II. An Impossible Mission
1. [How did you do it?] On Aug 31,
2002, right after we concluded the North American tour, we returned to
Taiwan to perform in the Office of the President, on the President’s
invitation. An audience member of the concert became especially
interested in the choir. He is a church elder, a leader in the Taiwan
corporate community, Chairman of TECO Electric & Machinery Co, and
president of Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Mr.
Theodore M. H. Huang. Not long after he lead a group of industry
leaders to visit the Children’s Home, and arranged for a benefit
concert in the most luxurious hotel in Taipei. The choir performed
before dinner for over seventy tables of guests. After the concert, I
was seated at the host table, right next to Mr. Huang’s mother-in-law.
I learned that she is a music enthusiast, a devout Christian, and board
chairman or member to 4 charitable foundations. She praised the choir
for its level of achievement in four short years. The sentence she
repeated the most was: “How did you do it?”
“How did you do it?” is a question I am often being
asked. The answer to this question can not be summarized in a few
sentences. I would answer instead: “It is the grace of God!” Truly, if
not for God, this choir would not exist, nor would it reach such
caliber to be enjoyed by people at home and abroad.
The probability of building an internationally
acclaimed choir in an environment where all necessary conditions are
lacking is almost zero.
First, there were no co-workers. The only pianist we
had had no formal musical training, can’t read music or play
harmonizing accompaniment to what the choir sang. While learning songs,
we had no one to play the voice parts on the piano; instead I had to
sing each part phrase by phrase, with them echoing me. I was often
exhausted by the end of class.
There was no assistant director to continue the teaching after I returned to the States.
The talented musicians all flock to the cities, and
none is willing to stay and work in a remote village like Liu Kwei.
Secondly, all members were chosen from children
living in the Home. Most of the ninety-some children were too young to
join, leaving only around 30 kids to choose from. Almost all who can
sing audibly were chosen, no matter how badly they sounded; some were
even tone-deaf.
These were the pre-existing conditions that could not be overcome.
Under such restrictions, to sing for fun is doable,
but to sing with quality seemed harder than reaching for heaven.
But such an [impossible mission], sustained by
endless patience and perseverance, and supported by a foundation of
God’s love and faithfulness, became a miracle! The choir is now
declared a “National Treasure” of Taiwan!
2. [All Taiwan Aborigines are
musical geniuses!] This is also a comment often heard. They all are
musical geniuses? Then why within the last forty years, had there not
emerged a choir like this one? Such remarks are so unfair, discounting
all the teacher’s and choir members’ hard work. I firmly believe that
God is fair, giving everyone an equal capital to work with; it is how
one uses such capital that makes the difference.
Taiwan Aborigines are good singers comparatively,
because singing and dancing are part of their cultural traditions. All
holidays and gatherings are celebrated with singing and dancing. After
they became Christians (often village by village, tribe by tribe,) they
switched to singing hymns because singing is an integral part of
Christianity. In addition, the aborigines often live and work on
mountains; their daily strenuous physical activities built strong
stomach and diaphragm muscle. Of course their voices would be louder
and brighter than city dwellers. But they had no techniques to speak
of, and no teachers to teach them. The children in the orphanage have
lived there since young; they are transported to school daily, lacking
the physical exertion of their ancestors. How can they qualify as
“singing geniuses? Before the choir was formed, the staff had made
assessment of children’s singing ranges, which came out to be around 5
whole steps on average. Only two can sing a range of an octave. Their
breaths were so short that they couldn’t even last for one whole phase.
Would you call someone like this a genius?
If we could’ve chosen from hundreds of children like
some other famous choirs, the chosen ones could truly be called
“geniuses.” But the Children’s Home Choir not only had no privilege of
choosing, but had to keep those who are tone-deaf as well.
Such an un-appealing group of children were declared
geniuses after two to three years of training. Today even I have to
admit that they are singing geniuses. But who knows of the sweat and
toil that went into making them geniuses?
