Dear Mrs. Chee and Dr. Gooi,
I am Chew Hong Rui, and I am writing to you because I hope that you can reconsider letting me take up Music as a subject. This appeal letter is also a compilation of my deepest feelings and thoughts over the past few years of learning music.
When I was 7, my mum enrolled me, together with my brother and sister for piano lessons at Christofori Music School. My first teacher was Mr. Lee, who was new and inexperienced. Under his half-hearted teaching, I did not have a stable foundation and good initial impression for music and piano playing. At that time, piano lessons were just something that I have to attend every week, and to me it was just like any other tuition class. I followed him for 6 years, until the end of primary 6, where in one piano exam, all 3 of us (my brother, sister and I) failed.
At that time, I had a slow and terrible progress of a pass in piano Grade 1 to 3, and a fail in piano Grade 5 and 6. My brother gave up music from that time, while my sister and I had a new piano teacher – Mr. Simon Soh, who is the principal of a small music school in Bishan. My sister, who is one year older than me, entered St. Nicholas and joined its String Ensemble and took MEP there. Thus, when I entered RI in sec 1, I did the same thing, and entered RIMEP and RI String Ensemble (RISE).
At 12 years old, I decided to be what my parents wanted me to do – a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer. However, MEP lessons really changed my whole thinking process from then onwards. I realized that Music was not just simply about learning the Graded Exam Syllabuses and going for piano lessons. I learnt about the different composers and periods, the different genres of music that I previously did not know, and many of them intrigued me. I realized that I particularly look forward to every Thursday because of MEP lessons, and I really enjoyed them. Also, I picked up the cello in RISE at secondary 1, and I really loved the instrument. I also liked the feeling of playing in an orchestra.
At 13 years old, I wanted to be a musician – a cellist in a professional orchestra. In secondary 2 to 4, all my Research Education (RE) projects were music related because of my passion in the subject. I did not want to explore any other areas anymore like Math or Sciences. The first project I did was in commemoration with Mozart’s 250th anniversary, and my RE-group researched about Mozart, his background, characteristics, style, etc. and finally composed a short Rondo in his style. That year, my cello playing had a significant breakthrough as I went for my grade 5 cello examination and attained a merit. I had a stronger bond to my CCA, and not only did I like playing in an orchestra, I loved the way an orchestra works. And to widen my scope in music and experience how the cello works in other orchestras, I joined Cheng San Community Center Chinese Orchestra from 2006 to 2008. Under RISE conductor Mr. Trevor Sze’s influence, and also experiencing many concerts of full strings, winds and brass instruments myself, I had a new ambition.
At 14, I wanted to be a conductor.In secondary 3, I decided to venture into another area of music, and together with my group members, we organized the “MozART Challenge”, which is an inter-school music and art competition. Till this date, the MozART challenge is still being held, and my RE-group was the one that pioneered it. The project gave me opportunities to set many music questions and experienced it for myself how it was like to be a teacher and set “exam papers”. I find that it was a task that was close to my heart, and I envisioned myself coming back to RI and teach MEP, as well as to be the teacher-in-charge for the CCA that I had loved so greatly.
At 15, I wanted to be a music teacher. Finally, in secondary 4, my RE project was on National Day Songs, where we analyzed the past National Day songs, their chords and lyrics, and came up with a song ourselves. This song-writing aspect of music was something that I really enjoyed very much, especially the orchestration, which was done mainly by myself.
Coupled with the composition assignments in secondary 2 to 4, my love for composing blossomed and often I would imagine tunes and melodies in my head and expand them to form a short simple pieces. In the latest composition project in secondary 4, my hard work over 3 MEP lessons yielded me a gratifying score of 32/40, which was among the top 5 scores in class.
That year, the MEP syllabus covered the topic “Broadway Musicals”, and I fell instantly in love with it at first sight after watching several video clips from different musicals. Be it the dark
Sweeny Todd, the mysterious
Phantom of the Opera, or the heart-warming
Sound of Music, every piece of music can strike a different emotion in a person’s heart, and I want to compose music that everyone can sing and remember for a long time.
At 16, I wanted to be a composer. Upon attaining a grade 8 Distinction in Cello at the end of secondary 4, my piano teacher offered me a post in his music school to teach beginner’s Cello, as there were a few interested participants. However, despite my desire to become a music teacher, I declined the offer as I painfully recall how my first piano teacher almost destroyed all my feelings for this wonderful subject. Even when the pay was at $20 to $30 an hour, I decided to work at as a temporary clerk in the Ministry of Education at $6.50/hour instead during the holidays despite my mother’s protests. My decision was firm; if I want to teach, I would like to teach seriously and for a long time, not just as a holiday job and to gain experience and money, as I might be potentially ruining a bright future in the process. I would want to teach for the sake of music, and nothing else.
Just like Billy Elliot he is dancing, when I immerse myself in music, I feel free, like a bird flying, like electricity flowing. In the world, I am among the very small minority of the people who does not use language to think, but rather I think in motions and pictures. I like to close my eyes when I play the piano and the cello because I can imagine pictures and scenes in my mind.
