华乐。

hua yue

the joy in music.

It is often opined that the Chinese have a poetic way of encapsulating meaning in but a few letters. Indeed, this holds true for the traditional hua yue, or what the general populace knows better as Chinese Orchestra.

As its name suggests, Chinese Orchestra is a tight-knit family of happy music makers; we find joy in our music. And just like any other orchestra, we take pride in our numbers and more so, our diversity of musical timbres. From the sweet lilting melodies of the dizi (flute), the distinctive pitter-pattering of the plucked-string instruments to the heart-wrenching and expressive pitches of the erhu — you name it, we have it. Our instruments aren’t too hard to pick up but sound great.

CO consists of 5 distinctive sections, namely:

1. Plucked Strings
2. Chinese Strings
3. Woodwind
4. Bass
5. Percussion

We have instruments for everyone; it all depends on what you’re looking for. Anyone is welcome to try out, regardless of whether you have a musical background. What we value more is attitude and willingness to learn.

Apart from the musical bits, there’s also the less tangible culture aspect. We’re a family of bonded and easy-going folks with an extraordinary passion for CO music! We’ll be more than happy to welcome you onboard. Here are some testimonials from our current members:

Daryl Goh (15S03N): “There’s something crazy about the people in CO, and I think it’s that hyperness that keeps us together both on and off stage.”

Kim Ji Hwan (15A01C): “I thought I’d quit after Year 4 to try something new, but RJCO’s warm familial culture made me feel at home and continue on.”

Wong Yuxian (15S06P): “CO has changed from being something I dread to something I love.”

Indeed, RJCO has been a source of happiness for its members. Yet, as a ‘Chinese’ CCA, we often struggle to be heard. We are often compared to and deemed less deserving than our Western counterpart because of our heavy Chinese influences. ‘Overwhelmingly loud’, ‘garish’ and ‘boringly Chinese’ may be some common descriptors for the general Rafflesian populace. However, while these descriptors might have been applicable to the Chinese Orchestras of the past, they are certainly not accurate adjectives for RJCO.

This is because our repertoire is not only limited to the same few festive Chinese New Year songs that you’re sick of hearing at CNY assemblies. We cover music of all genres and origins, be it traditional or contemporary, western or oriental. We’ve done pop, anime music, classical western, movie OSTs and a whole lot of others. We’re also extremely receptive to new musical suggestions because we believe in playing music that is accessible to everyone. For example, in our concert last year, we performed a medley of songs from the Phantom of the Opera, as well as the tune Those Bygone Years from the popular Taiwanese romance movie You Are The Apple Of My Eye.

The following lists the RJCO practice schedule:

Mondays 

Sectionals/Xiaozu
5.30-8.30pm

Tuesdays
Combined Practice/Dazu
5.30-8.30pm

Hours of practices and rehearsals are invested into ensuring the standards of our orchestra: sectionals are held in separate sectional classrooms. Facilitated by qualified instructors, they aim to improve each individual’s skills, ensuring that a homogenous sound is achieved within the section. The entire orchestra then gathers in the CO room on Tuesdays for combined practice under the guidance of our Conductor (or occasionally, Student Conductor), creating a harmonious and unified sound.

Performance opportunities include the biennial Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Arts Presentations for Chinese Orchestra, various concerts and CIP performances. However, though preparing for these events does take up the bulk of our CCA time, it is not all that we do.

A camp in March is organised every year to welcome our new initiates and to also serve as an opportunity for all members of the CCA to know each other better before the busier period of concert or SYF preparation sets in. During these couple of days, we simply loosen up, lose a few (maybe more) hours of sleep and have fun! Smaller scaled activities include monthly birthday celebrations to liven up some of our Dazus, and impromptu meal sessions before and/or after practices!

And finally, we close with what we started with:

华乐。

hua yue

For most people, the above word will be read as le but for those in CO, it’ll always be yue, and that is our one aim: to find joy in music.

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Love music? We do, too. The Raffles Symphonic Band (RSB) is a group of students who share a common passion for playing and performing. Band brings us something that nothing else can replace – the euphoria of immersing yourself in the music. Regardless of whether you come from a band, or if you want to pick up a new instrument, the band welcomes everyone with open arms.

