24th Music Convention Concert Reflection Report
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24th music convention concert was a live band music concert that gathered all composed songs written from students in UTM where they were allowed to brought up all of these original songs to the stage and to be shared and published to the public during concert. UTM Losting Music Club is the main organizer for this concert, as starting from planning, funding, publicizing to final showcasing are all done by Losting Music Club committees in order to ensure the final production of the concert was in the highest quality performance. UTM Losting Music Club is actually a live band music club that was listed as one of the culture club under Unit Kebuduyaan. This club was not just a performance-based club, it also provided classes such as song composing class, music class and singing class for students who were likely to learn more about music as well as on how to composed a song. It is a club that provide a platform for UTM students to express their enthusiasm toward music by giving them chances to perform in different kind of events.
I was one of the committees in UTM Losting Music Club and I also contributed some of my efforts on the preparatory works for 24th music convention concert. I was appointed as the bureau chief for music department in Losting Music Club. Being a bureau chief in music department, my main job scope for this concert was to select songs collected from UTM students who had submitted their musical works through google form and pick some of those songs to be played during concert. Next, I had to assign selected concert songs to each of the vocalists who participated for this concert by selecting the most suitable genre of songs for them in order to match their voice lines. Once every songs’ performers had fixed, I had to start organized a practice schedule for each of the performers in order to make sure all of them had sufficient practices before performing on the actual day of the concert. Nevertheless, I was one of bureau chief who was responsible in the vocal part, which was by ensuring the voice qualities of each vocalists by guiding them along with some correct singing techniques.
Apart from being a bureau chief, I also play a role as one of the vocalists and harmonizer in this music concert. I was assigned to sang for the theme song of this concert, which was named as ’37°C ’. Most of the time, I used to help out in designing the backing vocal arrangement for each song and also took part in singing for the backing vocal.
This concert was originally scheduled for May, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been postponed until September and altered from live concert to online concert. In the end, the whole concert was done through live-streaming at Losting Music Club Facebook page. Each of the songs were published in the YouTube channel as well. Job scope for the preparation works on online concerts were totally different from the previous. At last, 24th music convention online concert had separated into 4 episodes and successfully live-streamed it to the public on every Saturday during October.
Due to the sudden changes on converting live concert into an online live-stream concert, I felt anxious from the beginning as I did not have any idea on how and where to start all the preparation works for an online music concert. With this, I had to adapt myself in trying something new by exploring more on some recording equipment as well as some audio mixing software where I had never approached before. Not just that, I had to make discussion with my teammates in order to reschedule all the performers’ list via online meeting. It was a big challenge for me as I had to learn and figured out the best way on how to apply the recording techniques within a short period of time. Pre-recording a song was totally different from how we prepared for a live performance as a lot of small details had to be made under consideration in order to produce a high-standard sound quality song for this concert.
I was quite stressful from the start because I had to edit a music video while at the same time, I needed to finished up my recording for backing vocal parts. All of these had to be done within a month under a condition where I had zero knowledge on sound recording as well as editing a lyric video. But in somehow, I was glad to have my music department’s teammates who always helping me out in reducing my workloads. I managed to complete all of these “impossible” tasks on time and I believed that all of these soft skills had given me an opportunity to know more about sound recording. I also got to explore on some video editing software such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effect software in how to make a music video as these videos had to be uploaded to the YouTube channel.
From all of the situations above, I believed that it was a great chance for me to enhance my development in leadership or teamworking skills and adaptability on dealing with unforeseen circumstances. As one of the committees under music department, we worked together as a team in solving all kind of problems involved in this concert.
Since the job scope for bureau chief on vocal was to guide the vocalists and solve some of their singing issue in order to achieve a best sing performance from them, I was glad that I could help them on this by sharing some of my experiences to them which I gained from my previous singing performances. I had rich experiences on working as a busking singer before in a café and shopping mall. I gained a lot from all of these precious performances experience as I was able to polish not just my singing techniques, but also my attitude during the performances. Therefore, I could apply this experience on guiding them as well as giving them some advices on their singing techniques and the way they presented in the concert.
