Heart The Heart of Education Beat
To Your Heart’s Content(s)
Heart-work Heart of Gold
I. Inclusivity as an Act from the Heart 08
II. Heart for the Community 11
The (he)Art of Listening
I. Cultivating an Ear for Students 16
II. Hear the Music 19 Heartstrings
I. Interactions Between Art Forms 24
II. International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) 26
III. (he)Art-based Reflections on the Heart of Music Education 27
06 14 22 28 29
Dr Kelly Tang Master Teacher, Music
Ong Shi Ching Melissa Academy
Officer, Music
Leong Su Juen Academy Officer, Music
At the heart of every classroom lies the significant influence of a teacher. The familiar saying, “we teach who we are,” emphasises the deeply personal and interconnected nature of education. The teacher’s beliefs, values, and character inevitably shape students’ learning experiences, as they bring their unique perspectives and passions into the classroom. The dynamic interactions between students and teachers form the bedrock of effective education. When these connections are strong, students not only learn, but are also inspired to engage deeply in the subject.
By listening to the teacher within, teachers draw inspiration from their own journeys to inspire and guide generations of learners. This not only enriches the teaching experience, but also empowers teachers to ignite a passion for learning within their students, fostering a transformative and enduring impact on the future of education.
In this issue, we celebrate the heart of music education. Teaching music is a work of heart; it is hard work, and it is heart-work. Though we recognise that we may not be able to make a difference for all students, we cannot underestimate the profound impact we can make on any individual. As music educators, we are driven by our heart for our students, our heart for music, our heart for the community, and our heart for teaching.
In the first section of this issue, Heart of Gold, we discuss how we as music educators are driven by our heart for others. It is this heart for others that drives our desires to facilitate inclusivity, and to create opportunities for students to be engaged with the community.
The second section, (he)ART of Listening, considers how our heart for others often compels us to listen to them with care and compassion. Listening is a crucially important skill for music educators. The articles in this section discuss how the ways we listen manifest in the twin aspects of our teacher-musician identity; listening as educators, and as musicians.
Finally, Heartstrings recognises that we are all connected. Heart strings actually refer to the chordae tendineae, which are fibrous tissues that connect the heart’s valves to the muscles. In many ways, music educators help students make connections; between musical genres, subject disciplines, and between what they learn in their classrooms and in real life. Their efficacy in doing so is largely contingent on their connections with students.
Ultimately, our heart for education binds us together as one music teaching fraternity.
Many thanks to the teachers who have kindly agreed to contribute to this issue:
Chua Huay Wen, Boon Lay Garden Primary School
Gooi Tah Choe, Eunoia Junior College
Loh Shao Wei, Yew Tee Primary School
Lee Ji Heng, Eunoia Junior College
Loi Cheng Li Irene, St. Andrew’s Secondary School
Low Sok Hui, Eunoia Junior College
Muhammad Dzuhri Bin Jumahat, Bukit View Primary School
Muhammad Nur Azman Shah, New Town Secondary School
Ong Ting Kai, Pasir Ris Secondary School
Pavethren s/o Kanagarethinan, Assumption English School
Rachel Tham Chin Xin, Boon Lay Garden Primary School
Rebecca Ng, Orchid Park Secondary School
Sandy Soh, Telok Kurau Primary School
Seah Cheng Tat, Temasek Junior College
Tan Gek Hiang, Springdale Primary School
As the ABBA song goes, ‘Thank you for the music’; STAR extends our heartfelt gratitude to all music educators for the heart-work that you do each and every day, and for all the joy you bring to your students.
We wish you an enjoyable read and hope that the upcoming semester is filled with many heartwarming experiences!
Lee Ley Har
Deputy Director, Music
Singapore Teachers’ Academy for the aRts
Heart of Gold
Heart of Gold I: Inclusivity as an Act from the Heart
6-min read
Ubuntu is a South African philosophy that emphasizes the importance of interconnectedness, kindness, and compassion. Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu; a person is a person through other persons; I am, because we are. ‘Ubu’ expresses the interconnectedness of individuals, and ‘ntu’ expresses the uniqueness of every individual. Since every individual is unique, then by the same token, every individual could be at risk of exclusion in some way.
