WHEN I was growing up, my friends and I had a similar dilemma: we were forced to play the piano by parents who “always wanted to learn but never got the chance”.
Aswara student Elaine Lee (right) concentrates as she plays on the ‘bonang’ in a gamelan ensemble during class with her coursemates.
Many years down the road, I was still at Grade One and could not read musical notes (or taugeh) to save my life. But I can still play the piano by ear.
If you are anything like me, you’ll be relieved to know that music education has gone beyond the classical sit-and-play-the-piano routines, and many students have gone on to make music their career.
You may think that no one would be interested in playing, say, the gong for the rest of his life. But – surprise! – some do.
The gong is one of the seven components in the traditional gamelan ensemble, which includes drums, metallophones, xylophones and bamboo flutes.
“Even though it looks easy, the gong is the hardest to play in gamelan because there are so many rests!” quips National Arts, Culture and Heritage Academy (Aswara) gamelan lecturer Abdul Khalil Hassan.
International College of Music students rehearsing a song for a performance.
“Traditional instruments are harder to master because it’s not just how you play them, it’s the way you play.”
Abdul Khalil, who goes by the name Bob Khalil, is the first Malaysian to transcribe the traditional gamelan songs by musicians who played at the Terengganu palace into notes in 1978.
Thanks to people like him, songs that date back centuries have been preserved and can be learnt in a theoretical manner. Sadly, some songs have been lost through the years as, traditionally, older musicians memorised them, and passed them on juniors, who learnt by observation.
Lecturer Nik Mustapha Nik Mohd Salleh stresses that learning traditional ethnic music is important because it represents our uniqueness and identity.
Students of the Rock City School of Music in Kuala Lumpur having a jam session after class.
“The music structure and lyrics help us define our sense of roots, community and nation. They portray our nature,” he says, adding that the school teaches fusion music, which combines Arabic, Indonesian, Malay, Chinese and Western elements.
Head of the music department Raja Nor Sheela Raja Aziddin says Aswara’s three-year diploma programme requires students to learn different musical ensembles like the ghazal and cak lempong every year apart from theory, history, stage management, composition, instrument-making and Midi sequencing, among other things.
“Some students don’t understand why we make them learn traditional music. I tell them, ‘When you go overseas, they don’t want to see you play jazz because they have their own musicians. They want to see your traditional music’,” Raja Nor Sheela says. Remember the movie, School of Rock, featuring Jack Black? It showed a rather novel concept of teaching contemporary music in a class and band setting which Rock City School of Music in Kuala Lumpur aims to follow.
The school teaches mainly rock, some pop and basic jazz and blues. Its founders, Tan Kit Yan and Tony Chang Kok Fei, emphasise expressing oneself and enjoying the music.
Low (right) teaching his student how to mix and spin records at the Bionic DJ Academy.
“Our lessons are unique in that we accept students from different learning backgrounds and we break it down for them to make it really simple,” says Chang.
“We customise our lessons according to students' needs. So if some older students just want to learn their favourite songs on the guitar to sing along to, we just teach them tabs.”
Tan adds: “We pool our resources and students' ideas, and let the music be open to interpretation. We develop their ideas by asking how they can add to them.”
The school guarantees that students can play something at the end of two months, with four monthly sessions.
“We have performances every few months for students to put into practice what they have learnt,” says Tan. “They have to understand how a guitar works in relation to a drum, bass, and how it comes together in a song.”
One of their plans is to form a professional student band to perform in public and release an album by this year.
“This is a first step for students to be heard, get a recording out there and network with different people,” Chang reveals.
“Music is the kind of industry where what you can do speaks louder than your paper qualifications,” Tan adds.
Form Four student Ezra John, 16, who takes singing lessons from the school, finds that its flexible style suits his needs.
RAJA NOR SHEELA: When we perform overseas, people want traditional music.
“I lean towards hip hop and rap. I’ve got a friend releasing an album and I’m involved in that,” Ezra says. “But I came here so I won’t lose my ‘singing’ voice. I learn faster here because they adapt (lessons) to my style and teach me what I want to learn.”
