The Educator's Guide To Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s Young Children’s Concert

To Singapore Chinese Orchestra’s
Young Children’s Concert

Here at Singapore Chinese Orchestra, we believe that music
is an essential part of education. Extensive studies have
shown that music education prepares students to learn and
develops their creative capacities.
Young children learn from everything they do. They are
naturally inquisitive. They want to explore and they want to
discover. When students come to the Singapore Conference
Hall, they should have the opportunity
to experience the program in a
meaningful way – one that builds upon
basic prior knowledge and skills.
Therefore, this guide should be viewed
as an instructional resource to prepare
your children for their upcoming Young
Children’s Concert experience. We
hope that this guide is useful in
providing a context for the concert
and also the knowledge to lead
your children on the wonderful
journey to learn all about music.

YOUNG CHILDREN’S CONCERT 2015
The Little Adventurer of SCO: Fascinating Sound Waves!
22 May 2015 (10.30am)
23 May 2015 (2.30 pm and 5pm)
SCO Concert Hall, Singapore Conference Hall
Conductor: Quek Ling Kiong
1. The Singapore Chinese Orchestra
2. Who’s behind Professor Quek?
3. Basic Concert Etiquette
4. Our Instrument Families
I. The String Family
II. The Woodwind Family
III. The Plucked String Family
IV. The Percussion Family
5. Musical Concept Explained - Pitch
6. Activities
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This educator’s guide is produced by the
Education & Outreach Department of SCO.
Illustrations by: Ashley Chan Sook May

Inaugurated in 1997, the 85-musician Singapore Chinese
Orchestra (SCO) is Singapore’s only professional Chinese
orchestra as well as a flagship local arts group. Its patron is Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Since its inception, SCO has taken on the twin role of preserving
traditional arts and culture and establishing new frontiers through
the incorporation of Southeast Asian cultural elements in its music. It
has also impressed a broadening audience with its blockbuster
presentations and is fast establishing itself among its counterparts
around the world.
In line with its vision to be a world-renowned people’s orchestra,
SCO widens its outreach by performing regularly at various
national parks, communities and schools. In its efforts to bring our
communities and schools together, the orchestra celebrated
Singapore’s 39th National Day in 2004 with a spectacular concert
– Our People, Our Music – featuring 2,400 local music enthusiasts.
This momentous event was surpassed on 28 June 2014 by SCO’s
second instalment of Our People Our Music, with the breaking of
two Guinness World Records – the Largest Chinese Drum Ensemble
of 4,557 performers and the Largest Chinese Orchestra of 3,558
performers at the Singapore Sports Hub.
It is with this vision that SCO continues to inspire, influence and
educate through its music.

He’s none other than Mr Quek Ling Kiong! Previously the
Percussion Principal of SCO, Mr Quek Ling Kiong is wellversed
in both Chinese Percussion and Western classical
percussion, having learnt from renowned masters such as Li
Min Xiong and Xue Bao Lun.
Mr Quek learned conducting from Cultural Medallion recipient
Tay Teow Kiat and famed Chinese conductor Xia Fei Yun. His
career in professional conducting took off when he became
SCO’s first Conducting Assistant in 2003. Mr Quek went on to
pursue Conducting Studies in Zurich, Switzerland after being
awarded the NAC overseas bursary and scholarship from the
Hokkien Huay Kwan and obtained his Diploma in Advanced
Studies from Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in 2007. Mr Quek
is currently SCO’s Resident Conductor and is also an adjunct
teacher at the Singapore School Of The Arts and the
Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
A strong advocate of Chinese music education and outreach,
Mr Quek has introduced and choreographed many
programmes designed to suit SCO’s young audience. He
believes that these concerts are important for piquing
children’s curiosity in music and motivating them to pick up a
Chinese instrument.
During SCO’s children’s concerts, Mr Quek not only conducts
but also gamely dresses up in costume, acts and sings. He
never forgets about mingling with the audience after each
children’s concert, so let’s see if you can catch him in the crowd
after this show!

The Audience
Each and every one of our audience has a very important role to play!
Preparing children for the sequence of events prior to the start of the concert will
enable them to understand concert behavior better. Here are some things your
children can look out for:
1. Orchestra members assemble on stage.
2. The concertmaster (Gaohu Principal) will enter and signal to the orchestra
applaud the entrance of the concertmaster.
3. Have the children listen and watch carefully as the concertmaster signals
for the gaoyinsheng 高 音 笙 musician to play the note “A”. The orchestra
will then make a wonderful sound as they all tune to this note.
4. After the tuning is finished, the concert master will take his seat and the
show is then ready to begin!
The Good Listener
Do encourage your children to suggest some guidelines to observe during a
concert. The following points are to be covered:
Allow themselves to be quiet and still
Pay Attention to the performance
Show Appreciation by observing the musicians’ skills and instruments
Be generous with Applause when they enjoy the performance
Children should be encouraged not to
chat or make noise as they may miss an important part of the music
leave their seats because it will be very distracting to their neighbours
take photographs with flash because it is distracting to the musicians