In schools, a student who feels included in one context could feel excluded in another one. As the student population in Singapore becomes more diverse, exclusion may occur more frequently. There is thus an increasing need for inclusive education. For example, the Singapore Ministry of Education’s rationale for the importance of providing support for students with special educational needs (SEN) is to provide a more inclusive and safe learning environment for them, enabling all students to progress towards becoming independent, lifelong learners.
What is inclusivity?
Inclusivity relates to Ubuntu in the sense that both involve a sense of connection and shared humanity. Inclusivity is “a process of addressing and responding to the diversity of needs of all learners through increasing participation in learning, cultures and communities, and reducing exclusion within and from education.” (UNESCO, 2005, p. 13).
The idea of being a part of a community also relates to the learning goals of civic literacy in the 21CC Framework (2023), which guide students to be active in engaging with and contributing to the school, community, and nation. If students do not feel included in these communities, they will not be motivated to play active roles to improve it.
So, what does it mean to feel included? Anderson et al. (2014) reconceptualised Bronfenbrenner’s (1993) ecological systems theory to suggest a framework for an ecology of inclusive education. According to this framework, students need to be able to participate in activities and shared experiences, achieve their learning goals, and feel valued. Since learners are at the centreof the ecology, the inclusive process may begin with considering who we seek to include.
The ecology of inclusive education
Who do we think of when we see the words “inclusive education”? Is it the student with ADHD who has a shorter attention span than their peers? Is it the student with selective mutism who has only chosen to speak to you? Or is it all of your students?
In 2018, Prof Martin Fautley and Dr Alison Daubney found that there is an uneven focus on the inclusion of students with special education needs in music education research. However, inclusive music education should seek to include all excluded students, such as students who are disaffected, come from low-income families, minorities, or are culturally or socially excluded.
To be truly inclusive, our inclusive strategies must come from the heart; from our desire to see all students participate in quality musical experiences, achieve their musical learning goals, and feel valued in our music classrooms. Our heart drives us to understand and prioritise all student needs, whether these are physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, or selfactualisation needs (see Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, for example).
(Anderson et al., 2014)
For example, two of the inclusive pedagogical approaches we commonly use are differentiated instruction and Universal Design of Learning (UDL). We apply these approaches because we recognise that students are diverse, and therefore have different strengths and needs.
However, in our zeal to hone inclusive pedagogical strategies, we may have ironically excluded the very people we seek to include. Do we listen to students’ voices when facilitating inclusion? Out of 119 articles on music education that were reviewed to pen this article, only three had investigated student voice in inclusive practices. How do students experience inclusion? Why is feeling included important to students? Do students’ definitions of inclusion align with ours?
A successful inclusive pedagogical approach would thus focus more on students than the choice of inclusive strategy, because it is driven by our heart for our students. After all, compassion leads to action.
How then, can we ensure that we are truly inclusive?
Is inclusive education simply about ensuring all students feel included? Or is there more to inclusion?
In our journey through this article so far, we have only considered “who” to include, but how about “what” to include? What do we think of when we see the words “inclusive education”?
At the beginning of this article, we considered how the Ubuntu philosophy relates to inclusivity as it emphasizes connectedness, kindness, and compassion. Ubuntu also recognises that a community consists of not only humans, but also ancestors, other living beings, nature, and the cosmos.
Humans do not exist alone on this planet, and many nonhumans are in fact valuable partners in music-making processes. For example, Smetana’s Má Vlast would not exist without the castles, rivers, and woods of his fatherland. Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters would not exist without his partnership with synthesisers. In fact, music itself is a nonhuman that partners with us in our endeavours to facilitate inclusive music classrooms. As Friends in Concert 2024 participants this year shared in their reflections, “music binds and holds”.
Thus, inclusive music education is driven by our heart for students, heart for music, and heart for the wondrous world that we inhabit; a heart of gold.
