Letter to the SCROLLS Chamber Orchestra

Dear members of Scrolls Orchestra,

Next time someone in Sabah says to me,  ”We have local musicians here, but they are not like your orchestras in Europe. They are not so sophisticated, because people here are not EXPOSED,”  I will shout:

WAKE UP!

OPEN YOUR EYES AND EARS!

UPDATE YOURSELF!

Then I will ask:

• When was the last time YOU went out to a classical concert?
• When was the last time YOU picked up something which makes music – and I don’t mean your mp3 player.

When was the last time you practised and practised until your fingers hurt, and your neck and shoulders were all seized up,  and you played a musical phrase again and again twenty times because you just can’t get it.  Then when you start from the beginning you get uptight when you know THAT BIT is coming!  Then you have to do it a hundred times again. Making you ache. Making you cry. Making you try one more time.

• When was the last time you did all that,  night after night for months — AFTER your normal working day!  –  until happiness surges through your veins as you play that particular set of black dots, and they hang in the air resounding around your ears. Magic mastered.

The members of SCROLLS all do it. Behind a closed door, within the walls of each of their homes. They must, because I witnessed their performance at Dewan Resital Hall in UMS, on November 6th, 2009.

So,  WHAT is this thing some (mostly older) people here have about “being exposed to Western culture”, in order to become better and to grow? Do they really think every Western violinist is like Nigel Kennedy? And that you are not cultured if you have not been to Europe?

Don’t yearn to be taught “culture” from overseas. It’s in our own back yard.

My friend Sophie asked if I would video her solos, and put them on youtube, so her parents in France could see.

After hearing smoothly flawless performances by pianist GRACE LEE, who accompanied James Lau and Eben Ting in the opening works, I realised I should just video whatever I could manage.  I didn’t have a tripod, and ended up with numb arms. But we lucked out sitting in VIP seats, courtesy of Sophie’s husband Vijay   .

The Four Seasons (Vivaldi) performed by SCROLLS was at Dewan Resital, UMS Kota Kinabalu.

The celebrated Yap Ling formed the Chamber Orchestra SCROLLS with local musicians specially selected by himself. This was their debut concert.  Here is Yap Ling’s BLOG.

I saw the first of three concerts, on Friday, November 6th.

The soloists were:

James Lau   (Spring), Eben Ting (Summer), Aldrich Tan (Autumn), Sophie Van Aerde (Winter).

SEE THEIR VIDEO PERFORMANCES HERE,  as many as I could video.

Yap Ling is soloist for the weekend performances.

This was a fundraising concert by the Rotary Club Kota Kinabalu raising money for a Clean Water Project at Kg. Bimbolon, Kota Marudu, Sabah, Malaysia.   Supporting organisations were Prelude Music, Rotary Club, UMS, SPArKS  (Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu Sabah), Life and Style.

DREAMING ABOUT NEW TECH TOYS

I seem to be videoing and writing about things spontaneously now, so maybe I need a new TECH TOYS like a small video camera  (Any suggestions?)   And I wouldn’t mind a new laptop…  Like a Dell Inspiron 11z, with an INTEL processor.  Small with Power!  Is my husband reading this? I like Cherry Red  :-P

~ by sabahsongs on November 8, 2009.