Huqin (Gaohu, Erhu, Zhonghu)
胡 琴 ( 高 胡 、 二 胡 、 中 胡 )
Double Bass
低 音 提 琴
Cello
大 提 琴

Dizi
笛 子
Guanzi
管 子
Zhongyinsuona
中 音 唢 呐
Gaoyinsuona
高 音 唢 呐

Chuantongsheng
传 统 笙
Diyinsheng
低 音 笙
Zhongyinsheng
中 音 笙

Liuqin
柳 琴
Sanxian
三 弦
Pipa
琵 琶
Gaoyinruan
高 音 阮
Zhongruan
中 阮
Daruan
大 阮

Harp
竖 琴
Konghou
箜 篌
Yangqin
扬 琴
Guzheng
古 筝

Woodblock
木 鱼
*Not exhaustive
Drum
鼓
Chimes
风 铃
Cymbals
小 镲
Timpani
定 音 鼓

Tuned Drums (Paigu)
排 鼓
Gong
锣
Ten-faced
Gong
十 面 锣
Glockenspiel
铁 片 琴

Pitch is the degree of highness or lowness of a
tone; the quality of a sound governed by the rate
of vibrations producing it.
All sounds require vibration—quick back-and-forth
motion of an object. To illustrate this, pluck a
stretched rubber band. The sound you hear comes
from the vibration of the rubber band.
A sound’s pitch is directly related to its rate of
vibration: the higher the pitch, the fast the
vibration; the lower the pitch, the slower the
vibration.
Example High Pitch Low Pitch
Hear the
difference!
Pipe/ Tubular
instruments
Flute
Chimes
Bells
Short length
Long length
Instruments
with sound
boxes
Guitar
Ruan
Erhu
Cello
Small
mass/volume
Big
mass/volume
Tubular
Instruments - Bells

Thinking Questions
Why do some musical instruments make low pitched sounds and others
produce high pitched sounds?
How does varying the length of an instrument create different pitches?
How does the size/volume of an instrument affect its pitch?
Guitar
Ukulele
Instruments with sound
boxes

Activity is featured in the concert.
Activity is featured as a concert
fringe event.

(for ages 5 – 9)
Materials
5 or more drinking glasses or glass bottles, identical in size
Water
Wooden stick such as a pencil
Instructions
Line the glasses up next to each other and fill them with different amounts of water. Add
food dyes to the water in each glass. The first should have just a little water while the last
should almost full, the ones in between should have slightly more than the last.
Hit the glass with the least amount of water and listen to the sound produced. Then, hit the
glass with the most water. Which glass produced a higher sound?
See if you can play a tune by hitting the glasses in a certain order.
What’s happening?
Each of the glasses will have a different tone when hit with the pencil, the glass with the most
water will have the lowest tone while the glass with the least water will have the highest.
Small vibrations are made when you hit the glass, this creates sound waves which travel
through the water. More water (i.e. more mass) means slower vibrations and a deeper tone.
*Eco-friendly Tip: Collect rainwater for this fun activity!
*Artful Tip: Mix in some food dye for some colouring fun!
*ICT Tip: Download a chromatic tuner app for a pitch-perfect glass xylophone!
Play A Tune
Hot Cross Buns
Using THREE identical glasses, try to get the pitch “Do”, “Re” and “Mi”.
Mark each glass ‘1’, ‘2’ and ‘3’.
Mary Had A Little Lamb
Using FOUR identical glasses, try to get the pitch “Do”, “Re”, “Mi” and “So”.
Mark each glass ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’ and ‘5’.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Using SIX identical glasses, try to get the pitch “Do”, “Re”, “Mi”, “Fa”, “So” and “La”.
Mark each glass ‘1’, ‘2’, ‘3’, ‘4’, ‘5’ and ‘6’.

(for ages 5 – 9)
Materials
6-8 straws
Cardboard
Glue
Scissors
Instructions
Cut 2 rectangular pieces of cardboard for each instrument you are going to
make. Each cardboard piece should be about 6 inches by 1.5 inches.
Credits: Learning
Ideas Grades K-8
Place and glue the straws on one of the pieces of cardboard. Make sure you
leave about 1 inch of straw above the cardboard.
Glue the other piece of cardboard over the first piece of cardboard. The
straws will now be sandwiched between both pieces of cardboard.
Trim the bottom of the straws with a scissors so that each one is a little
shorter than the one before it.
Have the ends of the straws pointing downward and hold the straws to your
mouth as you blow across the tops to make music!
(for ages 7 - 12)
Materials
Bingo strips
Pitch bingo flashcards
Pencils
Credits: Fun Music
Company
Instructions
Distribute the Bingo strips to the students and inform them to only mark off
one letter each time they see it. Teach the students how to identify the notes
on the flashcards beforehand.
Show the class a flashcard. For example, if the note on the flashcard is G, all
students with G on their Bingo strips should strike the letter out.
Carry on with the other flashcards in random order, until a student in the
class calls out ‘Bingo’ when the letters on his/her Bingo strip are all struck
out, signalling the end of the game.

