Let It Go at the Frozen Sing-A-Long!

Would you believe that it's been just about a year since Frozen first premiered in cinemas? When I caught the movie the first time I knew it was going to be popular, but it has truly taken the world by storm (and then some).

With a little girl who loves Frozen, loves dressing up as Elsa, whose eyes light up with she hears Let It Go playing anywhere, I knew I had to take her to Golden Village's special Frozen Sing-A-Long screenings. Yes, you read that right. These are screenings where you will be able to SING ALONG with Elsa and Anna and the rest of the crew as they build a snowman, let it go, and discover that love is an open door. You are in fact encouraged to sing along with the words appearing on screen karaoke style. I admit it, I was excited.

Prepping our vocal chords for the show was a must. (I thought I'd spare you from the video!)

Of course, we took the opportunity to dress the part. Especially since we were invited to a special Frozen Sing-A-Long Party before the show! Mei was tremendously excited that I finally said she could wear her beloved (and really lovely) Elsa dress, a gift from dear Aunty Audrey, out. But I thought I'd make her something special to go along with the dress too. I'd been thinking about it for a while and I guess this party was the impetus to get it done: I made her Elsa hair.

A headband, lots of yarn, some embellishments, and lots of love and hard work. But her delight on seeing it made it all worth while. She also won a consolation prize in the best-dressed competition, which was a nice extra.

At the Frozen Sing-A-Long Party, the kids were treated to all manner of Frozen-related crafts, from making their own snowman out modelling clay, to decorating a paper snowflake, colouring Frozen pictures, and making bookmarks. There were glitter tattoos and in the corner, a makeover for kids by C'est Moi. And there was ice-cream too! The children sure were kept busy.  

Building her snowman, and being terribly amused by her creation!

While Mei concentrates on lining up her many orange buttons, S shows how it should be done!

Decorating a snowflake.

Bookmarks at the bookmark marking station.

 Before we knew it, it was time for our movie. This was the first time since the movie premiere that I was watching Frozen on the big screen and I must say it's such a treat. And of course, this time you get to SING! But you know what? For all her singing at home, Mei decided that she'd rather "just watch the movie," she said. So guess who sang? Yup, me! I really had fun singing along to the tunes, and finally getting the lyrics right for some of the songs I wasn't so familiar with like Fixer Upper. I did expect to hear more people singing along though, but I didn't, though friends tell me their kids all sang along! So I think if you're thinking of going to a future Frozen-Sing-Along screening and thought you're going to have to listen to a chorus of people singing Let It Go together, I don't think you have to worry too much about that.

If you're keen to attend a Frozen-Sing-Along screening, the good news is that this will be held at selected Golden Village cinemas from 11 to 17 December 2014. You can find more information and book your tickets on the Golden Village website. Each ticket costs $8 and GV Movie Club members stand a chance to win 1 out of 5 Frozen hampers worth $190 each if they purchase 2 or more tickets. These screenings do NOT include the Frozen-Sing-Along Party and activities, but I'm sure the kids (and maybe you) will still enjoy being allowed to sing in the cinema to their favourite songs.

She might not have sung at the screening but since coming home with the Frozen soundtrack that she won for best-dressed, she's been marathon singing ever since! And I… have been singing along with her. When you can't beat them, join them, right? Good thing I still love these songs!

Jamming at His First Piano Recital

My little man recently hit a new milestone in his musical journey when he had his first piano recital.

I realise I've never written about Noey's music lessons though it's been nearly two years since he first started. I started Noey on piano lessons when he turned four because I thought knowing music - being able to read the notes, appreciate nuances in music and just translate music that you hear into tunes on the piano - is one of life's pleasures. That said, I did approach music lessons with some trepidation, because I played for many years and I didn't always enjoy it. I frequently felt like I was spending too much of my time playing exam pieces and not being very good at them! When I was finally done with piano lessons, I didn't touch the piano for a long time. During that period, I didn't miss it.

But by and by, I started playing again, listening to tunes and translating them onto the keyboard, flipping through song books and playing for enjoyment. Believe me, there was a time when I would never have put playing with enjoyment in the same sentence! And I was grateful. That I had the skill to play to entertain myself, and spend some time in private worship. When the kids came along, I was glad I was able to entertain them too. Noey loves to sing and Mei loves to dance, and I enjoy being able to accompany them.

