performance possible.
Thank you!
NYAA Healthy Living: January Update
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NYAA: Healthy Living
January Progress Report
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After the long December break, it was difficult getting back into the swing of things, especially because this month I think that there were a lot of setbacks to working towards my goal.
Challenge 1:
One of the first challenges I went through was having my piano exam for G6 canceled. I was looking forward to this exam as I thought that it would give me more experience dealing with stress, but it was canceled because I couldn’t register in time. Since it would be a long time before the next exam period, I moved onto G7.
However, there were some good things that came out of this setback. Firstly, now I can start playing higher level pieces, including one of my favourite pieces of all time. I also realised that when I really love a piece, it’s a lot easier to play it in front of others, and I think that this can lessen performance stress. There will still be nerves, I know, but playing a piece I’m familiar with musically and also one that I really enjoy playing will help my performance anxiety.
I’ve also started lots of new pieces, helping to build up my skill, and also new scales and techniques that will allow me to become more confident. I’ve learned that being less stressed goes hand in hand with practice, and the more I practice, the better I will get and the less nervous I will be.
Challenge 2:
This month in Piano Masterclass, we watched a documentary on being a concert pianist. The documentary is linked here. What I found really disheartening about this documentary was the idea of natural talent, that talent is something fixed that cannot be changed, and since I already have really bad performance anxiety, I never thought that I could become a concert pianist. I don’t even know if I want to be. This is completely putting me off performing, and I realise how much I actually dislike performing in front of others, so much so that after I finish high school, I want piano to become a completely solitary thing for me.
This just worsens my performance anxiety, because the people in the documentary didn’t seem all that nervous while performing, and it just made me feel more isolated. This stresses me out even more.
However, one of the ways that I’m working on lessening my stress is actually perming in front of others and practicing in front of my family, and I know that I can continue pushing on because music is meant to be shared. Music is different for everyone, and this documentary also helped me realise that. Music continues to de-stress me, and watching one documentary isn’t going to change that.
This month was a difficult month, but I know that I can push through it and continue working towards my goal. I’m learning lots of new pieces, and have a performance coming up in March to look forward to.
As always, thanks for reading!
NYAA Healthy Living: November Update
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NYAA: Healthy Living
November Progress Report
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My Healthy Living Goal: To reduce and find better ways to deal with my stress through Music.
Why have I chosen this goal?
I personally am very invested in Music and it is the one creative art I take solace in. Playing the piano and listening to a lot of music are things that I do regularly, and I want to bring this into the award as it is something that I am very passionate about.
How I have been achieving this goal:
This month, I’ve had another performance, and I’ve also done some really beneficial work in Piano Masterclass. As I’ve said before, performances really help me learn about my stress, even though they are a cause of a lot of it, and performing a lot helps me build confidence and find things that make me more comfortable performing in front of others. This month, I participated in a recital held by the ITP department.
The ITP department holds regular recitals, and I used to take part in them regularly. However, for the past two years, I haven’t attended any because of performance anxiety, so starting to take part in them again is a big step for me. I also got to see how this familiar environment affected my playing, and I think that surprisingly it had a big effect. I felt a little more comfortable in this situation because of how much I’ve been exposed to it in childhood. I think that I’ve definitely discovered a viable and safe place for me to practice my performance skills.
I’ve also learned that other people’s playing doesn’t affect mine. Even if someone playing Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu plays before me, I won’t be bothered. This means that my stress isn’t caused by comparison to others. This discovery has helped me narrow my strategies to deal with a performance down to mainly calming myself.
Here’s the video of the performance.
Another thing that I’ve been learning is the difference between practice and performance, but also the similarities. Often, when we practice, we are familiar with our surroundings, and that makes us more comfortable. This means we can make mistakes and refine our pieces without qualms. However, in a performance, there are people listening to you and watching you, and your surroundings are completely different. This can be another cause of performance anxiety.
However, to deal with this performance anxiety, we can make our practice space a little different every time, to resemble a performance. We can also invite friends or family to listen to our practice sessions and provide feedback at the end. This addition of a friendly audience can really help lessen stress and feelings of nervousness.
What have been some setbacks?
So far, I haven’t had many setbacks, however, I’ve recently received the news that I won’t be taking my G6 exam in February, rather, I’d have to take it in July. Since I’m practically prepared already, I feel that it would be a waste of time waiting until July, so I’m progressing onto grade 7. In all honesty, I feel that this might be a missed opportunity, since preparing for exams is a really good way to learn about your habits, but I think that Grade 7 piano poses an adequate challenge, and I look forward to playing more challenging pieces. This may also benefit me because I will most definitely perform those pieces sometime, so it’ll definitely help me build confidence.
What am I looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to starting Grade 7, and starting to branch out and build my Piano repertoire. So far, I’ve practically only been playing exam pieces, so I look forward to exploring other genres and developing my skills. I have another performance in March for International Women’s Day, and in Piano Masterclass we’ll be looking at ways to deal with difficult parts in pieces, which I think will definitely help me with my performance anxiety.
