Organisers of the Sing50 concert are blowing the budget with a $1.3 Million purchase of 50 Ultra high-end Steinway pianos at $26,000 each for use at one concert later this year for Red Dot Jubilee celebration. After the concert, the pianos will be donated to various primary and secondary schools. And so far more than 100 schools are vying for it!
http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/100-schools-keen-apply-pianos-sing50-fundFor many average Singaporeans, perhaps many might not know that a Steinway baby grand piano is? Steinway is actually an American and German manufacturer of handmade pianos. Founded way back in 1853 - renown for its high quality pianos. They do have different models to cater to other mid-range markets. However within the Baby Grands itself - there are different sizes ranging from 5'1" Baby Grand to Medium grand 7", Living Room Grand 10" plus to those of 6' and then the Grandest of them all - the CONCERT Grands which is 8"11 3/4". And so the prices vary from here.
And yes, undoubtedly, Steinway pianos have appeared in numerous records and concerts.
SG celebrates her 50th Jubilee in 2015. But I am not too sure if this impending purchase has struck the right KEY with many fellow citizens here. It is now under re-stringing with a TENSION which has two Es:
The first High Key of E is that of the Pursuit of Excellence.
And perhaps the Lower Key of E is that of the Pursuit of Extravagance.
How perhaps does a committee or ministry balance these 2 keys in decision making? Is it money well spent? Would that serve the schools to cause a ripple effect to more students in the pursuit of musical interest?
I remember in my younger days I would have loved to learn the piano but due to some reasons was unable to do so. But what was affordable to me then later during college days was to learn the guitar (classical one that cost me S$100?) at a neighborhood community centre. Many years passed me by and it was only at the age of 45 that I took up keyboard lessons to fulfill a dying bucket wish list. It was a 2 year program where I need not learn the towgay notes but simply with chords formation. Fingers went a crackling and stretching across that 7 notes from a low to high key was a pain in the beginning! However, at the end of it all, I congratulated myself for disciplining through all the hard work of practice !
One thing I learnt. It was not really about the equipment. For my keyboard coach - even on a $400 Yamaha classroom keyboard, her playing sounded like heaven to me. For us students who played- it sounded like choking halfway through hell! LOL
This reminded me of this story......
"Joshua Bell is a world-class violinist and has performed with almost all the worlds’ major orchestras. He is well known and even his violin has a name, called Gibson ex Huberman, it is a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin. In a curious experiment with Gene Weingarten from the Washington Post, Joshua Bell put on a baseball cap and played as an incognito street busker at the Metro subway station L’Enfant Plaza in Washington DC in 2007. The experiment was videotaped on a hidden camera; among 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him, and only one recognized him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him). What is the difference between people paying hundreds of dollars to go watch him and being amazed at him and in another location, everyone just walks by and ignores him? It was simply that the context changed and people viewed the two contexts very differently. It is the context of a situation that sets us up to look for certain things. It tells us what is important and how we should respond. It gives us a reference point for what is an appropriate relationship" Extracted from . - See more at: http://templateinstitute.com/global-observations/tti-monthly-thought/#sthash.ZXBucu8P.dpuf
Reflection
The Pursuit of Excellence
- We should and ought to strive for a high E of excellence. Yes yes
- However, if one really were to look back, how many Number 1s are there in this world in the area of music, sports or chefs? The irony is that in many situations, we always know the number 1 but we forget the #2 or 3....
- Having said that to have 50 Baby Grands in a concert seems too much of an excellence? Wonder how it would sound then when skillful musicians play at one go with such a prestigious high quality sounding pianos?
- Could we not just have one Grand Concert Baby instead of 50 and allow the matching of funds to match that amount of S$1.3 mil instead - to start up a 8 student musical studio room in schools so that more students whose parents are unable to afford musical lessons for them can be given a chance to learn and appreciate the heavenly keytones? {S$1.2mio / $500 average keyboards = 2400 pc / 8 per studio =300 schools project?) Imagine the 50 grands sitting in the assembly hall - used by one at a time and perhaps at most 5 times a week during the assembly period or special occasions....
The Pursuit of Extravagance
- What is S$26,000 a Baby Grand compared with a Yamaha CLP Electone of S$300-$500? ONE Grand = 50 little mid range electones?
- What is waste and what is not? Guess it depends on the final usage and benefit of impact.
- Reminded me of the story of the most expensive precious alabaster jar of ointment which Mary poured unto Jesus which caused a great stirring among the disciples on that day. (Matt 26) The disciples were filled with indignation " To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much and given to the poor?" What did Jesus say? "She has brought a good work upon me. For you have the poor always with you, but me you have not always"
- The lesson lies in the difference - we have only but one Lord of all. For Him, we have to give our very excellence and extravagance.
Excessive Extravagance
Of late, we have seen our nation's food waste that perhaps created a new problem of cleanliness in our city state. We love to eat and ratatouille is one of our favourite past time here. Hey, but Rats are populating this land/ We need to eradicate these rats! We need more human babies, not rats!!!
We have been a nation wanting to pursue excellence in all fronts. However such pursuit had given in to certain extend of extravagance as seen from the baby grands. Expensive expenses incurred at about $500 each to catch that rat at Bukit Batok. No doubt we are celebrating our 50th year of awesome Jubilee that only would come by once and never return till another cycle. By then I would have become ashes. You would not find me in the S$6500 (Half subsidized niche) at the Eternal Purity Columbarium at Fernvale for sure. For a small fee of less than $200 for a boat ride and the licence approved by NEA or ?? to discard, I would be somewhere in the Johor Straits, perhaps fed to the fishes. And may I see you at the final Eternal Purifed Place above called Heaven above. Hope to see you there - especially my beloved family and friends whom I know on this red dot.
"Government – Part 1 – Back to the Basics
There is only one template for how God wants us to live values-wise and it’s found in Scripture. We need to get back to the message of the Kingdom and how God works in all areas of life. God’s values are given to us in the laws of Moses and are built on through the life and teachings of Christ. We cannot just assume that we know these values and how we can apply them today. It’s time for us as God’s people to return to our roots and get back to the basics. Let’s begin this year by taking a look at the values of God in the area of government.
In Scripture, government reveals the King of kings. It is in the area of government that we see the God of Justice revealed to us. There were governments in place before God spoke through Moses to create His idea of government. Governance is a part of God’s character and therefore it is part of how God ordained the world to function. Government is necessary. The only thing worse than bad governance is anarchy. In Deuteronomy 1 God begins to establish the principles of government through Moses. It is here that we see God delegating some of His authority away. A good system of governance, according to God, is for the power to be pushed down. He desires that the people would wisely choose their own leaders, that every tribe would be represented, that there would be no partiality in judging and that there would be checks and balances in the system. His desire is that all people within a nation would be involved in electing their leaders. It is our God-given right to be involved and to vote. In today’s world, especially in Western countries, less than 50% of the people vote. And in Christian circles the statistics are even lower. How did we get to the point where we don’t care who gets voted in and who rules over us? Have we lost what is important to God in this area? I find it ironic that many people in the Middle East today are losing their lives fighting for their right to have a voice and a vote, while many of us are just taking our freedom for granted. We need to repent, change our thinking and get back to the things that God sees are important!"
Extracted- See more at: http://templateinstitute.com/global-observations/tti-monthly-thought/#sthash.rcaRbY71.dpuf
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