I decided it was worth the hard work and so when Noey turned four, I started looking around for a piano course for him to join. I had intended to enrol him at Yamaha to learn the way I was taught, but was put off by the bad class timings -- either after 7pm on weekdays or smack in the afternoon on Sat. Just as I was scratching my head about it, a friend providentially blogged about her daughter's piano classes. And when I contacted the teacher, I was told - amazingly - that she was going to start a new class that very next week. That's how Noey's come to be with MYC (Music for Young Children). 

Having been at it for a while, I must say that I do like the curriculum. It's fun, rounded, fairly comprehensive as kids music classes go. Noey does enjoy class and because it is parent accompanied, I've been able to learn along with him. It's a group class and he's enjoys the company of his classmates. The mummies have become friends too!

But piano practice, well, that's another matter altogether. I know my Mum totally thinks it's karma as I struggle to get him to practice, considering how she struggled with me too. But seeing how I now do appreciate having the ability to play fuels my motivation to let Noey continue learning and make him practice. Honestly, he isn't bad. He has a certain gift for music. Over the past couple of years he has developed perfect pitch that makes listening and singing tunes in notation effortless for him. I often catch him singing along to tunes, sounding out the notes while playing with Lego, and he's almost never wrong. He also loves transposition and can play songs in a variety of keys by ear. BUT! Only when they are not on the practice list. He could certainly do with more piano practice since his playing is rather average (no beautifully curved hands and weak fingers) and his sight-reading is rather poor. It is really like staring at myself (horror of horrors!). My mother is definitely laughing!

Anyway, back to the recital.

His teacher decided to hold a recital for all her students, which was both exciting and a bit nerve-wrecking at the same time. Well, probably more nerve-wrecking for me than for Noey! Still, I thought it was a great opportunity for all the children to learn a piece that was above their level and to perform before an audience.

The children each learnt a different piece, some solos (like Noey) and some playing duets with their mums. I thought his teacher did a great job picking a variety of different pieces, which were all rather different and interesting. Noey's was Traffic Jam by Kevin Olson, which is a modern piece I initially found rather jarring, since it was supposed to sound like a traffic jam after all! But it grows on you - or me at least!  

Getting dressed up for the occasion was half the fun, though I admittedly didn't think about it and would have sent him up in t-shirt and jeans if his teacher hadn't queried about his outfit a week before the actual event. I had to scramble and send out an SOS to friends asking if anyone had a long-sleeved shirt and long pants which Noey could borrow! Fortunately I have very helpful friends (thanks Jas!) and with a new pair of shoes and a borrowed bow tie from his classmate, he was set.

I felt nervous for him, but if Noey was nervous, he didn't show it. He was fairly calm and when it was his turn to go up, well, he just went up and played his piece! Two actually, since he was also asked to play his piano composition for the MYC annual composition festival. He didn't make any obvious errors and probably only I (and his teacher) could tell when certain parts were not as smooth as they could have been, but all things considered, I think he did good. We were - are - very proud of him.

With Noey done, we could sit back to enjoy the rest of the performances, most of which were really good. Especially the senior students! The husband wondered aloud if Noey would ever be up to that standard. Well, we shall see.

Everyone took a well-deserved, ermm, Carl's Junior treat at the end of it before we called it a day. Definitely a proud parent moment for the record books -- until the next one!

Come Meet Mozart with the SSO!

If you were to meet Mozart, what would he be like and what would you ask him?

That is the premise for the latest edition of SSO's Concerts for Children. In Come Meet Mozart, conductor Jason Lai turns chat-show host as he interviews Mozart and allows the audience to experience Mozart's music, from his first-ever orchestral work to his last, as well as choice selections from his many operas and piano concertos.

The Associate Conductor for the Hong Kong Sinfonietta and as well the Principal Conductor of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Orchestra, Lai first came up with the idea for the concert for the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, with which it has been performed to great success.

Said Lai (in an interview in Bravissimo, the SSO's quarterly newsletter): "Mozart is a fascinating composer so when I was asked to put together a concert that had educational element I came up with an idea that would help bring across his extraordinary life as well as his beautiful music. Today we are surrounded by media and so I wanted to tap into this idea and borrowed the talk show format on TV to introduce Mozart to the world. Of course TV didn't exist in Mozart's time but I thought it would be fun to explore what would happen if we could magically make him appear on stage."

