Raising funds through music

The orchestra players and organising committee after the event

A mellifluous night filled with soundtracks from various movies saw a successful fund-raising orchestra performance organised by the Music Club on 23 June 2018 at Kampar Campus. The event was attended by UTAR Vice President for Student Development and Alumni Relations Prof Dr Choong Chee Keong, Centre for Foundation Studies (Kampar Campus) and Music Club Advisor Tan Lee Siew, Music Club Co-advisor Soong Hoong Cheng, Music Club Chairperson Lim Yir Fang and Organising Chairperson Leong Ivan. 

From left: Prof Choong and Leong delivering their speeches

“The idea, “STARdom Night” philharmonic orchestra, meant to give our audience the opportunity to feel like a star. We wanted to make our audience feel like they were the star of the night with the accompanying background music in this red carpet event,” said Leong.

He added, “Apart from giving our audience a memorable night, it was a meaningful night for us as well because we successfully raised a total of RM8,000 funds, which will be used for the purchase of musical instruments, coaching expenses, music scores and expansion of the equipment. These aspects are important contributions toward expanding our orchestra team and we hope to organise more of such performances in the future. It was more than just a fundraising event because it was an opportune night for our orchestra players to showcase their talent and to enable students to learn more about the Music Club.

Prof Choong, in his speech, also mentioned that the orchestra performance was a good way for students to learn about the music club and to foster their interest towards music. He also encouraged students who are talented in music, to participate in the club and help expand it. Upon witnessing the success of the event, Prof Choong also encouraged the students to participate in extracurricular activities.

“I hope the students will be inspired from this event and they will actively participate in extracurricular activities. It has always been an emphasis of UTAR’s education to strengthen students’ ability to learn from the outside-classroom environment. The lessons you learn from extracurricular activities are also in line with UTAR’s pillars of education, such as physical and mental health, creativity and innovation, and aesthetics and harmony. These values can be easily learnt even when you are organising an event because it teaches you the importance of having good time management. You will also need to find the right balance between your study time and extracurricular activities, which is important for students to maintain good physical and mental health. As you face challenges, you will also learn to make use of your creativity and innovative skills to solve problems. Extracurricular activities are great opportunities for students to acquire and develop the necessary skills, so I hope you will find time to allow yourself to discover new things and gain new experiences through those activities,” said Prof Choong.

The ten songs that were performed by the orchestra, included John Towner Williams’ composition titled “Great Movie Adventures: John Williams”, “I Dreamed a Dream 1980”, “Mission Impossible” 1996 theme song, “Titanic’s” (1997) theme song “My Heart Will Go On”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” (2003) theme song, “三生三世十里桃花 (Eternal Love)” theme song, Korean television series “Beethoven Virus’” theme song titled “Team of Passion”, Taiwanese movie “那些年,我們一起追的女孩 (You’re the Apple of My Eyes)” theme song, and lastly Taiwanese television series “我的少女時代 (The Time of My Maiden Years)” theme song titled “A Little Happiness”).           

The orchestra players performing various movie theme songs

The guests posing with the props before the performance (left) and with the Music Club members (right)

All photos courtesy of the Music Club