Heart of Gold II: Heart for The Community
4-min read
Musical activities are platforms that can help to develop empathy and social responsibility amongst our students. Therein lies in its unique ability to also inspire creativity, collaboration, and promote civic literacy. All this becomes a powerful catalyst for developing 21st century competencies (21CC) in students. It is no wonder that music is a popular tool for schools and students to use to reach out to the community. As the students engage with the community through their music-making, it helps them to better understand other people’s needs and issues. Students discover the ways in which their musical skills can contribute to the betterment of others.
BOON LAY GARDEN PRIMARY SCHOOL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The ‘What’ and ‘How’
The Digital Music Makers Programme was a collaboration between the Music team and Applied Learning Programme (ALP) teams, building on the existing collaboration of a level-wide digital music programme. HOD PE & Aesthetics
Mdm Chua Huay Wen, Music Coordinator Mrs Rachel Por and ALP I/C HOD Curriculum & Innovation (Internal) Mrs Sherrie Chang came together to cocreate an enrichment programme for students with strength and interest in digital music creating and coding, with an emphasis on lifewide learning. The programme was an avenue to encourage students to apply their learning beyond the classroom, and use their knowledge and skills to help others.
It began with a 10-week lesson module on digital music where all P4 students were taught to create music using GarageBand on iPads in their music lessons. Selected students from P4 and P5 were on the Digital Music Maker Programme. As part of their learning experience, the students interviewed seniors in their community, for example, their grandparents, about the songs that they had enjoyed listening to. The students had observed that the seniors had positive emotional connections to their selected songs. The students
created an arrangement of the seniors’ preferred songs; arranging using different instrumentation, tempo, and other additional musical elements. Community songs like Chan Mali Chan and Di Tanjong Katong were given a modern twist with the enhancement from GarageBand. These musical experiences helped students to develop critical listening skills as they create and produce music using music technology.
The finished arrangements were downloaded into a portable playback system and installed in a series of interactive artefacts in the form of vintage furniture like cathode ray tube televisions (CRT TVs) and radios created using recycled materials. The students also learnt Micro:bit coding, where they programmed different light and sound effects that were activated by ‘on-gesture’ sensors. Some students were involved in the coding of motion sensors which programmed the music arrangements to be played when there was physical interaction with the artefacts.
The students’ works were showcased as an interactive exhibition for the residents at Toh Guan Park, as part of PAssionArts Festival organised by Toh Guan and Bukit Batok East Community Centre. Such opportunities in community partnerships and service learning open doors for students to gain confidence in their musical and public speaking skills. There was positive feedback from the community on the students’ creations and how they generated a strong sense of nostalgia from the displays.
Initially, some students were unsure about the project and needed more motivation and encouragement. However, as the project progressed, the students began to take ownership of their work and were more motivated. Students also developed their critical and inventive thinking skills, as they creatively and logically worked through the music-making and coding process. They strengthened their collaborative skills as they worked with peers from different classes and levels, to achieve the group goals.
An artefact made out of recycled materials to resemble a radio.
Students explaining their project to members of the community.
Students working on their projects with their friends.
Click to listen to a clip of the student’s work.
Empowering Student Collaboration
Students demonstrated better communication with their families, particularly with their grandparents, whom they had interviewed. They were surprised and intrigued by their grandparents’ musical tastes, which led to more conversations. This helped to form a deeper understanding of their family’s history and past musical experiences. Students also became more empathetic and confident in communication as they interacted and shared their work with the community. More importantly, the students developed a greater understanding of how their learning could be applied to real-world situations to help others.
Empowering Learning Partnerships
As this was an interdisciplinary project (i.e. a combination of music, art, and computer programming), involvement of teachers from these diverse disciplines was necessary. Additional time and effort was required to come together to plan the programme. The teachers had to ensure that the project was not just about producing a product, but also about providing a valuable learning experience for the students. Forming sustainable and continuity in the partnerships between the school and the receiving community is also important. This means that the school needs to be responsive and open-minded in their efforts, so that goals of all parties involved are aligned and met. There is also a need to refine the project ideas to ensure that the learning objectives in the music syllabus are included. As part of students’ learning, it is critical that the learners have opportunities to reflect on their behaviors and actions. This allows the students to make connections and draw new insights between subjects and their real-world applications and experiences.
