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At the centre is Voice and around it is Joy! Every culture and people across the world find great joy in the making of music!

An Interview with Lily Wong - Educational Psychologist with a Passion for Singing

You’ve heard it before, actively engaging with music has loads of physiological and psychological benefits, a statement backed by multiple research studies. Perhaps the most accessible form of this is singing in a choir. Whether it’s releasing tension through proper breathing exercises after a long day of work, expanding our social network by being in a choir or grasping the notes to a particularly difficult section of music, singing in a choir brings about joy.

Every culture and people across the world find great joy in making music. As Plato said, “Music and rhythm find their way into the secret places of the soul." Singing helps us connect directly to the fount of JOY that is in the music and gives us that physical and emotional rush.
Having sung in a choir since her teenage years, Lily Wong tells us about the music she’s learning and what brings her great joy.

VA: Before we begin, tell us about yourself and what you do!
Lily Wong:
I am by profession an educational psychologist with a mission and vision to have every woman empowered and independent and able to care and educate children. So joyfully, I set up an institution that is actively developing, offering and preparing early childhood professionals for the early years education sector internationally.

VA: How did you get into a choir?
Lily Wong:
I find happiness and joy singing to children, teachers and myself. I was always involved in singing, and started singing in a choir in my teens. I took music lessons, played in the school band and took voice lessons. I liked making up songs, some silly and fun, and enjoyed singing them out loud.

I was invited to join the NUSS choir later on, and had great fun making new singing friends. I had the chance to meet Adrian Tan from Braddell Heights Symphony Orchestra, who has a mission to bring classical music to the common people. This is something that I strongly believe in as well, and so I joined the choir. This was where I met Ms Khor Ai Ming, the music director for Vocal Associates (VA) and her mission for VA. I joined her choir and have never looked back. A few years passed and now here I am happily singing and learning to be better and improving my memory to ward off dementia.

VA: What is it about being in a choir that brings you joy?
Lily Wong:
Friendship. Singing in the choir is like having friends and getting in tune to strengthen the friendship. It is a joyous time being together and making beautiful sounds that make those listening to the music happy. In doing so, I feel happy too.
I also get to learn new languages when I sing. For the upcoming concert in June, I’m learning to sing in Mandarin and even ancient German which helps keep my mind alert.

VA: What are you learning now, and which is your favourite song?
Lily Wong:
Even though I have learned What Pattern by Tony Makarome before, it is fun to go over the nonsense words while keeping the right rhythm. Each time I sing it, I try to make it sound interesting by varying my tone of voice. Also, being able to sing this piece with new friends in choir is a real pleasure.

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At the Centre is Voice, and beside it is Learning - An interview with Tony Makarome

13/5/2019

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Tony Makarome is a long time friend of Vocal Associates, a professor at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and a composer and musician. In our upcoming concert at the Esplanade Concert Hall on June 1st, we are performing his incredible work What Pattern? which we first commissioned from him and performed three years ago and then toured with him to perform it at Carnegie Hall in New York.
As the choir gets to grips with the incredible rhythms of What Pattern? afresh, Tony came over to our rehearsal to give us some quick tuition (you can see a video of him teaching us embedded here): [Youtube embed]
After rehearsal, I took the opportunity to catch up with Tony to talk about the music and about teaching and learning.

VA: Thanks very much for teaching us again, Tony! It is always a pleasure having you and working with you! You’ve just been teaching us your wonderful piece What Pattern? How well do you think we learned it?
Tony: In the one session that we had, I think very well! I got the sense that everybody was able to understand how the piece is laid out, and that’s the most important thing.

VA: The Carnatic Music Tradition on which What Pattern is based is a spoken way of learning music… can you tell me a little more about it?
Tony: It’s a thing called Konnakol which is a South Indian Carnatic music of rhythmic vocalizations and it is part of their music teachings. So every child, from a vocalist to an instrumentalist, a percussionist or even a flute or string player - they learn how to do these rhythms. And if the phrases go wrong their teacher won’t sing the melody, instead he’ll sing the rhythms (“Ta - ti - thang… ta - ti- thang…”) to correct them that way. The Western version would be “you need to come in at the end of beat 2… you are coming in too early” but here you are getting the students to really feel the sub-divisions and in many ways it is more accurate.

