Transcript of interview with Victoria Chen (conducted by Amanda Lee), 20 June 2016, 9.30 am, Skype.
Victoria is a 27–year old female Chinese Singaporean and is a freelance music and drama teacher. She enjoys both English and Chinese pop music. She listens to music on her phone every day, regardless of what she is doing. She particularly likes rock bands like Coldplay, Incubus, Mr Big, and the Temper Trap, and she feels that rock music makes her feel better when she is feeling down. Victoria also enjoys musicals like Chicago and Wicked for the musical and visual aspects. Since she is a piano teacher, she listens to Western classical music mainly for her job. However, one of her favorite composers is Musio Clementi as she finds his music lively and the composition very “neat.” She also thinks that classical music is important because it is the foundation of music, and especially important if one is learning other genres like jazz, blues, and funk. Victoria’s favorite Chinese pop artistes are Jay Chou and Fish Leong. She finds that Chinese pop describes the story and emotions more clearly than English pop. She also listens to more Chinese pop than English because she grew up in a Chinese environment. Victoria does not listen to traditional Chinese music as she thinks of Chinese stereotypes – like martial arts and Chinese New Year – when she hears it. She is also put off by the sharpness of the instruments. Despite all that, she thinks traditional Chinese music should still be preserved as it is unique and part of Chinese culture. She does not think many people will like the contemporary intercultural experimental Chinese music sample, as it sounds too different from Chinese music. She feels that Singaporean music can be categorized as Chinese-influenced and Western-influenced. However, she does not think that there is any music that she can recognize as distinctively Singaporean.
“There’s a lot of different types of musicals, and I like how detailed they compose their music, like – and they use their whole band, like the symphonic orchestra, and a lot of musical instruments are involved, so I like the musicals quite a lot, ya.”
“I feel that classical music, not just piano [but for] any other musical instruments, when you’re learning it right, it’s kind of like the warm up, the stretching, and it’s the basic thing.”
“I grew up in a Chinese environment, so I feel that Chinese is a language [that] can express emotions better than English. Maybe because I have more of a Chinese mind, so I feel that listening to Chinese songs, I can feel ... I don’t know ... I can feel how the singer is feeling.”
“I feel that it is very cliché, and I don’t want to be [related] to [traditional Chinese music], because of the Kung Fu and the Chinese New Year, so, ya. I don’t think that represents the Chinese culture, no.”
“Experimental intercultural music changed too much of the elements in traditional Chinese music that it doesn’t even sound like ... one. Sounds more like something [that] will appear in a creepy play, or a [Science fiction] movie like Star Wars.”
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