(for ages 5 – 9)
This activity raises the awareness of pitch in the children and allows them to control pitch
movements with their hands.
Instructions
Demonstrate to the children what a conductor does: explain that when you move your arm
HIGH up in the air, you want them to make a "Laa" sound with a HIGH pitch.
If you put your arm down LOW, they should make a LOW-sounding "Laa". Also, indicate
the signals for starting (e.g. "okay" sign) and stopping (e.g. wrapping hand into a fist).
Begin by moving your arm up and down, and making slow and quick movements.
When you have finished, other children can be the conductor, and they can control the
pitch of the "Laas" (high arm=high pitch, low arm=low pitch).
Materials
A small object to hunt for
(for ages 5 – 9)
Instructions
Give the class a quick music lesson by teaching the students to sing the first 5 notes (1, 2, 3,
4 & 5) of a major scale using a “Laa” sound.
Show the object to the children and give everyone a good chance to see what it looks like.
Choose one child (“hunter”) to go outside of the room for a few minutes. While they are
outside, hide the object somewhere. Make sure the rest of the class know where it is
hidden.
The rest of the class should make a “Laa” sound while the child is hunting:
1 (Do) – lowest, means the hunter is far away from the object
2 (Re) – the hunter is getting closer
3 (Mi) – the hunter is mid-way to the object
4 (Fa) – the hunter is very close to the object
5 (So) – highest, the hunter is standing exactly where the object is
Kodaly Tip: Instruct the students to use the Curwen/Glover Hand signs as they make the “Laa” sound.
Allow the children to practise a few times for them to understand what pitch to sing
according to the position of the hunter. Invite the hunter back in.
By listening to the rest of the class, the “hunter” should be able to find the hidden object
(make sure the “hunter” knows this before he / she begins hunting!). This activity can be
repeated a number of times.

(for ages 5 – 9)
Instructions
Teach the students to sing with the hand gestures of the 7 musical notes. The low ‘Do’ begins at the
tummy and the upper ‘Do’ is at eye level.
Sing-a-long to the tune of “Do Re Mi” by Richard Rodgers
DO is strong, just like a fist
RE is sliding like a slope
MI is flat like a table top
FA - a thumb that’s pointing down
SO is straight up like a wall
LA is picking up a ball
TI is pointing to the sky
DO that will bring you back to the fist
Image credits: Classics for Kids
Lyrics credits: Mr Quek Ling Kiong

(for ages 9 – 12)
Sounds are made by vibrating objects. Students can feel
sound vibrations by placing their fingertips on their throats
and humming a sound. Having them exaggerate the sound
will make them easier to feel.
Draw a table on the board with the words “High”, “Mid”
and “Low” on the columns, and “Small”, “Medium” and
“Large” as the rows. Using the suggested pieces (see
QR codes below), together with accompanying pictures
of the instruments of the orchestra, lead your students
on an exploration of the relationship between the size of
the instruments and the range of their sound (how high or
how low they can play).
As students are listening to a specific instrument, show
them the pictures and then ask the class where the sound
and size of the instrument fall on the scale. Write the
name of the instrument in that box. Once gone through a
variety of instrument sizes, ask the class if there is a
pattern on the board.
Depending on the level of the students, you can incorporate investigative work by having the class
come up with a hypothesis before you begin and gather the data through listening before arriving
at a conclusion.
Huapengu (Flower
Drum) & Paigu
Demonstration
1:42 Zhonghu
1:46 Gaohu & Erhu
3:27 Cello
3:07 Liuqin
4:14 Zhongyinsuona
4:36 Gaoyinsuona
Zhongruan
Demonstration
Double Bass
Demonstration
Dizi
Demonstration

(for ages 9 – 12)
Materials
A 1.5L plastic soft drink bottle
Water
Instructions
Demonstrate how to produce a sound by
blowing across the top of an empty bottle. Ask
students to suggest what is vibrating. Ask them
what will happen if water is added to the bottle,
and then demonstrate by blowing across the top
of the bottle again.
Ask the students to predict what will happen if
more water is added to the bottle. Let the
students try to make sounds by blowing a steady
stream of air across the top of the bottles.
Group Work
Get students to test out their predictions and record their observations in a table. They
could use a chromatic tuner app to measure the pitch of the sound produced.
Extension:
Ask the students to describe how the recorder (music instrument) works.
Get the students to investigate what happens to the pitch if the bottle is tapped
instead.
The End