I don't know about you, but my kids are certainly looking forward to meeting Mozart! My 5-year old has been learning to music for the last 1.5 years and he's been introduced certain pieces by Mozart including recently the fascinating "Der Speigel" (also known as "The Mirror").

I asked my son what he would want to ask Mozart if he got to meet him and this is what he came up with:

"Why do you like to play the piano?"

"Do you sing the notes when you play?"

"What is your favourite song?"

"What is your favourite book?"

"Why is your hair like that - white, long and curly?"

Well, I don't know if they'd be addressing his questions at the concert talk-show -- guess we'll have to attend to find out! 

Come Meet Mozart will be on at the University Cultural Centre, NUS on Sat 31 May 2014, for two shows only at 11am and 1pm. Featuring Jason Lai (conductor) and Chad O'Brien (Mozart), each concert lasts about one hour and is suitable for kids aged 4 to 14. Tickets are priced at $30 and $25 with discounts available for family packages of a minimum of 4 tickets, and can be purchased from Sistic.

(Click here for our previous review of another of SSO's Concerts for Children: Carnival of the Animals)

Babies Proms 2013

On Thursday, we went for Babies Proms -- our 4th edition, would you believe it? Since that time when I managed to get tickets quite by chance in 2010, we've been back every year, and have gone on to induct Meips into it too.

This being our 4th time attending, it was all familiar and par for the course for me. The programme was much the same as last year, following the same format, and with a number of songs being repeated. I enjoyed this year's selection of music and no, it's not because they played the Star Wars theme! My son was quite tickled by that though. For the record, here's this year's playlist:

2013 Playlist

Exceprts from the following:

HANDEL - La Rejouissance from Music for the Royal Fireworks
MASCAGNI - Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
STRAUSS - The Blue Danube Waltz No. 3
TOWNSEND - Cheerful Cha Cha
TCHAIKOVSKY - 3rd movement from Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathétique’
WILLIAMS - Imperial March and Main Title from Star Wars
WILLIAMS - Theme from Jaws
OFFENBACH - Overture from Orpheus in the Underworld
BIZET - Les Toréadors from Carmen
SOUZA - The Liberty Bell March 

Our view of the stage.

It was interesting attending the concert with Noey this year as he's been having music lessons (for piano) for the past year. As compared to last year, I felt that he was more attuned to the music. We had some fun talking about the dynamics in the pieces, and also trying to identify the time signature for each piece. He also tried, on his own accord, to identify the ending notes of the pieces, but he didn't get them right. Hah. Guess his pitch still needs some work! But I could see that he had a better appreciation for the music this time round, which was great.

As for Meips, she enjoyed waving and moving along to the music. She's always been an attentive member of the audience -- she really great at shows and concerts -- and this was no different. I was glad that she had a chance to just have fun.

 

Pretending to be a tree, swaying to the music.

I guess both kids enjoyed it, since they unexpectedly surprised me by saying that they wanted to go on stage to get closer to the instruments at the end of the concert. I immediately hurried them down, but we didn't manage to get on stage in the end since the 50-child limit was quickly reached. So we had to make do with being in front of the stage, which, fortunately, the kids were quite content with. I really wish they would do something about the mayhem at the end where everyone rushes for the stage. There'd always be parents waiting around thinking they'd get their chance to go up, only to be realise later that nope, the show's over. Maybe issue tickets or have better crowd control?

We met Mummydelphine in front of the stage!

Much as the kids enjoyed it, I'm not sure we'll be back next year. I might still bring Meips but for Noey, I think it's time to move on. Both children really enjoyed Carnival of the Animals in November, part of the SSO's Concerts for Children Series, and we are looking to catch the next one in March next year.

We'll see how it goes, but I know Babies Proms will always have a special place in our hearts and memories!

SSO's Concerts For Children: Carnival of the Animals

It was quite by chance that we ended up attending the Carnival of the Animals concert at the Esplanade last week.

