Across a guitar ensemble and an angklung group, four students share how performing arts CCAs shape the way they listen, adapt, and pull their own weight during performances.
Zi Ling and Maya learn it takes a team to carry a melody on the angklung
When St. Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School’s Angklung Ensemble plays, no one carries the melody alone.
“Everybody only controls one note,” says then-Secondary 4 student Hiew Zi Ling. “So, to play a song, we must listen to each other, watch the conductor, and shake our instruments at the right moment.”
For Zi Ling, the Angklung Ensemble stood out because she and a close friend did not share classes, and wanted to join a CCA that gave them time to bond. “I stumbled across an angklung performance during the Singapore Youth Festival,” she says. “The bamboo instrument looked so unique, and I found it fascinating how such a simple instrument could make such pleasant sounds.”
With little to no music background, she thought the angklung would be easy to learn at first. “But playing the angklung in an ensemble meant keeping time, working as a team, and paying close attention to everyone else’s cues,” she says.
Another student, Maya Lynn Pereira, grew up with music at home. “My dad works as a DJ,” explains the Secondary 4 student,. “so I grew up listening to all kinds of music.” When her cousin, who played angklung in another school, shared how much she enjoyed it, Maya decided to audition to join the CCA. 
As a student leader, Maya looked out for juniors who were still adjusting. “Everyone has their own way of learning,” she says. “And I’ve learnt to be patient and to encourage them.”
A moment during practice made that lesson sharper. Maya recalls a junior who cried after another student leader corrected her for not moving enough during a segment that required members to sway while playing.
“We had the wrong approach,” she reflects. “I didn’t step in, and we didn’t pay enough attention to how she might be feeling. It was a learning experience for me – now I know to be more sensitive towards other people.”
