Teluk Intan, July 30

This is the last concert we performed. I had to make one demand that I felt like I had to. I wanted the grand to be moved from Ipoh to Teluk Intan (Anson Bay). In this process, we found out what piano movers charge here. There isn't a recommended rate and it was like dealing with cutthroats. They would keep changing their minds about the prices and it was haggling over the phone for hours.

Teluk Intan is the place where my father grew up and where my grandpa's house was. Known for its leaning clock tower, famous lotus seed caramel filled biscuits & not to mention seafood, it is about a 45 minute drive from Kampar. My brother Justin's godparents, Mr and Mrs Loh live there and they were our hosts. Mr Loh is the life of any party and he is one person that can tell a joke after another, and make them up as he goes along. I think Mr Loh met his match in Mr T. We had many good laughs at the dinner table. Hmmm dinner was .. steamed river crabs, prawns, fried eel and all with fresh sugar cane juice. Very interesting!

Mr & Mrs Loh, My Dad, Mr & Mrs T & I. All wearing traditional Malaysian batik considered formal attire in my country, except Mrs T and I in concert black. I misplaced my other gowns in Ipoh else I'd be in red!

I used to be very active with school choirs although my knowledge of choirs back then would be considered amateurish now. I still receive phone calls when I'm home asking me to go coach a choir. So this time, I had Mr. T do that with a school choir in Teluk Intan. It was fun, as I watched how excited the kiddos were and how they stayed back after school just to work with him. We offered the students a discounted admission to our recital and they showed up. After the coaching session, the "Check Engine" light came on.. ugh.. I suspected the alternator was giving out, and that was confirmed by the mechanic. So we had to make do with other transport arrangements.

Besides student tickets, the other marketing strategy for this concert was that there would be a full-course Chinese dinner prior to the recital. The guests would eat, tables cleared and then we would perform. I'm not sure whether I've mentioned this but in Chinese culture, food is very important. (Thanksgiving in the USA is nothing compared to what I get to eat!)

Our audience and the dinner tables at the City Hall.

We waited at the guest house since we skipped the dinner. Just before my dad came to get us we saw two rainbows in the sky. Although rainbows are fairly common here, we very seldom see them in Malaysia. I was reminded by God's promise and that He would be faithful to us.

My former Mathematics teacher was the master of ceremony that evening. After my solo set, he said he was glad I dropped my ambition to be a pharmacist. The audience clapped! My life would not be so interesting if I didn't become who I am. It was a little embarassing to have some of your childhood revealed at a recital. ;) Most people in the audience have seen me as a toddler, little girl & a teenager!

The recital went fairly smoothly other than the fact the air-conditioning was pretty loud and in the middle of the German lied set, there was a Muslim prayer call. We forged on and the audience loved this performance. Very seldom do classical artists make their way to this tiny little town. They gave us a standing ovation and we had to do an encore. If we kept going, they wouldn't have left. I'm glad we brought classical music especially voice and piano to the many music students who have never had the chance to hear it live. We were inundated with gifts, bouquets and mobbed for autographs.

The people that made the Teluk Intan concert a success. Many thanks!

On stage, at the close of the recital with the bouquets.

The choir members from the school from the day before.

Last autograph session and many fond memories to follow.

Ipoh, July 28

Just thought I should try and complete the summer postings:

Every year when I visit my hometown and the surrounding areas, I am struck by the beauty of the limestone hills here. This year I made very sure to take pictures around Ipoh and I will post some of them here too. Ipoh is the capital city of Perak, and about 40 mins north of Kampar. Famous for limestone hills, pomeloes and their chicken noodles, Ipoh is where I had my first job as a ballet accompanist, joined a good choir & performed in public, took piano and voice lessons, and attended classical concerts. I love this city and have enjoyed its flavor.

Pictures showing the limestone hills surrounding Ipoh.

It is nice to play a recital here and the piano for this concert was made in Ipoh. C Steinberg has a factory here and Ipoh is actually the piano capital for Malaysia. There are lots of factories here. Ticket sales were a little sluggish because there were other concerts before and after ours. We had a hall (more like a barn) that doubles as an indoor badminton court. (Tangent: Badminton is a world-class sport & Malaysia performs fairly well). It was really echoey so I didn't need to pedal too much.

I had a really good lunch on the day of the recital, went to one of the famous established local restaurants and pigged out. I don't do this in the USA. Can't afford it and there's nothing really to pig out on!