I had joined Losting Music Club since my first year and involved myself in most of their singing performances before. I also participated in their previous 23th music convention concert where by the time I was a harmonizer yet a singer in the concert. Therefore, I was able to catch up with all the preparation works easily since the whole concert was not a new thing for me. With my rich experiences on playing a part as a harmonizer, I was able to contribute my harmonizing skills for most of the concert songs starting from designing the backing vocal arrangement to sound recording were all done by myself.
But in somehow, organizing an online concert was totally different from the previous live concert I participated in. Basically, live concert had more concern on the physical equipment such as instruments, lighting, venue and speakers while online concert had to take notes on how to use software for video editing, song mixing and well as using social media to push the event.
With all the circumstances I met in this concert, I realise that no man is an island especially when you are trying to organize a big event. Every effort given from all the committees in this club are essential as the key of success for the whole concert. In my case, I wouldn’t have accomplished my tasks on time without the help from my teammates. It’s great to have people who are shooting for the same target, which is to aim for a high-standard quality concert especially when this is something new and we have never explored before. For me the most significant aspect of this concert is I get to learn different new soft skills not just on studio recording but also on how to create an animation videos using Adobe After Effect. These these are some extra-knowledges that I cannot get from my academics.
At last, I am grateful to be chosen as one of the bureau chiefs under music department in Losting Music Club by giving me chances in order to contribute my efforts for this music convention concert. This is my first attempt on handling with an event that is related to music. I have never guide anyone on how to sing before and this is a great experience for me in order to enhance my leadership skills on dealing with the members. Despite from learning different soft skills, I also get to know more on how a concert is planned as well as the steps and action driven for a successful concert. As I look back at these days, I realise I have created some pretty special memories during my university’s life. Maybe in years to come I’ll look back on some of these days with more pride and nostalgia than all the sightseeing that has filled the months in between.
PROGRAM CELIK ASTRONOMI DI MUZIUM KOTA TINGGI REFLECTION REPORT
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On 19th April 2019, UTM Astronomy Club had organized a two-days-one-night Astronomy Youth Camp in Muzium Kota Tinggi, Johor. UTM Astronomy Club was a platform that allow students from UTM who were fascinated in the exploration of outer space to get in touch with this related knowledge as well as giving them an opportunity to make an effort on promoting Astronomy’s interest to others. Participants who joined in this camp were all primary school students that study from one of the primary schools in Kota Tinggi. Around forty of them had participated in this youth camp. The main objective for this camp was to motivate and to cultivate their interests toward Astronomy subject starting at an early age by providing them some necessary knowledge on how to use an Astronomical equipment like different types of telescopes and giving them a chance to observe the constellation in the night sky. Astronomy is the science that explains everything happening in the universe and this is essential for the youths to harness their curiosity, imagination and sense in shared exploration and discovery. Despite from that, the reason for choosing museum as the event venue was to encourage youths to visit a museum in order to let them understand more about the history related to Kota Tinggi. Museums had played an integral role in preserving the history of our society, and it should not be left out by the communities, especially for young people.
I was a member in UTM Astronomy Club and had been joining as one of the committees for this camp under my service learning’s program. I played a role in working as a bureau chief and was responsible in taking charged on one of the activities during the camp. Meanwhile, my main job scope during the camp was to guide and take good care of the participants during the event since they were all underaged students. Dr Othman, lecturer advisor of Astronomy Club was the coordinator of the camp. For committees, we worked as the “turning wheel” for the whole event starting from planning, promoting to executing were all done by us.
In the first day of the camp, committees had to reached the museum 2 hours earlier than the actual event time for preparation works. We had to finish all the set-ups such as arranging chairs, bedsheets and food preparations before the participants arrived. Participants were assisted to register themselves in front of the register counters in order to get their respective group number. There was a total of 7 groups and each of the committees had to be in-charge for one of the groups as the Person-In-Charge (PIC). The first activity of the day was to bring the students around to visit the museum. Muzium Kota Tinggi was a museum located in Kota Tinggi Town and was constructed in 1997. Since this museum was about the history of Johor Sultanate, it had a modest collection of old artefacts, photos, ceramic and display of knives from that centuries in the display room. All the activities devised on the first day were more likely to be in learning-based. Such as talks given from our lecturer advisor, exhibition related about planets and experience sharing from a few senior stargazers. The most highly-expectation activity of the day was during night time where participants were allowed to use different telescopes for stargazing under the guidance of our senior stargazers.
