Text: Lek Mei Zhen / Photos: Low Hui Ling
An
entourage of local musicians and bands attended a music seminar held in
Ngee Ann Polytechnic on 1st August 2012. The afternoon event saw a full
house of people who were interested in local music, and Ms Teo Hui
Leng, Director of School of Humanities and Social Sciences graced the
event.
“Your
Music Seminar” was an event brought together by the Year Two students
in Chinese Media and Communication, to promote local Mandopop as well as
introduce youths to local musicians and singers. In a mere period of
two months, the students had organized publicity events, set up a
Facebook page, searched for possible partners and sponsors and liaised
with various record companies.
The
first part of the seminar was kick-started by a speech from the
director, and the sharing of 5 groups of young local musicians. Nelson
Tan, the first speaker, shared about his composing experiences. At the
young age of 22, he has already produced many music videos for the songs
he wrote. He was crowned the champion of C’ING 2011 song writing
competition for his song “Growing Up”.
|
From left: Nelson Tan, Rao Zijie, Keely Wee, He Guo Hao and
Benjamin Hum shared about how music impacted them as a whole at the
seminar. |
Following
up was Tay Kexin, who shared about independent music. At the seminar,
she performed two songs from her upcoming EP, namely <Yong Gan Zheng
Ming> and <Zhuan Lie Dian>. Contestants from a local singing
competition, Campus Superstar 2 also came to share their experiences.
Benjamin Hum, Fun Jam Band (Rao Zijie, He Guo Hao) and Keely Wee had
emphasized the importance of pursuing our dreams, as well as how they
balanced their own social life while pursuing their love for music at
the same time.
During
the second half of the seminar, renowned lyricist Zhang Le Sheng
engaged the audience by carrying out a song-writing activity with them.
He then read out two song lyrics that the audience wrote and gave
constructive comments. Zhang Le Sheng has written more than 300 theme
songs for local drama series since 2003. Following up was Good Morning
band, who shared about their feelings and thoughts on indie music. They
also performed two songs that they composed, <Final Bossa> and
<Zao An Ni Hao>. Both songs have clinched the top three positions
in C’ING 2011 and the NEA Eco Music Challenge 2011 respectively.
|
Lee Wei Song took time to attend the seminar when he came back to Singapore from China. |
The
lead singer, Chenliang and keyboardist, Estella of Da Feng Chui sang
and spoke with fervour at the seminar. They performed the song <Zui
Chu De Hui Yi> from their new album, and used this song to explain to
the audience on song composing and song harmonization.
The
last speaker, a veteran songwriter, Lee Wei Song, spoke about his
experience in composing music for movies, and showcased his song-writing
talent by producing a short piece of music on the spot. He also gave
tips on how to compose songs of different genres. The seminar ended with
a token presentation ceremony, accompanied with a big round of applause
from the audience.
This
is the second music seminar organized by Chinese Media and
Communication students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Humanities
and Social Sciences. The first music seminar was organized in 2010.
|
From
left: Local musicians such as Lee Wei Song, Good Morning, Da Feng Chui,
Keely Wee, Benjamin Hum, Fun Jam Band and Nelson Tan shared their
experiences in the music scene at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s “Your Music
Seminar”. |