TKGS - MEP

In the later half of my P6 year in BPS, MOE announced that there would be a new programme for 'people who were interested in music'. And he urged some of us to have a go at it, since it seemed to be an interesting course.

And so, my friends and I did. We signed up for the audition for MEP - Music Elective Programme.

At the same time, I had to (re)select one of the 5 Secondary Schools which would be offering MEP. This selection was independent of the 6-choice Secondary School selection exercise which, by then, had already been over.

The schools offering MEP were: TKGS, RI, DHS, MGS and ACS. Since my choices were limited to only TKGS, DHS and MGS, it was an easy decision; DHS sounded overly 'Chinese' to me then and MGS was an 'Amen' school.

The MEP audition was an increadibly simple hearing test. We were brought to a language lab and told to put on some headphones. Then we were told to identify the number of notes played! I thought I heard the instructions wrongly, at first, because how could it be that we were required to only determine whether 1 or 2 or 3 notes were played?! No need to identify what notes exactly?! For several of the 'Q's, 2 notes were played one after the other, and all we had to do was say which was higher or lower in pitch?! It was unbelievable, right?!

Anyway, my good friend, Lian Lee and I got in to the MEP and both ended up in TKGS.

In TKGS, I got a cultural shock when I first started the MEP lessons in Sec 1. The 1st few modules were not anything related to music or music-making; instead, we had to read and read and memorise and memorise lots and lots of history! History of musicians as well as history of music development and evolution!

I remember thinking to myself, "This time, I am really done for already. I know close to nothing except bare names of a few classical composers. How?!"

Luckily, as we progressed in the course, things became more bearable. And lessons became more interesting and I could follow better. Later on, it was even better when we were introduced to our 'MEP comrades' in other MEP schools in Sec 3. That year, we had a major MEP camp for all the MEP students from all the 5 MEP schools.

The camp was a stay-in camp held at the ACS. We had to form several different ensemble groups with different MEP school students and make some music for our performance at the grand finale concert before we broke camp. It was tough work, especially since there was a mix of students from all different schools and we had never even met before the camp! So there was a lot of ice-breaking needed.

On top of that, we were also at that age where we would easily feel embarrased talking to boys (remember, TKGS is a girls' school?!) etc. The 'boys-vs-girls' rivalry kind of thing, particularly amongst those from the all-girls schools and all-boys schools, was also very intense, although quite 'fun'.

But we survived the camp and went back to MEP in school more 'refreshed'. At least, there was some practical experience in music-making and that was such a good break from the mundane 'history' stuff in our regular lessons. (I hear that nowdays, MEP students get to go to concerts and even overseas immersion programmes! We didn't have such luxuries then.)

When we were in Sec 3, the MEP girls had to put up a big-scale show on stage for the school as well as for an 'external concert' at the Marine Parade Library Auditorium. It was a 'live' muscial production called 'Samson'. I didn't have any acting role but was in the choir for the show. Many of the songs were very interesting and rather challenging. We also put into good use the stage craft skills that we had picked up all those years doing the class concerts and poetry recitals (a misnomer because it was more than poetry recital) which we all had to do in and outside school every year.

The MOE required all MEP students to have acquired a minimum of Grade 6 piano (or equivalent for those studying organs) by the time we were in Sec 3. I hadn't (since I started learning Piano only at P6) and as a result, I had to do an additonal subject in lieu of that Grade 6 qualification. That was a theory class called 'Music Harmony'.

Only a handful of us took this subject. Although I had felt a little indignant about having to stay back another afternoon to attend this additional class, it turned out to be the star of my entire MEP experience. In this course, we learnt all about music harmony (that's why it was called that!). That included things like cadence-playing, composing accompaniments appropriate for a given music, etc. It was like a more in-depth learning of music theory.

I loved all of these and enjoyed all my lessons. All the extra coaching on various aspects of music theory was a great help to my personal music lessons. The new and additional in-depth knowledge was such a boost to my music theory lessons that I eventually scored a Distinction for my Grade 8 ABRSM Music Theory exam! Not bad, right?!

My aural skills, however, have always been bad. And it somehow got worse during MEP lessons. Whenever the teacher played a 4-bar tune and required us to put that tune down in ink, I could only remember either the first 1-2 bars or the last 1-2 bars only; for the rest of the tune, I would have to try my very best to 'guess' what the score had been! My 'intelligent' guesswork sometimes got me through but most of the time, it didn't. Aural was so tough and torturous. The incredulous looks that the MEP teachers wore on their faces whenever they saw my aural work, were the hardest to bear.

There were only 2 MEP teachers in TKGS for this pioneer batch of MEP guinea-pigs. They were Mrs Vivian Kooi and Miss Koh (who later became a Mrs Choy). Mrs Kooi was the more patient and understanding of the 2 ladies. She would give the few of us who had had to take Music Harmony, a pat on our shoulders each time we contributed to the discussions at the Harmony class. And Mrs Kooi would 'give chance' during aural practices by obliging us (those who, like me, had rotten aural skills too) when we pleaded for a further round of the tune.

Some months ago, I met Mrs Kooi at Katong Mall. She looked older now. She told me that since many years back, she had been concentrating on giving private piano lessons at her home. She was at Katong Mall that day to lend support to her student who was performing at Yicha (a music school in Katong Mall). Ah, she is still the supportive teacher.

The world is really quite small, sometimes. It turned out that WY's piano teacher had also been a student of Mrs Kooi many years ago! In fact, WY's piano teacher said that the piano teacher she had been taking lessons from before she met Mrs Kooi, was super nasty. And very discouraging. But when she met Mrs Kooi, Mrs Kooi restored her confidence and interest in music learning. I thought this story was so inspiring.

Miss Koh/Mrs Choy later also went on to teach MEP at 'A'-level at TJC. By then, I was no longer in the MEP, so was no longer in her MEP class.

The MEP is a good programme if you are musically inclined and have a keen interest in learning music. It helps, of course, if you are also good at things like history (of classical music and composers etc). And if you have a sharp and good ear.

I believe that WY will benefit form MEP. And so I hope he can get into a school which offers MEP. The system works differently these days - students will have to qualify and get a confirmed place in the MEP school before he can apply to take the MEP. We'll see how things go.