Marianne Kameron
Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Uda (SKTU) can stand tall: the school’s brass band, led by Band Major Faez Faizal Noor, emerged champion in the Kedah State Brass Band Competition held at Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid, beating four other bands from the state, much to the joy of the parents and teachers cheering them on.
This was the first time the band gazumphed all its state rivals. The result came as a great surprise to the band members, who felt that the other bands were good.
“We expected to come in third place,” said the modest Emmanuel James Vincent, the drum major of the band.
The band won their school prize money of RM500 and a further RM400 from the main sponsors of the event.
The band worked hard as a team under the guidance of band coach, CK Lai and teachers-in-charge, Shukri Saad and Fuziana Ramli, for months.
Fuziana said that it was a lot of hard work, as their weekly practice sessions turned into daily as the date of the competition approached. “We came back for practice even on our days off,” said Fuziana.
“Of course we feel so proud,” said the school headmaster, Haji Anuar Ramli. He attributed the success to the parents of the band members, saying that co-curricular activities can only succeed if the parents played their role
Apart from moral support, he noted that their dedication in seeing their kids to practice must be seen as key to the band’s victory. He noted that some parents had gone as far as replacing spoilt musical instruments for free.
SKTU has much to be proud of as it has thus far collected several awards, ranging from champions in the Kedah State English Public Speaking competition to Football District Champions, on top of winning ‘Best School’ in the UPSR results last year.
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