Raffles Girls' School Symphonic Band
The Raffles Girls' School Symphonic Band (RGSSB), founded 1965, is the band of Raffles Girls' School school in Singapore.
The RGSSB was formed on the 19 June 1965, with twenty-five members and twenty-six instruments. It was known as the Raffles Girls' School Military Band, and was one of the first ten school bands to be established in Singapore. In 1979 woodwind instruments were added, and it was given its present name.
Entering the competition scene in 1970, the band was frequently judged to be one of the top bands in Singapore, participating in both Indoor and Outdoor band competitions. In recent years, the band won the gold medal in the SYF Indoor Band Competition five times in succession, from 1984 to 1992, and again in 1997 and 1999. In 1999 the band had the honour of being one of the top five bands chosen to play for the SYF Presentation.
Cadenza, the RGSSB's biennial concert, was started in 1987 by their longest standing conductor, Mr Chan Tong Seh. He served the band from 1968 until his death in 1989. Besides starting Cadenza, he was also the one who proposed the renaming of the band, and the man behind the band uniform. His death in 1989 was a sudden loss for the band.
The band's motto is: Friendliness, Humility, Responsibility.
Conductors
The band's current conductor, Mr Takehiro Oura, graduated from the Sakuyo College of Music in Okayama with a Bachelor's degree in Music, majoring in percussion. He then went on to study percussion and orchestra studies at the French Conservatory of Music in Paris. During this period he was a member of the New National Symphonic Orchestra. On his return to Japan, Oura became the instructor of the Tenri High School Symphonic Band and the same school's Marching Band, both highly respected top school bands in Japan. Presently, he is the band instructor of all the three Rafflesian bands. He joined the Raffles GirlsÂ’ Symphonic Band in 2002.
Past conductors
- Mr White, 1965
- Mr Arnold Tan, 1967
- Mr Chan Tong Seh, 1968
- Mr Lim Ah Lek, 1989
- Mr Luk Hoi Yui, 1995
- Mr David Glosz, 2001
External links
Categories: Singaporean music | Marching bands