Kuala Lumpur Ensemble II

'An Evening with the Classical Guitar'

3rd December 2006

8.30 p.m.

Dewan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia Tourism Centre, Jalan Ampang

This concert is an inaugural full-length performance by the Kuala Lumpur Guitar Ensemble II in Malaysia. The Ensemble had given a brief preview in the Classical Guitar Society's Guitar Camp 2004. In 2005, the Ensemble appeared on TV3's Malaysia Hari Ini as well as played at a wedding function that was graced by Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi and his assistant, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.

This evening's performance is KLGE II's third full-length performance. The first two performances were given in the 4th Ordu International Guitar Festival in Turkey in July 2006. This inaugural performance on Malaysian soil was graced by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism Datuk Dr Victor Wee and the evening had the pleasure of Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Hussain as a very special guest.

There was also the presence of the original members of the Kuala Lumpur Guitar Ensemble, Datuk Dr Victor Wee himself  (Datuk was the leader of the original Kuala Lumpur Guitar Ensemble), Daniel Chan, Jimmy Tan and Eric Eng. Unfortunately, the other original members were not available. Deborah Tan is in England, Yoong Mei Yuen in New Zealand and Dr Vincent Chong is said to be in Singapore practising medicine. Previous KLGE II members who were present were Fung Tong Sen and Adee Ariffin,  while absent was Richard Siaw who is presently in Taiwan for further studies.

KLGE II would like to take this opportunity to thank our advertisers for their support and their presence at this evening's concert - Mr Daniel Chan of Mahogany, Mr & Mrs Michael Ng of Arrow Vision, Madam Lui of Sonata Music & Art and Mr & Mrs Low Kia Soon, Mr & Mrs Kuah Wei Chin of The Guitar Store.

Help was available at every turn and for those who had lent a helping hand, I would like to say how much the members of KLGE II appreciate it and are very thankful indeed - the Committee members of the Classical Guitar Society (Eric Eng, Lee Thiam Foo, Lee Ji Xuan, Jovy Fong, Ng Kean Heng and Tan Chee Kian); my former student, Soh Siew Hian and student Leong Yee Hoo; my wife's colleagues, Tan Foong Yin and Premela Jaganathan of Arah Pendidikan. Most of all I would like to thank my wife, Evelyn, for her support and advice throughout the organisation of this concert. Her help was invaluable from the publication of the brochure, poster and tickets to the smooth running of the evening's concert and cocktail. Even my sons, Christopher and Jeremy, were at hand to help out during the night.

I must admit that we had a very successful night. Everything went according to plan except for the few glitches that were unforeseen owing to our lack of experience. For one, we had feedback from friends that the spotlight reflected from our guitars was very glaring and disturbing. The sound was almost at natural acoustic level hence those at the back at certain angles could not hear us properly until it was raised during the second half. Well, I was told that the technician should know how to readjust the volume after the sound check with an empty hall as opposed to a hall that's filled (that's the reason why established entertainers in the music field move around the world performing with their own sound technicians!).

Since there will not be a review of our concert from the newspapers or in any music journal of any kind, I will talk about the performance from the feedback we have received.

Firstly, as in any concert, the success measurement depends on a few perspectives. The first perspective, in its organization - here, I think we should score an A. The KLGE II poster was professionally designed, the programme booklet was excellently presented but the tickets were a letdown (the designer had wanted to redesign and reprint all the tickets but I decided against it as I felt that there wasn't enough time and the tickets had to be sent out along with the posters). The protocol for VIPs was well taken care of with the usage of the VIP room before the concert for refreshments and after the concert for the cocktail. There was also the cocktail for guests at the foyer. I did not hear of any problems with our reception counter nor of our ushers. The master of ceremonies was very presentable although the announcement of the VIPs' entrance had a slight glitch.

The technical crew is something which we can't complain about as they did what they could within the confines of their job. It will rest on our experience now to know how to handle the technical side of things as the technical crew will always be different as we play in different halls.

The next perspective will be the audience. We had about seventy percent of the hall filled and that does show a good response to a local show especially as a show as specialised as a classical guitar concert. As in any specialised instrumental concert, unless you are a very big name, it is very difficult to get a full house anywhere in the world. Even in London, some well known names do not even get a half-hall filled. MTC's Tunku Abdul Rahman Auditorium could seat 400 and we had about 300, a very decent number. Even more encouraging is the fact that we were able to reach out to people who do not play the guitar.

