Guitar Ensemble

2008 and 2009 have indeed been busy, yet fruitful and exciting for the Dunman Guitar Ensemble.

In 2008, the Guitar ensemble showcased members’ musical talent through the joint concert, Music Extravaganza, which was held in March last year in Victoria Concert Hall. The ensemble also held its first ever Guitar Camp during the June Holidays that was organized by the current Secondary 4 seniors.

In addition, we were proud that we could contribute to the school when we performed our best during Speech Day 2008. As an attempt to improve our awareness of guitar ensemble music, we participated in the 2nd Annual Guitar Ensemble Seminar in November 2008 where we saw many different guitar conductors educating school guitar ensembles on the importance of basic guitar techniques, ensemble sound balance, proper ensemble conducting and music interpretation.

Considering that the bi-annual Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) competition would take place only in 2009, we had no lack of opportunities to showcase our hard work in 2008. Firstly, we performed our SYF pieces at East View Primary School for their Morning Program. The current Secondary 4 seniors also performed during the CCA Open House that was held at the beginning of the year. The dynamic performance resulted in a huge addition of 20 enthusiastic Secondary 1 students to the guitar family. It was not only the intensive practices that characterized the Dunman Guitar Ensemble, but also bonding sessions such as the one-day Secondary 1 Orientation Programme that was planned by the committee. Through this programme, stronger rapport amongst the members were built. We have also learnt much from each other and created memories of our own that will never be forgotten.

New guitars like the 12-String guitar and the Alto guitar were acquired in March to boost the ensemble’s sound quality. We also had another opportunity to showcase our SYF pieces to the school during our Lunchtime Concert held in April in the school’s atrium. For this year’s SYF, we proudly clinched a Bronze award. Although the results were unexpected, we are proud to say that we have put in our best effort.

These performances have marked an incredible start to the rest of the upcoming performances this year. The Dunman Guitar Ensemble hopes to work towards the development of our members into musicians who can touch the heart of people through our music and soar to greater heights in achievements in many years to come.