Music and my life

Music has always been part of my life. I was born in the 60s when Rock n’ Roll was playing and Elvis Presley is the King of Rock. I started schooling in the 70s when John Travolta is discoing to Saturday Night Fever. When I attended Secondary School in the 80s, break-dance music was heard along Orchard Road, kids were break-dancing at every available corner to the music from their big portable stereo and Sony Walkman was gaining popularity in Singapore. Then there was the new wave music, the techno music and the trance music that accompanied me through the 90s. I love music and I could not imaging a life without music it must be very boring!

My dad played a guitar, my second uncle played a guitar and my 3rd uncle played a guitar and a hand-held organ and a few of my cousins were in their school brass band. So what about me? Well, a lot of people know me as a person who carries a camera wherever I go. Few remembered the days I carried a guitar, form a four piece band known as Automaton with my school buddies or stand in as a guitarist in a Malay wedding because a friend of mine fall sick on that day.

I did not make it big in the musical arena but I still played my guitars and my keyboard every now and then. I picked up bits and pieces of guitar playing from my second uncle when I was in the upper primary school. I loved the instrument, thinking it was cool to be seen holding a guitar. When I was in secondary school, I joined the guitar society and my dad bought me my first guitar. I learned proper musical notes and performed in many school ceremonies and once in the Singapore Conference Hall and once in Victoria Theatre. Even though I was trained in Classical Music and I enjoyed my guitar lessons in school, I always look forward to the jamming sessions with classmates after the guitar music lessons on Saturdays.

There are only five guys in the guitar society among the forty over lady members and we all get along very well. After our music lecturer left the classroom, the five of us would swap our Classical Music Scroll for our Let It Be Me song books and the jamming session begins! Initially some girls stayed on after the lesson to hear us play but eventually our audience grew to include girls from the NPCC and the Girl Guides. I was overwhelmed by the growing audience which spurred me on to improve my guitar skill in order not to disappoint my attentive listeners. I was really surprised when some of the girls brought along their sisters and friends to listen to us and some of them even asked me for my autograph and contact number after our jamming sessions. Well, that was many years ago when I was a very tanned (from my swimming lessons), relatively tall (around 1.79m) and much better looking lad in my teen.

Now, the glory days are gone and I left with my guitars, a keyboard and heap of song books as momentous to remind me of the happy times jamming with my friends.

I loved this guitar the most because it is the first guitar my dad bought for me. My dad is always very encouraging in whatever I wished to learn. I spend most of my teen strumming and singing with this guitar.

This is the second guitar my dad bought. I played this guitar with my Automaton band. Don't ask me why we called ourselves the Automaton, I guess I must be day dreaming when my friends come up with this name!

This is an expensive Morris guitar. It was given to me by my uncle 子干. I strum till the strings burst and I have yet to replace the strings.

This is an Aria Folk Guitar, it was given to me by my good friend Raymond Sew.

I loved this keyboard too. It was a present from my mum before she went to England for a tour in 1988. It was closed to my birthday before she went on the tour and she will only be back after my birthday so she bought me this keyboard as my birthday present.