Differences between a band and a social club

Recently I've been asked by many people why, when it's so close to the A levels, I continue going for Rwinds pracs on Saturdays. The most obvious reason is that unlike most RJ people, I cannot mug 24/7 and doing so will not work for me. Rwinds provides a much needed break from that.

Another thing is also the concert, Coda 4. It's probably as big an event to me as A Tempo was, despite how others may feel about the concert, and I want it to be a success as much as I wanted A Tempo to be. Maybe even more so, I feel as though I actually have a stake in the band, or well, more so than in RJ anyway.

This leads to an interesting dilemma of the band vs the social club. Rwinds usually has a pretty open membership policy, with people in a random state of flux and most people only coming in the last month or so. Obviously this does not help the standard of the band. However, as an alumni band, it's not good to kick these people out either.

Rwinds is really caught in a vicious cycle, people aren't going to treat it as a good band unless its standard is there, which isn't possible unless its members take it seriously, which only happens when... the cycle goes on. Not helping matters is the 6 month break after Coda before the Rwinds cycle starts. I guess it's also the "I'll come if everyone else comes" mentality, which is fair for a social club, but not good for a band.

Unfortunately all the above factors are unavoidable, which really perturbs me, particularly this year when my batch is in the spotlight, most of them intending to join in late November before the concert. On the one hand, the difficulties to the band and the player are obvious, joining a band that has one or two practices a week one month before the concert isn't. On the other hand, they are my batchmates, and another aim of Rwinds is to try to bring the Raffles alumni together.

The challenge that Rwinds will face in the future is undoubtedly how to improve itself in the face of such overwhelming condition. I look forward to seeing that happen, and I hope I can do my part to help the band achieve this.