13th Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod 2015

An eisteddfod is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. For 13 years and running, Young Choral Academy has organized a choral eisteddfod in various parts of Malaysia. The event has an impressive history which consists of different festival lengths, different symposiums for children and youth choirs and many outstanding tutors and guest conductors that come from all over the world. This year, the Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod(MCE) Youth Symposium was held at Sri Kuala Lumpur, Selangor on the 13th and 14th of June. It was a great way to end the mid year holidays with a bang.

The guest conductor this year was Timothy Cloeter, Associate Professor of Choral Conducting at Bowling Green University, Ohio, USA. He is a sensational conductor! He taught us about the hidden meanings of the songs we sang which are "If Music Be the Food of Love" and "Carry Your Heart with Me". I am speechless to how patient and interesting a conductor he can be. Even his warm ups were delightful. He taught us to use our hands during warm ups to help with our pitching and flow of notes. He also enlightened us about the nine notes scale. It can also be sang in canon.

We first learned the song within our parts during sectionals with the tutors on the first day. Then we had a combined session with Mr. Cloeter. It was very enjoyable to be able to work with him. He taught us countless things like manipulating tempo and volume to intensify a song. He made us stick to the markings on the score pretty strictly but also conducted in a free manner with an open heart and full of expression. He never once made us feel incompetent during the combined sessions.

After that, it was lunch! The meal every participant must have been waiting for. Everyone queued up in a long line for our chicken rice, roasted chicken, stir-fried bean sprouts, popiah and soup. It made up a very palatable meal after those few long hours of hard work. After lunch, we were then separated for the masterclass with the respective tutors. We got paired up with Tenby International School, Ipoh and our tutor was Miss Liu / Liew (it sounds something like that). She turns out to be Miss Tracy's best friend. She advised us and gave really good pointers after we sang "Let the River Run. I met some really nice people from Tenby like Emily, Nicole and Wan Wei.

Next was the second combined session we had with Mr. Cloeter. He then worked on the specific rests he wanted us to focus on and utilized the parts with rallentendo(slowing down) in the songs. He also taught us the ending part of Loch Lomond. It was very fun. The guys and altos made up this bouncy tune while sopranos chirped the catchy melody of Loch Lomond. The announcements for tomorrow's closing concert was given and we gaily left the school.

The next morning was concert day! When we reached the school, everyone assembled in the hall and Mr. Cloeter conducted our warm ups once more. Then we were arranged on the stage and floor according to our voice parts. It was a packed stage with over 300 choristers crowding together. Shu Xie and I were trapped behind two rows of sopranos with our back to the piano. It was not the most comfortable position we could be in. During performance it was worse! We were packed like sardines and we felt highly ill at ease in that position. I, for one, have slight claustrophobia and it was horrendous to be squashed there.

The concert was amazing and I revel in the euphonious music we heard. The Sam Tet boys really knew how to put on a show. Their rendition of a Pentatonix song was stupendous. I was particularly fond of the songs that USJ 13 and Seafield sang. SMK Seafield's conductor, Gaya(that is what I call her) sang a solo with the choir supporting her. Their performance of an arrangement of "Hey, Soul Sister"(if not mistaken) and that solo was mellifluous. The concert ended with our combined songs and awarding of certificates. It was one of the most enjoyable festivals I have been to. I will never forget this year's MCE.