Hi dearest NYCO!

Time flies! It’s June already! In other words, the annual NYCO Committee Elections is coming very soon. In the past, elections were mainly just interviewing all Sec 2-3 NYCO members. Since it is very time-consuming and it may greatly affect our tight practice schedule, the Sec 4s have decided to modify the format of the elections, such that it will be effective and less prolonged.

Before everything begins, all members will be told to read this blog post on the election. This post will include contents such as the election procedures, positions available and their respective duties. Please read carefully and treat this seriously. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the super long post. (:

This time, we will be issuing nomination forms for members to fill in names of their recommended nominees. To prevent unnecessary influence in the choices, we will make all members sit away from the others (isolated, as if you’re sitting for a test), fill in the form and slot it into boxes prepared for each section. Nomination forms should be kept anonymous and confidential. (So if you are interested and are shy, you can now feel free to nominate yourself!) Only Sec 2 and 3 members are applicable for the nomination. The issuing of nomination forms will be held on 10 Jun, Tuesday, 8.30am at M401. All Sec 2-4 members are required to report to M401 by 8.30am. Sec 4s are to stay back after CCA practice on that day, to collate the results and plan the order of appearance for interview.

After collating the results, the Sec 4s will call upon all mentioned nominees (even if that person has very few votes) for interview. The order of interviews will be announced on Thursday morning, before practice begins. All interviews should be held on Thursday, unless we run out of time, then it may have to be spilled over to another. Should this happens, we will inform those nominees who have not been interviewed about the rescheduled timeslots.

Once the interviews have come to an end, the Sec 4s will go through rounds of discussion to decide the new committee. However, the final results will be decided by Mrs Ee. The results will only be announced after term 3 block tests. (:

To let you guys start considering your preferred nominees, I’ll be showing you the positions available and their job scopes.

EXCO:
1 President (Sec 3)

The president is the overall in charge of the orchestra. Regardless of admin, welfare or logistics, she has to take consideration into all aspects of the CO. She’s also a BEL (Board of Elected CCA Leaders) member. Many of you may be wondering if president will be super busy and stressful, as a president, I think time management is very vital for a president. If you can manage time well, you can still have time to watch videos on youtube and stuff. HAHA! Then again, you have to be very committed as there’ll be many stuff that you have to deal with. So most importantly, the president must like NYCO or she’ll have a hard time. As a representative of the CO, she also needs to be vocal when addressing problems whether with the CO or to the school. Being a CO president is quite challenging too, because CO is the largest CCA group in NYGH. But it’s really a good experience as you’ll gain leadership skills beyond what you can imagine! HAHA!


2 VPs (1 from Sec 3 and 1 from Sec 2)

Needless to say, VPs are there to help the president, so their job scopes are pretty similar to the president’s. To me, whether it’s president or vice-president, they’re actually on par, not like ‘vice’ means she’s under the official president. We name them as vice-presidents because there can only be 1 president, 1 main representative of the CO. In other words, VPs are equally as important as the president. VPs have to be proactive especially in helping the president, because their suggestions are the best gauge for the pres. In this case, it is important that the president and the VP can work well together. The Sec 2 VP is ‘president understudy’. She’s part of the president committee so that she’s exposed to the usual planning that a president has to deal with.


1 Treasurer

I believe all of you are aware of what the treasurer deals with --- $$$MONEY!$$$ lol. Other than collecting CO fund from members, the treasurer is also in charge of concert ticket sales. For instance when there is an upcoming concert, she will have to collect the money and distribute the tickets to the people who ordered tics. The challenging part of this post is that she has to deal with large sums of money, because CO is a super big group of CCA. (: (must learn from Ester because she’s been very efficient in dealing with funds! Hehh!)


2 Secretaries (1 from Sec 3 and 1 from Sec 2)

Secretaries deal with tedious jobs, such as taking minutes and taking attendance. Sounds easy, but not that case when you’re dealing with a HUGE group of people! HAHA! For minutes, you must be fast and precise when taking notes down. Even taking attendance, they have to be fast or it will take up a lot of time during practice. I can say that they’re the most meticulous people as they have to keep track of everybody’s attendance, making sure that absentees submit their excuse letters or MC. With the new birthday system, the secretary has to also inform the president the name of the birthday girls of that particular month.


2 Scores in-charge (1 from Sec 3 and 1 from Sec 2)

Scores in-charge is another tedious job. They have to make sure the zong3 pu3 is updated after Mrs Ee rectifies a mistake in the scores. They also ensure that all of us receive the necessary scores. The most tedious part is when the scores are all in ‘bean sprout’ form (haha! Western scores I mean). They’ll have to get people to help transpose the scores into the ‘number’ form. For those who wonder how you get your scores from, some of them were completely copied by your peers (e.g. taiyang, shanjian etc). So be grateful and don’t misplace your scores easily!


2 Student conductors

Student conductors are usually pre-selected by Mrs Ee. As a student conductor, she gets to conduct in mini-events such as open house. She also helps to conduct dazus when Mrs Ee is unable to make it. Of course, don’t think that conducting is all about waving a stick in the air. These people will undergo training from Mrs Ee before becoming a student conductor. It is a challenge for amateurs, so please give your fullest support to your student conductor in the future! (:


1 Manager of General Affairs (MGA)

This time, we will only have 1 MGA. The MGA is in charge of the welfare and logistics of the CO. In other words, they take care of your instruments, stands, cleanliness and welfare. Looks taxing, but don't worry. The MGA is not going to do all these all by herself. As an overall in-charge of the above following, she assign tasks to the people in the orchestra, such that all of us accomplish them together. She also ensures that everybody has a good instrument to use, costume to wear and is in charge of instrument loans from other schools. MGA is a job that requires passion. If you have the passion to take care of the welfare of NYCO, run for MGA post! :D
SLs:
- Xianyue: 1 SL, 1 ASL
- Yangqin: 1 SL
- Percussion: 1 SL
- Pipa: 1 SL
- Liuqin: 1 SL
- Ruan: 1 SL
- Dizi: 1 SL
- Sheng: 1 SL
- Suona: 1 SL
- Cellobass: 1 SL

Often, the SL post is being seen as an insignificant role in the committee. Truthfully, I’d say,’ NO! SLs are important roles of a CO!’ A successful orchestra needs inputs of all members. And SLs are the people who ensure that every single one of us is able to play well. SLs don’t just collect and inform stuff to the section or lead practices when the instructors can’t make it. Like mentioned, they are there to make sure all of you can play well before you are being ‘tortured in Mrs Ee’s hands when you’re not strong enough to withstand her powers’! HAHAHA! So drama! Besides, they are in charge of the section’s rapport and welfare. Remember, without your SL, your section will ‘lose direction’ and the CO will be affected. In other words, the word ‘SL’ ties very closely with the growth of the section. Many have the misconception that SLs must be technically the proest in the section. No, once again. Most importantly, the SL must be able to LEAD the section to greater heights (not just music, but also the rapport).

Points to note:
- Yangqin/Percussion section will be split into two different sections from the next batch onwards.
- Don’t be misled that all the current Sec 3 understudy positions in committee will definitely be promoted to become the official post. So please do not vote according to understudies. Vote based on who you think has the potential in the position.

This is a very PRESTIGIOUS event of NYCO. The future of NYCO lies in your decision. So, we sincerely urge you to nominate wisely. Thank you! :D