Our happy days: running a student society at HKMU
HKMU Music Society
Running a student society was like running a family business. In the committee, we supported and encouraged each other like family, all driving towards the same goal.
Huen Ming-ho, President of the 19th Executive Committee of
the HKMU Music Society, VIVACE
Despite its limited campus size, running a student society at HKMU is an experience of its own. For the five interviewees from the 19th Executive Committee of the Music Society, VIVACE, who just stepped down from their roles, their unforgettable experiences included organising popular events such as the university-wide Singing Contest and Campus Busking. They all reminisce about the sweat, tears and laughter in the process as one-of-a-kind lifetime memories.
Like many other university students, the five of them decided to join the Executive Committee of the Music Society with a simple motive — to get a taste of the exclusive university life experience, known colloquially as “sherng-jong (上莊)”, or becoming an officer of a student society. One does not even have to be already active in the music circle to run the Music Society. “We do have professional-level musicians on the committee,” Nicole Chan chuckles. “But most of us here today are not professionals.” Apart from Jimmy Hung, who has been learning the guitar since he was a child and wanted to form a band at university, the group were music enthusiasts who had limited exposure to music making. After participating in a trial activity together, in which they got to know one another, they decided to form a cabinet called VIVACE with eight other students.
The major mission of the executive committee of a student society is to organise activities for its members. Challenges soon arrived for VIVACE. President Huen Ming-ho recalls how a typhoon disrupted their orientation camp last year, so his cabinet had to come up with a contingency plan immediately. “We booked a party room for students to continue interacting in a safe place on the day of the camp,” he says. “Later, we held a reunion camp to make it up to the students.”
Shortly after the new semester started, Warner Music contacted the Music Society about organising a school tour to HKMU and sought their assistance for venue logistics. “There were quite a lot of safety issues to consider,” Huen recounts. “The event gave us an important lesson on crowd control, making us much more at ease when organising the Singing Contest.”
When the time came to prepare for the HKMU Singing Contest, Nicole Chan found the greatest challenge to be inviting guest performers. “Guest performers are key to getting a good attendance, but many local singers were holding concerts at that time,” she explains. Refusing to give up, she and her fellow officers kept contacting singer managers one after another. Finally, famous singer On Chan and local band RubberBand accepted their invitations.
Charlie Ng adds that during the first round of ticket sales, there was not much response from students. “But we perked up very soon and brainstormed many ways to promote our event, such as recording a reel on Instagram.”
For the five students, the journey of running the Music Society was both happy and memorable. They certainly learnt a lot in the process, but even more important was the mutual support among committee members. Nicole learnt different ways of handling problems from her peers. “The 13 of us have very distinct personalities. For example, I tend to be a bit impatient when problems come up, but Huen is calm and composed. He'd even crack a joke to steady everyone's nerves. He helped me reflect on myself and learn to tackle problems more rationally.”
In terms of music, Jimmy talks about a campus busking experience. “Many students joined us after classes, and they even took videos and shared them on social media,” he expresses. “I felt more support and encouragement on campus than busking outside. That boosted my confidence.”
Fanny Chung is inspired by fellow officers and students who take music very seriously, saying, “I was impressed by how true music enthusiasts would burn the midnight oil to figure out the best way to deliver a song.”
The Band Room is the Music Society's exclusive haunt on campus. In the middle of a meeting or after an event, the student officers would often find themselves immersed in the fun of playing music, singing and dancing. Friendships were also built next door; the Student Activity Centre — or the “Society Room” as students call it — provided a common area for officers of different HKMU student societies to hang out and interact.
According to Fanny, the Student Activity Centre was especially packed during the summer, when all the student societies were busy preparing for orientation activities. “During that time, we were like neighbours. We would help each other out by sharing props and snacks, for example. We even attended the activities organised by each other,” she elaborates.
“There's an advantage to a small campus, which is that we get to see people from other societies all the time,” adds Charlie with a smile. “We can have deep chats and go for lunch together instead of just being 'hi-bye' friends.”
How time flies! The one-year term of VIVACE has been over, and the five officers have passed the baton to their successors. To conclude their journey, Huen borrows from a Cantopop song title, “My Happy Days”. “Running a student society was like running a family business,” he describes. “In the committee, we supported and encouraged each other like family, all driving towards the same goal.” His fellow officers echo that it might well be a lifetime experience to have a team working single-mindedly without regard for their own interest. They look forward to seeing more freshmen go through this unique university experience.
While organising Campus Busking, the committee discovered quite a few talented musicians in HKMU. However, there are many more music listeners than music makers. In the past year, the outgoing committee tried to initiate band formation activities. Going forward, they hope that the Music Society will serve as a platform for students to form bands and perform music, building a music culture at HKMU.
Interviewed students
President — Huen Ming-ho, Bachelor of Business Administration with Honours in Hotel and Sustainable Tourism Management
General Secretary — Jimmy Hung Yin-leong, Bachelor of Nursing with Honours in General Health Care
Financial Secretary — Nicole Chan Tsz-yan, Bachelor of Nursing with Honours in General Health Care
Internal Secretary — Fanny Chung Wing-yi, Bachelor of Nursing with Honours in General Health Care
Marketing Officer — Charlie Ng Cheuk-lam, Bachelor of Nursing with Honours in General Health Care
