A Precious Gift

 

Brother playing some parts of his composition.

 

Brother and Phoon Yew Tien discussing their work coordination

 

A precious gift - a lovely violin from Yew Tien. I must work hard on the violin

Brother Kee Yong had arranged to meet his friend, Yew Tien, at my apartment to discuss some of his orchestral composition. Phoon Yew Tien is Singapore's well-known composer.

I proudly told Yew Tien to try my Kawai piano which I had purchased at $100/-. He tried a few classical pieces and I thought he played very well for someone whose specialty is the flute and composition. Later I showed him my relatively new violin which I had bought for $280/- from a music shop in Balmoral Plaza. Yew Tien tried it and immediately detected that the sound post and bridge were not in their ideal position. I told him my brother would help me to fix it up.

The next day, when Yew Tien came, he brought with him a lovely violin. "For you", he said. I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat overwhelmed by Yew Tien's generosity. Wow, the sound is beautiful.... so much better than mine. It is more seasoned and the sound is richer. Brother played some parts of his composition on the violin. It made me yearn to be adept at this lovely instrument. With Yew Tien's gift, I now have two violins and I feel so rich! However, I guess it won't be long before I give one of my violins away, probably to my grand nieces when they are more grown up. More importantly I must learn to play the violin well. I must persevere as my fingers are quite short. Since I have been able to play "The Maiden's Prayer" a piece with many octaves on the piano with relative ease, I should be able to overcome my limitation!

I am so blessed to be surrounded by musically talented siblings and relatives as well as friends who have been endowed with the gift of music. "Music has power", as papa has always asserted. Indeed, like animals, music also makes my world go round!
As my good friend, Sally, had said, "Give Choo a dog and some music, and she'll be happy the whole day long".

My dear readers, what makes your world go round?

Gan Chau