Final Thoughts
The Music and ALP teams at Boon Lay Garden Primary School demonstrated passion and commitment to serve the community and took it upon themselves to role model social awareness and empathy. Together with their students, they strived to be an active contributor for their community, uncovering their hearts of gold.
Design
The he(Art) of Listening
page for this section
The he(Art) Of Listening I: Cultivating an Ear for Students
5-min read
Listening to students is a crucial part of effective music teaching. It is where a good music lesson begins and where it ends. Listening guides us in crafting lessons that cater to students’ specific learning needs. It makes our music lessons come alive.
Students tell us what is going on inside them; not just in the things they say, but in the songs, lyrics and raps they write in class, as well as non-verbal cues such as the ways they sit, stand or gesture. The songs and singers our students hold dear also reveal a great deal about them, especially the lyrics that capture what they go through every day.
Often, students speak in their silence – the things they choose not to say or do not have the ability to express. Students listen most attentively to a teacher who takes time to hear the important things they say, instead of telling them things that may not be urgent for them to hear.
Three music teachers share how they listen to their students, and the critical role that listening plays in their teaching process.
Mr. Loh Shao Wei – Senior Teacher, Yew Tee Primary School
“When I listen to my students, I try to hear and understand what they are saying. If they misbehave or seem uninterested in class, I spend time to hear them out. Through our conversations, I discovered that the pace of my
lesson was too slow and the choice of repertoire was not to their liking. This lets me make adjustments to get the students interested again.
For example, I was also deliberating which choice piece to select for my choir at this year’s Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) Arts Presentation. After singing the original choice piece, a student remarked that this song sounded ‘very rough’ and did not suit the choir. I listened to her and decided to change the song to enable the choir to sound its best.
Listening involves getting to know students in their daily lives and the dynamics between students in class. A sensitive teacher will discern how to form the most productive friendship groups. Students feel heard when you take time to listen to their conversations at recess and at corridors.
Listening also involves paying attention to my students’ non-verbal cues. For example, when my P1 students started playing the xylophones for the first time, I gave them time to explore the instrument. I listened intently to what they were doing and was delighted to discover that some of them figured out the notes of ‘Baby Shark’ and ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’ all by themselves!
Shao Wei conducting the Yew Tee Primary School Choir.
teacher and students, and between students too. Having these precious pockets of time to listen to my students and know them better is important as we only see one another once a week.
Through surveys, students also tell me what instruments they like to play and the types of songs that they listen to. It is especially important for me, as a music teacher, to be flexible and open so I can make changes to our lesson plans to cater to my students.”
Indeed, the things that students say tell us what is going on inside that student. It tells about their past and how they envision the future. Through listening, we learn to decode what a student is actually saying, underneath the surface.
Ms. Rebecca Ng – Teacher, Orchid Park Secondary School
Rebecca asks her N-level music class, “Has anyone seen a violin before?”
Her students give her a blank response.
Rebecca’s class comprised nine Sec 3 N(T) students. None of them joined music CCAs, although one had external music lessons for a year. Rebecca accepted the challenge.
“When our school started the N-level music programme, we had to ask, ‘How do we create space where music can truly be accessible to all students, especially those without any background, yet be able to bridge the gap so they are skilled and ready for national exams, armed with the necessary music perception, composition and performing skills within just one and a half years?
I first learnt to listen intently.
For example, when I hear a timpani, my student hears ‘just a drum’. I am frustrated as they were taught this before! Yet, what they hear is right.
Regarding the articulation of a melodic line, I say it sounds staccato and the students say ‘it’s a very short sound!’ They are right, so I explain to them that they need to replace their words with the proper technical term.