That’s all for November! Thanks for reading!
NYAA Healthy Living: October Update
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NYAA: Healthy Living
October Progress Report
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My Healthy Living Goal: To reduce and find better ways to deal with my stress through Music.
Why have I chosen this goal?
I personally am very invested in Music and it is the one creative art I take solace in. Playing the piano and listening to a lot of music are things that I do regularly, and I want to bring this into the award as it is something that I am very passionate about.
How am I achieving this goal:
Despite having a two-week break in the middle of the month, I’ve made a lot of progress towards my goal.
Firstly, I had my Grade 5 Theory Exam on October 6th. I’ve learned that Music isn’t just about playing, it’s also about listening and comprehending, even on 2 dimensional surfaces. My G5 Theory exam not only helps me to learn more about music, but also the fact that it’s an exam helps me. My goal is to find better ways to deal with my stress, and having a big exam helps me understand the way I perceive stress and what I can do to help myself deal with stress better. I found out that repetition is one of the main things that helps me, and I have devised strategies for me to study that can definitely be applied elsewhere. I used Quizlet to study important vocabulary, and did lots of practice tests to prepare for my exam. I tried to make visual, real flashcards and maps, but I found out that those things don’t really help me, so that helped me find what ways I could learn best, through quizlets and practice questions and tests rather than the more unsustainable yet visual flashcards.
Here’s my confirmation slip – I haven’t received the results yet, but when I do, I will make sure to update this post with the results.
Secondly, on the 31st of October (just recently), I performed at Esplanade with my peers in the Piano Masterclass. I haven’t performed in a really long time, so this experience was the first proper performance I’ve had in two years. I tend to be really nervous when it comes to performing, and so this is part of my goal to become more confident (this requires a lot of good stress management). I learned a lot more about what my nerves are like now, and I tried out a lot of strategies to try and calm myself down for the performance, some of which include talking to friends and family, taking deep breaths, and trying not to think too much. I’ve found out that telling myself “it’s okay to make mistakes” really calms me down, even though I doubt it afterwards.
I’ve also watched a TED Talk linked here about how your body language can actually change your mind, and I tried some of these strategies to calm myself down. My aunt has also given me advice to play from your core, rather than your heart or your brain. This not only makes sure my brain doesn’t focus on every little mistake I make, but it also quells the feelings of nervousness in my chest. I think that I still want to practice playing from my core, because I feel like one experience isn’t completely enough to tell whether it works for me or not.
Reflecting on the actual performance itself, I think that for someone who hasn’t played on stage like that for two years, it was good. Even though I made mistakes, my piano teacher who was there said that I played well, and I also felt somewhat good about the performance after it was over. It was definitely a meaningful experience, it taught me a lot about my nerves and what I can do to manage them better. And the more I perform, the more confident I get.
Here’s a video link to the performance, and a photo of the program is below.
What am I looking forward to?
I have a lot more performances coming up, a piano recital, the Grade 9 Going Solo performance and also the International Women’s Day performance with the Piano Masterclass in March. Not to mention, I’m emceeing a guitar showcase, and might even be playing something there too (to be confirmed). I’ll also be very busy in the upcoming future with more Piano masterclasses, and my G6 Piano exam is coming up in February.
So that’s all for October! Thanks for reading and I’ll be back next month!
NYAA: Healthy Living Goal September
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NYAA: Healthy Living
September Progress Report
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My Healthy Living Goal: To reduce and find better ways to deal with my stress through Music.
Why have I chosen this goal?
I personally am very invested in Music and it is the one creative art I take solace in. Playing the piano and listening to a lot of music are things that I do regularly, and I want to bring this into the award as it is something that I am very passionate about.
How am I achieving this goal:
Currently, I participate in an activity called ‘Piano Masterclass’, and in this class I learn a lot about not only playing actual pieces of music better than I already do, but also side tactics to enhance things like performance, skills and control.
So far, I have learned about creating a better warmup when starting my practice session to prepare my fingers for the pieces I am playing and to make playing a lot more comfortable for me. However, one of the main highlights of this month in Piano Masterclass has been working together with Marianne from the music group ‘Crossing Borders Music’ who visited our school and our piano masterclass specially to work with some of us on improving one of the pieces in our repertoire. I was one of the lucky few working one-on-one with Marianne herself, and the experience taught me so much.
Firstly, I learned a lot more about attitude when performing, to not let myself be so nervous and to pretend that everything is going as I want it to. Not only will this lessen my own stress when performing, but it will also lessen the people around me’s. Secondly, I learned about touch and control, leaning more weight into separate fingers to create chords that have one dominant note among a harmony, but only using one hand. This practice has helped me become a better pianist, and I know that further practicing this skill will allow me to play more of the pieces that I love.
I also got to listen to Marianne work with other pianists, and that experience also taught me more about technique and performance attitude. However, sitting and listening to others play and improve also taught me more about other composers like Brahms, Beethoven and Chopin that I haven’t had a chance to play yet, and I think this information will further help me define my preferences in music.