I have been bringing the kids regularly to Babies' Proms, and I hadn't thought of trying SSO's Concerts for Children yet. But when Noey's music teacher offered the class some tickets to Carnival of the Animals, I knew I had to bring the kids to the show as it is one of the their favourite pieces of music. I had bought the SSO-produced CD of the piece after Babies' Proms last year and it is one of their regular requests. That's not surprising I guess since it is a fun piece and animals are something they can relate to! I was looking forward to hearing it performed live and excited to see how it would be presented to kids.

It was our first time attending the Concerts for Children series and I was glad to see that like Babies' Proms, there were activities to entertain the kids outside the concert hall. They entertained themselves taking funny pics with the various animal standees they found.

For this concert, the SSO shared the stage with L'Arsenal a Musique, a pair of performers who brought the imagery of animals to live with the use of small and large marionettes, and plenty of physical comedy and theatre. The kids were highly entertained and kept laughing throughout the performance as Octave and Mandoline got up to their various antics. They enjoyed it as the lions, kangaroos, donkeys, underwater creatures and the like were brought to life in turn on stage to the beautiful music of Camille Saint-Saëns, ably performed by the SSO. Being someone who plays some piano (I hesitate to call myself a pianist due to my lack of skill), I gawked openly at the skill of the two pianists that day as their fingers flew over the keys, particularly in the movement of the Wild Asses. In harmony and sometimes not quite, as the piece dictated. As for Noey, while he found many of the movements funny, his favourite was The Swan. Beautiful and graceful, it's not surprising it's the most famous movement of the piece. Both kids were also excited to hear the Aquarium movement, which they associate with the SEA Aquarium as it is played on repeat there in front of the largest tank.

All three of us enjoyed the concert tremendously. My only complaint was that some of the movements were not played in their entirety as they sought to incorporate the music with the stage action.

After the performance, the kids were chuffed to meet the performers (the perks of watching the later show!), tho alas, our photo was a little blown out.

It was definitely a good experience and I'm now looking to see which of the SSO Concerts for Children I can bring the kids to next year! The Story of Barbar, The Little Elephant in March next year looks interesting! Let's see if our schedule permits.

Babies' Proms 2012

We attended this year's edition of the SSO Babies' Proms a couple of weeks back before Nomi fell ill.

It was the third year for Noey and I, and the first year for Nomi, but I was surprised to learn that this year's edition was the 10th anniversary concert. Wow! I didn't realise that Babies' Proms has been running for that long! It remains a highly popular concert with parents and young children, with the tickets selling out within days of going on sale. While I might grumble about the competition when it comes to getting seats, I am glad that parents are eager to bring their children to hear the orchestra play and expose them to classical music.

I know some parents who think that the concert is over-rated, but I remain a fan. I've always enjoyed the concert, primarily because I enjoy listening to the SSO play. When I was younger, probably around the time when I was in Primary school, my mother had a colleague who used to regularly gift us her season tickets to SSO concerts. At least, that's what I think, since I have not asked my mother about this! But what I do remember is the music, and the excitement of dressing up and going for a concert at Victoria Concert Hall. That was also the time I fell in love with the violin, though it is an instrument I have never learnt to play.

So yes, I like classical music, though I'm definitely not hard core about it.

Which is another reason why I like Babies' Proms -- it makes the orchestra and the music more accessible to everyone. Also, which other event welcomes infants and tots and allows them into the Esplanade Concert Hall? I think stepping into the Concert Hall is an experience in itself.

Anyway, this being my third Babies' Proms, I really felt like an old hand. Hah.

The programme followed pretty much the same format as previous years.

We were introduced to the Concert Master and then after that the orchestra, with each section separately playing the same piece of music. We were then made to experience how different music is used to evoke different scenes and emotions. Noey enjoyed the section with the "shark music" though he refused to participate in the marching. His favourite bit was when the SSO played Cheerful Cha Cha Cha  by Jill Townsend (a repeat from last year) and got the audience to clap to the "cha cha cha" beat. Noey really came alive then had his fun trying to fit the claps in at the right time! The rest of the time, he continued to refuse to follow along with the actions, but well, that's my son. And his absolute favourite was the part of the concert? When the children went on stage to conduct the orchestra. He was so tickled by that.

In contrast, little Nomi was quite happy to wave and clap when I told her to, though I don't think she really knew what was going on. But I think she enjoyed the concert. This girl does love music after all. She wore a rather wide-eyed look throughout, but I was glad that she didn't cry nor ask to go out of the concert hall. In fact, at times she stood on my lap and seemed ready to climb over the barrier in front of us to get closer to the action. 

