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Goducate violinists learn much more than the violin in Singapore

For the Goducate violinists from Laguna, The Philippines, who were in Singapore for a short spell of intensive training in the violin at Wolfgang Music Studio, the trip was such an eye opener. They saw for themselves and experienced the pace of a modern, fast-growing city, life in a multiracial society, and at close quarters the warmth and friendship of the many Goducate supporters who have been sponsoring the music and other projects in Laguna and elsewhere.

Goducate would like to thank its supporters who so kindly housed and pampered the violinists in 6-star luxury, took them round to all corners of Singapore, fed them (“there is SO MUCH food here, I put on 2 kg” said one), and piled on them gifts of clothing, musical instruments, and sports equipment for themselves and their people back home.

Practising the violin at their home away from home
At the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music with a Goducate supporter

One of the highlights of their trip was the opportunity to learn to play the gamelan, an instrument they had not heard of before. They had been brought to the Lasalle College of The Arts by a Goducate supporter to watch a rehearsal by the students there, and were pleasantly surprised when the teacher offered to teach them to play a piece on the gamelan.

playing the gamelan
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Goducate violinists undergo intensive training in Singapore

What an experience and what a luxury it was for the Goducate violinists from Laguna to be trained at the Wolfgang Violin Studio in Singapore. Until they were featured in the Channel News Asia programme Once Upon a Village and then selected for a short period of intensive training in Singapore, never did the 5 selected musicians, coming as they did from poor village and small-town communities, dream they would ever be taught daily by trained teachers, and then allowed to practise for 4 hours at a time every day in air-conditioned comfort. There were so many techniques to learn and try to master, and so much musical knowledge to absorb, in the short time they were here.

The training programme for them included attendance at concerts and observing a master class in action. On top of that there was a visit to the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, to tour the facilities there as well as to learn what requirements were needed for admission to the academy. Will they ever satisfy those requirements? Who knows, but the visit gave them something extra to hope for.

And hope is something that Goducate wants to bring to deprived communities. Even if the 5 violinists do not make it to the academy, the chance they have had to come to Singapore for some training is enough to give the 200-plus other students in the Goducate music project hope that they too might get a similar opportunity at some stage.

Arrival at Wolfgang Violin Studio for first day of training
Training by Min Lee (extreme right) while being filmed by Channel News Asia for part 2 of Once Upon a Village programme
Exploring facilities at NAFA
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Goducate violinists arrive in Singapore for training

In March this year, Channel News Asia brought two experts from Singapore, violinist Min Lee of Wolfgang Music Studio and director of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music orchestra Wang Ya Hui, to Bay in Laguna Province, The Philippines, to see Goducate’s music project and to suggest what might be done to give the project a boost. This visit was for the first of a two-part programme called Once Upon A Village, which was first screened middle of this year. Min Lee and Wang Ya Hui suggested that 5 of the music students be brought to Singapore for some intensive training and to prepare them for some music exams.

Goducate’s music project was started to attract street kids back into some form of education. The scheme turned out to be so attractive to children and so successful that it has been extended to any child in very poor communities, not just out-of-school kids.

Through music the children have been taught discipline, teamwork, and leadership. Through their musical ability some have got scholarships to go back to school or to continue schooling. The more advanced students have formed two orchestras. The senior orchestra has been invited to play at local functions, which has given the students a chance to earn some pocket money. Students have thus been able to help themselves. And in line with Goducate philosophy they have also been using their ability to help others, because the more advanced students teach the less advanced ones in their own or in neighbouring villages. Currently there are more than 250 students at 12 areas in 7 villages in Laguna province participating in the Goducate music project.

Arrival at Changi Airport, Singapore. L-R: Matthew, Liezl, Melissa, Veronica, Bernard (Goducate orchestra conductor), Jayson
With Sheryl Teo, a producer of Once Upon A Village programme

Preparatory to the trip of their lives, the 5 shortlisted students underwent many sessions of training by Elaine Mallari from the Manila Symphony Orchestra. They finally arrived in Singapore chaperoned by their conductor on Oct 22. Channel News Asia will be filming them while they are here for the second part of the Once Upon A Village programme.

Wolfgang Music Studio had kindly arranged for Asian Cultural Enterprise (ACES) to sponsor the trip for the Goducate musicians.