Hongwan's first encounter with the Chinese orchestra was a reluctant one: he had refused to attend six practices in a row before finally giving in. But just a year after seeing a zhongsheng for the first time, he had already developed a fondness for it. He was an active member of the Raffles Institution Chinese Orchestra (RICO) and subsequently the Raffles Junior College Chinese Orchestra (RJCO), first taking on the frivolous responsibility of Public Relations Officer, and eventually becoming the chairperson of both orchestras in succession. 

 

Nowhere was this more true than in his musical experience. CO music led him to western classical music and music theory, and together they showed him a vast musical world that he knew absolutely nothing about. It has fueled a passion for all things musical that has lasted till today. As a perennial student of music, he learnt how to play all the other members of the sheng section in the Chinese orchestra: he performed on the disheng with the Raffles Alumni Chinese Orchestra (RACO) for the first time at the age of 27, and was kindly given the opportunity to play a solo on the gaosheng in his last RJCO concert.

 

At the age of 16, he decided to learn how to play a scale on a piano, and twelve years later, he is still an avid, self-taught student of the instrument. But the most important musical skill that he developed was simply listening: the literal, aural perfection of a perfect interval, the liquid-like flow of a perfect legato, and the exquisite precision of a perfect staccato. After graduating from RJC, he never thought he would come back to CO music again, but when he joined RACO at the relatively old age of 25, he knew he was a better musician, if only because of an additional 8 years of using his ears. With RACO, he has thoroughly enjoyed performing in three annual concerts. He was the woodwinds sectional leader for one season, and assistant conductor in the next. He has enjoyed both the musical experience and the camaraderie of RACO immensely. 

 

As a young teenager, he was foolish enough to take up the responsibility of student conductor in RICO, but even back then he knew he didn't know what he was doing, even if he did pretend very well. This year, twelve years after his first conducting stint, as assistant music director and conductor of RACO, he can pretend a little less. He is grateful to the committee and the orchestra for trusting him, and is honoured to be among friends who only want to do the best they can musically, and to be a little less ignorant about this mysterious, elusive art.

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