Another sign that music education is truly changing is that people like Low Soon Thiam, or DJ Low as he is called, have their own school, namely the Bionic DJ Academy.
Low is into the ‘club’ type of deejaying, which involves all sorts of methods from spinning and mixing to scratching and beat juggling.
“Deejay mixing involves two songs or more. You mix the second song into the first and match it by controlling the bar mix, pitching and EQ,” says Low. “There is also the art of turntablism, which allows you to do scratching and beat juggling, and even produce new tracks from two different vinyls or samples.”
Confused? Well, there is more to deejaying than just technique; it also involves showmanship.
“These days, everything is digital and there are computer software to mix songs so anyone can be a deejay,” he muses. “But if you just click the mouse, the satisfaction is not there. It’s a performing art as well.”
Low points out that deejays don’t just play in clubs. Some play at rave parties and events and go on to be producers. Yet others create their own music, perform with a band and sell their own albums.
Occasionally rock bands, “like Linkin Park”, need deejays to scratch for them to enhance their songs.
Bionic DJ Academy’s courses don’t exceed 60 hours. And, there’s no theory, only practical.
Low notes that a deejay’s skills can be applied to any industry involving music.
“Some musicians want to pick up extra skills, some do it as a hobby, and many sound engineering students learn deejaying because it helps their careers. It’s an added skill for those in movie production.”
ONG: In music education, knowledge is compressed in a structured way.
Low’s gripe is that parents generally frown upon the industry and this career path – a fact echoed by some of the aspiring contemporary musicians.
“I had a Datin scold me for ‘influencing’ her son to learn deejaying when, in fact, he came here on his own accord,” he recalls. “I asked her, ‘Do you listen to the radio? Who do you think makes all that music?’”
Although learning the practical aspect of playing instruments may work for those who do it as a hobby, or to complement their work, a structured education is essential for a career in music, says Frank Ong, International College of Music’s (ICOM) head of performance.
“Music education cuts out years spent on research, and trial and error on the streets,” says Ong, formerly a bassist of home-grown band Alleycats that started performing in 1969. “Hundreds of years of knowledge are compressed in a structured way.
“Outside, you may not get the materials, books and answers to questions that you want.”
Ong should know. After all, he started out playing music by ear, with only simple books to guide him. Later, he gained exposure when he was in Hong Kong for over a decade.
This does not imply that ICOM, which teaches mostly modern rather than classical music, is mainly about theory – though it may be easy to assume that, judging from its entry criteria of a minimum Grade Four in the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music exam for its bachelor degree courses, as well as an audition.
“Every student has to go through the performance module, where I teach them in ‘ensembles’ or groups, according to styles,” Ong says. “We also encourage students to perform outside, to get exposure.”
Course leader Lee Mei Lyn, who teaches research methods at ICOM, says many people assume that a music degree is all about playing and performing.
“Performance is a small part of the degree. A first year student also learns arranging, research methods, English and Mathematics,” adds Lee, who believes music education should be academic and wholesome, to train the mind.
Similarly, Ong stresses that a career in music isn’t only about performing; in fact, the whole “support system” behind a performing artiste or any other industry involving music is a musician’s playground.
“You can be a sound engineer or musical instrument supplier. You may also work in broadcasting and public relations,” he says, adding some even create tunes for computer games and ring tones. “If you have the education, you have the advantage.”
Saiful Ridzuan Sharafuddin, better known as Duan, the guitarist for indie rock band Seven Collar T-Shirt, agrees that a formal education opens up opportunities that one would never have otherwise.
“Some people are scared that a music school will teach them things that limit them. They want freedom and expression. But it opens up possibilities. It’s a step-by-step approach and you learn things that you might miss if you try doing it yourself.”
Duan, who has a degree from Universiti Teknologi Mara, teaches the guitar. He admits that though he has been playing with the band since he was a teenager, his skills improved considerably after his degree.
He now has knowledge of music history, elements of harmony, rhythm and arranging, and can go beyond just playing his favourite songs.
“If you are a musician, you’re also a professional,” he says. “I wanted to be a musician so I decided to study music. Just like if you want to be a lawyer, you study law.”...