VA: You’re a professor of music at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory and your students often talk about your enthusiasm you bring and the joy they experience in their lessons, we also experience that tonight! How long have you been teaching and how much joy does it still bring you?
Tony: I’ve been teaching at YST sine 2003, so almost 16 years now… does it still bring me joy? Well yes, because every batch of students have their own quirks and needs so I’m always being challenged that way: not everybody learns the same way and sometimes it is a matter for getting a feel of how the students are gonna react to you and adjust to teach them in the way they need.

VA: In all your years of learning music yourself, who has been your favourite teacher and why?
Tony: Oh! This is a tricky question! Does it have to be one?

VA: No… you can tell us a couple!
Tony: OK, I can group all of my Indian teachers as one, they were all very good and they all come from a tradition where you lived with the teacher and you studied with them while you learn how to play the instrument. For them, there was no time limit - you just take lessons and they train you to become a performer - instead of thinking you have to complete it within three months or one year. With no time limit, it makes them more pushy but also more patient at the same time.
In terms of Western music teachers, a favourite is Robert Spano who is the conductor of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He is like a Yoda to me…

VA: He taught you the ways of the Force?
Tony: Yeah! It’s really funny, after I auditioned with for him to become a conducting student, he said: “You know, you have the conducting technique, but I can teach you what can’t be taught.” And I thought: OMG! I have got to study with this guy! And then I saw him rehearse the opera Don Giovanni and I thought: I have never seen anyone that is this good, I just had to work with him… Even though I was already a little bit older, too old to start a career as a conductor, I really just had to study with him.

VA: Thank you very much for your time and for all of your support of Vocal Associates, Tony! I’m sure we’ll have the chance to be taught more by you again in the future.

Come and hear what we learned from Tony at the Esplanade Concert Hall on June 1st get your tickets now on Sistic.

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At the centre is Voice and around it is growth. For five years, Vocal Associates have been growing together. Elliot Koh, who started as a boy soprano is now a bass!

Growth is an indicator of life and progress, and is a key part of musical development. The Vocal Associates Festival Chorus has been making music together for the past 5 years, and has performed a variety of music such as classical, operatic, pop and traditional. As a group, the chorus has grown from strength to strength and is the sum of many individuals growing together.
Elliot Koh is one example of someone who has grown by leaps and bounds in his musical journey. When he joined, he was just 10 years old, and he’s now already 15 years old, a senior to those in Children’s Chorus! Hear what he has to say about his growth journey thus far!

An Interview with Elliot Koh - Boy Soprano to Booming Bass

VA: Before we begin, tell us about yourself and how you joined Vocal Associates?
Elliot Koh:
Hi! My name is Elliot and I've been with Vocal Associates (VA) for almost 5 years now. I joined VA after my mum found out about the chorus from a friend.
I started in the children’s chorus where I had loads of fun learning new songs with other kids my age whom I’ve become good friends with. We now sing together in the youth chorus.
When I moved up to the youth chorus, things became a little different and more challenging. My voice had broken! I used to be a soprano, but am now a bass. After my voice broke, I had to grow into my “new” singing range and new place in the chorus. This process made me realise how hard it is to be a male singer. I'm still adapting to it but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do it well soon!
Being a bass allows me to interact with more of the men in VA and I also get to sing parts of songs that I never thought I would when I was a soprano. To me, being a bass is more challenging as you rarely sing the melody, but that is a challenge I'm willing to take on as I grow to become a well-rounded singer.

VA: Wow, talk about moving from one end to the other! I’m you will grow to become an excellent singer in your new section! So, it’s been 5 years since you joined. In which area have you grown the most?
Elliot Koh:
I've probably grown most in my musicality. When I first entered VA, I relied solely on our musical director, Ms Khor, to tell us how the music flows and where to breathe or place accents.
Having sung with VA for a while now, it has become natural for me to always take a look at the score before practice. I take this chance to go through the music on my own and figure out what the composer is trying to convey in the piece. I then try interpreting it based on what I understand and then compare with the direction that our musical director sets during practice. Doing this allows me to grow and further develop my understanding and expression of the music that I perform.

VA: Besides music, has singing in a chorus helped you grow in other aspects?
Elliot Koh:
As a whole singing has really made me listen out more for others and helped me to realise how important teamwork is. It’s also made me realise the importance of discipline in striving for excellence.
A chorus is a team in itself. You need to work together and each person needs to not only know their own parts but also be aware of what others’ parts are. You need to know when to take the lead and when to give way. It is also important to follow the musical director who sets the pace and direction for the chorus.
If we only concentrate on ourselves or our own section, then we won’t be “singing to the same tune”. Everyone needs to be aligned to make great music.
We also need to also be disciplined in studying and practicing our music, to be able to perform to the best of our abilities.

