Transcript of interview with Benedict Fong (conducted by Amanda Lee), 18 January 2017, 8.30 pm, Serangoon Library.
Benedict is a 17-year old male Chinese Singaporean who was a student of St. Patrick’s school. Benedict likes listening to English pop rock music by artistes and bands like The Script, One Republic, and Ed Sheeran. He likes such music as it makes him happy and helps him to de-stress. Benedict used to listen to Western classical music but stopped listening to it when he stopped learning the piano. He found that it got boring as the pieces are too long. He likes some pieces like The Entertainer (1902) as they are fast and interesting. Benedict does not think that composers like Beethoven have any relevance in his life as he does not look out for music like that. He thinks that Western classical music is part of global culture as he has heard it playing in the malls here, and in the other countries he has been to. Benedict does not listen to Chinese pop rock music as he finds them noisy and he cannot make out the words. He does not think there is a difference in terms of the tunes and rhythms between Chinese pop and English pop music, with the only difference being the language. Benedict does not listen to traditional Chinese music unless they are playing on some television programs. He enjoyed the extract of traditional Chinese music and thought that it sounded better than the previous ones that he has heard. Benedict does not think this music helps him to connect with his Chinese friends as they mainly listen to English pop music. Benedict does not think such music expresses a cultural connection with mainland China as most Singaporeans are Westernized. Benedict liked and thought that Chinese crossover music was interesting as he has never seen that before. He thought the music drew a mix of Chinese and Western influences. Benedict felt confused by experimental Chinese music as there were many contradicting sounds coming together. He did not think it sounded nice as they were not coordinated. Benedict does not know who might like this music as he does not think many people will understand what they are trying to express. Benedict has heard of and listened to the Sam Willows and one of the Singapore Idols. Besides them, he does not keep up with the local music scene. He thinks that English Singaporean pop music sounds like Western pop music. Benedict thinks there is a Singaporean musical style in some local pop songs as he can tell that they sound familiar to him. Benedict likes a few National Day songs and thinks that only a few make him feel proud of Singapore. Benedict played the recorder in primary school and learnt to play the piano. He has since stopped his piano lessons and has recently joined his church’s choir. Benedict enjoyed his secondary school music lessons most of the time as it was fun working on the GarageBand app with his friends. He found it irritating sometimes as they would have to coordinate the timings for different instruments to come in to the piece they were making. Benedict prefers if his lessons dedicated more time to learning different instruments or listening to different songs. Benedict joined the church choir as he thought they were really good and wanted to see what it was like. He has learnt that it is not easy performing well together and getting the correct tones together. Benedict does not think that music lessons are necessary for all Singaporean students as it depends on each student’s preference. He thinks that Singapore students may be more interested in music if they were exposed to them growing up, or exposed to different instruments when they were younger.
“Like [be]cause, like after ... after school work, it’s like – you’re so stressed out and wanting to just burst out then listening to this [English pop rock] music just keeps me calmer.”
“Um, I find that ... most of the times it helps [to express myself] because – I find that most of the time it helps because, um, you get to – it’s easier to express your words in [English pop rock] music.”
“Um, I – [Western classical music] got boring for me and it like just makes me fall asleep whenever I listen to it. And it’s just ... that’s the – and it’s like too long. Most of the pieces are just too long.”
“Some [Western classical music] are pretty joyful music. So like The Entertainer (1902), Turkish Rondo (1783), ya, so those are fast and interesting – and nice to hear. And in – interesting as well because of the way that some of the notes are placed. Ya.”
“Especially because in the modern era, you’re – I’m kind of like drifting away most of the times. And not being able to do – so – like I don’t find myself looking out – at – for Beethoven’s music and all those, lah.”
“I think [Western classical music] more global culture because it’s ... to me I find it being heard everywhere especially in the malls, in every other country that we – I have been to. Ya, so like ... Australia, sometimes ... very [seldom], but still in Thailand.”
“No, I do not listen to [Chinese pop rock music]. I find them a bit ... horrible. Hard to hear. Like ... like it’s just – it sounds really noisy with the Chinese words like – not – not like the English pop music. Ya. So I can’t really stand it.”
