Music Appreciation & Understanding Talk for Students of Jr 3

The Magnificence of Music
– Music Appreciation & Understanding Talk for Students of Jr 3

 Jointly reported by:
(Group 1)
Thian Yi-Ming 16806 Sr2scD
Essien Sea Yu Xiang 16059 Sr2scD
Michael Ng Choon Hau 16066 Sr2A

To accommodate needs of different students, Kuen Cheng High School has placed importance on learning by experiencing. Students of Junior 3 had been provided with a delightful surprise on Saturday, 22 February 2020. They settled down onto their seats in the auditorium as they prepared to listen to the lecture by Mr. Chan Yit Fei, a cellist for National Symphony Orchestra of Malaysia (NSO). First, he introduced the many aspects of music, centering on classical music.

Mr. Chan discussed the many elements in music, mostly ignored by many when listening to music. It is these elements that give the music emotion, namely rhythm, dynamics, melody, harmony and progression, and lastly, texture.

Rhythm is all about the accent, syncopation, and the tempo of the notes, which is able to make the music seem livelier. The dynamics, which can induce feelings like tension or relaxation, are also important factors, with the piece “William Tell Overture” as a famous example. The melody is the soul of most music, especially classical music. It comprises a motive or theme, which rises and falls, an example would be “Symphony No.5 in E minor”. Harmony and progression of the notes help push the melody forward from one note to the other; Frederic Chopin is an exceptional example of a composer who is famous for such techniques in their compositions. And last but not least, texture, which can be separated into monophony and polyphony, which the former only has one sole melody while the latter has multiples.

Although many students were left confused after that deep and complicated lecture, it seems that at the very least they have learned something out of it, and that’s what it all matters. Even so, after the lecture, a performance was staged by the six finalists of last year’s musical instrument competition, to the delight of the Junior 3 students. More shall be revealed in the next article!

A Showcase of Melodies, Crossing Centuries 

Jointly reported by:
(Group 2)
Sophia Ng Szu Fei 17685 SR1SCA
Tan Ginny 17893 SR1A

Music filled the air without effort, like waves filling holes in the sand, the sounds rushing in and around every person in the room. Some reacted to the beat, others continued in chatter while everyone felt the same tidal waves lingering in their ear. It was a feast of music, where everyone had their own preference, enjoying every bit of it. The performers on the stage carefully brushed their delicate hands along the strings, giving the audience the best one they ever performed.

On the morning of 22 February 2020, the school held a music showcase at the auditorium for the students to perform their art in front of a captivating audience. It also aimed to discover talented music composers in our school. With approximately 700 Junior Three students watching the show, the performers did their best to introduce their unique taste of music. Prior to this, there was a talk given by Mr. Chan Yit Fei, a music composer with 10 years of experience and who conducted various stage dramas and musical theatres. He gave the students a thorough talk of how to enjoy music professionally before moving on to the showcase.

The showcase started with an acoustic guitar duo, performed by students Chan Yan Min and Low Wei Chuan. They were both Senior Two students who are currently active in the guitar club. A simple presentation about the instrument and the song were briefly explained to further educate the students on the piece of music that they are going to play. “It is a very hard piece as we had to exchange our roles as main melody and accompaniment while memorizing all the chords in one go, “said Wei Chuan. They started as soon as they had finished tuning with the help of the Broadcasting Club. “BRAMM!” Everyone was shocked as the loud thump of music bursting their eardrums. Their fingers immediately twisted into different sort of odd shapes to form chords and often slid their hands across the higher frets when they met the peak of the music. Everyone was driven along the course of music. They gave a warm applause as their performance ended.

Moving on, there came the Rafflesia Group. Both of the students were from the Chinese Orchestra Club. They were performing the ruan, a Chinese musical instrument which looked and sounded like the guitar. Their song mainly pictured farmers who were busily planting their crops in the paddy field. Although it only lasted about 4 minutes, they gave the audience an exceptional experience as they could handle the song’s emotion and chords simultaneously, which was very impressive. The technique they had used required decades of practice and were shown perfectly.

And next, it was a clarinet quintet, featuring five members from the clarinet section of our school’s wind orchestra. The song they performed, named “Sakura Song – Five” was a lilting, sweet melody, reminiscent of anime theme songs, written by renowned composer Yosuke Fukuda. The song went from slow and melancholic to cheery and lively, and then shifted to a mood that seemed more lonesome compared to the front. It was a beautiful song, to say the least.

After that, a string quartet from our school’s Philharmonic Orchestra went up the stage and introduced their song; a piece from Mozart named “Quartet No. 4 in C Major”. The song was a part of a series Mozart composed called the Five Milanese Quartets. Their instruments consisted of two violins, a viola and a cello. The song was played smoothly, with a few risings in tempo here and there, and also a lovely ending chord that gave the song a unique closing. They left the stage to a round of rewarding applause.

Last but not least, Street Samba popped up. It captured everyone’s attention when the exotic drums were moved up to the stage. There was a simple introduction about the hierarchy of the music which was a combination of European and South African music. It was mainly played in Brazil, especially during the Samba festival which everyone celebrated, including the old and young. The audience was immediately immersed into the atmosphere when the drum started rolling. Many students were involved in the performance as there were a variety of instruments. The rhythmic beat hyped everyone on the spot and lights were showering down to give everyone the best experience of all. Interestingly, the festive music involved a whistle which was equivalently important to keep track of the beats. All enjoyed the music compared to the previous ones as it is seldom performed and it really broadened our views which craved us to discover something more beyond that.

The showcase ended once the audience gave their biggest applause to the last team. It was honorably finished with some positive and motivating comments by the Vice Principal, Ms Koo Lai Ping. Music brings everyone together, regardless of their races and religions. It is a field where everyone could express their train of thought into something beautiful and meaningful for everyone. Thus, through this showcase, we hope that students are able to find their passion in performing and be a wonderful, talented human being in the future.