Music for Life!

My band's rendition of  放生 by 范逸臣. We tried for Channel U's SuperBand auditions @ Toa Payoh HDB Hub on 12 April 2008 but didn't get in - it was a good experience for us though.

Vocals: Tyson  |  Electric Guitar: Jasper  |  Bass Guitar: Fabian  |  Keyboard: Edwin Toh

A charity event (part of the Singapore Kindness Movement) organized by Temasek Junior College. ARK (Acts of Random Kindness) cards were handed out to members of the public in a bid to promote a spirit of awareness to the less fortunate around us. The guest star for the event was Paul Twohill.

Here is a live rehearsal recording of the three songs we performed at the event:

Close To You, If You Can See Through My Eyes, I Will Survive

Vocals: Esther Low, Melissa Poon, Lau Wee Kiat, Syed Idros  |  Piano: Edwin Toh

I was involved in the Noise Singapore 2007 Apprenticeship Programme (organized by National Arts Council) in late 2007. In a bid to familiarize ourselves with each other's musical styles, my apprentice partner and I decided to improvise together one night. Here are three impromptu jam video takes.

Besame Mucho (I) - Pipa & Piano Duet

Our first take on this oldie. The piece was done impromptu (no prior rehearsal), so forgive us for the blandness or any mistakes. Wei Kang on pipa and Edwin on piano.

Besame Mucho (II) - Pipa & Piano Duet

Our second take on this oldie. I like this take better because of the tempo/style variation between the first and second verse of the song. The piece was done impromptu (no prior rehearsal), so forgive us for the blandness or any mistakes. Wei Kang on pipa and Edwin on piano.

城里的月光 (Cheng Li De Yue Guang) - Pipa & Piano Duet

Totally improvised, here's our rendition of popular Chinese oldie 城里的月光 (Cheng2 Li3 De4 Yue4 Guang1). The piece was done impromptu (no prior rehearsal), so forgive us for the blandness or any mistakes. Wei Kang on pipa and Edwin on piano.

爱你, 想你 (Ai Ni Xiang Ni)

Wei Kang and I eventually recorded a duet version of this original song (lyrics by Tan Yanxi, music by me) as an end product for the NOISE Singapore 2007 Apprenticeship Programme. The original version of this song can be found here.

"A Labour of Love", a musical held in May 2007 at the NUS University Cultural Centre (UCC), tells of the formation and progress of Singapore's National Trade Union Congress (NTUC). I was involved as the second keyboardist in the incidental music band, led by vocal coach and first keyboardist Babes Condes. The other band members were Adam Shah (drummer) and James Lye (electric guitarist), both of whom were from my diploma course too.

Summertime & Sway Medley - Practice

A recording of a practice session in the studio held in preparation for our performance at SMIT Club's Annual Dinner & Dance 2007. Melissa and Natasha croon along as I tickle the ivories. We performed the following songs at the event: Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, Summertime & Sway Medley, Moon River, and Only Hope.

A formal dinner event at which my vocal group, Sensually Transmitted Music, performed.

The Way You Look At Me, an original by Christian Bautista, is sung at Singapore Polytechnic's Meltdown Friendship Fair, held on 6 December 2006. Natasha, the vocalist, is accompanied by me on the keyboard, in this short preview clip.

Accompanying Alexandra in There's No Place I'd Rather Be

Accompanying Natalie and Riza in I'll Be There

Accompanying Jemie in The Greatest Love Of All, Remember Me This Way, and I Turn To You

The finals of Singapore Polytechnic's SMIT Talentime 2006, held on 27 November at the SP Auditorium. My vocal group Sensually Transmitted Music (STM) achieved the second place in the finals with our rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and "In The End". Here's STM's rendition of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", with me at the piano. Also featuring bottle-scratching and beatboxing. :)

My vocal group, Sensually Transmitted Music, performed at this event that celebrates the vibrancy of youth for a charitable cause. (Club Momo has been revamped as Velvet Dragon.)

This was recorded live from our performance at the School of Business' (SB) Charity Golf 2006 Dinner. The recording device was placed closer to the keyboard, which explains for the lacking volume of the vocals.

It was a challenging night at the School of Business (SB) Talentime 2006 Finals as I accompanied my friends on the piano for all these pieces:

滥好人 (Lan Hao Ren) - Prinsten

Medley of 孤单北半球 (Gu Dan Bei Ban Qiu) / 屋顶 (Wu Ding) / 天天夜夜 (Tian Tian Ye Ye) - Wilson & Peixia

Medley of I'll Be There / Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You - Riza & Natalie

Medley of 明明很爱你 (Ming Ming Hen Ai Ni) / 爱得正好 (Ai De Zheng Hao) / 被风吹过的夏天 (Bei Feng Chui Guo De Xia Tian) - Jeff & Bryna

Summertime & Sway - Melissa Poon & Natasha (Champions - video above)

The finals of the BE (School of the Built Environment) Talentime 2006 saw me performing in these pieces:

Open Arms - Syed
Fly Away - Esther Low
Before I Fall In Love - Jacelyn Neo
Medley of You Taught Me / Maria - "Amateur Rockers" (an impromptu band) - Guest Performance

The above is an impromptu recording of the musical number "Best Friends", performed 'live' by several cast members of the musical when we visited Maestro@Esplanade.

The first musical I got involved with, and one that I will always treasure when I think back on my polytechnic days. SuperStar the Pop Musical is the first-ever musical staged by Singapore Polytechnic (SP), in support of the President's Challenge 2006. Guest-of-Honour President S R Nathan graced the event, which received standing ovations on both full-house nights. Local singer-songwriter-lecturer Jimmy Ye Liang Jun was the man behind the music, and SP lecturer Jeanine Lim contributed the script. Lampooning the recent onslaught of interactive reality-television talent competitions, the interactive musical comedy even gave the audience a chance to vote for their favourite performer! The story follows the journey of five teenagers with a common passion for singing as they pursue their dreams to become the next singing sensation in SuPerstar QUEST, a talent competition. More than the typical reality-television show, the musical offers insight into the talents' lives: the torments they went through; the challenges surmounted; the heart-warming support they embraced. And of course, to make it fun to watch, there would always be the element of love.

You can view a tribute video I created for the musical here.

Photos of the musical can be viewed at my Facebook photo album.

滥好人 (Lan Hao Ren)  - Tan Kok Song

The finals of the NTU Music Express 12 ( 飞乐时空) - a Mandarin song writing competition - were held at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on 18 August 2006. I was roped in as keyboardist by my composer-friend Kok Song. His original song 滥好人 walked away with the award "Most Popular Song".

An annual event for a charitable cause at which my vocal group, Sensually Transmitted Music, performed.