I hear their rendition of the song I Want It That Way. At first their harmonies clashed. Different people played at different tempi and the drum kit stood out awkwardly. However, the band eventually improved adequately and had a successful first run. It was a celebration, but how do educators go beyond being satisfied with just adequate, when ‘adequate’ is not up to the standards of national exams and to the wider music world? How can I, as a music teacher, help my students improve their music to meet these standards? I needed to bridge gaps.
Bridging gaps come naturally when time is taken not just to emphasise what is wrong, but to inquire where my student’s true current understanding lies. Effective listening creates a space which allows me to craft accurate questions to scaffold and facilitate my students’ further thinking and reflection as they improve and grow on their musical journey.
For example, I may ask students, ‘Hmm.. how do your bass licks coordinate with what she is doing?’, or ‘How are the other band members interlocking with you, so all of you sound tight as a band?’ ‘Let’s each share one thing to improve on! Let’s try again!’
I listen and learn to change my response too! I learn to say, ‘Yes, that’s right! It is a drum. But there so many drums in the world – how do we know this is the one used in the Malay Ensemble?’
To which my student then replies, ‘Oh…. Hmmm.. Ms Rebecca, hold on, let me find the name of it in my file.’
By modelling listening and facilitating thinking, I start to facilitate and show my students how to listen intently to others too – they grow into mini teachers!
Conversations between students now sound like:‘Why does your chord sound so funny? Eh! Your middle finger is pressing wrong la. It’s C major not C minor leh.’ ‘Wah, did you hear the panning in this scene? So cool right?’”
Indeed, better listeners make better teachers!
Mr. Muhammad Dzuhri Bin Juniwan –Senior
Teacher, Bukit View Primary School
Dzuhri’s students remark, “We want to play ‘Waka Waka!” “No, ‘Faded’!”
These were the exact words uttered by Dzuhri’s P4 students as they decided on the assessment repertoire for ukulele playing.
“Can we put ‘ti-ka-ti-tika?” some of Dzuhri’s P1s asked during creation of rhythmic ostinato. They learned crotchet and quavers but were curious about the semi-quavers on the whiteboard which he had used to teach a P2
class the previous period.
“I want to play the drum set, Mr Dzuhri. I learned how to play it outside school.” “I can play the piano!” “I want to sing!”, requests Dzuhri’s P5 students in animated fashion as they played together as an ensemble during Dzuhri’s songwriting lesson.
Dzuhri says, “When I first started out, I tried to impose my ideas, beliefs and philosophy and lead the students to what I thought would be a good music lesson without considering theirs. Over the years, after attending workshops by STAR, using the Singapore Teaching Practice (STP) and 21CC as a guide, I realised that empowering the students and giving them ownership over their learning, as well as listening to them, observing their body language and addressing them, actually motivates students to be active learners who become even more engaged in the lesson.
They then developed not only the confidence to perform music, but to lead their groups, or even the class, to perform. They experience the joy of learning even during assessment. This makes me realise how important it is for us to consider our learner’s profile and to be flexible in creating a positive classroom culture, so our students can express and articulate their concerns, requests, thoughts and opinions with the utmost confidence.”
These three music teachers demonstrate, in their own way, how listening is crucial, so we do not teach music “blind”. Listening illuminates, so we design music lessons that enliven students, choose songs that reflect their experience, captivate students and give them meaningful and relevant learning experiences that they treasure, remember and pass on to the next generation. This is why the impact of a music teacher echoes through time.
The he(Art) Of Listening II: Hear The Music
It is essential for music teachers to listen to music. Listening continually enriches us, so we can share the music we love with our students. Our excitement to explore a wide range of musical styles exemplifies our openness to discover new musical cultures. It broadens our musical horizons and infuses the spirit of lifelong learning and curiosity that we seek to instill in students.