3. [Thanks for the Hard Work,
Teacher] Unless you were there, you can not imagine the process of the
choir’s coming about. The words “hard work” can not even begin to
describe it. After enjoying a concert of beautiful music, people would
often come up to me and thank me for training such an excellent choir
for the Kingdom of God.
In the beginning the choir members couldn’t read
music; they had not sung in parts before, only unison. Girls didn’t
know how to sing in head voice; they sang in their hoarse, talking
voice. When in parts, the low voice part would often sing the melody an
octave lower. When they did sing in head voice, their voices were as
quiet as mosquitoes. Once they reached low notes, they belt as loud as
they could.
What was even more horrible was that they couldn’t
sing sharp or flat tonic. They couldn’t sing dotted rhythm. Even
countless corrections and reminders could not sway them from their
wrong way of singing; it’s as if their hearts were made out of steel.
Difficult pieces take forever to teach. Sometimes they were not taught
phrase by phrase; for pieces like the Messiah, they were taught beat by
beat, and then two-beat by two-beat; when the whole measure was put
together, it became too difficult. In my mind I was screaming:
“Stupid!” But I couldn’t say it out loud for I didn’t want to hurt
their feelings. But compared to city children, their learning abilities
are so low. How can children like these be geniuses?
But undeniably, they are obedient children. Although
they take longer to learn, they do try very hard. Every corner of the
orphanage was filled with singing and laughter. They are like the
turtles in a race, slow yet victorious.
4. [Volume of a hundred] This was
an introduction made by Pastor Peter Chung of Mandarin Baptist Church
of Los Angeles. In one particular concert, there was an old gentleman
wearing hearing aids sitting in the front row; because he didn’t
anticipate such a loud volume (the choir never uses microphones in
their concerts,) his hearing aids were blown out. That’s why in later
concerts, we always ask audiences to turn off hearing aids or to sit in
the back if they can’t stand loud sounds.
On March 15, 2002, at Kaoshiung Medical University,
the choir performed on the same stage that the Vienna Boys Choir has
performed the night before. According to the members of the university
choir, which served as the sponsor for these two concerts, the voice of
the Vienna Boys Choir could not reach the back of the auditorium;
whereas the voice of the children’s Choir could reach not only the
whole auditorium, but outside as well. Though volume is not the only
criteria of good singing, a crucial element of Bel Canto singing is to
be able to sing over the volume of a whole orchestra. The concert hall
at Kaohsiung Medical University was not yet completed at the time, so
the concerts were held in a lecture hall, which was covered in sound
boards from top to bottom. It was a true test of skills.
But when the choir was first started, it was an
entirely different story. No one had support from the diaphragm. Even
though I have explained repeatly, no one could comprehend the
paradoxical forces that produce a diaphragm supported voice. It wasn’t
until a year later that one person came to understand it; many more
followed after that. However, there are still some that have not gotten
it even after six years of learning. In contrast, some students in the
U.S. Bel Canto classes got it immediately, and made marked improvement
in their voices. Now, that is what I call geniuses!
5. [The highest pitch in mankind]
“The Queen of Night” in The Magic Flute by Mozart has notes as high as
high F, which makes it the highest song ever written. Most of the
sopranos and some of the altos in the Children’s Choir can sing them
with ease, earning praises from many soprano singers. Some people think
that their high voices were due to their young age; once they reach
puberty, it’s doubtful that they will be able to sing that high
anymore. But in the last 6 years, many children have reached puberty
and beyond, into their 20s; their voices are much more mature, yet they
are still able to sing those high notes! This is all due to techniques;
the right techniques can enable a person to reach his/her highest
potential.
I remember in the first year the children could only
sing up to F; once they reach #F, their voices started to crack. They
were very limited in the songs they could sing. Therefore, first year’s
goal was to sing #F well. The goal in year 2 was to reach A, the third
year High C, and the fourth year above High F, so that they can sing
the Queen of Night. This process was slow and difficult. It was not
like what people thought, “All aborigines are singing geniuses!” No!
Geniuses are products are hard work. At the inception of the choir, if
they were sent to auditions for a famous choir, I don’t think any of
them would have been accepted.
