Afterthoughts from teachers

		Teacher Wei-Ting Hsu I was really shocked to learn that my class had won the a cappella competition. Personally, I think a cappella is really difficult because my students had not received any professional training in music before, and some of them couldn’t even get the tempo or the rhythm right. How could they sing a cappella? I searched for a few a cappella videos on Youtube and showed them to my students. After seeing a few of them, they roughly understood how a cappella worked. I then divided the students up into teams, some were responsible for the melody, some were responsible for canon, some were responsible for making beats, some were responsible for harmony, and some were responsible for voice percussion. After seeing the a cappella videos, my students learned that all sound effects were equally important. Lead vocal is no longer the sole focus of the band, so everyone sang his or her part very willingly. My students even came up with their own grooving and choreography, and it was quite well done! Thinking of You is a song that everyone is familiar with, and the tune is very beautiful as well. So I thought why not choose this song and then adapt it in our own way! Besides getting the beautiful essence of the song, I added a part to recite a poem. In the end, I added something that I thought was ‘rap’ to conclude the song. On the day of competition, all teachers gave out their best effort, and the performances did not disappoint the audience. When it was our turn to perform, there were a few instances where the class missed out on the feeling that I was aiming for. But the ‘rap’ part seemed to be very comical, so I was quite pleased with my class for their entertaining performance. Most importantly, my kids love to sing, and after the competition, whenever I play any music with a strong rhythm, they would start doing beatbox. They would even pick out some elements in the music other than vocal. I think the seed of music has started growing in them.

		Teacher Yu-Hsuan Wang My students in Grade Two Class Zhi did an exceptional job and won second place in the a cappella competition. They put in lots of hard work and spent countless hours practicing, and I am very proud to say ‘I am their teacher!’ I would like to thank our music teacher Ms. Tzj-Yun for helping us during lunch time. She has not been able to get a good lunchtime nap since the competition started. I would like to thank Ms. Shu-Min for lending us her classroom and her ears. I would like to thank Ms. Hsiao-Chia for staying in class and mind the rest of the kids. And also there is Ms. Hua-Ting who has been rooting for us along the way. I’m all teary now… LOVE YOU SO MUCH! All the hard work did not go to waste! (tears flying)

Afterthoughts from students

		Grade Two Class Red　Ko-Han Peng I sang harmony, and I am really happy about this competition. I was a bit afraid during practice because I did not know if I could do it. But, as it turned out, it wasn’t too difficult at all. My heart was pounding like crazy minutes before the competition, and I had to try hard to calm myself down. During the competition, I put lots of emotion into the song. My teacher told me what we got wasn’t important, what really mattered was giving our best shot. So I just let my mind go blank and focused completely on the song.

		Grade Two Class Yellow Shan-Shan Li I think the a cappella competition is very fun because we did some rap near the end of our performance. Two other classmates rapped with me, and I stood in the middle. After our surprising rap performance, everyone in the audience cheered for us. When we returned to the classroom, our teacher praised us for our outstanding performance, and Ms. Lin even asked for an encore. I felt good for the rest of the day.

		Grade Two Class Blue Yu-Tung Yeh I think this a cappella competition is really interesting. I learned a lot of poems, even the ones that I have never read before. Singing poems is a really helpful way for us to learn poetry. I like this poetry competition. My teammates all performed well. If we have another go at this next year, I will definitely sign up for it because it is so much fun.

		Grade Three Class Blue Ching-Tung Wu I think singing poetry in a cappella is really an eye-opener. Combining classical poetry with contemporary a cappella has really sparked wonders. Before the competition, we had lots of practices, and everyone was really into it. On the day of competition, everyone got his or her game face on, and the result was really satisfying.

		Grade Three Class Blue Lu-Yun Wang This a cappella competition is really fresh and exciting. The changes in voice and sound were mesmerizing, we sometimes croaked like frogs, and sometimes chirped like birds. Our teacher took an ordinary poem and combined it with the theme song of a popular cartoon; the result was cooler than cool! I have never thought of something like it, and I hope I could take part in another a cappella competition next year.

		Grade Four Class Zhi Chia-Chi Kuo I think the a cappella competition is really interesting. Through the competition, I realized how difficult it is to combine classical poetry with a contemporary song. However, after rounds and rounds of practices, I got a different take on the poem, and our voice percussion really made our performance stand out. I learned a new form of art through this competition, and I hope the school is able to continue this competition in the future.

		Grade Four Class Yellow Yung-Hsin Yang I think this competition not only helped our classmates to get closer with each other, but also helped us learn some poems and songs that we have never come across. We won the competition with lots of hard work, and every one was pleased with the result. Without Miss Chu, who helped with our stage arrangement, we would have never got anywhere close to winning. We would like to thank all the teachers who have helped us along the way. If there is ever another competition like this next year, my performance will be even better!

		Grade Five Class Zhi Mei-Ya Liao I think this a cappella competition really brought us closer to understand the essence of some classical poetries. We have also learned different ways to savor a poem through the rhythm of a song. I have become more confident in speaking on stage after the competition, and our team chemistry has really strengthened. This competition has helped us to excel ourselves. Although we did not win the competition, we will put in more effort in future competitions.

		Grade Five Class Zhi Lung-Ting Ping I learned a lot through this competition. Although the result was not as good as what I have expected, I will not be discouraged. I will practice my harmony and singing during winter break. If there is another a cappella competition next year, I will sign up without hesitation. Even if the result is not of satisfactory, I will face it with my head up high.

		Grade Five Class Red Pin-Yen Tung I really learned a lot in this competition, among them were teamwork and group discussion. We used to think teamwork as having everyone listening to one leader, but then we found out after this competition that teamwork really means having everyone’s opinion valued equally. It is only with every team member’s input that our original plan was able to improve, and that is also the reason we were able to come in second. I truly believe teamwork and group discussion are extremely important.

Source: the Beautiful Voices, Facebook of Ms. Wei-Ting Hsu, Facebook of Ms. Yu-Hsuan Wang
Photos by the Beautiful Voices