Junior High
In Grade 7 and 8, every weekday I spent about eight hours in the same classroom with the same classmates (over 50 of them). To be exactly correct, the physical location of the classroom did change from Grade 7 to 8, and a few classmates (less than five) did move in and out of the class between these two grades. Other than listening to our teachers' lectures together, taking many tests together, studying together, eating our lunches together and even cleaning our classroom together (yes, cleaning was our responsibility, not the janitor's), we sang together every morning. We were the choir class--a select group of girls who represented our junior high school of some 5000 students along with eight other choir classes from Grade 7 through 9 to compete in local and regional competitions in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
About two years after I moved to the US when I finished Grade 8 in Taiwan, one of my classmates mailed me a cassette tape of my classmates' singing. The tape included excerpts from a joint concert of all the choir classes across all grades from my junior high school when we were in Grade 8. The tape also included my classmates' singing in Grade 9. After reuniting with some of my classmates whom I haven't seen in close to 30 years in Taiwan, I later remembered the existence of this tape after I returned to the US. I was quite delighted when I found the tape, then I used my digital recorder to record my tape player playing this tape. I first shared each of the 25 songs from the tape with my classmates on Facebook, but many of them couldn't listen to the songs through their mobile devices. Hence, I uploaded the songs onto YouTube. For many of us, these songs brought back many wonderful memories. In the midst of heavy academic pressure and workload in school, singing together created many great moments of joy for many of us. I loved and still love this community deeply!
The images of the program and the class list from the joint concert in May, 1983 are below the YouTube video. I was in Grade 8 at the time of the concert.
About two years after I moved to the US when I finished Grade 8 in Taiwan, one of my classmates mailed me a cassette tape of my classmates' singing. The tape included excerpts from a joint concert of all the choir classes across all grades from my junior high school when we were in Grade 8. The tape also included my classmates' singing in Grade 9. After reuniting with some of my classmates whom I haven't seen in close to 30 years in Taiwan, I later remembered the existence of this tape after I returned to the US. I was quite delighted when I found the tape, then I used my digital recorder to record my tape player playing this tape. I first shared each of the 25 songs from the tape with my classmates on Facebook, but many of them couldn't listen to the songs through their mobile devices. Hence, I uploaded the songs onto YouTube. For many of us, these songs brought back many wonderful memories. In the midst of heavy academic pressure and workload in school, singing together created many great moments of joy for many of us. I loved and still love this community deeply!
The images of the program and the class list from the joint concert in May, 1983 are below the YouTube video. I was in Grade 8 at the time of the concert.
Copyright © 1996 by Emilie Lin
