Interesting…came across this quote recently. I wasn’t even born then but it is interesting to note that the every essence of the fact that we are Singaporeans makes it worth fighting – our identity, our citizenship, our land, our future. Although there are still many things I don’t agree with…anyway, that’s another story.

The Singapore Ministry of Education has always emphasized the creation of a few peaks of excellence while maintaining a high level of achievement in realization of its limitations. Since 1984, the GEP has provided a platform for the identification and development of academically competent students. However, up to date, there is no systematic process to identify talents from other domains apart from the academics. The government has recognized, however, that the focus on academic achievements alone is not sufficient. Although the government has pumped in many resources and money into the creation of special schools to develop special talents such as the sports and the arts, there is no clear pathway for these children to be developed holistically to ensure that they reach their fullest potential.  More needs to be done for a holistic and balanced education for these children, including the commitment to provide pathways for them to actualize their gifts and talents.

My interests lies in the focus on the developmental process, to concentrate on the software; the nature of artistic talents and how talent in the arts develops. To be specific, I am interested to know how we can achieve a full circle of the five aspects for the education of every child (in their specific gift and talent) in accordance to the Chinese belief, de zhi ti qun mei, which means moral values and character building, intelligence and knowledge, physical developmetn, social skills and artistic skills.

We have done very well for the academic aspects, now it is time to focus on how we can develop the other aspects for children in general.

 trument. It is, thus, important that cultural perspectives be explored in the process of assessing talent growth, especially in our increasingly pluralistic society. Singapore is a multiethnic and multicultural country with richly diverse cultures of the Chinese, Malay, Indian and other racial groups. This study examined the role of Chinese cultural perspectives influencing the musical development of a musically gifted adolescent in Singapore of Chinese descent. Gagné’s Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT; 1985, 2003) was adapted as a conceptual model, and the preliminary surveys and interview protocols for both the parents and adolescent were designed using the adapted Gagné’s model as a guide. The surveys were administered to gain demographic and background information on the parents and adolescent and the open-ended interviews were used as the primary source of data. The data collected was interpreted and analysed for coding to identify the key statements from the descriptions of the parents and adolescent. The key statements were subsequently categorized into common themes that represented the cultural themes that facilitated her musical development. Four common themes emerged as important cultural values that contributed to the musically gifted adolescent’s musical development: (1) believing in the “gift”, (2) cultural expectations, (3) learning and persistence, and (4) the concept of ‘xiao’ “孝顺”(filial piety). The findings suggest that cultural perspectives can hold diverse meanings within and between multicultural societies such as in Singapore. Therefore, the powerful interplay of factors affecting talent development cannot be fully understood without taking cultural traditions and values into consideration given the diversity of the societies today. To this end, the findings call for parents, music teachers and music programme administrators to understand the musically gifted child’s performance, in part, in relation to the culture in which he or she was raised and customise identification tools, developmental strategies, and assessments that will capitalize on each child’s strengths and level of giftedness. It is also hoped that the findings of this study will provide basic theoretical grounds for further research in understanding the role of cultural perspectives in the

talent development process of musically gifted individuals.

The literature documents a vast number of musical talent developmental studies. However, within the field of gifted education, less is known of music as an area of talent development in the Asian context compared to the Western counterparts. Part of a larger study, this study investigates the factors that contribute to the talent development of a musically gifted adolescent in Singapore through the contextually rich perspectives of the adolescent, her parents and teachers. DMGT-based analysis (Gagne, 2000) was used as an analytical tool to understand the dynamics of the adolescent’s musical experiences over a span of ten years. Multiple data sources include preliminary surveys, interview protocols and secondary data in the form of news archives and concert reviews. Five macro themes emerged from the findings of this study: (1) natural abilities, (2) empowerment and motivation for success, (3) support from significant others, (4) early musical experiences, and (5) cultural values and expectations. Results broadly support findings in the literature regarding the complex interplay of factors affecting talent development. However, there is evidence in this study indicating that the cultural perspectives of an individual’s cultural background and context can be conducive to talent development and thus provide basic theoretical grounds for further research.  Taking into consideration the complex interplay of factors contributing to musical talent development, implications for practice, policy, and research focus on connections between the child, parents and teachers regarding musical talent development and designing identification tools, developmental strategies, and assessments to maximize each child’s strengths and weaknesses.

