I have just spent the weekend as course director for the ‘6 to 9′ and ’10 to 12 year old’ categories at the tenth Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod. What a weekend it has been! With more than 500 young singers, it has been an intense and immensely rewarding choral experience!
I designed both courses to concentrate on the building blocks of choral singing. I wanted these young initiates to be guided in the principles of good singing; balance, posture, breathing, mouth shape, rounded vowels, and clear diction. I wanted them to experience; unison singing, canon singing, harmony in two-part, three-part, and four-parts. More than anything, I wanted them to enjoy using their voices to connect with their imaginations and to learn how to communicate their stories through song. Our process was fun and easy and I was capably supported by my many young course assistants and by the course repetiteur, Miss Geneviene Wong. Our final performance was enthusiastically received with spontaneous outbursts of applause and whoops of appreciative encouragement! It was feel-good-singing-happiness for all involved!
My thanks to Miss Susanna Saw, director of the Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod and the Malaysian Choral Academy for inviting me to be part of this fantastic children’s and youth arts event.
I had wonderful time!
Thank you so much for working with us! The kids really enjoyed the whole festival and I am looking forward to working with you again! Take care. Thanks again for the wonderful experience!
Thank you so much, Kathleen. You have inspired me to give my assistants at home in Ireland even greater responsibility. You did a great job and you made it look easy! Well done! I do hope to work with you again. All the best, Sonya
Hi Ms. Sonya! Hoped you enjoyed your stay in Malaysia and also in MCE. Hope to see you again!
Hi Mabel! Lovely to see your message! I had a wonderful time in Malaysia and of course, I loved my time at MCE! I hope to see you again.
Best, Sonya
Hello Miss Sonya!! I have learnt so much from you and also the children during MCE and I want to thank you for the great music-making, as well as inspiration that you have given to us! Do take good care of yourself, and I cannot wait to work with you again in the near future!
Lots of love from Malaysia,
Jacq (:
Hello Jacq!!! So nice to see your message!! I loved working with you too!! I have no doubt that you will be a great voice teacher and choir teacher. You have so much potential and you work so clearly and so easily with the children. I hope to come back again next year and I hope that we will work together. I will keep in touch.
Best, Sonya
Sonyaaa!!!! I just wanna say huuugeeee thank you for all that you’ve thought me in one weekend of music-making. It’s definitely one that I won’t forget. All the kids love you and so do we. All of us miss you already and I hope we’ll get to work together again in the near future and we’ll definitely keep in touch!
Andrew 🙂
Hey Andrew! So sorry not to have responded before now! Life has been crazy at my end… I so enjoyed my time in Malaysia and I am blown away by your ability!!! Well done you and do keep up the good work!!! I have no doubt we will see each other again soon.
All the best, Sonya