The audience was made up primarily by my home church members, Chinese church members, lots of friends from Kampar and Ipoh and a whole bunch of students. We offered student tickets and also transport to the concert venue. The concert went well and the Tamil Methodist Church hosted the concert. Their youth group did a fundraiser too by selling refreshments at the intermissions. Hence the pop cans opening during my festive Chinese "Flower Drum" piece. I didn't mind so long as the kiddos were having a good time.

Ipoh planning committee who worked really hard.

Our Ipoh audience.

Here was where the James Bond jokes were. And I pity the next group of performers now that Mr T didn't use a mike. The rest will now be compared to him whether they like it or not. At least, I have the honors of being the local girl and escaped scrutiny. :)

The Malaysian Review Part II

Here are the ones about me & the Chinese etudes:
"We thought you were playing four instruments up there."
"I never thought the piano could sound like that... so many instruments."
"We've not heard pieces like that before and seen the piano treated this way."

I'm glad I accomplished what I wanted to communicate to the audience. Those were the remarks I was hoping to hear. Maybe there is a chance for the piano to be loved in Malaysia, not just played for exams.

Going to the Taiping Zoo

Now, now.. yes.. I've not been to this zoo since I was five. And for good reason too, the last time I was there, a monkey attacked me. Funny, yeah yeah!!

Sheri: Going to the zoo with you guys is like walking into a grocery store. How many things do you guys eat? (Yes, we did point at all the animals and plants that we'd eat given the chance and given a chef.)

Highlights at the zoo include:
1. Annoying a king cobra so much that it flared its hood. No one likes to be woken up rudely!
2. Being approached by a lovely deer, begging for some attention. Bright eyes and a lovely coat. This was some Bambi!
3. The sun bear showed us how well it could balance itself by pacing to and fro .. maybe about only 6" wide before it'd fall into the little moat in its enclosure.
4. Orang utans are smart animals. One of them put on a great show for us, by waving a leaf and then getting her partner to join her.

Well, after all maybe the animals found us to be just as or more amusing. Silly humans!

Malacca, July 23

We arrived in the historic city of Malacca and were hosted by Dr. Francis Yip. We found out that the sanctuary in Malacca Wesley also had pretty good acoustics. We were visiting when it was also Youth Sunday so they were in charge of the worship service as far as all the music was concerned.
Our hotel was in the historic district and it was quite an experience to walk around that area. We saw an iguana swimming in the river and I guess, it probably thinks of the vehicles that pass by as its lunch cart. There was a night market in the next street and they sold some pretty interesting items.


Performing in the sanctuary.


Dinner party and informal performance at Dr. Yip's home.



Mr. & Mrs. Taylor presented with a painting by Malaysian artist, Jehan Chan. A gift from Francis and Gillian Yip.

We had an unfortunate event in Malacca. Our borrowed Merc had a window that was smashed and a document folder was taken. However, nothing of value was stolen and we had to deal with a slight inconvenience of replacing the window. Then, on the 24th we were off to Penang Island.

Only in Malaysia

Mosquitoes on stage and in the green room. It was rather comical for everyone to watch us slap them off on stage. Repellent was just as important as music and water.

Pop cans opening during "Flower Drum" kinda added to the festivity of the piece.

An intermission that never really was.

Muslim prayer call during the concert and Mr T singing without a mic, still audible to the audience.

Can a recital end at 10:30pm and the audience still wants an encore because the night is still young.

Kuala Lumpur July 21

A Chinese full-course banquet the night before the recital. Here are some of the lovely people that worked hard behind the scene (KL recital committee members).


After the dinner, with Dr. Sylvia Coats, James & Sheridan Taylor, my elder bro James and his wife Jasmine.


Performing at Kuala Lumpur Wesley, near Petaling Street. Nice acoustics and a good place to perform. Sleepy piano as it hasn't been broken in but a lovely voice and a nice concert instrument provided by YC Music.


The autograph signing... what fun!


All of us former students of Miss Wong Chiew Yoong. My sister and bro are in the picture. Also my piano duet partner from school is present in the picture. Great Kodak moment here!


With the KL committee after the autograph signing.

The Malaysian Review ..

Woman: "Gloria, Mr. T is SOoooo handsome!"
Gloria: Yes I know but he's married & his wife is here.
Woman: "But I'm also married and it was my husband that says he looks like James Bond"

"He sings without a mic!"

"AND he is going to sing without a mic"

"Sings like an angel and looks like James Bond"

"Not as fat as Pavarotti and younger and more handsome than Pavarotti"

"Wah.. he worked so hard and sang so many pieces! Without a microphone!!"

