dasalo:

chocolate97:

Hi,I'm in sec 3 now and I wish to audition in visual arts for year 5 next year.I actually wanted to audition this for year 3 but there were no vacancies available.Are the chances of me successfully transferring into sota lower and harder since I'm auditioning for year 5?Also,are there cases of students successfully transferring into year 5?Thanks:)

You have better chances of getting transferred in yr 3 instead of yr5. To date, none transferred in yr5 to my knowledge.

hi all, this is actually not true. 2 people actually joined the y5'12 cohort at year 5, and i believe one joined y5 this year.

RE: mummyjes


Roughly how many music students are recruited each year or as many talents as the judge recognize? Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.

For the writing and interview part, all your daughter needs to be is articulate and coherent. During my audition as a Year 1 student, the writing part was just a english composition we had to write based off a single word prompt. The interview is usually during the audition and the panel will just ask a few questions about your daughter's character (i.e. what is your greatest weakness in your opinion?)

I strongly recommend that your daughter auditions for the instrument/course she is passionate in. She will be doing 6 years of intensive training in this instrument and it is absolutely VITAL that she loves what she is doing, be it voice or piano, because it is very easy to get sick and tired of an art form you do not love but are forced to do it everyday. As for the audition, you may sing any song (there have been auditions where singers sung 'When You Believe'. You get the idea.). Foundational training will indeed start in Year 1.

Every music student will be given chances to perform. We have lunchtime concerts that students can apply to perform. Competitions are optional and up to the music teacher supervising the student (in your case, the piano teacher) to suggest or push for. As for the number of our music cohort per year, there are currently about maximum 30 music students per year out of the 200. In my year where we are the 2nd batch to graduate, there are 20++ students out of 120. We are one of the smaller faculties.

Hope I answered your questions adequately.

Ragamuffin shinobi:

Wow! Thanks for your reply!

Really good to hear this from a student's perspective.
There's always that nagging feeling that if my girl loses interest in dance in future, her years in Sota will be tough. However, it may also be the best years since it'll allow her to continue doing what she (currently) loves while she studies. I have no doubts that Sota provides very good training and facilities for the different art forms. Hmmm... Just wondering of she will be able to stand the rigourous schedule tho.

Just out of curiosity, your friends in dance intend to give up dancing after graduation? Or just not go into full fledged performing? My girl has also asked about what happens to her dance qualifications coz she heard that most dancers in Sota stop their dance class outside. Does Sota prepare them for their RAD or equivalent certification? I think Sota does prepare the Music students for some music certification.

Thanks in advance again! :thankyou:

Hi!

No problem at all.
Most of my dance friends actually want to go into other fields (i.e.journalism, law), but there are, of course, some that want to go into professional training. For ballet training, most of them tend to stop training outside so cross-teacher conflict doesn't occur... But if you come in through SOTA with a non-ballet dance form, then of course you will have to continue your training externally. Grades in ballet don't matter in my opinion - a dance company/university will not care if you have a Grade 8 qualification in a dance exam and you turn out to be an average dancer. However, I am not a dance student so I am afraid I cannot offer much in terms of advice, and I am quite sure my opinion might be contested by other students in my year.

For the parents who wants to more about the music aspect:
SOTA does not specifically prepare us for ABRSM/Trinity exams. It is our own choice to go for these exams. SOTA prepares us to be better performers and musicians - our aim is not to get a ABRSM diploma, but to be a better musician. Us students in Year 5 find that getting ABRSM grades 1-8 do not matter when it comes to getting into university - after all, the live audition is what gets you through, and not your qualification. The aim of our teachers is not to prepare us for external exams, but to harness our own personal talent; especially if you play an ethnic instrument with no available qualification exam to take. However, most of us still go for ABRSM exams just to benchmark where we are.

Hope my reply helps you.

Ragamuffin shinobi:

ikkinique:

[quote=\"dasalo\"]

Hi, i finish studying in 2013 and my exams are in 2013 but technically speaking i graduate in 2014, since results are given out then.

So nice to hear from a current SOTA student and thanks for offering your assistance here!
My girl is interested in doing dance at SOTA but I am worried about the long hours there. Is it all that bad or just much longer hours for the seniors?

Do all students there get comprehensive career guidance, as in does the school show you what options are available after SOTA and how to get there?

If you could go back in time, would you have chosen a different school?

Sorry if this aunty here is asking too many questions at one shot just that what someone posted recently kinda worried me a little.

Thanks!!

[/quote]Hi, its no problem really
1) For Dance, long hours come with studying at this school. This applies throughout from Year 1 to Year 5, because its the most demanding art form in my opinion. For other art forms we are not required to stay as late as the dancers in terms of school time. Of course, the amount of time we spend with school correlates with what year we're in: from Year 1, we can be released as early as 1245 and as late to 1745, and in Year 5 I currently, usually end around 6 or later. It is not possible to discount the amount of time we spend in school - especially if you're in Dance - because of the hours we spend on our art form. It is a necessary sacrifice.
2) All students in the school from Year 4 onwards are offered comprehensive and personal career guidance. We have a section in the faculty specially dedicated to welfare of the students and offers career guidance - and in our library we have an entire section on prospective university options. We are given the opportunity to attend many university talks held in our school (e.g. Berklee School of Music, Yale-NUS) and career counselling is always available. We do graduate with the IB Diploma, and this Diploma is accepted in most universities - even Ivy League schools, and including all of our local universities as well. Admission to universities are based on subject combination in the case of the IB.
3) I dont think I would have, as SOTA has given me opportunities as a musician I wouldn't have gotten from a mainstream secondary school. SOTA tests your daughter/son's capability, ability to persevere and passion in the artform. If you daughter is considering dance as a career choice I would very much encourage you to come to our school because it is a very effective testing ground for your daughter's passion. Many dancers in my year have found that after 5 years of training, they do not want to pursue the art form as a career option, as it is incredibly demanding. (They end at about 9-10pm on most school days.) It is better to test it now, then for your daughter to pursue it in university and realize that she has no other option left.

I hope I have answered your question adequately

dasalo:

ikkinique:

Hi, i am a year 5 music student graduating from sota in 2014. if you have any questions regarding, i'd be happy to answer

Shouldn't you be graduating in 2013 if you are in yr 5 now?

Hi, i finish studying in 2013 and my exams are in 2013 but technically speaking i graduate in 2014, since results are given out then.

Hi, i am a year 5 music student graduating from sota in 2014. if you have any questions regarding, i'd be happy to answer