The guitar fraternity in Kuala Lumpur showed their support by turning up for our concert. I know this as a fact as I did see quite a few faces that are always at foreign guitarists' concerts. A very good sign indeed. It shows the enthusiasm and love for our beloved instrument that crosses borders of poor mentality (narrow mindedness, cliques, envy, 'local can't be better than foreigners') that sometimes plague our local guitar scene (as well as those all over the world - we are humans after all). The guitar fraternity should show more strength through support for each other's activities. In organising this concert I was moving around and speaking to people in the field (our advertisers, especially) and a very good indication is the same kind of thought that is apparent - we should support each other to strengthen the classical guitar in Malaysia. For those capable in terms of finance, to support those in need of it. For those who are capable in organising, organise concerts for those who are out there performing. For those who can perform, to give more performances. And, for those who are enthusiasts, support the performers by being there. KLGE II's concert showed all these virtues. Our advertisers provided finance; those in the audience who belong to the guitar fraternity gave their support. It is very important for those individuals or organisations who are leaders or in a position to influence (teachers in particular) to create the right attitude and enthusiasm for the lay people or students to see our beloved instrument in the right vein. In order for this to happen, we have to learn to put aside personal differences as well as to sacrifice commercialism (I mean commercialism in bad taste, not what is correct commerce) for the betterment of our industry.

Another perspective, here's the crunch and the most varied in terms of opinions - the performance itself. Here, I will speak my mind as openly as possible besides answering our critics. In order to understand how successful a concert is, we must know what makes up an audience. The audience is not made up of guitar enthusiasts only especially since it is a public concert. It is made up of ordinary people who would like to know what the concert is about. This group of people is the most important for me; if KLGE II is able to reach out to these people even if there were not many, I will consider the concert a success especially if they have enjoyed themselves.

The next group is the music enthusiasts. This group consists of people who love music but do not even play an instrument! I am glad to have a very important person here as a representative - Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Hussain, our very special guest.  He really enjoyed our concert, that was the feedback that I received. It came as a big surprise to know that he wanted to turn up for our concert, and later at the cocktail reception he mentioned that he enjoyed the classical guitar especially, having been to quite a few of Andres Segovia's and John Williams' concerts!  In this group we have other instrumentalists such as pianists, violinists etc. Well... the feedback from them was generally good. They enjoyed what we did but had constructive criticisms that we can accept as truth. They mainly spoke about how we could improve ourselves - something that we ourselves admit to and are ever willing to listen and learn. After all, we strive to improve ourselves all the time.

Another group consists of spouses, boyfriends or girlfriends or friends of the classical guitar enthusiasts. Here is a group that either hates a classical concert (does not matter even if you are John Williams) or will be bored by it as they are totally convinced of commercial music being the music that they love or, I would say, brainwashed into thinking so. They were dragged to the concert because of...I guess I do not need to say any more!

The last perspective - This group is the strongest critic - the guitar enthusiasts themselves. This group comprises the students, the teachers, the self-professed experts, the different camps etc.

The students - depending on their level of ability, knowledge and musicianship and whether they belong to the right 'camp' (happens all over the world this 'camp' thing), there will be many different opinions from them. Naturally, our own students would be very proud of their teachers performing while those belonging to other teachers would have a skeptical outlook. There are also the neutral ones who would judge according to their abilities and are there to learn. The more advanced students ever wanting to pit themselves against the professionals will forever be very critical while making comparisons. Although this is very necessary for their development, they must be guided well if they are to be proper musicians who understand the performing arts with the correct concepts and perspectives. Definitely, it does not help if one is uninformed but judging on a very limited personal outlook, making the wrong comparisons in addition to having his own ego coupled with his own likes and dislikes.

As to comparisons, here's a fine example of feedback. A student asked his teacher -  'How come they (KLGE II) do not have the kind of control in their technique that Anna Vidovic has?' The teacher answered, 'They are teachers and not performers, they do not spend all their time practising and performing.' How wise and honorable an answer. Anna Vidovic performed at KLPac on the Wednesday  before KLGE II's Sunday performance. I know those who had been to Anna's recital would inevitably make comparisons but it does not matter to me as each performance will have its own merit. Moreover our performance is based on entertaining the audience to the best of our ability - to put on a good show and not to show off our technique. We hope to make our music enjoyable.