Subject-Case study

Ling (not her real name) was hailed by the TIME magazine as one of Asia’s “Small Wonders” and a “bona fide prodigy” when she was only ten years old. The case study focused on the musical experiences of fourteen-year-old Ling, who is an accomplished young pianist of Singapore-Chinese descent. Ling was chosen because she is regarded as one of the region’s most promising young pianists (‘Singapore’s talented children’, 5 Dec, 2003; ‘Small wonders’, 10 Feb, 2005). Ling is talented in music and excels academically. Raised in Singapore in a family of three siblings, she is the elder twin of two younger brothers. In the preliminary surveys, Ling was asked to give a profile of her academic and musical achievements. Ling was ranked among the top 1% in Singapore in an international Math Competition sponsored by Australia’s University of New South Wales and is a high scorer in the Year 2004 Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE)[1]. She was also selected for the Gifted Education Program (GEP) [2] in Singapore and scored a math/verbal average of 700 in the SAT exams. Her musical endeavors are equally stellar. Ling was accepted to a prestigious local music conservatory at the age of thirteen, making her the youngest music undergraduate in Singapore. This selective university admittance, no doubt, put her well within the top 1% of the talent threshold in the DMGT. On top of this, she has won numerous awards in piano competitions, including a first prize in a prestigious international piano competition. The odds of outdoing many promising young pianists around the world in a piano competition would probably be even smaller, and this easily puts Ling higher on Gagne’s metric-based talent threshold (Gagne, 1993), probably in the 1:10,000 division of the “exceptionally talented” (Gagne, 2004, p. 130) among pianists. Ling is currently studying piano under Dr Thomas Hecht and composition with Dr John Sharpley. Other internationally acclaimed teachers and pianists who had taught her include Evengy Koroliov, Norma Fisher, and Martin Roscoe. 

Momo attended a vocal and piano recital yesterday after her lunch at the NIE canteen. The recital really touched her mind, heart, soul and senses. It has been a long time since Momo attended a music concert, due in part to all the practicalities of life that had detached her (sadly) from music. But this recital reconnected her to the beautiful world of music.

Music is part of our lives. Rhythm and harmony is interwoven in our being; the way we speak, move, act, and behave. We cannot detach music from our lives because it has the power to move you in many ways, if you bring yourself to know and feel the music from within. It is so powerful that it can bring one to tears, open up hearts and brighten even the darkest hour of your lives.

During the concert featuring Chinese-American vocalist – Violet Chang and Singaporean pianist, Yeong Yoon Ching, one song touched Momo – Bluebird, a Brazilian love song by Jayme Ovalle (lyrics from a very touching poem by Manuel Bandeira).

The words in the poem are spoken by a man singing to a bluebird,

Vai, Azulao, Azulao, copanheiro, vai!
Vai ver minha ingrata,
Diz que sem elo
Sertoa nao e mais sentao!
Ai voa Azulao
vai contrar companheiro, vai!

—Translation—

Go, bluebird, my companion, go! Go and see my ungrateful love,
say that without her
the forest is no longer the forest!
Alas, fly bluebird,
go and tell her, my companion, go!

http://www.blog.co.uk/media/audio/azuloa_ovalle_jayme/873671

If you can, Momo encourage you to engulf yourself in the dark, close your eyes, slow down your breathing and listen to this piece. You may smile to yourself at the end of the song, but more importantly, you WILL feel a sense of calm and peace flowing through your entire being. What a beautiful song…

 In a nutshell, Momo decided to chronicle her work around her into the web so that she can reflect and ponder on how and why she does certain things, think certain ways and react to certain situations or thoughts. Momo doesn’t want to call it ‘research’ (which in fact is what she does) because most people would feel revulsive towards this word. Momo has heard people telling her that research is useless and redundant, that it is inferior to real actions and above all, a waste of time. The truth is, Momo is quite repulsive towards these reactions because she feels that without research, homosapiens don’t think and know why they does certain things and make informed choices. And Momo has seen it happen in front of her every eyes. She has seen that the frog in the well will not only not (bad english) see the world around him (you know it is a male, alright), he will perish alone, in the cold and regret the things he does (you may not understand this, but Momo will tell you first hand if she does see you face to face).

Of course, through it all, Momo is not perfect, she aspires to be a good person and hope that her work will at least have some impact some day, somehow to link theory to practice. Because at the end of the day, Momo is still an educator and that’s who she will be.