In The Media

The Star, Youth Quake, 8-14 August 1997
SWOT - Singing note of Success
Operafest Children’s Choir: It’s about patience, dedication
By Faridul Amwar Farinordin

IF you’ve watched the classic P Ramlee movie, Ibu Mertuaku, you’d remember the scene when actress Mak Dara scolds daughter Sabariah (played by Sarimah) for wanting to marry a musician, and not a doctor: “Ahli muzik?!Memang pantang keturunan kita, ahli muzik!” (“A musician?! Never in our family a musician”)

What a memorable outburst that was. Okay, maybe it was dramatically exaggerated, but the prejudice remains until today. Some people, particularly of the older generation, still view music as a non-promising career.

What we don’t realize is that music means much more than just taking voice lessons and reading bean sprout-like musical notes. For two former members of the Operafest Children’s Choir, their involvement in music has helped them get scholarships to study abroad.

Thanks to the tireless dedication of the group’s instructor and founder, Kam Sun-Yoke, Ong Yin Loong is now a scholarship holder (for vocal talent) at Bristol University, England.

“Yin Loong is reading law and is now in his second year,” Says Kam proudly, adding that Yin Loong joined the choir even before he was a teenager.

And that’s just one of the many advantages of being an Operafest member. The singing children have been to countries where most people their age only see in geography textbooks, and have sung together with world-famous choir groups like the Vienna Boys Choir.

“A similar scholarship was also offered to another former choir member by another university,” Kam adds.

Her eyes sparkle whenever she talks about her students, whom she seldom refers to as “children”.

The soprano, who’s also mentor and good friend to the choristers, believes that singing is “a vehicle to achieve other objectives”.

Not that singing hasn’t yielded its share of rewards for the choir. The Operafest Children’s Choir has staged a string of well-received performances abroad. It has also won international acclaim and awards for its fine vocal harmony.

And the youngsters owe it all to Kam’s ability to “push them to work a little bit more than how much they think they can”.

Such success had even prompted some Russian Instructors to pester her about her secret.

“I don’t know how I do it, but I guess it’s the combination of work and fun,” she says, reminiscing about the time when her students performed P. Ramlee’s Getaran Jiwa with the Trinity Boys’ Choir concert last year.

She also stresses that maintaining a “beautiful relationship” between a teacher and students is important.

Well, one can say that her dedication and commitment help bring out the best in the children.

“To mould children to be better individuals, you need a package of many things. Apart from emphasizing discipline, stage performances involve a great deal of mental effort, especially when they have to memorize lyrics,” says Kam who’s inspired by the success of Dr Walter Tautsching, director of the Vienna Boy’s Choir.

“But most importantly, anything that is pampered with patience, love and dedication is bound to success”.