The highest sung note was recorded by a journalist
in 1795. An Italian castrato, Luigi Marchesi, when singing a High C,
suddenly raised it up an octave. Everyone present was shocked and
amazed. This incident was later referred to in the music circle as
“Marchesi's bomb.”
I’ve once tested the girls in the choir by
vocalizing them as high as they can go to see if they can sing an
octave higher than High C; amazingly, six of them reached it. But it
doesn’t mean a whole lot to sing that high, because there is no song in
the world that reaches that high! That is why we only vocalize up to
High G or A, which is more than enough.
The famous tenor Pavarotti once said, “To jump six
feet is much more difficult than to jump four feet! When you can sing
and sustain High C, you raise the audience’s emotional hype to a
boiling point.”
A group of village kids who knew nothing about
music, being able to sing the highest song after a short time, seemed
unbelievable even to me. No wonder after each concert many people asked
me, “How did you do it?”
6. [In One Voice] Many of the
choir members are going through puberty, yet their voices are so
harmonious and together that they sounded like one person singing.
People asked me, “How do you handle the kids who are going through
puberty?” I answered, “I take them just the same, because I have no
other sources to choose from.” Question: “The voices of children going
through puberty are immature and sound like ducks quacking; they can’t
sing.” Answer: “I polish their voices so that they do not cause
disharmony. Their voices will mature after they have gone through
puberty.” Question: “Most voice teachers are unwilling to teach
children in puberty. They are worried that the vocal cords will be
damaged.” Answer: “As long as the techniques are correct, vocal cords
can not be damaged. Look at the children in our choir, most of them
have already made the transition from adolescence to adulthood; their
voices are not only not damaged, but more mature, deeper and
richer.”
Question: “It is really hard for singers to have
total control of their head voice. How can every one of your choir
members sing such pure and clean head voice?” Answer: “There is a way,
which is explained in details in my book ‘The New Traditional Bel
Canto’.” Question: “Most schools ask children to sing loudly, using
their throats. How do you correct that? I can hear that your choir
members have beautiful voices.” Answer: “This is a very big problem.
Almost every year when new members join the choir, a lot of effort is
put into correcting their throaty singing voices. One of the members
started out with heavy throaty sound; it took over two years to correct
that. Unfortunately, he turned nasally. Another year passed before he
was corrected from that. That was the most troublesome case I have ever
encountered.” Question: “My profession requires a lot of talking, which
makes my throat very uncomfortable; my voice often gets scratchy and
sore. Why is that?” Answer: ‘It is because you use your throat to talk.
The most fundamental treatment is to overcome that.” Question: “How do
I correct that? Is there a way?” Answer: “Learn to sing with the
correct Bel Canto techniques, because the basic principals for speaking
and singing are the same.” Question: “You still have not answered my
question. What is throaty voice, and how to correct it?” Answer:
“Alright! I will do you a favor. When the air stops in your throat, you
get throaty voice. If the air passes through the throat, then it is not
throaty. When the air stays in you nose, it becomes nasally; when the
air passes through your nose, it is not nasal. This you need to think
about and practice on your own; I can not do it for you.” A choir
conductor in Seattle told me, “It is a great accomplishment alone for
you to turn the voices of thirty people into the voice of one.”
7. [Everyone can sing solo ?] Many
songs in the choir’s repertoire need soloists. Most choirs would ask
professional singers to sing these parts. The Children’s Home Choir
performs so many times a year that it is impossible to do so. That is
why I trained the members to be the soloists right from the start. At
first their voices were soft and weak that we needed four singers at a
time. Gradually their volume increased that three was enough, and then
two. It wasn’t until 5 years later that each soloist can stand alone.
These children seemed especially timid that their
whole body would tremble whenever they had to stand out to sing. To
toughen up their nerves, I hold a solo contest each year. The first
year was as bad as you can imagine. You could hardly hear any sound
from them. Some were so scared that they couldn’t sing for a long time;
some didn’t know what to do with themselves and were extremely
embarrassed. It made me feel very discouraged and think that all my
efforts were wasted. Compared to children from normal families, these
children’s learning abilities are considerably impaired.