On the second day, committees had prepared a few mini games and competitions for the participants to played where all of these games were designed to suit the purpose and objectives on cultivating astronomical knowledge to them. Game-based learning played an important role in teaching by making students to collaborate, communicate, interact and work in teams in order to solve some astronomical problem. The camp ended up with a closing ceremony as well as price giving session for participants who won in the competitions.
The Astronomy Youth Camp was held with great success. No accidents or unexpected situations occurred during this camp session. All planned activities had been conducted in a timely manner. Students had also shown their satisfaction and pleasure with the camp as they joined well in all the activities with great interest.
I believed that this was the first time for me to plan an event with 3 different races of committees. It was a great experience in collaborating with them as the whole working atmosphere was in a joyful yet efficient mode. This could be because different people of different backgrounds brought in new ways of thinking and ideas that allow team members to improve their idea generation which in turn letting us to work more efficiently in accomplishing our task. They were warm-hearted and willing to lent me a hand whenever I need their help. Although we came from different racial and ethnic background, but we worked as one heart in order to run this camp with great success. Especially when it came to language, I was not that fluent in talking Bahasa Melayu where by the time majority of participants were Malays. I was facing an issue while trying to communicate with them fluently but luckily Samithra, my group’s partner was there to help. Both of us were the game coordinators for the game, “You Draw I Guess”, Samithra in charged of giving instructions to the participant while I worked on the preparation works for the game. The game was conducted smoothly without having any accident.
During the camp, most of my time was to look after the primary students in order to make sure their safety. This reminds me of the time when I was still working as a part-time kindergarten teacher during my holiday break. With this, I had experience on handling with the kids by guiding them along as I knew that it was my responsibility in helping them to grow and kept them safe. With my past teaching experience, I had developed the right level of patience while dealing with them and I also built a strong foundation on understanding a kid’s emotional, social, physical and mental development. In the camp, we always encountered situations where our patience was tested by the kids. They always played around or even ran up and down in the museum. This was a dangerous act especially when we were in a place where various of fragile items were furnished around. But I understood that children need opportunities to be involved in an abundance of social experiences, where they could explore and practice more on their social skill of patience. Instead of scolding them, I chose to advise them by telling the worst situation would happen if they insisted to continue with their misbehaviour acts. Fortunately, they were willing to listen to my advice. This shown that positive interactions with children were essential in order to promote a positive, healthy and secure view of themselves.
I realise that team spirit is an essential key point in making an event to be conducted successfully. I am grateful to be able to cooperate well with my teammates. We often have meetings together to discuss about the details and preparation works for the camp. We also solve problems together in order to reduce one’s burden. I remember by the time I was having trouble on transportation, other committees suggested to spend some of the event’s fund on bus rental to ensure committees who do not have their own transportation can also arrive to the event venue safely. For me the most significant aspect from this camp is I get to learn how to use a telescope for stargazing which this is something that I had never experienced before. This is my first attempt on using a telescope to observe the Moon and I am obsessed with it.
In the end, I am glad that I was being able to be part of the team in organizing this meaningful event. A special thanks to our lecturer advisor of UTM Astronomy Club, Dr. Othman who is always at our back to support us. This event has giving me an opportunity to enhance my leadership skills, teamworking skills and thinking skill when I was in the camp. This is also a great experience for me to interact with people from different racial as well as from different age. I used to be a person who is afraid of meeting new friends or doing something I have never done before. After this event, I am proud to say that I have finally stepped out from my comfort zone as well as overcoming my fears. This is a great start for me and I knew that I will not just stop at this point as I will always bare in mind with all the experience I gained from this camp and apply it to my future. I am so grateful to all the efforts given from each of the committees in making this camp possible for the kids we interact with. Hopefully they are heading into the school year with increased resiliency and memories that can last a lifetime.