Classical music finds step in Jakarta

Mehru Jaffer, Contributor, Jakarta

Gabriel Bingei, 4, would rather play with his grey and white teddy bear but it is time for him to practice the violin instead.

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head playfully before grabbing a baby violin. He is still so tiny that he has to perch on top of a bench to read from the music spread out on a stand. His teacher Grace Sudargo giggles along with Gabriel. She tickles him and promises a lollipop before getting dead serious about making music.

Older sister Saskya, 6, leafs through a storybook as she waits her turn to take lessons at the Capella Amadeus, the music school run by Grace.

Grace was just seven years old when she started violin lessons. At the age of 13, she was determined to make music her career and to study in Austria. Although enamored at the thought of performing, her professors encouraged her to teach music.

While still in Austria, Grace decided to treat herself to two majors: in teaching as well as in concert performance. At the end of her studies she turned down an attractive job offer in Austria to return to Jakarta to perform, and more importantly to teach music to children here.

Capella Amadeus was started about five years ago with six students and one teacher. Now the institution has expanded to include 220 students, with the youngest one being three years old, and 20 teachers.

During this time, the school has organized concerts, workshops for teachers and music critics too and traveled for performances in provinces outside of Java.

Grace feels that it is not enough for just a handful of people to know and appreciate music.

"Music needs a much larger community of not just performers but a vast audience and educated critics. That network is missing in this country," says Grace, adding that it is where most music is treated merely as mindless entertainment.

This is a pity because teachers around the world appreciate the positive effect music has, especially on children.

It is increasingly felt that musical activities provide children with important experiences that help to develop memory, physical coordination, timing, visual, auditory and language skills.

When they work to increase their command of music, and exercise musical skills in the company of others, they gain an important experience in mental concentration and a heightened personal and social awareness.

It is also agreed that different kinds of rhythm and harmony touch the innermost soul of people but knowledge of western classical music is valuable also for instilling discipline into the life of a human being. Through the study of music an attitude of musical appreciation and expression is fostered that is able to enrich an entire lifetime.

In Japan, it is mandated by the Ministry of Education that every child between the grade of 1 and 9 receive some hours of music tuition at all elementary and junior high schools in both the appreciation of music and in the expression of making music.

And this preoccupation with music as a central and essential part of a young person's school day is not exclusive to Japan but also in Germany where each student receives a minimum of two 45- minute classes per week in music from kindergarten to grade 12.

Music educators believe that to survive in the computer age music is essential and that the creative, productive use of leisure throughout life is and will be of great importance, not just to the individual but to society as well.

"Western music is kept alive by a few individuals. There are many distinguished musicians here but each one performs or teaches in their own little corner, seldom sharing their talent and knowledge with each other," regrets Dorothy Poon Louvet, founder and producer of the Bel Canto series of concerts.

A Hong Kong citizen, she has been tirelessly trying to promote classical music here as it exists in her home country. She dreams of the day when classical music activities will have a permanent home in a proper opera house and a central arts development authority will coordinate, finance and popularize music production and appreciation here.

After having produced vocal and instrumental music concerts since 1999, she would love to stage ballet performances and (very costly) an opera.

Due to a lack of institutional support the 10-year-old Twilite Orchestra cannot afford to concentrate on its first love, classical music, alone.

To keep the orchestra alive, Addie MS, founder conductor has included in its repertoire all symphonic music, film music, excerpts and arias from operas and Broadway musicals and pop music. In the absence of a proper auditorium, Addie is also happy to perform wherever a considerable audience is able to collect, from a shopping mall to a hotel lobby.

"We do play classical music and it is played as it should be. We do not attempt to simplify classical music for the masses," adds Addie. To continue to survive he takes inspiration from the pops orchestras of the west that are popular today for playing all kinds of music, except the boring kind.

Aida Swenson Simanjuntak is yet another pioneer in widening the appeal of western classical music. She is inspired by her father, A. Simanjuntak, well known composer of Indonesian music, to pour her heart and soul into the training and development of choral music in the country.

The most precious feather in her cap perhaps is The Indonesian Children's Choir and Youth Choir of over 300 boys and girls between the ages of eight and 19 years. The idea is to instill a sense of music, especially in those children who would otherwise not be able to afford such an artistic and spiritual activity on their own.

Popular pianist Anand Sukarlan is just 34 years old but has already gained a great reputation even internationally as a composer. He is also appreciated for encouraging other youngsters to compose original music both for solo piano recitals and orchestra.

Only adding to the sound of music here is the Indonesian American Friendship Association International Choir, which is a melange of both local and expatriate singers who first performed in the country more than three decades ago.

In the meantime, Binu D.Sukaman, one of the country's best sopranos and pianist Iravati M.Sudiarso are amongst those who continue to educate young and older students alike in the lifelong pleasures of classical music, making senior soprano Aning Katamsi very optimistic about the future of western classical music here.