Hey Christina, i am glad that you were inspired by the concert. I was supposed to go too but i had something on in church so i couldn't go. My saturdays are always pack with church activities. Anyways..................I hope you learnt some stuff from the concert too. Share your experience with your members so that they can learn too.

As for making sectionals compulsory.....................trust me, i wanted that too. The reason why i finally gave up the idea was because miss loh was very against it. It is not that i didn't want to have it but miss loh made it very difficult for me to make it so. Her reason for doing so is because she says that members' parents would complain. The committee must teach the members not to make parent's disapproval as an excuse................just as they made "family problem" an excuse some years back. Whatever the matter, make sure you find out the reason for absence. If anyone is absent for no genuine reason, do not hesitate to punish that person in front of the whole band or even expell that member from the band.

If you need to purge the band in order for it to improve, i say do it. If miss loh opposes, "gang" up against her and demand that this be allowed. However, DO NOT USURP HER AUTHORITY. The reason why i asked you all to "gang" up against her is because sometimes i feel that you leaders, know what's best for the band, better than her. This is because the members are of your age and because they are closer to you. This applies for anything else you think is good for the band. You must have lots of courage in order to do this. You need a lot of discerning wisdom too.

Don't get me wrong everybody, I am not trying to stir up strif here. I am just teaching the committee what to do in situations like this. I am telling you all this because i feel that this committee is capable of pulling off something like this. This is because, you stand together. You understand what it means by unity is strength. Use this strength wisely. Only for the good of the band. Not for stirring up strif.

It is good to have this kind of passion for the band. I understand how you feel now because that was what i went through some years ago. I believe the only way to make sectionals compulsory is to get the whole committee together and "persuade" miss loh. The reason why i put inverted comas is because i have tried that before. However, I feel that if the whole committee comes together, she will succumb to the pressure. When i did it, i did it alone.

That is why i stress so much that the committee must stay together no matter what. Don't let pride stifle you.

Keep up the good work!!!

Best regards
Caleb Low