MPO Reaches Out (Sunday People)

Published in New Sunday Times
27th July 2008

MPO reaches out

Tan Poh Joo bringing music to the Sekolah Seri Cahaya students

Children ready with their instruments

Tan Poh Kim showing children that music is fun

MAX KOH follows two Malaysian sisters from Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra as they bring classical music to the masses

The main school hall of Sekolah Seri Cahaya in Shah Alam is filled to the brim with students from kindergarten right up to secondary school.

In the first two rows are children holding instruments — violins and recorders. Their eyes are trained on the two che che (big sisters in Mandarin) onstage.

“Can you kids clap along as we play this song?” asked one che che with the violin. “Yes!” reply the children loudly.

With a cello in hand, the other sister begins to play the ever-recognisable bass melody of the tune, Pink Panther. The kids applaud. Big grins emerge on their faces. They continue to clap along as the main melody is conjured on the violin.

You don’t normally find musicians holding sessions in schools in Malaysia, let alone two sisters.

As they begin to play Kodaly Opus No. 7, a duo for violin and cello, it is obvious that Tan Poh Kim and Tan Poh Joo are well-trained.

The kids are there to taste a slice of classical music as the event is part of the MPO’s Education & Outreach Programme (Encounter). This is a continuous initiative to bring classical music outside of orchestral halls and to the people.

Previously, Encounter has successfully brought music to hospitals (Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Selayang Hospital, HUKM), schools (Sekolah Sultan Alam Shah), shelter homes (Rumah Pengasih, Rumah Orang Tua Seri Setia) and charity homes.

With the MPO taking a seasonal break, the Tan sisters decided to spend their free time bringing music to the children.

“Earlier this year, we approached the Encounter people and told them that we wanted to do an outreach. We had done this before but individually. We thought, why not do this together as a sister team?” recalls Poh Kim, the older of the two who joined the orchestra in 2002.

The sisters came up with the songlist for the school. It is a mix of classical pieces and more contemporary tunes.

“We played Mozart’s Duo for Violin and Cello, Over The Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz, the Pink Panther theme and Kodaly’s Opus,” Poh Joo says, adding that staying in the same house makes it easier for them to discuss the songs.

“We decided to do Pink Panther because we can get the children to clap along to the rhythm,” adds Poh Kim.

Clearly, Pink Panther was a hit with the children as some of the younger kids later told me how much they liked it.

But it all ended in under half an hour. “Well, I suppose next time we can make our set list longer now that we got a feel of things,” says Poh Kim.

The sisters also had a fun time when they played with the school’s student ensemble which comprises children aged seven to 17.

Armed with recorders and violins, cutesy was the key as the kids played (and even danced) to a samba tune onstage. It was short and definitely sweet.

According to music teacher Alice Goh Lih Yen, the students have been looking forward to the event. “We only started this ensemble this year and some of them were pretty nervous to play on stage as they only practiced for a month. However, they were very eager about it.”

Goh knew about the MPO’s Outreach programme and initially thought of bringing the kids to the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas.

“However, they told me that they would love to come and I thought it was really nice of them,” adds Goh who hopes to make this a yearly programme for the school.

For the sisters, the event is a time of fun and a way for them to reach out to the kids. “I think it is our responsibility to cultivate music interest in kids and teach them that music is fun. We want to tell them that it is possible to be musicians and hopefully inspire them when they see two Malaysian sisters playing with the MPO,” says Poh Kim, who remembered how she was similarly inspired in school.

Poh Kim joined the MPO in August 2002, the same year she graduated from Indiana University. Before that, she had performed with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and Owensboro Symphony Orchestra.

Her younger sister also entered Indiana University but not before playing with the National Symphony Orchestra and Kuala Lumpur Symphony Orchestra two years after she started playing the cello.

In 2004, she became the first Malaysian to be accepted with full scholarship into the master’s programme of the Juilliard School which boasts famous alumni such as Yo-Yo Ma and Sarah Cheng. She joined the MPO in 2007.

Besides the Outreach performance, the MPO Encounter also offers a broad range of activities for children of all ages such as in-house performances and instrumental lessons. For more information, call the Encounter Hotline at 03-20517688.