It's been a month since I started polling our favourite BBGS traditions, and it appears that Choral Speaking is the runaway favourite! So, here's another dose of nostalgia for all you BBGSians out there ;-)
Before choral-speaking gained nation-wide popularity among secondary schools in Malaysia, it was the pride (and pain!) of all BBGSians. The art of reciting poetry as a group, focussed primarily on pronunciation, expression and volume. Where appropriate, we would introduce special effects to highlight a particular mood within the poem.
I recently found a poem, written by Mak Mei Ling from Form 5 Science 3, in the 1983 School Magazine. The poem so accurately and humourously describes the annual pilgrimage of BBGSians to the altar of the Inter-Class Choral Speaking Competition.
The Complexities of Choral Speaking
Oh help... That particular time of the year
Has inevitably arrived -
It's Choral Speaking time again.
Choral Speaking?
A certain aura of panic surrounds
The usually stable BBGSians
The very word
Sends chills down our spines.
Librarians in the city
Are naturally mystified
Over the sudden popularity
Of their poetry books
As we comb and rummage
Through them in our zeal.
After days and days
Of searching, reading and rejecting poems,
We come to the conclusion
That no one has yet to produce
A poem striking enough
To suit our sophisticated tastes.
Having no alternatives,
We turn to our class' budding writers
And beg, cajole and even threaten them
To produce a top notch poem
In exactly 24 hours,
No matter how empty or void
They claim their heads to be.
Having secured our Tennysons and Kiplings,
We now struggle to choose a prize winning topic.
"What shall we speak on this year?"
"Nothing"
"I know, our PTA toilet project!"
"Uh-ah" "World War Three?"
"How about banning Choral Speaking forever!"
Finally,
After many hours of brain wracking
And hair tearing sessions,
Our self-proclaimed geniuses
Complete their royal assignment
But, the heartache is far from over
As up crops a totally new problem -
How exactly do we pronounce
All these lip twising
Tongue rolling
And mind boggling words?
Everyone has their own version
Of how the poem should be recited
"...this way...."
"...no, that way..."
Insults are thrown
Egos are bashed
Reducing our poor Choral Speakers
Into nothing but "Quarrel" speakers
Amidst the catastrophe
A star is born - our conductor.
See her face twist
See her hands fly here and there.
She calms our frayed nerves
And reassures us that
We do not sound as terrible
As everyone says we do.
Yet, it is she who tortures us
With countless hours of practice
Turning our lovely, harmonious voices
Into miserable, pathetic croaks.
After what seems to be
An eternity of voice projection,
We are forced to go on stage.
Behind the shaking knees,
Cold fingers and chattering teeth,
One comforting thought
Remains in our hearts -
For we know that
If we never pull through to the semifinals,
The 38 of us overworked, underpraised
Angels in Bata shoes
Need never, ever go through
The complexities of Choral Speaking again.
4 comments:
Wow! You've done an AMAZING job with this blog Joanna. You also look terrific. I remember being really scared of you in school as you wore a fierce scowl most times (it worked!). Thanks for bringing back all the good memories. it would be great to have BBGS alumni post up some photos of themselves and families and write a little bit about what they're doing now.
Cheers
Belle Lee Luer aka Tinkerbell Love Lee
It's great to hear from you, Belle! And thanks for the encouragement. Please do forward photos & stories of alumni (yourself included) and I'd be happy to post it on this blog.
P/S: Sorry for personifying the scary prefect in school. I lived under the misguided notion that fear equates to authority. How silly!
Dear Joanna,
On the topic of choral speaking, I was wondering if you have that poem, I think it was called London Town?
I remember googling for it a couple of years back and I could find it but now to no avail!
The london day begins..
... the first birds in Trafalgar Square..
"Choc ices choc ices, lovely choc ices.."
Do you know that one?
Of all the things that BB has given to me, the most concrete is presentation skills from choral speaking. I'm doing my graduate studies now in the US and its cynically speaking, it's almost more important than the content! Project, enunciate and make eye contact. I dare say few ex-choral speakers would find that difficult to do. It's what helps us to project confidence even when we're shaking inside, I think, and BB girls have confidence in spades.
The other thing is the way they wisely split up the english classes so that the best got to read literature. Looking back now, I realise there was incredible foresight in that, because the standard in Malaysia was starting to slide around then. Those teachers were amazing and so under-recognized.
Pin Sym. Class of '89.
@ Indiana, USA
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