Battle of the Bands is a music event that hasn’t been in our school for a long time. However, since the very first year of it, three years ago, joining Battle of the Bands has led to more creations of bands in our school. The first year that our school joined was described as an amazing event with good performances and a supportive atmosphere. Last year, more people joined the event with 3 bands performing in total. The event started becoming more popular and more competitive inside of school. Three bands all tried hard for their performance and in the end “The Careless Bears” got to represent our school for BOTB in Ho Chi Minh city.
Huy 12W (aka my part time drum coach): “I enjoy playing music in general and being able to play the drum with my friends”
Kim Chi 12W: “I think it’s always an exciting time where I get to team up with my friends; and work hard on a song we really enjoy. I think last year was especially fun because we got to perform live. However, this year we had to do so through recording due to COVID. I feel like that really limits us in terms of sound quality and overall experience. But every band practice we have is always filled with laughter. My favourite memory is from last year when we got to perform at the Hard Rock Cafe, it was truly very memorable.”
I agree with Kim Chi that this year's Battle of the Bands was so much harder with the Covid situation. Even though playing music is a fun activity, sometimes we also must go through a lot of obstacles like having some members who left the school, … Probably because of that reason, there are only 2 bands joining this year and with “Noise Pollution” who got to represent the school for FOBISIA BOTB.
Here is what our music teacher, Mr. Felipe thinks about Battle of the Bands: “Battle of the bands is a very important event for the school because it promotes student lead learning. I really enjoy watching students go through the whole process and I am always amazed at how much they learn about music and friendships. Battle of the bands has inspired younger students to play instruments and make bands with their friends. I look forward to seeing how things develop in the future and I hope we win it one day!!!”
Since Battle of the Bands, some bands are formed from it and started to play for other events like Tet, and possibly more events in the future... and from my experience, I feel like this is something that I really enjoy doing, practicing with friends and performing on stage. I have never thought that I would do something like playing in a band before. However, even though it is not easy as I thought, it created so many memories for me and my friends. I don’t know about the future but something I know is that this will be a special experience in my school life that I will never forget.
By Thao 11LL