Take the song ‘The Queen of Night” by Mozart for
example. In actuality, all sopranos are able to sing it, if not for the
lack of nerves. To make them feel more confident, I would make all 9 of
them stand in a line and sing together; they all sang quite well that
way. Then I have them sing two-by-two; they can still do quite well.
Finally, it was down to one person; that was a challenge. In such a
high-difficulty song, high F appears 4 times; if you miss just one High
F, you’ve failed. There is also a string of staccato notes that if your
breath is not long enough, or you could not find a place to breathe in
between, you’d miss notes. There is not one coloratura who is not
scared to sing this song.
Every time I sent a girl out to sing this song solo,
I got really nervous for her backstage, praying that nothing would go
wrong. I couldn’t breathe easily until she has sung the final High F.
To cultivate a person is not easy, especially when
he/she is an orphan; orphans need extra encouragement and faith,
because they’re already lost on the starting line of the race. Now I am
rebuilding their confidence through singing. That is why I am willing
to put up double or even more the patience required for children from
normal households, to guide them toward reaching the musical
pinnacle.
8. [All from memory] The choir of
Christian Mountain Children’s Home performs all songs from memory. In
the past seven years, they’ve memorized over one-hundred and fifty
songs. They include selections from Creation by Haydn, Messiah by
Handel, and Elijah by Mendelssohn. The children like these precious
cultural inheritance very much. These songs will be with them for the
rest of their lives.
Every time we go on tours, we always prepare more
than 3 sets of programs. Because we usually perform several concerts in
a metropolitan area, we don’t want those fans who go to all the
concerts to hear the exact program each time. In Los Angeles, there was
a Mr. Liu who came to 7 different concerts. There were also fans who
traveled with us from Houston to mid-states and east coast. Some
followed us from the middle of Canada to West Canada. Some flew to San
Francisco from Seattle to see us. You can imagine the fascination these
children cast upon their listeners. Because the programs are rich in
variety, ranging from classical to contemporary, Broadway tunes to
folksongs and favorites from around the world, listeners could not get
enough of it in the two-hour concerts, wishing for more.
This is not a professional choir; the members are
all full-time students. I do not live in the orphanage full-time
either; I spent at the most 3 to 4 months out of a year there. The rest
of the time I live in the U.S. When I am at the orphanage, we can only
practice in the evenings after they get out of school. To achieve such
level of accomplishment was a step-by-step effort that was especially
difficult.
9. [Tailor-made songs] As the choir standard
increased gradually, the difficulty level of the songs was also raised.
Some of the songs were written by me just for the Children’s Choir.
Some I translated; some lyrics I wrote from scratch. These are songs
the other choirs have never sung before, or seldom heard of, so
they are very refreshing to listeners.
Some of them are Arias which I have written biblical
lyrics to; they are greatly appreciated by the audiences, especially
music lovers. This was a bold experimentation on my part. No one has
ever done it before. Because these masterpieces are written by people
long ago, they are now common spiritual treasures shared by all, and do
not infringe on the problem of copyright. Now that these arias have
stepped out the opera houses and into churches in the forms of hymns,
their impacts are greatly multiplied.
One of our most popular songs is a Taiwan Aborigine
Song, Mountain and Sea Rejoice. It weaves the languages and tunes of
the nine aborigine tribes into one. The choir incorporates the
aborigine dances into the song, bringing to life the nature and
uniqueness of the aborigines. When the song’s over, the applause was
thunderous and the listeners were captivated. This piece was written by
an aborigine composer, Rev. Hayu Yudaw. The original score is already a
masterpiece. With small modifications, the spirit of the song is
further strengthened, displaying enormous
power.
