I have been here for about five months. I started working at HanGuang Vocal Band as an assistant because I like music, and Director Chu invited me here. My job includes administrative duties the go on around the band. Chores ranging from venue or sound equipment rental to getting food for the band are all part of my daily routine. Sometimes I act as the bridge of communication to solve problems. I started from scratch, and the job itself presents a challenge to me, as well as a learning opportunity. For example, my interpersonal skill has improved quite a lot since I took the job. Every time I see the band moving forward, whether it’s in their singing or other accomplishments, my satisfaction from the job grows with it.

I think our most unique part is that we sing poetry, whereas other bands simply rearrange pop songs by Jay Chow or Jolin! They take pop songs and sing them in a cappella, so the audience can get a different interpretation of the songs. Whereas for us, our songs are basically classical poetries, and that will be what separates us from other a cappella bands. However, since the audience isn’t familiar with classical poetries, it is difficult for them to resonate, and that is exactly why we try very hard to promote our music, our unique identity.

I did not get much training before I took the assistant job. I have never contacted a sponsor before, and I did not know how to arrange the band’s performances. As a result, I sometimes panic and get frustrated during their performances. There is no easy job in the world, so I see every challenge that I face on the job as a chance to learn something new. If I do not deal with those challenges, then I won’t be able to make any progress. Over the span of five months, I have accumulated a lot of experience. The happiest moment has to be the concert that I helped organize on November 19th. I was not in charge of this concert originally, I stepped into it when it was about halfway through, so there were quite a few challenges waiting for me to overcome. When the concert was able to finish smoothly, I was overjoyed. Since I have never organized a concert before, the fact that I helped it to finish smoothly gave me a great sense of accomplishment.

I have to deal with everything that happens in the band, so I must be there for every show. Besides the actual performance, I have to attend the weekly band practices. It isn’t that there are things that I have to record; it is more like checking if everyone has made improvements on the songs, are there any bottlenecks that they have encountered, or if someone has come down with a flu. I need to have a good idea on the condition of the band so I can make arrangements or adjust the songs when necessary.

For the band, I hope there can be more time for band practices. Since everyone on the band comes to practice from different locations, and each one of them differ in terms of age and professions, it is not an easy job to find the time to get everyone under one roof for band practices. Every band practice that we miss is a chance lost by the band to make progress, especially for an a cappella band. I hope we could spend more time on band practices to make our music better.

This job is part of the training in my life, and it has enabled me to learn lots of new skills, so I don’t see a reason for me to get out of it at this point in time. As for the distant future, that will depend on my career plan.