Mad-hatter’s Tea Party Celebration 2008

The Mad-hatter’s Tea Party was held, introduced and organized by the Parents Support Group for the Year 1 group of students in our school. This activity was focused mainly on Edward DeBono’s “Six Thinking Hats”, introducing to the students the different significances (in an educational sense) each hat has. This activity was held after school hours on 31st March 2008 from 3.30pm to 5.30pm.

I was asked by a parent whether my band and I would like to provide the “live music” at the event, alongside a similar performance. We played a myriad of genres of songs – CrushCrushCrush by Paramore, That Thing You Do by The Wonders, Sweet Child ‘O Mine by Guns N’ Roses, Life Is a Highway by Rascal Flatts and Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen – to accommodate both the students and the Parents Group.

In preparation for this performance, my band and I practiced twice only as the songs were reasonably familiar to each of us. We practiced on 30th March 2008 at the Beat Merchants’ Studio in the vicinity of Arab Street from the hours of 3pm to 6pm. This contributed to most of our practice time; however we felt that this was sufficient as we felt we sounded decent. Our actual performance lasted one hour (4.30pm to 5.30pm).

In the process of preparing for this activity, I felt that I had a large load of school and other co-curricular work, resulting in some difficulty in time management. Also, we have yet to embrace the benefits and discipline of practicing in advance. This resulted in us ‘rushing’ a bit during our individual practice sessions at home.

From this activity, I have learnt to play for a different crowd and have learnt that discipline and focus is key in such events. The year 1 students, my band and myself were those who benefited from this activity.

If I were to do this activity again, I would arrange more practice sessions and may change the choice of songs.