3rd Blog Reflection Assignment

The following three sessions were held under the theme of “Performance Pathways” and “Strategy and Arts Management”:

a. It Doesn’t have to be So Serious, with the Lorong Boys b. Senior Stories, with invited seniors c. Virtual Excursion to Esplanade, with guest speakers from Esplanade

What are the three most valuable insights you from these sessions? Draw on specific examples from these sessions, and elaborate on how you plan to apply these insights into your academic and major area learning.

1. Be a nice person in general

I particularly found it very impactful and memorable that Joachim mentioned that beyond focusing on practicing on our musical / academic skills, we should always remember that we are human and to treat our friends, teachers and colleagues. While there is a moral motivation behind doing so and we should hold firmly to this moral reason of being a kind person, this trait is particularly important if we want people to work with us in the future (in YST or outside YST). Thus, while I will put in my best foot forward to do academically well, I will always remember to treat the people around with kindness, and learn good socio-emotional skills. My goal in YST is just about being a good musician, but how I can be a better and kinder person, just with a particular focus on music.

2. Take up as many opportunities as possible in YST

The conversations with the seniors made me realise that we should really be courageous to take up the opportunities and make use of the resources in YST to fufil our artistic/career/life goals. I was really inspired because it is heartwarming for seniors to encourage us to learn how to engage ourselves in school or external activities to enrich our YST journey. Shohei mentioned that he would take up almost all orchestra opportunities as he always saw them as good performance practice; Joan mentioned her fulfilling time at exchange. I am motivated to also take part in activities which can enhance my musical/school journey, such as organizing ensemble performances, internship opportunities (for MSMCP, working in event organisation groups). Even though I am not a piano major, I hope to play more chamber music with my friends as it is my passion and I hope to seize any opportunity to do so. In addition, as a guzheng player, I also hope to collaborate with the different cultures we can find in YST and let them be more aware of world music. Lastly, because I have an interest in composition but I am still lacking in many areas for it, I hope to speak to some of the composition professors when I attend their modules more about my interest and learn as much as I can from them. I also think many of these opportunities appear when we have more connections (which links us back to point 1 on being nice to people) as they will be willing to invite us for different events or would come aboard the events or activities I plan for MSMCP.

3. Diversifying and Engaging Audiences

I learnt from the Esplanade session that they really accommodate to a wide range of audiences – different ethnicities, age, religious groups etc. This is very relevant to my major MSMCP as I should find out more about how the topic of my interest, world music can be presented in different ways to attract or resonate with these different stakeholders. It is interesting that Esplanade has community outreach events that seek to engage the general public, but also have niche events like the experimental music festivals meant for smaller audiences. Particularly, the way they explained the rationale for allowing most of the Jazz concerts to be free during Jazz July is to expose more Singaporeans to Jazz music. The idea of using the common space of the Esplanade Concourse to make Singaporeans slowly more used to the feeling of jazz music is thoughtful and something I should consider when applying to my interest of world music – finding these common spaces to introduce people to world music, and get their ears accustomed to these sounds. fun fact, Coincidentally I attended one Jazz july event that was considered quite cheap ($5) for a jazz harmony/rhythm workshop truly proves that esplanade is really passionate about attracting more audiences to listen to whatever music which they want audiences to be introduced to.