Etude XXXIII and thoughts on leadership

Hi all, I think I might've not lost my blogging bug although I disappeared for nearly three or four months. In any case, I just had to say something about Etude because it was the best I have heard ever since I knew NJC band existed. The band has developed an incredibly lovely sound, which I shan't go into detail about. I cannot understand how we only got Gold last year.

What was so great about concert was hardly the sound as such but the creativity pumped into the whole affair. I especially liked the arrangement for bugler's holiday played by the flute section, which I thought was absolutely fantastic. It's been long since I've heard a flute choir play and the five little kiddos down there really outdid themselves, so I'm feeling so good and inspired. Quite a pity though no one thought of borrowing the alto flute for this. Ever since we sparked off the dancing thing every Etude has been infused with a bit of dancing and every year it gets kinda scary to see we've got some band members who can dance so well, in retrospect it would be a waste if they had decided to join western dance instead of band. haha! Obviously there was a lot and a lot of not just effort but good planning and a good dosage of imagination put into this concert and it's heartening to know such dedication has not been lost.

So I applaud the juniors of this band. Hopefully I can be a part of it next year when I ORD. Yes, when I ORD I'll be able to do a lot of new things. Sigh....

However, although the concert was good I was impaled with a deep burden of guilt because past demons kept re-emerging. When I look at the current members, I may be wrong but I feel that not only do they work hard, they work together, especially the leaders. I've learnt a couple of things in the army on leaders and followers, and although I hate the issue of leadership
I have learnt that one thing will remain true no matter what: that it's not the leaders in an institution that will suffer the most due to bad leadership, but the people being 'led'. This rings so true in my work and this has indeed been a guilt-laying period in my life because the commanders in my place are really tripping things up.

And so I concur that what my CO says is true: there is no such thing as a stupid soldier, there are only stupid commanders. But I'm not going to dwell on that. I have to sleep for another torturous day at work tomorrow. I do hope one day that this will all come to an end for good and I can start doing things I've loved doing all my life. :D