10. [Father and daughter on one
stage, mutual understanding] Finding a piano accompanist was a big
headache. In Taiwan, we have sought various avenues, but could not find
a satisfactory solution. The pianists were either not good enough or
not willing to live in the Home on a short-term basis. It was getting
close to our first summer tour in the U.S., something has to be done
quickly. God has already prepared. My youngest daughter, Judy Chen who
lives in Oklahoma City, has studies piano since young and has ample
accompanying experiences. I asked her about the possibility of helping
the choir. What made it difficult for her was that she has a husband
and two children to take care of. But her husband, James Chen, is a
devout Christian, and willingly took over the responsibility of taking
care of the family so that she can take time to tour with the choir.
They have done that in the past 7 years, solving the problem of finding
an accompanist. What is even more amazing is that although Judy is a
CPA, she does not work in her trained field, but rather as piano
accompanist in a university. When school is out in the summer, she is
able to tour with the choir. If she was working full-time in
accounting, then this arrangement would not have been possible, and the
history of the Children’s Choir would have to be re-written.
11. [Husband and Wife in one
heart, strength in servitude] For seven years, I was often away from
home either performing or training, leaving my wife, Deborah, home
alone. She has never complained, but instead encouraged me to serve the
Lord wholeheartedly. Because what you do for the smallest is doing for
the Lord. Her spirit of sacrifice so that we may work in one heart is
what I appreciate the most.
12. [Crying from Beginning to the
End] A lady told me after a concert in New York, “I cried from
beginning to end; how can the children’s voices be so moving?” This is
a common reaction almost everywhere we go. In Montreal, Canada, a
student from Taiwan said, “Your voices reminded me of home, so I cried
nonstop.” In Macaw, an American missionary said, “I started shedding
tears when I heard the song Do-Re-Mi.” A listener in Los Angeles said,
“When I heard The Lord’s Prayer, I was moved beyond control and cried a
lot.” An audience member in Tai Chung, Taiwan said, “When I heard the
children singing Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs from Messiah, tears
just shot out of my eyes.” A listener in Zhuhai, China said, “I was
already moved to tears when you rehearsed the song Gloria; I realized I
am a sinner.” As to the last song of each concert, Those Unseen Hands,
even the hardest of hearts can be moved to tears.
A Christian lady visited the orphanage, and the host
played a tape of the choir performing for her. The next morning she
said, “After I heard the children singing yesterday, I could not go to
sleep all night because of the messages in the songs. I kept crying,
asking God to forgive my sins. I have not had a close relationship with
my father; I blamed him for many things. But now God has done wondrous
work in my heart and I have decided to repent to my father.”
A young American missionary often visit the
orphanage. She cried the first time she heard the song, “At that time I
didn’t quite understanding the meaning of the words. I just started
crying when I heard the music.” Since then, every time the choir sings
this song, she would leave, worried that she wouldn’t be able to
control her tears. Even so, the faint music that followed her out still
made her cry.
The choir chaperones have heard this song countless
times. Rev. Hsiu-Mei Chuan said, “I still cry.” The teacher who
chaperoned the choir the most often, Hsiou-Chen Lin, said, “I still cry
each time I hear it.”
The choir members, conductor and accompanist are not immune to the power of the song either.
Our violin accompanist, Bei-Han Yang’s violin has
many dots on it. I asked her, “Why does your violin have so many dots?”
She said, “Those are the marks of my tears,” because she couldn’t wipe
away the tears while she was playing Those Unseen Hands. After she got
off the stage, the tears have already dried on her violin.
It’s no wonder when people invite friends to attend
the concerts, they would often add, “Bring some tissues; be prepared be
dry your tears.”
After hearing the Children’s Home Choir performs,
the conductor of the Vienna Boy’s Choir, Mr. Martin, was asked by Rev.
Joseph Yang to share his thoughts. This world-renowned conductor said,
“Our Vienna Boy’s Choir performs with skills, but the Children’s Home
Choir performs with hearts and souls.” What a difference that is.
A well-known singer who was trained in Beijing and
Europe said to me after a concert in San Francisco, “Your
interpretation of each song is deep and just; you interpretation of the
song, A Cold Night by Mr. Yau-Tai Hwang, was especially moving. You
truly are a world-class choir and conductor.”
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