At the end, the children were as usual invited to go on stage to get closer to the orchestra. I asked Noey but he flatly refused to go. Which I totally expected. In fact, I think the SSO playing Sleighride is, to him, the sign to get out of the concert hall -- they've played it for 3 years in a row as the closing tune! --  so that's what we did.

Short and sweet, but I enjoyed it, and I think the kids did too. I liked that this year's concert featured more modern themes and tunes, many of which were from the movies. The connection was lost on the children, but brought to mind plenty of memories for me! The pieces featured in the playlist made classical music feel less antiquated and alienating, and I like that.

Now, shall we go again next year?

 

2012 Playlist:

Excerpts from the following:

JAMES HORNER - Titanic
KLAUS BADELT - Pirates of the Carribean
GABRIEL FAURÉ - Pavane
GEORGES BIZET - March of The Toreadors from Carmen Suite No. 1
JILL TOWNSEND - Cheerful Cha Cha Cha
JOHN WILLIAMS - Tribute to John Williams
JOHANN STRAUSS II - Blue Danube Waltz
VARIOUS - Themes from 007
LALO SCHIFRIN - Theme from Mission: Impossible

Our Music Studio Trial

If you've been on the hunt for a music and movement programme for little ones, you might have realised that Kindermusik is no more. I had been bringing Naomi for Kindermusik class since the start of the year and was surprised when I was informed at the start of our 2nd term that the franchise was not going to be renewed at the end of April. Instead, the teachers have banded together to start their own programme under a new name: Our Music Studio. I was told that it would be based on the same concept as Kindermusik, but with different songs and themes.

They ran a free trial for a week at the beginning of May which coincided with the end of Naomi's Kindermusik term, so we decided to check it out.

What the programme is like (6 to 18months):

Like they promised, the new programme is very similar in structure to the previous Kindermusik programme. It starts with a short session of free play, where the kids are given balls to play with. Naomi loves this and can often be found stealing balls from other more helpless babies.

After the balls are packed away, everyone settles down in a circle to sing the "hello" song. Every child is sang hello to in turn, with different actions.

After the hello song, it's time for a little baby massage and stretching. The latter is where we move the babies arms and legs to promote cross mid-line movement. Again, this is something we used to do in Kindermusik. Naomi is always the baby who refuses to lie still at this point and it's an achievement if I can get through one sequence with her.

Thereafter, the activities vary, depending on the week. For this particular class, the egg shakers came out. And it was not a moment too soon! All the kids love getting their hands on instruments, and Naomi was gleefully running around shake, shake, shaking it. The lesson was on Steady Beat, so babies and mummies shook and tapped their shakers along to the music demonstrating the steady beat. After that, the shakers were put away and we got to our feet to dance with our babies to a piece of music. Then the drums come out -- another hot favourite! Babies and mummies beat, scratch and tap on the drum to a piece of music in turn, and to different rhythms.

The parachute came out to play at some point. Naomi the peekaboo-queen loves this and is always running under the parachute to play as mummies and babies whoosh the parachute up and down, again to music.

After all the dancing and playing, there's some quiet time to change the pace. Balls come out for play and the teacher handed round cups of water.

Then it's back on our feet for a couple of dances before it ends with the goodbye song. All in about 1 hour.

What I like about it:

Having attended Kindermusik previously with both my kids, I liked the familiar format. The same-ness also made it easy for Naomi to adapt. I also liked that they had retained the access to instruments, which is very popular with the kids.

As promised, there is no longer any music package to buy. It used to be a requirement for every Kindermusik module that enrolled students had to purchase the music package, which included a CD of songs for the module, a book, a chart and a musical instrument. I always felt it was quite a rip-off. I didn't mind getting the CD and might have done it on my own accord to play to the kids, but the books and charts were really not great and of no use to me. For this new class, we were told that the teachers had recorded a disc of songs to be used for the class which we could choose to purchase if we wished to, with no obligations.

What I didn't like so much about it:

I felt that the lesson was a bit more disjointed than usual. Also there was more of a reliance on the teacher's singing than on music being played on the player, possibly due to musical recordings being unavailable? I'm not sure. Because it was a trial class, there was also a lot more explaining being done by the teacher which made things a bit more draggy. I also felt that the music selection for this module wasn't that engaging.