Overall, this experience helped me to develop further my growing passion for music, and I think that this passion will provide me comfort and good mental health in the future, providing me with an important escape when the world gets too stressful.
Link to Marianne and her group’s website: http://crossingbordersmusic.org/
Link to their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CrossingBordersMusic/ (you can see some photos from the event here!)
What am I looking forward to?
Well, upcoming at the end of October is another recital where I must perform at Esplanade, in a concert called ‘Bach to the Future’ linked on the Esplanade library website here. I think that this experience will further develop me as a pianist and a performer especially, so I am looking forward to it!
I am also looking forward to International Women’s day in March 2019, and the jazz piece that I will be playing there. Attached below is an image of the sheet music that I recently received for the piece. I have lowered the quality as to avoid copyright claims.
That’s all for September! Thanks for reading!
The National Youth Achievement Award: First Perceptions and Goals
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The National Youth Achievement Award
My Perceptions and Goals
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Timestamp: 28th September 2018
Why did I join?
I first heard about the National Youth Achievement Award (NYAA) at an assembly. The first thing I thought of was, ‘Would this look good on university applications?’. Unfortunately, this perspective is common when thinking about participating in awards like this one, but despite the fact that completing the NYAA has benefits such as looking good on your CV, there are a lot of other reasons why I decided to take part.
Firstly, I know that High School is a time for exploring your ideas and passions, and finding new strengths and causes that you want to support. When I ask my relatives what their top tip is for having a great high school experience, they tell me to try lots of new things and participate in a lot of different activities to get in touch with a lot of different social groups. NYAA helps you to achieve that. The requirements that you must fill for the NYAA are not harsh guidelines like the ones for exams. These requirements shape experiences, and experiences are valuable. Therefore, I am doing NYAA to focus myself on doing lots of different activities to broaden my perspective.
NYAA also helps me think about myself and what more I can do to improve not only my wellbeing, but also my schoolwork and attitude. It motivates me and it helps me become more reflective than I already am. The healthy living guideline especially helps me have a more productive and less stressful lifestyle. These things will improve my standard of living, and hopefully make my year a stable and productive one.
I wanted to join the NYAA for another reason – I’m not from Singapore, and I barely know anything about it, however I’ve lived here for three years. It’s rather pitiful that I barely know Singapore’s history and culture, and this country has housed me and kept me safe for three years now, three, stable and amazing years, and so I want to build more of a connection to the country I’m living in. Participating in something Singaporean, like the NYAA, which is unique to Singapore, makes me feel like at least I’ve done something Singaporean while I’ve lived here. It may also be a worthwhile endeavor to do some research on Singapore’s history, but I feel more tied to the youth here in Singapore through doing this award, and boosting that feeling of connectivity to your society I know is beneficial for your mental health.
So, it is for all of these reasons that I think I would benefit from doing this award, and the actual prize isn’t all that hard to achieve too. It’s a win-win, in my opinion.
What are some of my goals?
I want to go more in depth into this in further posts, but for the moment I am looking to start working towards the healthy living required quota of hours, through music to help me reduce my stress throughout the year. Music is one of my passions, and playing and practicing music helps me to express myself. However, Music can also provide good strategies on how to deal with stress, because as I am sure you know, musicians have a dual nature: they practice, and they perform. Performances are nerve wracking, and musicians have lots of different strategies to overcome this pressure, which are what I’m looking to develop and learn.
I will also be attending the Bhutan Outdoor Education trip in April, so during that time I am looking towards researching more on Bhutan’s culture, and exploring that through experience on this 11-day trip. I know that during the excursion, we will be visiting a lot of temples, and I wish to know more about the religion and worshipping practices that proceed within those holy places. I feel that this will be very relaxing and a good opportunity for me to learn about mindfulness as well as the culture within these remote parts of Asia.
For service, I already am participating in a Focus Group (Voices for Refugees) and a GC (Ladakh), as well as being a Portfolio Head in the High School Service Executive Committee. However, I would like to explore the Local service option more this year and next, because I feel that I should expand my horizons to encompass more areas of service. I participated in a Local service in Grade 6, but I was very new to service learning at that time, and so I don’t think I got as much out of it as I should have. For this reason, I would like to attend a new Local service and gain more understanding about Singapore and it’s residents, as well as learn more about Local service and what really makes an impact there.
I do not have a definite goal for Service yet, since Local services start in January, but I promise an update of a goal onto this portfolio when they do start.
What will be my plan for logging my development?
I have been considering different alternatives for logging my work to all these areas, and so far I have been thinking about monthly updates and summaries, perhaps with important dates and learning opportunities specified in the end-of-month reflection posted here on the portfolio and logged in my spreadsheet, which is linked here.
I look forward to tracking my progress and seeing my spreadsheet at the end of the award, and seeing all that I will have accomplished.
Thanks for reading!