All 27 singers of the virtual choir who won the Silver A Award for the Open Category of the MCE 2021 National Virtual Choir and Vocal Festival.
The MCE Award Ceremony 2021 with Ms Ang Yaw Feng at the top right corner and Ms Regina Ong Ween Yen, the pianist (second top photo).
Throughout the years, TAR UC Choir - Voichestra has amassed awards and accolades from the many competitions that they have had participated in. In 2021, the choir notches another significant milestone as they have won their 17th award since 2004. This time, they garnered the “Silver A Award” for the Open Category of the Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod (‘MCE’) 2021 National Virtual Choir and Vocal Festival held on 25 – 27 June 2021.
Through consensus, the 2020/2021 choir group chose to sing the song “Into the Unknown” which was made famous in the animation movie Frozen II. “Due to the new pandemic, we are in a way living in the unknown. And it is hoped that this song will bring some light to all those who are going through it,” said Ms Ang Yaw Feng, a Senior Lecturer of the Faculty of Communication and Creative Industries (‘FCCI’) who led the students in preparation for the competition.
Even though it was their second virtual choir presentation that won an award, they still faced numerous challenges. More so, because this time there were 27 singers as compared to 16 in the previous virtual choir. Also, this time there were many new singers coming from the new batch of students who recently joined. Chin Zin, TAR UC Choir President, who was tasked to edit the video, shared the technical issues that got in the way. He said: “There was PC hardware incompatibility. I had to borrow two different sets of computers because my personal computer wasn’t good enough to edit the virtual choir video, which required better processing specification. It took me a considerable amount of time to work with the computers I borrowed too due to the same hardware incompatibility issues, but I persevered nonetheless,” he said.
Chin Zin was quick to point out that they had a fruitful time coming up with the song. “The experience was definitely rewarding and eye-opening for me, as I feel that our choir has made a noteworthy achievement even during lockdown period, which has made us learn to adapt our rehearsing methods to the “new normal”. To see our members putting in a lot of effort in creating music together and giving our best for this competition despite the pandemic is no doubt a testament to our passion in music. As long as there is passion in our hearts, TAR UC Choir will continue to shine bright and sing!” he enthused.
One of the reviews from the juries showed that they were very impressed with the performance. The 3rd Jury, Mr Meurig Thomas from United Kingdom, commented: “An atmospheric start here with the underlying harmonies representing a real challenge that was well met. Great overall sound to commend. Rhythmically very synchronised and taut,” he said.