Listening to all styles of music is remarkably the same. At the core, the basic elements of music - rhythm, form, register, articulation, phrasing, harmony, texture and dynamics - remain the same across musical styles, be it pop, rap, funk, jazz, Western classical or traditional Asian music. Despite their commonality, each musical style is also delightfully unique. Each piece of music is shaped by its specific regional context and social purpose. An intricate web of meanings, perspectives and beliefs differentiates and underlies the meaning of a particular musical expression. As such, each piece of music reveals a special story about where it comes from and how it originated. Through the music, we could learn about the economical, historical, geographical and political circumstances that give the music its final form.
How do we listen to music? Each piece of good music is skillfully crafted to clearly express the emotion and message with which it is encoded. But so much is going on in the music. How do we deconstruct music to understand and get more out of it?
Organisation of time 1
• Listen to the organisation of the music in time, such as rhythm and tempo. What does the tempo of the music express?
• If the rhythm slows down or quickens, how do these changes affect the pace of the music? What is considered fast/slow in the tradition that it is performed?
• Is the rhythm “straight” or syncopated? How does this create a sense of turbulence or equilibrium?
• Is there metrical ambiguity (such as hemiola, for example 2 against 3 beats) to generate rhythmic tension?
• How is the rhythm or tempo similar or different compared to the norms of the musical style and its contexts?
• What constitutes a rhythm pattern in the context of a culture?
Organisation of sound layers 2
• How are individual sounds and instruments assigned/played so that each sound/instrument/ voice interacts freely with the others?
• How does the sound/timbre of that instrument compliment the sounds of the other sounds/ instruments in the music?
• Is the texture thick or thin? How many instruments are there in the music? How do they depart from the norms/practices in the context of the genre?
• Do the sounds/instruments/voices sound together (note for note) or are they rhythmically disparate (pointillistic)?
3
• When a specific layer is added to, or taken away from, the music, what does its presence or absence contribute to the musical flow?
• What is the sequence of timbres that unfold in the musical flow?
• Is the harmony, if any, consonant or dissonant?
What does that express?
• How are the sounds manipulated and what narratives do they tell?
Form/Structure
• How does the music grow from the sounds/motifs/themes that came before? Do these sounds/ motifs/themes grow and evolve or return and stay the same?
• What surprises are contained in the music to hold the listener’s attention?
Stylistic aspects of performance 4
• How is the intensity conveyed in the context of the musical style/genre (e.g. drum patterns, dynamics, melodic contour, sound engineering effects)?
• How do dynamics (loud or soft) contribute to the flow of emotion?
• How is the music articulated (staccato, tenuto, legato, accent etc.) ?
• How are the melodies phrased?
• What is the meaning of the text, if any? How are the lyrics, if any, expressed musically?
• How do the performers interact? How does the music sit with the space and context of performance?
Engineering 5
• How do sound engineering effects, like echo, panning, chorus, equalisation and flanger, shape the music?
• How are the instruments mixed, according to their volume levels relative to one another?
Here are four concluding suggestions to get the most from listening to your choice of music:
Continually adapt and apply what you learn from the music to your daily playing and teaching of music. Reinterpret and reinvent the music with your own imagination and originality.
A great piece of music is limitless and inexhaustible. Today, we may learn something new from a song, but tomorrow and 10 years from now, it will have many other lessons to teach us. Music is the best teacher.
We are continuously bombarded and overwhelmed by the dizzying diversity of music that the internet opens up. Fortunately, we do not have to listen to it all. Just pick and choose the specific music you like to listen to and learn from.
While we develop preferences for certain types of music, let us remain curious and be open to different types of music as there is much learning from the different types and forms of musical expression that will enrich our lives.
Design
Heartstrings
page for this section
Heartstrings I: Interactions between Art Forms
3-min read
Real-life issues are imbued with multiple dimensions. More than ever before, understanding and dealing with their varying dimensions entails the lively interaction of different disciplines. The world is crossdisciplinary by nature, and to prepare students to face the challenges of the future, it is necessary for them to combine and connect what they learn separately from various subjects.
