IT'S THAT time of year again - the 2009 Singapore Youth Festival is in full swing, with the majority of inter-school arts competitions to take place over the next few months.
The secondary school and junior college choral competition segment, held every two years in April and May, is perhaps one of the few opportunities you will get to see the following:
1) All manner of weird and wonderful costumes worn on teenage bodies and arranged in neat rows on stage. These included some rather curious and inadvertently humorous choices such as bright fuschia sashes (on the girls) and Chinese restaurant waiter suits (on the boys);
2) More than 120 schools singing the same compulsory song over and over, complete with kitsch lyrics and cheesy piano accompaniment (this year's title? White Horses) until you can barely take any more. One wonders how on earth the judges can sit through eight whole days of this;
3) 14 and 15-year-old pubescent boy sopranos in all-male choirs shrieking high Fs and Gs at the top of their (cracking) voices. Sometimes funny - but mostly painful.
Not that there aren't good things to be said. Some school choirs are of a very high standard - many have won numerous awards at international competitions, and it shows.
It's also refreshing to see youth being truly passionate about Japanese folk music and avant-garde choral compositions for once, instead of the usual Coldplay, Jason Mraz and Wonder Girls.
Certainly, that passion students have for performing becomes all too obvious when it's time to announce the results. The screaming that reverberated around the Victoria Concert Hall with each gold or silver award read out was simply unbelievable.
Naturally, the management was scandalised - but all in the name of good, healthy competition, I suppose.
And speaking of performance onstage, I think it has to be quite an experience to conduct a musical group in front of hundreds of people - especially when your ensemble, well, sucks.
I mean, it can't be easy. One has to be as professional as possible - bowing to the audience before and after your items, leading your charges in the performance without any indication to them that they're bad (while putting your audience through a rather painful experience, I might add) and then smiling to all the world as if nothing were the matter.
All while you're burning up with embarrassment inside, whilst at the same time trying to give some indication to the audience to say, "Yes, I know we suck; I'm so sorry for this!" - like a non-verbal "sic" so they know you're not totally oblivious.
Last Thursday, I had the privilege of sitting through one such "exemplary display" by the conductor of a certain secondary school choir which shall remain unnamed - suffice to say that they were not very good.
And what a performance - he was totally business-like on stage, but managed to show the slightest hint of a sheepish smile as he bowed and walked off of it.
That choir might have gotten only a certificate of participation, but their conductor? Without a doubt, a solid gold.
You can catch the SYF 2009 Central Judging of Secondary Choirs from April 22 until April 24 for secondary schools and on May 5, for junior colleges, at the Victoria Concert Hall. Limited free tickets will be available at the door every day.