Malaysian Choral Composers Series: Geneviene Wong
Geneviene Wong
Bio
Geneviene Wong Jen-Pei graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly known as Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD), Scotland) with First Class Honours and received the “Rhona Reid Scholarship” to pursue the MMus (Performance) in Piano Accompaniment with Jean Hutchison. Upon completion of the Masters, she was awarded the “Broadwood Junior Fellowship for Piano Accompaniment” at the RSAMD.
In Glasgow, she accompanied the Glasgow Youth Choir and the Glasgow Philharmonic Male Voice Choir, performing in various venues throughout Britain, Germany and the Czech Republic and was actively involved in the community music scene in Britain as a member of the ‘Scottish Council for Music in Hospitals’ and the ‘Live Music Now!’ scheme, an outreach programme founded by the late Lord Yehudi Menuhin. She has also accompanied various instrumentalists and singers in recitals throughout Britain, Thailand, Brunei and Malaysia including the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Upon her return to Malaysia, she taught piano and piano accompaniment in several universities in Malaysia and freelanced as an accompanist. In 2002, she ventured into the world of choral arrangements by accident and since then, has had her arrangements performed by many local choirs, including the Malaysian National Choir, Permata Seni Choir, Young KL Singers, the KL Children’s Choir and the Dithyrambic Choir as well as international choirs such as the Trinity Choir from Australia, Australian Boys Choir and the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir. She has also contributed to the growing wealth of choral arrangements of Malaysian folk songs via the Young Choral Academy.
From 2007 to 2013, she was the programme coordinator for the Pro-Musica Workshop in Malaysia and the Winter Journey Workshop in Thailand (a week-long workshop and series of masterclasses held annually for young professional singers and accompanists conducted by teachers from the Flanders Opera Studio in Belgium).
She moved to Canada in 2013 and is currently based in Langley, BC Canada. She maintains a private piano studio and is active as an accompanist for both musicians and dancers in the Metro Vancouver area, working regularly with the Stella Maris Concert Choir, the Vancouver City Singers, the University of British Columbia (UBC) Summer Vocal Workshop as well as the Royal Academy of Dance, Canada.
What do you feel is the Malaysian identity in choral music?
Honestly, I do not know what the Malaysian identity is anymore. I feel that Malaysian music is still very much divided into Malay, Chinese, Indian, music from the native tribes. In the pop music genre in recent years, there seems to be a trend to include the different languages into one song and then deem it as a ‘truly’ Malaysian song. Is a medley of different dialects /languages enough of a criteria to make a song Malaysian? Perhaps, that is the Malaysian identity that sets it apart from others. The problem is as Malaysians, we are not exposed (yet) to this wonderful diversity as a whole.
What do you feel is your role as a composer? What do you advocate for?
Folk songs are a dying species, not just in Malaysia but around the world - in the past few decades, children are hardly taught or encouraged to sing folk songs in school (let alone sing them at home). I feel there is a huge generational gap in the knowledge of folk music in Malaysia. Thankfully, there has been a renaissance in music education in recent years and that is bringing back the search, the performance and appreciation of folk music from the past. My role as an arranger is to re-introduce these little jewels to the public, starting from the younger generation - making them as interesting as possible without losing too much of its authenticity. I am not one to be pedantic - rules can be broken if it makes it more appealing.
How does your lived experience as a Malaysian inform your compositional writing & output?
As an urban Malaysian, my musical exposure as a child right up to adulthood was unfortunately rather limited to Western influences. From my early music education to my university degree, and later on my postgraduate studies, it was very much Western based. Hence, my compositional techniques and output have been very Western in its approach, with some effort to include more Malaysian (or Asian) elements such as the use of vocal percussion to imitate the sounds of traditional instruments. The challenge has been to notate certain sounds using the ‘romanized’ letters in the attempt to be as authentic as possible to the ‘Malaysian’ sound.
What are the gaps/challenges in the Malaysian choral music landscape that you feel needs to be addressed?
Malaysia, in general, is a hodge pot of cultures. Likewise, her music should reflect that. However, I don’t see that. More collaborative work is needed to make the music truly Malaysian.
How is Malaysian choral music unique/special to you?
TBC
List of Folk-Inspired Choral Works (as of June 2020)
(most performed works are indicated as *)