To promote a cross-disciplinary outlook in arts education, STAR brought together music teacher Lee Ji Heng (JH) and art teacher Low Sok Hui (SH), both from Eunoia Junior College, to pilot our very first a_edge – FIC collaboration (a_edge is an exhibition of art teachers’ artworks and FIC, or Friends In Concert, is a public performance by music teachers). Ji Heng’s composition r_m_mb_r is inspired by his late grandmother who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, while Sok Hui’s artwork Taming the Mind is inspired by her father who is now going through dementia, and who also helped her create the artwork. Through making connections between music and visual art, the two teachers found useful convergences and divergences in their artistic process and exchanged ideas to fuel their creating and teaching of the arts. Ji Heng and Sok Hui share their perspectives with STARPost about their artistic collaboration.
STAR-Post: For both of you, this was your first time being in a cross-disciplinary collaboration. What new insights can you apply to your own creative process that you acquired when working with someone from a different art form?
JH: Regarding the curatorial process, for music, we usually list what equipment we need. But for art, it’s more about how you install the artwork. There’s the interactive, visual and spatial aspect to consider. These are intriguing facets to think about when I was considering how I position the speakers.
SH: I’ve never considered the sonic aspect of art, so JH’s work led me to think of sound as a different artistic element, and how I can layer the sonic dimension in my artwork. When JH came up with the suggestion of featuring different containers for the speakers, for example, this was something new I hadn’t considered when working with materials.
STAR-Post: How did the two of you collaborate?
JH: When one of us thinks of a connection between visual art and music, we would share our ideas with the other person. The idea of discussion is something we can share with students – finding similarities or strands that connect visual and audio layers.
Both our artworks were based on personal experiences in our family. For SH it was taking care of her father and making art with him.
For me, it was responding to my late “ah ma” (grandmother) and relating to someone who had lost her cognitive function. These are congruences and correspondences that unite our artworks and allow us to explore this theme together in the visual and sonic realms.
STAR-Post: If you extended the collaboration, how might that change your art-making processes?
JH: I hope to create a longer timeline for students as they work better in several short bursts as they find it difficult to manage long coursework. They need learning milestones set up for them. This idea can be expanded in future runs of cross-disciplinary collaboration. We could do an interactive setup where we respond to the viewer’s reaction to our art.
STAR-Post: What ideas did you gain from this collaboration that you can apply in facilitating similar cross-disciplinary experiences for your students?
JH: For students, we can use a theme as a powerful stimulus to create art, like what SH and I did.
SH: For students, it is important to have an opportunity to discuss and talk about their artworks. When students share, they are sometimes still hesitant because they are still figuring out what their artwork is meant to be, and how to collaborate with another person to create a collaborative work. This is something we have to teach them.
In previous works, I explore the idea of time: childhood days spent at special places and the specific memories and feelings those spaces bring. Now, when I consider the musical dimension, certain songs bring memories of different people. That is something I can share with my students - how music actually brings memories of our past experiences and memories.
STAR-Post: What do you think is important for students when they collaborate?
SH: Since primary school, I have had a very rigid and mechanical experience of music. In contrast, Ji Heng takes a playful approach to creating his music. Thus, I became very curious about what he was doing. Our conversations and dialogue led me to see music in a different light.
JH: This collaboration showed me how to encourage students to start composing music from something close to them. That’s how SH and I arrived at our collaboration. We don’t need to look too far, to abstract things, because powerful personal expressions come from matters close to your heart.
As the collaboration between Ji Heng and Sok Hui shows, the most authentically powerful and moving art comes from our hearts, inspired by events that have changed our lives and shaped the way we see the world. The collaboration between visual art and music also shows that we are not only eyes or ears, but the art we make combines all our human senses so that our art can be an expression of the total self.
Ji Heng and Sok Hui with their cross-disciplinary work at the vernissage for a_edge 2024
Ji Heng and Sok Hui engaging Senior Associate, Mrs Chua-Lim Yen Ching in conversation about their cross-disciplinary work.
