Today I was just reading an article about critically-acclaimed Singapore-born violinist Siow Lee Chin’s performance with the RGS String Ensemble at the Esplanade Concert Hall.
The concert took place on Monday evening.
Anyway, my main point is that in the article, the writer mentioned something to the effect that it is no exaggeration to say that many of the top violinist in Singapore are female.
I thought it was quite true, and it was a very good point!
It never occurred to me before.
Let’s see, we have Lee Huei Min (or better known as Min Lee), Kam Ning (who recently performed on the President’s Command Performance), Lynnette Seah (co-leader of the SSO), and of course, Siow Lee Chin.
There might be more, but I’m not aware of their names right now.
I think it’s great to have so many wonderfully-gifted female musicians coming from Singapore.
Anyway, I was just having a discussion with someone else a few days back when watching the President’s Command Performance on TV, especially after seeing musical prodigies like Abigail Sin (piano) and Gabriel Ng (violin) perform.
And I believe we have quite a few more musical prodigies from Singapore, such as Clare Yeo (piano)…not to mention pianist Lim Yan (who was actually in my neighbouring class back in Sec 1), who is now a full-fledged concert pianist.
I mean…the fact that we’re producing so many gifted classical musicians is just so wonderful. I’m truly happy about it.
But I wonder – how is it that Singapore is able to produce so many classical musical prodigies?
I think it’s because being good in classical music is one part intelligence, and one part diligence.
In my opinion, classical music is not very different from maths or science (I mean the theory part of music)…and since our youngsters are so adept at maths and science, it is understandable that they would be able to get a good grasp of classical music too.
Secondly, our youngsters are also able to put in hours of hard work at their chosen instrument.
It is no secret that to be good in the piano or violin, one needs to put in say, at least three or four hours of practice each day.
And I think our youngsters have also been able to to that.
Hence, that’s why I think Singapore has been relatively successful in producing top-quality classical musicians of a tender age.
And I think this bodes really well for the future of our music and arts scene in Singapore.
Kam Ning shared that she often practised 7 to 8 hours a day. Genius is 99% perspiration and 1% perspiration.
THIS DIDNT HELP ME!!!
I wonder how true it is when someone mentioned that maths are music are co-related.
If that were true, it spells trouble for me! I am hopeless in Maths, a subject which is just beyond my comprehension!
I felt quite guilty these few weeks as I hardly have time to practise my violin, as real estate work has picked up a lot, and I literally work for hours on end, leaving me with little time to practise my violin. Yet when I went for lessons, I managed to play for my teacher, and he even said, “Good!”
Nevertheless, I always believe one has to work very hard on any musical instrument to be able to do justice to the composers of the music!
Would love to hear the views of readers about the co-relation between music and maths. :-)
Hi Kam Choo Choo, thanks for your comments.
I’m very curious…are you in any way related to Kam Ning? I’m just asking cos of the surname “Kam” and because you mentioned about her, haha!
Anyway, yeah I might have read some articles many years ago about studies being done that found some sort of correlation between Maths and music, though I really can’t recall or reproduce any of them now.
Yes, I definitely agree with you that hard work is a must when it comes to classical music instrumentation, in order to do justice to the composers. Talent and genius can only get you so far.
I’m sure all the great musicians such as Horowitz, Arrau, Kissin, and even Lang Lang and Yundi Li spent hours upon hours each day honing their skills.
There are very few Chinese in the world with the surname, Kam. Your guess is as good as mine. :-)
I seriously hope not! My maths is really bad but I still managed to do very well for my theory examinations. If maths and music were related, I’d be doomed!
I agree with Kam Choo Choo. Maths is a subject which is just beyond my comprehension!
But a lot of prodigies and musicians are good in Maths. Lim Yan is an example.