Do these statements explain why Mr. T was mobbed after every concert?

"Buy" One Get the Other Free

My younger brother and I went out to Kuala Lumpur yesterday. We had many things to do in the city but we had never driven in there by ourselves. It is very difficult to navigate this city. We found out that road signs were not to be trusted and polite drivers are a rarity.

We checked out KL Wesley where the recital will be and the acoustics will be great for us. We also went and visited the pastor. We needled our way through Petaling Street and found roasted chestnuts for about $2 a pound. That was quite a treat!

We headed to the airport to pick up Dr. Coats. We missed the correct junction to the airport and ended up looping around the suburbs. Thankfully we didn't miss her and the wait was nice. When she came out, I saw that she had someone else with her. Dr. Paul Stewart, MTNA President was at the baggage claim area at the same time. So we had another person unexpectedly.

We managed to get Dr. Coats to Crown Plaza Hotel before traffic got crazy. Dr. Stewart wanted to try the KL Monorail and we ended up having to use the monorail to get to his hotel, the Dynasty. I was supposed to pick out my piano that afternoon but we wanted to get him settled into the hotel. Little did we know that the piano shop is about 5 blocks from his hotel. We didn't waste too much time and managed to get everything done.

Before dinner, Justin and I helped them settle all the technology questions. Almost like another orientation session. Dinner was an outdoor steamboat/grill buffet at a restaurant called Talipon (Telephone). James and Jasmine took us there. I liked what we got to try: lamb, steak, sting ray, mussels, fish, cuttlefish, different tofu, and the lot. Made dinner a hands-on, communal affair. Hopefully we didn't drag Dr. Coats and Dr. Stewart around too much, but making them stay up a little would have helped the jetlag.

(Here's a picture of the restaurant, taken by one of my classmates Yee Tong, whom I ran into there. Arthur was also there.. what a surprise!)

We sent Dr. Coats off with tissue paper and Dr. Stewart with drinking water. ;) It was lots of fun having Dr. Stewart as our freebie! Somehow I forgot my business cards today. We navigated around a traffic jam and got home at 2 am. More later..

The Countdown Begins

Here we go, it's about 6 days to the first recital. My home is so noisy that I have resorted to practicing at my physician's home. They are in the UK so I can feel free to use their piano.

I have selected my weapon for the Kuala Lumpur recital. It's easy to get imitation everything in Malaysia (imitation Guess, Prada, Gucci, Dunhill.. you name it). The grand piano I'll perform on is a Steinway copy made by Young Chang, under license from some German company. Rather funny! I am playing on an imitation Steinway.

It's been crazy trying to get the logistics of the hall and pianos. Also most of the pianos need some work before they would be up to performing standards. My piano technician has been showing me the different actions of the pianos. I have examined pins and felts, and every nook and cranny of a piano. Pretty interesting and amazing! What a contraption!

Ticket sales and publicity is going on full swing. I am not quite ready for all the attention but I guess it's coming. There may be a mini press conference sometime but I don't know when. Just want to be presentable, this shorter hairstyle needs work :)

Malaysia Recital Preparations

I have 6 more days before I leave for Malaysia. I have all the gifts and stuff for people packed and ready. Now I have to get my junk together. I have not really done recitals in Malaysia before and I dunno where to start with my packing. I'm not a procrastinator when it comes to that but this year I can't start.

Last I heard the production company was going to dress us, do the makeup and hair and such. Hmmm.. so long as they do not dye my hair, not permanent anyway... :) and I choose my own shoes! I know that a professional film crew will be there at the recital in KL. I can't decide on which formals to bring home. Well, I'm thankful I have plenty to choose from.

Can't decide whether to take original copies of my music home or not. Dunno how I'm going to carry all that plus my laptop for carry on baggage. I would not send them to cargo in case they get lost. I also really want to drag my orthopedic seat cushion back with me.

As far as Malaysia goes, the CDs are in production and the first run is 5000 copies. They are selling for RM 50 each and concert tickets are $50 each too. We are prepared to autograph CDs after each concert, and I have a stack of business cards. I am not sure what piano I'll be playing on in Kuala Lumpur, but I'll have to deal with a Petrof for Ipoh and Teluk Intan. Don't remember that piano very well. My piano tuner back home will take care of the piano and my brother is handling the logistics of the moving.

Will have to continue my thoughts in another blog. It's late and I should not be blogging when I'm in the nice practice room at UA. :) Goodnight T-town!