Overall:

Everything said, I honestly believe that a lot of what I wasn't so impressed by are teething issues which will be worked out over time. It was really rather chaotic during the free trial lesson with many new people turning up to try out the class. To be fair, I went back the following week when I knew there would be fewer students and the class did run better. The max size of the class for Naomi's age group is 12, but I've always felt that 8 kids is optimal. I'm sure the class will also run more smoothly once the teachers get accustomed to it and fine-tune the programme.

For this, I must say that I have confidence that the experienced teachers at the helm of this venture will make it work. I've always liked Naomi's teacher, YC. She's very sweet to all the babies and I like the fact that even though I've attended her class week after week for a few months, the activities and dances were always different each week. At the same time, she also knew which staples to repeat every week -- like the drums -- because they were so popular with the kids.

Naomi probably won't be continuing with the new programme, at least at this time. Not because of the change, but because I had always intended to stop after the last module to let her try something new. But if you are looking for a music and movement programme, you might like to try this one out. Now is also a good time to sign up because it's $30 per class for this term and they are waiving the registration fee.

Who knows, we might be back if I can't find something else more suitable!

And The Band Played On

What's this that you've brought me to, Mummy?

Quite by chance, Noey and I were able to attend SSO's Babies' Proms this year.

I'd heard of this really popular programme by the SSO from my colleagues who had been trying to get tickets. But when the tickets went on sale back in Sept, they sold out really quickly and none of us were able to get hold any tickets.

I had clean forgotten about it till I was surfing the web on Tuesday night, the day before Hari Raya Haji and chanced upon the fact that Babies' Proms was going to be happening the next day and on Thursday. And even more amazingly, tickets (though limited) were available! I still have no idea why tickets were available at that late stage -- perhaps some who had pre-booked tickets gave them up? Anyway, given the rare stroke of luck and the fact that I had a free day on Thursday, I decided it was an opportunity not to be missed and scooped up a pair of tickets for Noey and I.

Noey finishing up his breakfast on the Esplanade steps before entering the Concert Hall.

Is this a trumpet I spy?

I'm glad we went because I really enjoyed it, even if Noey was a bit unsure about it all. Haha. It was really a very well put together programme that was made as relevant to kids as possible. They introduced the different sections of the orchestra and the different instruments that made up each section, and had the audience listen to the different sections play the same piece of music. Throughout the concert, the orchestra to played snippets of different easily recognisable pieces and got the kids to sway, stamp and clap along. They told a story and used music to enhance the story-telling action. There was also a popular section where they got some kids up to conduct the orchestra, which obligingly played to the tempo of the conductor's conducting. That drew a lot of laughs!

Following the pre-show activities, my little man in his own seat. There were balloon twisters outside and Noey became the happy owner of a balloon sword which accompanied him to the concert.

The trombone player up for his short solo bit.

I wasn't sure how Noey would take to the concert. He is fine with classical music -- Symphony FM92.4 is one of the few radio stations he doesn't really object to, though his first preference by far remains his own Kindermusik/Sunday School Song/Kid's Songs CDs. But this boy of mine doesn't like crowds and gets scared when dramatic music is played. Plus he's not a big fan of following along with actions to songs.

As expected he wore his serious/worried look throughout the concert and when they played "exciting" music, he hopped on my lap and clung to me. Then again, he had just recovered from a fever and was not 100% so that probably contributed to it as well. (He would come down with a dippy nose and bad throat the next day but I didn't know it at that time.)

The mayhem on stage at the end when the kids were invited on stage during the last piece. I asked Noey if he wanted to go and not surprisingly, he said no.

But I think the experience did sink in. Later when asked to recount his day to his Papa, he was able to tell DD that there were "many people playing instruments" and name a few. It seems the percussion made the most impression on him. He even obligingly made the sound of the cymbals when asked. And when asked about the music, he was able to say that the orchestra played "christmas songs" because the orchestra had ended off with Sleigh Ride by Johnny Mathis. He gave us an insight into what he was thinking though when he told us that "the music was too loud." Hah.

I'd love to go again next year and in the meantime, bring him for more concerts, maybe some casual ones and some in the park. Hopefully he'll warm up to the idea eventually!