Reported by:
Ng Choon Hau Sr2A 16066
The guitar, an undoubtedly extravagant and magical instrument. The Thursday of May 28th 2020 saw a guitar sharing session held from 2 to 3pm over the Zoom and Facebook Live platforms, introducing the basics of guitar playing and showcasing club members’ guitar talents. It was hosted by Ms. Yong King Li, a History Teacher, also serving as the Chief Advisor of Kuen Cheng Guitar Club.
The session began with an introduction to the Guitar Club, rattling off its history, past achievements and milestones. This was followed by a briefing on the basic technicalities of guitars, including their instrumental family, timbre and maintenance.
Introduction slide to the history of Kuen Cheng Guitar Club
Afterwards, Ms. Yong introduced the types of guitar performances, which included singing while playing the guitar, soloist performances (also known as fingerist performances), and ensemble performances; of which can be divided into small and large ensembles. She noted that the Guitar Club’s first major concert back in February 2019 featured all of the aforementioned performance types, most notably a large ensemble performance with a live band.
Following that was the introduction to the types of guitars, namely the alto guitar, prime guitar, bass guitar, contrabass guitar, and guitarron; along with their differences. Ms. Yong then taught some basics in guitar playing, which included crucial guitar strumming patterns and chords for beginners. Some sheet music of iconic songs for beginner guitarists, like Common Jasmine Orange, were showcased with Ms. Yong explaining techniques in playing them.
A slide on basic strumming techniques
The session then moved to Ms. Yong’s Facebook Live streaming; of which its use, as explained by Club President Low Wei Chuan, was due to its lack of technical problems compared to Zoom and its familiarity with the audience.
There, she demonstrates some basic guitar strumming methods. Her usage of dual cameras, each pointing at different parts of her guitar, proved effective in more accurately conveying her forms.
Ms. Yong demonstrating strumming techniques via Facebook Live
That was followed by her inviting a few Guitar Club committee members to play some songs, including the club president who played three songs in quick succession while singing at the same time.
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