Transcript of interview with Simon Hunt (conducted by Gavin Lee), 30 September 2016, 2 pm, Temasek Junior College.
Simon Hunt is a British music teacher at Temasek Junior College. Simon does not identify with any particular music genre. Simon enjoys punk rock and jazz music, and Western classical music by Bach. While Simon enjoys that kind of music and finds that it has value, he does not think that he needs to broadcast this. Simon likes the sounds of instruments like the trumpet and the Baroque chamber organ. Simon thinks that despite the fact that more students are learning about Asian music, the majority of students are still more invested in Western classical music. He thinks this could be due to people seeing the social value of having passed an internationally-recognized Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) exam. Simon teaches Asian music by exposing the students to elements of the music, and having them improvise. The students’ performances are then recorded and they do peer and self-assessment. Simon finds that students generally enjoy practical music-making sessions more than simply listening to a musical piece and analyzing it. Simon thinks that his students still regard musical genres on a hierarchy with Western music more important than Asian music. However, that is not the case with some students who learn Asian instruments. Simon thinks these students set a good example for their peers as it shows them that Asian music is a living tradition. Simon thinks that Singaporean students value their grades a lot, and are not willing to learn about something if it will not be tested in their assessments and exams. However, Simon thinks that this also depends on what class he teaches. Simon thinks that Singaporean students have not only lived up to their stereotype of being technically proficient, but also play their instruments with a lot of maturity and understanding as well. Simon thinks after students are done with the curriculum, they have a greater appreciation of and respect for Asian music. Simon thinks that music students overseas do not always value Western classical music more than other types of music. He thinks that some of them might even overvalue non-Western musics as they see them as exotic. Simon has observed that every year for the A-Levels exams (University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate Advanced-Level national exam in Singapore), two or three students compose music which shows Asian influence. Simon thinks that Asian music has always been a feature in music curricular across different countries. However, this was not the case decades ago when he studied only Western classical music in university. Thus, Simon thinks that it is good that the Music Elective Program in Singapore [high school program that leads to the Advanced- or Ordinary-Level national examination for 18- and 16-year olds in music] added Asian music into the curriculum, as it reflects that Singapore is an international community, and this helps to broaden one’s horizons. Simon thinks that because his knowledge of Singaporean music is superficial, he does not really have a view of it yet. However, he thinks that the Singapore-based Belgium composer Robert Casteels, who draws extensively on Asian music, makes people think in a different way and that ethos is to be respected.
“I think Bach was a working musician who did his job well. I don’t think he thought of himself as an artist or a great genius. That was a concept that came in a little bit after him I think. So, yeah, I’d say “wow,” I found value in it. It doesn’t mean I necessarily have to go out proselytizing it.”
“I missed out on the 70s because I was listening to Bach, so I thought I’d catch up and listen to punk rock, and that sort of thing. And I do a little bit of jazz now, I play, I listen to jazz as well.”
“I get the feeling that [the students] regard it as more important – the Western music than the Asian music. I think they have a hierarchy. I don’t think we try to teach them the hierarchy. The hierarchy may have been picked up subliminally.”
“I think having kids like that who are involved in a living Asian musical tradition is quite a good influence on the other kids because they can actually see that music is not all about learning about these dead composers, but a living tradition.”
“But when [an Asian musical tradition is] not a notated tradition, you don’t have these artefacts like the score to venerate. You can’t worship the physical object that is the score. So, you’re improvising, you’re playing by ear. It’s more difficult to analyze that kind of music, because you have to analyze it completely aurally.”
“The kids quite enjoy it when it’s actual practical music-making, rather than just listening to it and analyzing it, and being terribly serious about it. They’re actually doing something.”
“The obvious thing [for me] to state as a Westerner in Singapore, is that what the students value about their studying of music, is most often their grades. They love their As.”
“The stereotype in the West is that Asian students are only very good at learning the notes, and being very technically proficient. However, it wasn’t my experience at all. My experience was not only were they able to deal with very difficult music technically as performers, but they played with a lot of maturity and understanding. The difference is that they take it a lot more seriously.”
“I think in order to make [Asian music] come alive, probably the best way to do it is not just to listen to it and talk about it, but to try to get involved in it, play the music.”
“Actually, in some ways some of the Western [students] have kind of gone full circle. Some of them possibly overvalue sometimes the musical traditions outside the West. They sort of worship them – maybe they sort of worship them for the exotic quality.”
“Every year I’ve noticed here, among the “A”-Levels students, there’s always two of three who like to compose music which shows an Asian influence. That’s not something that I force them to do.”
“I’ve put [the students] into groups and given them instructions about what’s expected of them, the overall shape the improvisation is supposed to show. We listen to music, and sometimes I play the music with different improvising traditions. I’ll play them some jazz, as well as some Indian music so that they can see that you can improvise in different ways.”
“I think the students definitely need to hear music from a variety of traditions. They don’t necessarily have to like it but I think they can learn to respect it even if they don’t like it. And maybe become a little bit less focused on one kind.”
“I think the ABRSM has done a very good job in kind of marketing and harnessing that basic desire to pass exams. And certainly, in this part of the world, they’ve got a lot of good customers from it.”
“I remember I enjoyed folk songs at school. Since then … I don’t know if jazz counts as folk, if Broadway musicals count as folk songs. But I liked to play improvised jazz just for fun.”
“I know a few groups of people here in Singapore who get together and play for fun. And I quite often join in these things. Sometimes on a Sunday afternoon, sometimes in a gig, you know. I did a gig with Marina Xavier one year.”
“I might play them a little snippet from Beethoven, and then ask them to compare it to a snippet from God Save the Queen (1977) by Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten screaming out these angry vocals. I think it’s quite fun to bring in wildly different kinds of music to the students. Just to shake up their preconceptions a little bit.”
“I think that a composer that changes up things and makes us think about things is Robert Casteels. He makes us think outside the usual categories, breaks down our prejudices a little bit. I think you have to respect that kind of impulse.”
“My “O”-Level and “A”-Level syllabi [when I was in high school] certainly didn’t have any [Asian music]. So, I think it’s a reflection of probably Western practice at the time. I think now Western universities and schools are teaching other than Western traditions and Singapore’s doing likewise. Perhaps it’s a reflection of the fact that we are a little bit more broad-minded these days.”
“I played in youth orchestras, and I don’t know whether I have an identity from playing in an orchestra. It’s quite liberating to not have any identity from playing in any musical ensemble, perhaps.”
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