All posts tagged: education

Musical Adventures in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

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Natus Cantorum, one of Kaohsiung’s premiere choirs (how many choirs have bragging rights such as being featured in their city’s music documentaries!?) is celebrating their 5th Anniversary this year and I have the privilege of being invited to guest conduct them as well as give workshops to Taiwanese music educators and conductors recently. I just had to blog about this as a keepsake of the fantastic experience there! I perceive a dedication to life-long learning in this country. Apparently, in less than 24 hours after the official notice for the masterclass went out, 20 people had already signed up. People from as far as Taipei enquired (and attended), conductors and teachers teaching at the primary/secondary schools, university/adult levels all came… even retired teachers were enquiring! Response was overwhelming leading to a cap on maximum numbers to ensure quality control. Aye such dedication to one’s continuing education and professional development! I can’t help but wonder how many of Singapore’s co-curricular activity (CCA) instructors (e.g. band/choir/strings conductors) and MOE music teachers would travel to another city, pay for accommodation and workshop fees out of their own …

A Passionate Passion: A review of Bach’s St John Passion conducted by Lim Yau

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GALA: BACH: ST JOHN PASSION 4 April 2014 (Fri) Esplanade Concert Hall Performing Home of the SSO LIM YAU conductor STEVE DAVISLIM tenor (Evangelist & arias) MARTIN SNELL baritone (Pilate & arias) JAN-HENDRIK ROOTERING bass-baritone (Christus) NADINE LEHNER soprano (Maid) LUCIA CERVONI mezzo-soprano REGINALD MATTHIAS JALLEH* tenor (Servant) TEO ENG SIANG# bass (Peter) SINGAPORE SYMPHONY CHORUS HALLELUJA CHORUS NAFA CHAMBER CHOIR *member of NAFA Chamber Choir #member of Singapore Symphony Chorus JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH St John Passion, BWV.245 2hrs It has been several years since I last attended a ‘Historically Informed Performance’ (HIP) in Singapore and I was intrigued to see a chamber-sized string orchestra with theorbo (belonging to the lute family), viola da gambas (modern cello’s ancestor), organ and harpsichord with a near 100-strong chorus onstage during the recent Gala St John Passion Concert conducted by Lim Yau. I am sure somewhere, some (stuffy old) musicologist-purist, while acknowledging stylistically performed ornaments and melodic embellishments might have scoffed at this recent rendition of J.S. Bach’s St John Passion! Indeed, Bach had to score for smaller …

Gazing into the Crystal Ball for Singapore’s Music Education

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I was recently invited to be one of the workshop panelists at a recent weeklong 2013 Kodály Course organised by Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts (STAR). A ‘music commando’ team of clinicians gathered here, comprising of the Principal of the Kodály institute (KI), Dr. László Nemes, KI lecturer Szirányi Borbála (fondly known as ‘Bori’) as well as Lucinda Geoghegan who works with the Royal College of Scotland & the National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCoS). Sheryl Sim, in her dual capacity as a fellow alumnus of KI and STAR staff was also on the panel as one of two Singaporeans offering training & local perspectives. In the course of the week, common singing (mass singing in the mornings and evenings), methodology (the science & art of teaching), musicianship (building of personal musical skills), singing games for children (experiencing and designing music games) were delivered by the panel. From the simplest activities to the most complex and demanding of tasks, careful preparation, sophisticated ideas and pedagogy underpins all these activities ensuring progress at all times. …