The Peptalk

I went to my old school today. I wasn't planning to visit the school, it so happened I passed by the area while I was driving to meet my client. I met with a few of my respected teachers. They still remember me as 'the conductor' or as 'the band member'. Yeah, I know. I was famous for that. And I'm still the famous guy who dropped his baton during the 1st SBP Band Competition 1997 in front of the Minister of Education.

Anyway, some teachers told me that our school has managed to get into the final for this year's band competition. It isn't any fancy marching band competition. It is a concert band competition. A place where you compete with the rest of the bands' community among the boarding schools for musical excellence, not for sophistication of your marching drill and formation. It is much challenging. It is much rewarding and it is much prestigious. At least for us, the band members.

So I met the band members in the band room. I remember during my time as a senior in band, we didn't have the luxury of air-conditioned room for the band. We just had a lousy and dirty room to store the instruments next to the co-op shop. We cleaned and washed the room to make it look better. We didn't complain though. At least, we had a room. Unlike the cadets! Hahahaha..

I told the band members, winning is not everything in competition. The real lesson is, the person you become when you are reaching for the winning. We can win physically but morally, we bankrupt! We can lose sorely in the competition but we gain much insight about where we stand and how to wake up from the long overdue sleep. That's a winning for me. However, the utmost important thing we should bear in mind is the goal. Our goal is to win. Our business is to win. We aspire to win and we inspire other fellas in school to win for whatever competition they ever join.

Again and again, I keep telling them, it's not what the school can give to you. It is about what you can give back to the school. It was actually John F Kennedy's word, "It's not what the country can give you, but what you can give to your country!". I just borrowed from him.

We have gained so much from the school. Me too. The school taught me how to survive. The school has taught me the meaning of independence which I treasure very much in life. The band, in fact, taught me about character building. I told them that they may not have money to contribute. But they do have skills to contribute. They can contribute by giving their best to the school. Leave a legacy as I left mine at school. Win this competition. Make the school proud. Create a brand of Alam Shah. When people talk about Alam Shah, they will immediately think about the band. When they talk about the best concert band in nation, they will remember Alam Shah. I know for sure VI would not dare to compete with us in acoustic hall. We can easily trash them. But they surely can trash us in marching band competition. They are Titanic and we are like sampan pak Ali.

Last year we won the concert band competition. We won because we had the perfect team. I recalled the seniors hugged and shook my hands. I remembered I gave them one last pep talk before the final. I told them, "Be Do Have". Think like a winner, behave like a winner and act like a winner. The win shall be theirs. Yes they won. The fifth formers cried and they said, "Kita menang, Abang Farid! Kita menang!". Yes, they were dying to win and they were struggling to win. We won both; physically and emotionally. Perhaps, spiritually too. They were very clear about their goal and therefore, they were clear on direction to winning.

This year's team....hmm..I don't know much. They don't have much clarity in goal. The team spirit is somewhat....missing. I share with them about the secret of Alam Shah's band. I told them, we are brothers. Brothers do respect other brothers. We love our brothers and in fact, we admire our brothers. The brotherhood breaks if there is no mutual respect anymore. Then the magic will be gone. Just like the movie 'Drumline' says, "One band, One sound". One brotherhood, one strong support and one strong team. Just like a magic.

I just hope this year I will manage to see another winning episode for my school band. It means a lot to me. But it means more to them. I was personally defeated in 1997. Actually, we were defeated in 1997. However, that year served as catalyst for us to win the next year's competition. Plus they went to South Korea to represent Malaysia in a concert band performance. An excellence achievement.

I hope I don't have to come to see and preach at them again. They are tired of peptalk. Me too. I need to peptalk myself....hehehehe..I wish they could win again. Beat the rest of the SBPs. Keep the Alam Shah's flag high. Leave the legacy behind. Inspire other people to achieve what they have achieved. Set the standard and raise the standard. That's who we are. Anak-anak Alam Shah, as the first principal allahyarham Encik Halimi Haji Sharbaini had mentioned to his students during the first assembly of SAS in February 1963.