Every picture tells a story, but so does every piece of music. When I play Mozart’s Adagio in B minor, (written during the period where he was in the doldrums and experiencing financial crisis) I see an unshaven man in rags, hungry and penniless, trudging along a long path and with the dark stormy sky tearing along with him in sympathy. He arrives by the sea, and as the first rays of the sun started to appear, he saw hope and forgot all troubles, brandishing a heart-warming smile, while the piece ends in a gratifying B major cadence.
When I play Scarlatti’s “Cat Fugue”, I envision the cat, stealthily crawling over the keyboard, stepping in ascending motion 6 notes that formed the main subject of the lively fugue.
When I play in an orchestra, I feel the waves of Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” overture slapping against the rocks, the ocean brimming with energy and life. In a Chinese Orchestra, Lo Leung Fai’s 《春》, 《夏》, 《秋》and《冬》each paints a different picture and allows my mind to wander around the 4 seasons. When I play Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C, and end the cadenza with a loud C major chord, I feel a sense of euphoria that sees me at the top of the world.
Really, when I close my eyes and imagine, every piece of music tells a story. But when I enter an examination hall, the boisterous ocean, the nimble cat, the ragged man; they all disappear. I see the black and white keys in front of me, my palms sweating profusely, and my mind tries to focus so that I can hit the correct notes accurately. In secondary 3, I played Goltermann’s Cello Concerto No. 4, and finally managed to get 42/50 for my end-of-year practical exam. However, the high scorer’s concert, up on stage, my mind went blank and I forgot all the notes from my last 2 pages of the score in front on everyone.
I was an introvert, that liked to hide myself in a world of my own, and was quite unused to sharing it with others. However, I am currently seeking professional help from a psychologist on raising my self-esteem and solving my stage-fright problems already. In order to do well in music and showcase exactly what I have prepared, rather than tense up and make mistakes due to nervousness, I am willing to do all I could to rectify the problems as I really want to excel in the subject.
I know that my listening is not up to scratch, as I could only hear relative pitches and relate them together by “do-re-mi-fa-so etc.”, rather than hearing the exact notes and the chords. Usually I would be able to identify simple intervals like octaves, fifths and thirds too, but I guess last Monday I was not focused enough due to my nervousness. In the A level exam, the listening component takes up 16% of the entire marks (40% of 40%). While I will study and practice very hard for the remaining components that could be studied for, 16% is still a large portion and must not be forgone. Currently, the PC Lab in RI’s ArtSpace has a programme that can help to train people how to hear notes and chords, and Ms Shen has consented that I can use the computers during my free slots if the labs are not in use for lessons.
As of APR 2008, all the subjects that I am planning to take in RI(JC), namely GP, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Music, have attained a respectable grade point of 3.60. In terms of my piano playing, my theory, and my cello playing, I have attained a Grade 8 pass, a Grade 8 merit, and a Grade 8 distinction respectively, and I am still continuing to pursue diplomas in my cello and piano playing. I believe that if I take Music, I will be able to cope with my studies, as my academics have been pretty decent thus far. Music is a subject that I really have a strong and burning passion for, and that already makes studying and preparing for examinations easier, because my heart will willingly do so. I would do what it takes to do well in the subject, even if it means to seek external help, or even lower one of my Sciences to a H1, which I believe should not happen.
Last year, my sister moved on to Hwa Chong JC from St. Nicholas after getting an “A1” for MEP. However, she has stopped her cello and piano lessons, as well as stop pursuing music in JC and probably in the future too. I am currently the only person left at home who still studies music, and I would want to continue to do so. As I said earlier, music is a subject that I am interested in and already have some knowledge of, and would thus study for it readily. However, if I take Economics like my sister, which is a new subject which I have no prior knowledge of, I am certain that I will devote quite a large amount of my time to grasp the new subject and neglect my music. Almost all of the people that I know who have stopped taking up MEP lessons never went back to playing their instrument again, but rather focus on their other subjects, with my sister being my closest and most realistic example.
At 13 years old, I wanted to be a musician – a cellist in a professional orchestra. At 14, I wanted to be a conductor. At 15, I wanted to be a music teacher. At 16, I wanted to be a composer. And at 17, I want to experience them all. I want to be a musician in an orchestra, and create wonderful music to soothe the audiences’ ears. I want to be a conductor, to guide an orchestra and play breathtaking pieces like Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, exploiting the uniqueness of every instrument. I want to be a composer, to compose the Young Person’s Guide to the Chinese Orchestra and leave been a legacy and a tune that everyone knows how to sing. However, the ambition that still holds the highest regard in my heart is to be a music teacher, and when I teach, I want my student to close their eyes and think about what stories and pictures they can imagine when playing music. I want them to express what they see and continue the stories for generations to come.
I have lofty ambitions, but I am serious about them, fuelled by nothing but a heart full of passion and a mind full of determination. I have never once considered a career in any other field with such emotion and desire. I hope my journey will not stop here, as I know I still have a lot to learn from RJMEP. I want to continue listening, analyzing, performing composing and teaching, to pass down my knowledge and my stories
And here, I hope that you can give me this chance to fulfill my dream.
Sincerely yours,
Chew Hong Rui