Comparisons should always be made with proper facts in hand. A comparison between KLGE II and Anna Vidovic is unfair. I am making this comparison here for the sake of teaching my students (who will be reading this) and opening up the minds of those who are reading this.  Points to consider:

With these three points, is there any need for more to justify how fruitless it is to compare?

However, having read the above comparison, some readers of this article wouId wonder why KLGE II put up a performance in the first place! Lack of time, work and family commitments etc etc ... my answer is simple: for all of us in this music industry which is a part of the performing arts field, performance is part and parcel of our profession. Additionally, every musician harbours the hope of a performing career. KLGE II is no different; we do hope that in time to come this hope will become reality, creating a path and paving the way for the future generations to come. Someone has to start the ball rolling in Malaysia, so to speak. Although we do have quite a number of well-known Malaysian musicians in the world (e.g. Dennis Lee - pianist), they do not reside in Malaysia nor do they make their performing career here. The KLGE II members are all bred and born locally, in other words ..made in Malaysia.

The teachers - once again we have a varied group here: the experienced teacher and inexperienced teacher; the learned and well-informed teacher against the less informed; the would-have-been performer (who still harbours this dream but due to extenuating circumstances is not one); the teacher teacher.

Teachers are leaders. They are the ones who influence the people they teach. Their responsibility towards our industry is of utmost importance, hence, their jobs need them to create the right attitude and environment for the betterment of our profession. A teacher must guide the students in the right direction - not only in giving them the correct technique to play their instruments but the knowledge and understanding of music. Judgments must be given with a well-informed and insightful value, and not through poor and misleading ideas tinged with ego inflating, envy, jealousy, sarcasm, unfounded concepts etc.

The students should be greatly encouraged to attend a concert for the value it offers. A live concert offers invaluable aural experience that has its faults (only too human) as opposed to the synthetic CD (all CDs are edited as mistakes recorded is not good for repeated listening as opposed to a one-off in a live performance). The human communication through the performers' thoughts and feelings on stage is something that is impossible to be caught in a recording. The performer's charisma, the magic of the moment, the impressions and the feeling of being there are all a part of the performance that you do not get from a recording. How many times have you discovered that what you felt and thought about your own recording of the video (a family video!) when all is forgotten is different!

For Anna's recital, a teacher from Muar chartered a school bus to ferry his students to this concert. Now, what have you to say about that! It's great attitude and dedication (if only he did that for KLGE II's concert - it would have been great!). Attending concerts is a great attitude to create especially here in Malaysia if we want a healthy performing career for the locals. There were many times through the years that I have heard - why are there so few guitar concerts? Well, local performances do not have a market. Foreign performers are expensive and there are lots of red tape to overcome like work visa, permission from the Ministry of Culture, Tax department, police permit, etc. Most foreign performances are organised by their respective embassies and if the embassies are not interested...well...

Students should always have a review of the concerts they attended with their teachers in the next class. The teacher's job is to guide the students to appreciate the good and the bad of the concert. Students should give their opinions and the teacher should correct inaccurate observations. The students should take this opportunity to LEARN and not just hope to be entertained only, let alone make unreal as well as unfair comparisons nor have a biased view with sarcasm and skepticism written all over their face. as well as with false pride or over rate their own ability and knowledge. Usually, the experts understand what is going on as they have experienced it all and are never willing to give their opinions too readily unless they are critics writing for some journal. It is usually the inferior person who has a very narrow vision that shouts out to the whole world - a self-fulfilling effort!  These are the self-professed experts. I will not mince my words and I will be daring enough to speak my mind. I offer no apologies either. I am not targeting anyone in particular but am stating only the facts.

For the different camps, I do hope that there will be unity as what unity to the industry will mean. Let's go for the common goal and develop our beloved instrument.

Well, the KLGE II is not LAGQ nor are the individuals John Willaims or David Russell, but we were glad to have given the concert and have received sufficient favourable feedback to encourage us on. We hope that we will get more support from the locals in our endeavour to improve our performance. We hope to play in all the states of Malaysia and be able to find the people to organise our concerts for us. For those who are willing to organise concerts for us, do contact me (my number and email are easily available on this website). For international performances, KLGE II are ever willing to play in your country! Ask us.

Simon Cheong

3 January 2007