“I don’t really find much of a difference [between Chinese and English pop rock music]. Just ... the only ... because like most of the time the tunes are the same, the rhythms are the same. The only thing that’s different is the words. Ya, but – ya, I don’t find much difference.”
“I find that [traditional Chinese music] wasn’t too bad. Um, like, it was pretty interesting. Just – it sound – it sounds a lot better than most of the [traditional Chinese music] that I’ve heard. And also introducing the different instruments into it made it more pleasant hearing – pleasant to hear. Ya, so overall ... it was ... I kind of enjoyed it, lah.”
“Because in school – in many places now, when I – when I meet my friends or in school anywhere, we mostly listen to the Western pop rock music. Very rarely do we listen to [traditional] Chinese music unless it’s with the Chinese teachers, ya.”
“I don’t really think [traditional Chinese music expresses a cultural connection of Chinese Singaporeans with mainland China]. Not with the current – not with the current Singaporeans. Especially since most of them are becoming more modernized and Westernized as we accept more of the Western side rather than the Chinese – than our former Chinese side.”
“[Chinese crossover music is] a really interesting genre. I mean like – I never expected that to happen using Chinese instruments on the – on Western songs. So it was really ... interesting and an eye-opener, lah. So – because that has – I have never seen that before, ya.”
“I liked [Chinese crossover music] quite a lot because using – that was – that was really the most interesting song I’ve ever – I’ve seen. And the – using traditional Chinese instruments on that really ... just gave me a different feeling about the song.”
“I’m kind of confused by [experimental Chinese music] because it’s like so many contradicting sounds coming together. It’s like – then some – most – sometimes they are not even coordinated, so it makes it a bit difficult to hear. They were so uncoordinated I couldn’t – I couldn’t tell what they were playing. I didn’t really like it.”
“Consider [experimental Chinese music] a bit bad because many people will not – if many people – I don’t think many people will enjoy it because it’s so jumbled up, you just get lost halfway where – when you’re listening – listening to it.”
“I used to listen to a few [Singaporean artistes] but I forgot their names already. Like the former Singapore Idol, one of them, lah. Ya. Can’t remember. Ya, I can’t remember.”
“Sometimes ... you just get the feeling that [Singaporean pop music is] not like those Western pop rock songs. Ya. So ... sometimes I can identify but sometimes I can’t really identify. Because they just – some sound really – just sound so familiar. Ya, but ... ya, I guess so.”
“Some [National Day songs] do, but some don’t. Ya, because – sometimes it’s just ... the song that makes me a bit, er, embarrassed as to the quality of the other – of the most of the other songs. But some of them just make me feel – kind – really proud [of Singapore] lah, ya.”
“I play one musical – I play the piano. I’m – just finished Grade Seven. And ... I used to play the recorder in primary school, ya.”
“Usually we’ll just use the ... GarageBand on an iPad [during music lessons in secondary school] with a few – with a group of us just listening to the songs and trying to add different instruments together to make a – to make a song piece. So like we’ll add the drums, the guitars, the organ, and whatever not inside, ya.”
“I dislike like the amount of time we had in music lessons because I would – I would prefer it was – if we had more time on music lessons so that we can like – for example learn different instruments – more instruments like the drums or learn the flute again or – ya, learn any other, or just take time to listen the – the different songs that have been played over the many years.”
“My [church] conductor has been having a – kind of hard time just trying to get us to perform well together and get the correct tone together. Because most of us can sing some – sometimes we can’t really reach that certain note, ya. So it – so it kind of screws that whole thing up.”
“I think I’ll like to learn more about ... three different kinds, the English pop and classical – [Western] classical, and the – the Chinese crossover because I find them really interesting, and I find that they would help me in my life.”
“I don’t think music lessons are necessary for all Singaporean students. Because it depends on the child’s, er, preference. So if the child is not very musically-inclined, it’s not right to just force it upon them if they don’t like it. Or – they could at least be an opt-out option where they can do anything else, lah. So I find that it’s not worth being, er, compulsory – being a compulsory lesson.”
“Expose [Singaporean students] to playing the different musical instruments when they’re young, so that they will just like continue learning it un[til they are] older – they are older, and just – ya, learn the different instruments.”
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