Established in 1982 as Raffles Junior College Symphonic Band, RSB puts up two concerts annually under the baton of our conductor Mr Lim Yean Hwee. Held in the month of May, A Tempo is RSB’s showcase concert, where the band tackles challenging pieces. Last year, the band performed Stravinsky’s world-famous piece, The Firebird, which lasted for twenty minutes. Despite the initial struggles, learning a piece out of our comfort zone made the process all the more fulfilling.

Our year-end concert, Bandemonium, features comparatively light-hearted and accessible tunes, never going without a Christmas classic or two! Just last year, RSB ventured into uncharted waters by introducing a choreographed act, where members paired movement with music.

RSB also holds events along with its counterparts from the Raffles family, RI Military Band and RGS Symphonic Band, to build a supportive band community. Annual events like React and Tune-In, as well as band exchanges, provide opportunities for us to listen and learn from other bands and meet fellow musicians.

With an unusually small batch of 15 people, RSB is a tight-knit and friendly community, where our members always look forward to band practices and get together outside of CCA sessions to bond as a batch. The long practice hours allow us to forge meaningful bonds- and also mean that we are a little too familiar with each other’s strange antics!

RSB holds practices twice every week, with additional practices leading up to performances. Although we admit that band members will have to work hard and be able to commit to the practice schedule, we have no doubts that the experience is definitely rewarding. RSB cannot promise you an easy time, or a relaxed CCA life, but what it can promise is something money cannot buy – the joy of making music together. When you look back on your school years, what you’ll remember are the experiences that you’ve had outside the classroom, and Band is something that will stay with you for life. If you think that music is something worth working hard for, if you want a challenging and interesting band experience or if you want a CCA that spices up your school life, do join us!

Welcome to the world of contract bridge, one in which you can bid farewell to all the random-partner-calling, less-than-4-points-washing, gambling-style, luck-based card game that you have been used to all this while. Be ready to face the real deal when you join Bridge Club, where what you once knew as bridge will suddenly start to seem so foreign. Declarer? Dummy? Double? Redouble? Slam? Grand slam? Don’t worry, these terms will soon be part and parcel of your vocabulary within a few weeks of joining us!

Every bridge hand consists of two parts, the bidding and the play. The bidding is where you and your (yes, fixed) partner relay information about your hands to each other through the bids you make, in order to arrive at the optimum contract (e.g. 4❤ or 6♠). Since verbal communication is not allowed at the table during competitions, you have to learn the language of bidding well. For example, a one heart or one spade opening promises 5+ hearts or spades respectively and 12+ HCP (HCP refers to high card points, where Ace- 4pts, King- 3pts, Queen- 2 pts, Jack- 1pt). After bidding, the play involves the declarer (from the partnership that wins the bidding) trying to take enough tricks to make his contract (the final bid- e.g. 10 tricks in 4♠, and all 13 tricks in 7NT). The defenders (the opposing partnership) will try to set the contract by preventing the declarer from doing so.

Although probability is involved, luck is actually negligible in contract bridge! In competitions, there are different boards, which hold 4 sets of cards, one for each player, in a fixed arrangement, and these are passed around the room such that the same board is played by everyone, and scores are compared to those playing in the same seats as your pair.

Trainings are held on Wednesdays and Fridays, from 2:30-6:30 p.m. Members have the choice of attending either session, but are highly encouraged to come for both, especially if they are interested in joining the school team. Members who want even more practice can go to the SCBA (Singapore Contract Bridge Association), where games are held several times a week, as well as on holidays. SCBA is conveniently located close to school, at Bishan Community Centre. There are many competitions available for our members to join, such as the Hwa Chong Cup, Catholic Junior College Cup, and the National Inter-Schools Bridge Competition. Our bridge club also organises its own competition, Raffles Pairs, at the start of the June holidays!

Trainings usually include a lesson on bidding or card play, followed by a team match or duplicate pairs games that are just like actual competitions. Training sessions are light-hearted and centered around having fun while trying to improve your game.

Bridge is both a partnership and a team game. Everyone in the team is important – a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. As such, you should be willing to put in the time and effort to train, in and out of CCA hours, in order to improve. Training sessions are limited, hence learning is often self-directed. This allows pairs to learn at their own pace, and develop their own strategies. Many resources are available online, as well as at the Shaw Foundation Library, so you can start reading up if you’re interested!

There is only one pre-requisite: interest. As long as you are enthusiastic and diligent, we want you to be part of us, so just sign up! Prior experience with contract bridge is not needed, and you do not have to sign up with a partner; passion and commitment will be more than enough.

