School Band Fund Raising Concert 9 Jun 2012

My former school band had organised a concert to raise funds and I had bought a ticket for the show.

The concert was to be held at the new Hotel Taiping Perdana.  My departure from Kuala Lumpur was delayed a bit due to my car had needed to be sent for its engine oil change and maintenance checks.

Despite the delay, I made the journey home to Taiping and arrived safely at the hotel near Kamunting by 6.45 PM. Two of my friends, Ban Heng and Abdul Rahim inquired of my situation. I informed them I had just arrived and will meet them at the venue of the concert.

I went to the Hotel Taiping Perdana by 8.00 PM, where I met Ban Heng and Abdul Rahim. The main hall, Dewan Perdana,  looked impressive. We were ushered politely to our seats by some students. Afterwards, we were invited to move to the VIP seats where we met the President of the Taiping Old Edwardians Association, the President of the PTA and the school’s Principal.

The evening began with some gratitude shown towards the major sponsors and donors. The concert was to be performed by King Edward VII School band (BEATS – Band of Edwardian Tigers) and the guest band from Nan Hwa Secondary School from Sitiawan (Perak state’s marching band champion for several years).

BEATS repertoire started with “Seagate Overture” (theme from movie Star Trek), movie Titanic’s “My Heart Will Go On”, some mix of Malay oldies and 1980’s rock “You Give Love A Bad Name” and ended with “I Got You (I Feel Good) of the late James Brown song.

The Nan Hwa School Band played renditions from “Sound of Music” (which brought beautiful memories),  a Mexican tune “Children of Sanchez” and closed with a solo xylophone performance.

BEATS’ performance was splendid and just as good, if not better than the champion Nan Hwa School Band. It was really a good show and a job well done by the boys, teachers and instructors.

BEATS truly had grown to be a high performance marching band from its modest and humble beginnings in 1974. As one of the pioneer members of the band, I feel proud to see BEATS beautiful performance at the concert. Pity, many of the former members were not present to witness this event.

Pioneer Band 1975.

Orchestra 1977.

Sports Day 2011

On formation - 2011.