VA: Looking back on your 10 year old self, how would you encourage him in his musical growth?
Elliot Koh:
Looking back on my 10 year old self, I'd tell to just have fun wherever he goes but to stay disciplined and work hard in his music endeavours!

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At the centre is Voice and around it is humility. At Vocal Associates we have a duty to share our gifts with humility. Let’s hear what Bertrand, our talented resident pianist, has to say about humility and music making!

VA: Thank you very much for taking time out for this interview Bertrand! We know that humility is something we can apply in all areas of our lives. What are your thoughts on humility?
Bertrand: It's a virtue that we would like to see in others, but don't quite care about for ourselves.

VA: No matter how far you get in your career, or life in general, an important principle to bear is to always be humble. Some are under the impression that humility is a weakness. What are your thoughts on this?
Bertrand: It actually takes quite some strength, forbearance, and mindfulness to cultivate humilityーconsider how it is so much easier to work on appearing humble than being humble!
I think the further you get in your career, the harder it becomes to guard against pride, unless you have been conscientiously stocking up your humility store. When you find yourself thinking 'These people obviously don't know who I am and what I can do and what I have achieved and all the other luminous facts about me', I think it's time to eat a bit of humble pie.

As a side note, what I just said means I do think humility is a quality that can be practiced and built up; likewise, I think it will dissipate if one isn't careful.

VA: What impact do you think humility as a character trait has on a musician's ability?
Bertrand: I think we should first establish that although an aspect of humility can be found in the yearning to serve others, this does not mean humility has to serve music, as though it were but a tool to some higher end. It's not like if you have X-amount of humility, you will improve by Y-amount musically. It's not an exact science and I don't think it should even be a science. Humility is a virtue in its own right and should be pursued independent of how it might or might not be good for musicians.
I say this because musical lore abounds with tales of truly great, wonderful musicians who represent just about every form of narcissism and neurosis imaginable. This is not entirely surprising; on stage the line between putting on a show and showing-off becomes very thin. Of course many artistes are lovely to be around. But we cannot pretend the majority are moral beacons of breathtaking humilityーit's quite the opposite I'm afraid; some are about the most self-absorbed and prideful people I have ever met.

And yet even these performers, if they are truly good at what they do, must have the humility to acknowledge their musical mistakes, at least to themselves in private practice. I think that's how we improve as musicians. We spot flaws, eat a razor-slice of humble pie and admit the flaw really is a flaw, and set to work on removing it.
Musicians who can't admit or face their problems, who will always find some reason that explains away a fault even during personal practice, aren't usually very good at all.

VA: What additional character traits would you suggest to young musicians that will help them become better musicians?
Bertrand: There are several factors associated with musical success that are discussed endlessly amongst pedagogues. I'm not sure if these have been through careful statistical evaluation, so off the cuff I'd say the factors that matter are: 1) being focused and hardworking 2) being observant and sensitive Having an open mind will also open vast realms for exploration and collaboration. The basic physical prerequisites to play a particular instrument also have to be met. I wouldn't say talent is overrated, but the word is overused and thus hard to define, so I'll leave it for another discussion.

Come and catch the talented Bertrand Lee on the piano together with Vocal Associates and friends during VA’s 5th Anniversary Concert on 1st and 2nd June 2019!

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At the centre is Voice and around it is humility. At Vocal Associates we have a duty to share our gifts with humility.

Humility. A quality that the sage practices constantly according to Lao Tzu, a legendary Chinese philosopher. Humility as Lao Tzu teaches it includes serving, helping out, listening, caring, loving, spreading kindness, teaching, sharing and then taking a step back.

Be it books, person, or in this technological era, YouTube, learning is a continuous process. Musicians have teachers and mentors that guide every step of our growth process.
We will have Bertrand share more about this topic. Bertrand is a professional artiste and a very talented pianist. We are very lucky to have him as our resident pianist.

Bertrand studied with Albert Tiu at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music on a full scholarship, and has since performed with some of Singapore’s best musicians. Bertrand has been the (rehearsal) pianist for Vocal Associates for the past 5 years, and has worked with several distinguished conductors on orchestral works with chorus, including Mahler’s Symphony Number 8.

Stay tuned to catch what Bertrand has to say about humility in music making in our next post!

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JOY

At the Centre is Voice, and beside it is Learning - An interview with Tony Makarome

GROWTH

Humility (part 2)

Humility (Part 1)

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