“Silent Night, Holy Night, All is Calm, All is Bright …” As the last piece of choral music drew to its final concluding note, the entire audience of SAS (Singapore American School) Christmas Concert burst into a standing ovation. As a chorus member and lead singer of concert, I felt overwhelmed by the tremendous pride for having shared such beautiful music, the melodies of heavenly harmony, with everyone at SAS.

Ever since the primary school, I had been on the Juvenile Chorus of Beijing Municipality. Although leaving China several years ago, my love for choral music cultivated in China has remained a crucial part of my life. Now in my 11th grade, I have even persuaded the schoolmaster to make SINGING as the 8th course in my curriculum, at the expense of my free period. The loud applauses from the audience made me realize how one can win appreciation by serving one’s community and bringing joy to the people of this community. In practicing singing and being a chorus member, I have also derived useful lessons that will nurture my personal maturity, deepen my understanding of the meaning of life, and enhance my love for this world.

In my 10th grade, my father had to leave Singapore for China due to job transfer. I chose to continue with my study at SAS by staying at a local boarding school. After some initial excitement, I faced an overwhelming sense of frustration. I had two roommates, from Malaysia and Viet Nam respectively. As holders of the Singaporean Government Scholarships, they study at two local government-sponsored schools that implement British educational system. With our different backgrounds, different ways of life and different school calendars, we lived our life as if on a 3-D coordinate, pulling into three wholly different directions.

Particularly, from 10 to 11:30 after the classroom for evening self-study was closed, our dormitory became a locus of a discordant trio. Snorting sound would soon come from the Vietnamese girl who would remain soundly asleep until 2 o’clock the next morning (when she would get up and turn on her lamp to study in the midnight tranquility). Meanwhile, the Malaysian girl was just to inaugurate the daily debating session—as hostess of the “Debating Club” based in our dormitory, she was the center of heated arguments joined by girls from neighboring dormitories. As for me—a mid-term transfer from China, I had to try my best to improve my English in order to adapt to the all-English environment and American education system at SAS. Additionally, I had to endure the agonizing loneliness of living far away from my parents. The sounds of snorting and arguing only aggravated my already frustrated and desperate state of mind.

As a practitioner of chorus, it soon dawned on me that what was happening to our dormitory was exactly like preparing songs in a new repertoire—harmony comes only after disharmonies. To change our discordant trio, we only needed some “orchestration” and coordination. We all wanted to improve our study, differing only in our strategies. Through concerted efforts, we could learn from one another and our different ways of learning could be complementary. My long experience of serving as class president back in China, along with my sociable and friendly personality, motivated me to be part of the group — by joining in discussions and contributing to a congenial atmosphere, I helped create a well-coordinated dormitory schedule. We talked about our future and our own countries. We learned to share many things— experiences and progress in our studies, our nostalgia, and our cultural diversity. Most importantly, we learned to understand and to compromise. In a word, we ended up being close friends. Our friendship culminated in the boarding school’s New Year Party when, at the end of our performance, we delivered the same message “Happy New Year!” in our three different languages.

It is the art of chorus that has enlightened me on the relationship between individual and community. For me, to transcend the status quo and to plunge into new environments is a necessary step in my growing-up process. The entire course of life is like surmounting a high mountain—numerous barriers of discordance have to be conquered before one attains the summit. China is striving to become a harmonious society and one aim of my life is to contribute to the grand melody of world peace and harmony.