Life comes a Full Circle!
It's been a long time since I've written anything, I've been meaning to (since the last entry haha) but these couple of years, there's always something that is more pressing to do, something more urgent to tend to, something more crucial to write. There's been a lot of half written posts and drafts which probably won't see daylight but hopefully today I actually finish! ☺️
This weekend, students from TMC performed at Esplanade Concourse and it felt surreal, like life has come a full circle. In our younger days as T.H.E. and Artsylum Quartet, Esplanade Concourse was special to us - we played programs from Disney for Octoburst to Chinese music for Huayi, from Singaporean works to Classical String Quartets.
Artsylum Quartet @ Esplanade Concourse for Octoburst playing Disney Classics... many undefined years ago!
Everything felt the same, but different at Esplanade. Now, we present our students and KID! Performing were TMC students, Eliz’s student Megan who joined us as a cellist, and Xin Yi’s daughter Hannah who performed with her friends in the Intermediate Violin Ensemble with Xin Yi on the piano.
5 musketeers from Violin Academy with Xin Yi on the piano
We also managed to catch up with our artiste liaison, Sara, who presented us countless times at Esplanade.
Sara's also instrumental in the birth of TMC no less!
Chamber music has been a huge part of my life since 18 and I’m thankful for all the varied experiences and friends it has brought me! T.H.E. and Artsylum Quartet started in our uni days, when we spent so much time on rehearsals, concerts and gigs. Spending time coordinating a quartet is no easy feat - what should be wear? what music should we program? when and WHERE can we rehearse? who’s going to reply which emails? amongst all other nitty gritty details!
We were also truly blessed by the opportunities given to us - Leslie who believed in us and gave us coachings (plus scoldings of course) all the time! In my years following in the US, some of my closest friends are those I played chamber music with as well.my closest friends through playing chamber together.
Of course, that's all the rosy stuff, chamber music is also when you have the nastiest fights, and ugliest show-downs and break ups of groups!
TMC Chamber Music Academy performing Beatles
I’ve always felt much more for chamber music compared to solos or orchestra. No shade there! Chamber music is amazing, there’s so much to learn from it - communication with peers both personally and musically, listening to all the interweaving lines, feeling that connection with other musicians. The AMAZING thing with iPads now is also that reading off full scores for performance is a possibility too, which really improves the quality of rehearsals and communications well.
Chamber music is the most intimate type of music-making and I’m really glad that my students now have the opportunity to experience chamber music as young musicians, whether they end up loving it or not. Ok, that's enough reminiscing and rambling, it's back to work now and hopefully my next entry will not wait a few more years! =)
Ending off with a photo of us at a photoshoot for Angeline's clothing brand - Wish! Till next time!