Heartstrings II: International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP)
2-min read
Eight music teachers performed at the 14th International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) gala dinner on 22 April 2024 at Gardens by the Bay. Muhammad Nur Azman Shah (New Town Secondary School - Clarinet), Pavethren s/o Kanagarethinan (Assumption English School - Mridangam), Ong Ting Kai (Pasir Ris Secondary School - Dizi), Loi Cheng Li Irene (St. Andrew’s Secondary School - Vocals), Seah Cheng Tat (Temasek Junior College - Clarinet), Chua Siew Ling (STAR - Keyboard), Leong Su Juen (STAR - Percussion) and Melissa Ong Shi Ching (STAR - Cello) performed a multicultural medley of songs from the MOE music syllabus featuring “The More We Get Together”, “Zao Qi Shang Xue Xiao”, “Munnaeru Vaalibaa” and “Chan Mali Chan” arranged by Kelly Tang (STAR).
Attended by education ministers, government officials, education leaders and conference participants from countries all over the world, the ISTP is jointly run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Education International (EI).
Through their ISTP performance, the eight teacher musicians express their passion to pursue music, to expand their musical horizons and to apply their musical learning to their teaching, intertwining their diverse musical skills to form a tapestry that re-defines their identity as music teachers.
Heartstrings III: (he)Art-based Reflections on the Heart of Music Education
3-min read
As a music educator, I make music come alive in my music classroom. Music education is beyond how my students and I make music — it is also about how music makes us. We discover our creative inner selves as music touches our hearts and heals our souls. Dear Music, I just called to say I love you
The four AI generated images are my personal contemplation of what constitutes holistic (music) education in schools, and the balance between affordances and demands on students. I am wondering whether each of these “heavy” bronze objects can stand very well, or perhaps the AI has yet to understand the meaning of weight and gravity. Nevertheless, I am quite sure that, like a responsible teacher, it has tried hard to put the heart, hands, ears and eyes together into a single entity.
This represents the heart of a music educator as a nurturer of joy and curiosity: to instill a sense of fun and passion for music in our students.
”Melissa: Music makes us, just as we make music - I love how inclusive this statement is in recognising music as a valuable partner in our music classrooms!
”Dr Tang: Tah Choe’s AI creation beautifully expresses how music brings together multiple human senses such as sight, sound and touch. The integration of human organs with musical instruments shows how music is made with the whole self.
”Su Juen: Passion rubs off on those around us - our passion for music can instill a sense of fun for our students and witnessing their immense enjoyment motivates us to create more opportunities for musical interactions to keep this passion alive.
Tan Gek Hiang, Springdale Primary School
Sandy Soh, Telok Kurau Primary School
Gooi Tah Choe, Eunoia Junior College
STAR Heart-lights
Catch up with the latest happenings that have taken place at STAR since our January 2024 issue of STAR-Post! Do you spot anyone you know?
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Beginning Teachers (Primary) with Lucinda Geoghegan
Beginning Teachers (Secondary)
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STAR Champions (Secondary) zonal workshops
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3 6
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Teaching Living Legends: Malay Rhythms and Dikir Barat with Panjy
Performances by Marsita Daud (HSCD), Tommy Wong (Yuhua Secondary School), Emmerlyn Ong (ETD), Melissa Ong (STAR) and Leong Su Juen (STAR) at the 17th Singapore - Malaysia MOE Games Welcome Dinner
N(T) Music Pop Band workshop with Nelson Tan
We’d Love to Hear(t) from You
Lee Ley Har
Deputy Director
Lee_Ley_Har@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1558
Chua Siew Ling
Principal Master Teacher
Chua_Siew_Ling@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1554
Li Yen See Master Teacher
Chan_Yen_See@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1499
Suriati Bte Suradi
Master Teacher
Suriati_Suradi@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1498
Kelly Tang
Master Teacher
Kelly_Tang@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1561
Toh Sze Hui, Felicia
Senior Academy Officer
Felicia_Toh@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1555
Ong Shi Ching Melissa Academy Officer
Melissa_Ong@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1495
Leong Su Juen Academy Officer
Leong_Su_Juen@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1494
Seah Cheng Tat Academy Officer
Seah_Cheng_Tat@moe.gov.sg +65 6664 1497
