Paramount Championship is an interclass competition to test the students in a great magnitude of disciplines ranging from academic events to stage performances in order to provide a platform for all Sri KDU Secondary School students to showcase their creativity and talents. In addition, this is also one signiture annual school event that helps promote class unity while allowing the building of positive rapport among the students, and between the students and their homeroom teachers. We hope you enjoy reading what we are uploading for you! Happy Reading!
1. The Paramount Championship Grand Finals will be held on the 29 June for Category A and 30 June for Category B for the year 2011.
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Saturday, March 27, 2010
After doing Paramount Championship for 6 years, I have seen enough students, those who consistently joined the singing events but will never get into the finals, also those who joined the first time and walked away with a medal.
Unless you are really good - a diamond in the rough (well we all think we are diamonds, and sure enough to our loved ones, we surely are...), or we have to be realistic. I am always surprised by the fact that many of my students would start joining the PC singing events when they are in Form 5 thinking that they should at least get into the finals. Let me tell you what if you fail? Can you still try again next year? You'll never get a second chance, in school, to do it again. My advice to the younger students is that you should start joining the stage events when you are in Form 1. This is for you to be familiar with the stage because singing on the stage in front of an audience is definitely very different from what we normally do in the bathroom. You need this to gain as much stage experience as possible. You might not be able to win the abang and kakak in Form 3, but what is important is that you will one day defeat them with enough practice and experience.
Now, talking about practising at home, you should always focus on the breathing technique! I don't know how many of you really know how to breathe when you sing. I know you are breathing, but are you breathing at the right place when you are singing (let's assume that you know how to breathe with the diaphragm)? Let's take a look at the following example:
You should breathe at the following short intervals -
(inhale) Somewhere (inhale again only if you are short of breath) over the rainbow (inhale) way up high
(inhale) There's a land that I heard of (inhale) once in a lullaby
Well, this is just one example. Please consult your vocal teachers for more detailed approach. It will be very awkward if you breathe at the wrong place as you don't only sound as if you were short if breath but this would also destroy the flow of the song. I saw a couple of these last Friday....Labels: comments
3:33 PM
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Q Is backing track allowed in the solo instrument competition?
A I am afraid not for this year although we allowed that for last year. The reason is that we encourage the students to display and showcase their skills and technique without having to depend too much on the backing track as they could be camourflaged/over-shadowed by it. How are we going to judge a contestant who doesn't play so well but with a very outstanding backing track? I am sure he/she would have some added advantages.
Q Will a person be disqualified to enter the other events if he/she pulls out from the previous competition?
A Yes and no. Yes, the person shall be disqualified from joining other events if he/she purposely pulls out from one competition. This decision was made in the previous meeting with all the Events Directors. We reckon that it is unfair to the other participants and/or the organising committee who have been planning the competitions weeks ahead. The entire schedule will be affected just because of the few pull-outs. Now, can you imagine how tedious it is going to be for the debates, chess competition, etc, if many were to pull out last minute.
The most important thing here is that we want to instil the right mind-set among the students of Sri KDU the importance of making and upholding personal decision. We are responsible for any decision we make. We will face the consequences regardless of whether the outcome is predictable or unexpected. Anyway, the students were given ample time to consider before they signed up for the events. No one was forced to enter any competitions.
However, in the meeting we also agreed that if the person is able to give a valid reason, which includes the presentation of a medical slip (not a letter from the parents as this can be abused) or if the person has a last-minute important function to attend (with written notice from the parents) or if you are representing the school for external competitions, etc, the person will be excluded from the competition without any penalty incurred.
Q Can I still buy the PC t-shirt?
A Yes, of course. We will be getting our t-shirt by the first week of April. In fact, many have come up to me for the purchase of the t-shirt. Although this is just a club t-shirt, many bought because they want to show their support towards us. I thank those who have been very supportive of the Paramount Championship. Please keep the support coming as this is a great motivation for us to organise better competitions for you.
For your information, here are the sizes available: XXS, XS, S and M. We won't be having L and XL simply because they are just too big...I mean they are very big!! Fam Kai-Cong can easily fit into an 'S'. If your frame is not very big, XXS will be just nice for you. Many of our girls will be getting XXS anyway.
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5:12 PM
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
As I was making my rounds during the debate, perbahasan and mandarin debate competitions this afternoon, I was so touched by the presence of a few of our ex-students, or I should call them members of the Alumni, who came to help out in the judging process. Well, I am not going to mention names as I would have missed some of you. Thank you so much for coming back to help us out! Well, you guys obviously did make a difference as I would prefer to have you than having only one teacher to judge an event.
Sitting in one of the rooms watching the competition, I did enjoyed it. Perhaps they could be more prepared next time! It was funny as they made small mistakes here and there. Language is something that we have to practise everyday, whether in writing, reading or speaking. If we don't, the consequence would be what I saw at the competitions today!
I also noticed many of the juniors were doing their job for the sake of doing. I don't think the majority of them know the real reason why they were assigned to handle the events. I don't think many of them enjoy doing what are doing. They were not listening. As they were given some text to read out as the master of ceremony, they were just reading out the text like a robot. Some were playing with the handphones, some were talking among themselves while the debators were busy speaking.....if you don't learn from this tedious process of organising the PC events this year, you will not be able to equip yourselves with the relevant knowledge and skills to handle it next year....what more the P&A end of this year? I am worried....
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8:04 PM
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Both Ms. Bong and Ms. Lydia extended their thanks to the crew handling the Calligraphy competition and Debate competition today!
I am happy.
Well done!Labels: comments
6:16 PM
