We Sing as One

By Adelina Chee

As the cabin lights dimmed, the pilot's voice crackled through the speaker: “The time is 8:45 pm, temperature is 28 Celsius. We will be landing soon and would like to give a special welcome to Dalat International School’s choir.”

Three hours earlier, our choir class boarded a plane to Thailand to attend the Bangkok International Choir Festival (BICF). Choirs from different schools gathered to perform with a guest conductor. 

On the plane ride, the group had another chance to bond. A lack of Wi-fi caused boredom for some of them. Others observed the surroundings while waiting in the flight. A seemingly attractive guy showed everyone demonstrations for emergencies on the plane. Some anonymous individuals discreetly expressed, “That guy is cute!!!” It clearly motivated some of us to listen during in-flight safety. Meanwhile, a stoic man in front of us gripped his device up to watch downloaded YouTube videos. As Hazel Chan described it, “He watched weird cartoons first, then car cleaning asmr videos, before turning to drum tutorials on his phone.” And of course, we watched along with him. Others took a good nap to refresh themselves. There were many ways to spend time on the short flight.

Quite a few of us went on school trips this week—for choir and for sports. Realizing that he would attend normal classes while many others traveled, David Kim expressed, “I feel that happiness and meaning can be found in the simple trivialities of life, and it does not require any special events… also, normal class is just normal class.” Indeed. The appreciation for simple things really enriches life. However, the ones who went on trips this week had many great things to say. 

Regarding our choir trip, Braden Abdulla said it was fun and that he especially enjoyed the “experience of performing in front of a large audience.”

“The best memory was that night at the hotel lobby when we were talking and having fun,” Abdulla added. After rehearsals, our group had free time to relax at the hotel before the next day.

When asked about his favorite song, Abdulla said, “I liked singing Huxi the most because of the melodic structure and how it incorporates two cultures.” Our choir sang with lyrics in different languages: Arabic, Mandarin, Bahasa, and English. The song Huxi by Ng Cheuk Yin featured lyrics in Mandarin and English sections that unified the whole piece. Its lyrics, including ‘breathe as one’ and ‘we sing as one’ inspired the choir and audience to express themselves in one voice. 

In the end, the choir class had a memorable experience attending the festival; almost all of us would do it again given the chance.

Concert at Chevron Theatre,  Photo Credit: ISB