Hello people, a minor reminder that there's 20days and 10+ hours left till SYF. 

1. Almost all of us can tell that amongst some of us, there's still some who don't bother, until SYF is really right before our eyes. Maybe whatever the leaders, instructors and teachers said, isn't even going from 1 ear in, the other out, maybe there's a forcefield that prevents the words from even getting near some of their ears too. Like Faiz said, we can never change anyone if that person is unwilling to do so in the first place. It takes 2 hands to clap. All that we can do, is just to advise you, give instructions and so on and so forth. What the instructors can do is just teach. The journey is still ours to take, depending on our attitude and mindset. Not trying to put anyone down, or comparing, but ever wondered why is it that Orchid Park can jump from COP all the way to GWH? Ever wondered why St. Patrick can sustain GWH for several SYFs straight? For those who stated you expect the band to get Gold or GWH in the survey and you think we're already there. 3 years and 4 months ago we had about 24 holiday practices, with continuous Saturday practices until SYF, and all we got was a Silver. Not being pessimistic or anything else, but what made you think we can get Gold? Remember that what we do is a reflection of who we are. If we do get Bronze again, it'll simply reflect to the other 153 secondary school bands that we're not that competent, can't be bothered etc.

2. Each time the teachers, leaders or instructors scold or punish you, we do feel bad about it ourselves. Do try and put yourself in our shoes too. Why do you think we punish or scold you guys? We have much better things to do. However it is our responsibilities. Ask any leaders or teachers, who wants to sacrifice friendship because of responsibilities? On the other hand, if the leaders don't do their job, we'll be asking for trouble. Same goes for the teachers. This is why we seek your cooperation badly. The sec 3s and above, you've learnt in your SS, "Leadership is key". As much as possible, we've to also make right decisions instead of a decision that's popular amongst the band. For instance, punctuality, or the time taken to set up or keep instruments. We emphasize a lot on these. Don't forget that even though we're leaders, we're also your friends. We, too, care about your well-being. We want to make sure everyone of us benefit too, a win-win situation. E.g. punctuality and speed of the band's movement. Look on the bright side, take it as a training to move faster. Especially the boys, no harm preparing these for NS even though it's years away. Do bear in mind that no one's perfect in this world. And since no one is perfect, life can only mean unlimited improvements. Same thing runs in the band. We simply want to escalate things to a higher level, for the sake of us all, the pride of the batch before us, and most importantly the future generation of Crestwinds. Again, bear in mind that each time we scold etc, it's because we still care. This is our way of expressing our love for the band too. I'm sure your parents do nag and scold the same way. Some of you, will notice in future that tertiary education, lecturers and facilitators have no nid to care, and that's why they'll leave students to be, whether they are disrupting or not. And sometimes we scold only because when we tell nicely, it won't get in. And we'll rather you hate us for life, than you yourself have a bad well-being in future. All choices have consequences. We can punish you all we want. We can make you write 1000 lines, 500 word reflection, 100 push ups/sit ups, the teachers can give you detention every single say of your life. The worst punishment you can ever get is you yourself not learning from your mistakes

3. Those of you who you can't perfect any parts of a piece well, please do something about it, use the 20 days and 10+ hours. Can't get it right? Try and try again. Still can't? Change strategy. Make sure you're persistent in getting things right. You never know, you might just get things right in the 253rd attempt or so. Believe in yourself. What you believe is what you will achieve. We spend merely 4 to 5 hours in band together a week. It hardly add up to a day, out of the 20 days and 10+ hours. Hence do participate 100% for the next 20 days and 10+ hours. We kindly request for all cooperations, if you would be so kind too, and our humblest apologies for any inconvenience caused. I hope this link to the recording of Novena can help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Syp-SKD1oHY

Sorry to be so long-winded. I won't continue for now. Good luck to all, and also, be sure to not neglect your studies too. Thanks to all, for your time to read this, much obliged.