Once you learn the game, we assure you that you will never see cards the same way again. This is a one-way journey of no return but one that is guaranteed to be fruitful and rewarding.

The referee’s whistle blows; a huge roar erupts from the crowd, cries and cheers fill the air. You are far removed from the glamour and the action, here on your narrow turf by the sidelines – but your battle is no less intense, for the consequences of failure can be so much more severe. A few quick, well-practiced movements serve to securely fasten the bandages around your newest charge, just in time for another goal to be joined by a collective shout of triumph. Your own victory is much quieter; a quiet murmur of thanks, relief at a wound ably seen to, and satisfaction from a job well done.

While First Aid skills are essential for treating everyday emergencies at home (treating a scald, for instance), they also have uses in school and for the larger community. Upon joining Red Cross Youth Chapter (RCYC), you will be provided with compulsory Standard First Aid (SFA) Training, hence employing you with skills which range from tending to common cuts and abrasions to cleaning and bandaging for burns and fractures, and even CPR for life-threatening emergencies. Members will then apply their skills by offering First Aid coverage to the school during events. There will also be HQ-level opportunities where members join experienced aiders on the lookout for the general public. These include the monthly First Aid On Wheels (FAOW) at East Coast Park and national events such as the 2015 SEA Games.

There is a saying that goes, ‘Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.’ Here at RCYC, we believe in the power of the human touch to put a smile on anybody’s face, and hence we place great focus on direct service to the community. All members volunteer at a Voluntary Welfare Organisation (VWO) of their choice on a weekly basis. At present, such VWOs include tutoring girls from underprivileged families at Good Shepherd Student Care (GSSC) and befriending elderly patients at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), with plans to open more centres! In addition, further one-off opportunities are given for the entire batch to engage in direct service together.

As an RCYC member, you can also expect exciting opportunities to participate in a wide array of events and programmes. These range from service-oriented activities (such as Overseas Humanitarian Programme) to ones unique to the International Red Cross Movement, which tackle issues like humanitarian diplomacy and disaster management. Open to all, members may sign up for these based on interest.

Our chapter also helms 2 school-wide events – the biannual Blood Donation Drive (there’s one coming up on 13 February!) as well as World Red Cross Day, which is a fundraising effort.

To sum up, here’s what you can expect:

1. Weekly service at 1 VWO

2. Allocation to an organising committee, whereby you will help plan for one of the following: First Aid, Blood Drive, Welfare and Batch Service Initiatives

3. First Aid training and opportunities

4. Ad hoc HQ programme

There will be a simple interview for all who sign up with us. We have no prerequisites – what we’re looking for is a passion to serve, be it through community service, First Aid, or (even better) both! Commitment-wise, there is a general meeting every Wednesday, in addition to the list above, giving members ample free time and opportunities to plan for any other service project if they so choose.

Sound like just your (blood) type of CCA? Then do join Raffles Red Cross Youth Chapter for A Positive-ly great time!

Floorball is an exciting, fast-paced indoor sport played in teams of 5. Founded in 2006, Raffles Floorball is a relatively young CCA, training under the tutelage of our coach, Ms Jill Quek. She is one of the top female players in the world, who is well known not just in local floorball circles, but also around the world, in traditional floorball strongholds such as Finland and Sweden. Raffles Floorball is regarded as one of the top few teams in Singapore, with the boys and girls team having a strong showing year after year.

Trainings are held three times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) at the Indoor Sports Hall in the evening, usually starting off with drills targeted at honing specific skills required for the game. It then ends with a match to apply those skills. Along with fitness training and conditioning, our trainings shape players into well-rounded athletes. The team bonds through the physically and mentally tough trainings together, and not only supports each other during CCA but also outside CCA, where dinners after trainings and birthday celebrations are not uncommon.

The peak period for Floorball is from March to May, where both the boys and girls teams compete in the National Inter-School Floorball Championships. Of course, there are many other opportunities for us to gain experience throughout the year, such as friendlies organised with floorball teams from other schools, NTU Floorball Open and NUS Tenses, where we get to play against players at the university level or even adults!

Floorball is a sport which is relatively easy to pick up, with many of our players having little or no experience playing Floorball before, so it doesn’t really matter if you have a sports background or not! Hence our CCA is a great platform for both existing athletes to experience this exciting sport, as well as for new athletes who want a taste of the sports intensity and team dynamics that Floorball has to offer. If you have a passion for Floorball, our Floorball family gladly welcomes you!