Fung Ying Loo

• University of Malaya

This paper examines the longest work from Catalogue d'oiseaux, La rousserolle effarvatte, focusing on the non-birdsong subjects that depict the nature and habitat of the solo birdsong, the reed warbler. The analysis reveals that Messiaen used the time of day and non-birdsong subjects to structure the work, incorporating elements such as pond music,...

Since the phenomenon of Hallyu 1.0, Korean transnational popular culture has caught the attention of scholars worldwide, sparking discussions about soft power, gender, media consumption, and fandom in countries from the East to the West. However, there is a lack of studies on multiracial Malaysian youths’ consumption of South Korean transnational p...

The implementation of China Reform and Opening-up policy in 1978 gave birth to the Chinese new wave music, with an idiosyncratic manner of rebelliousness, individuality and innovation that brought a break-through in Chinese new music of the past. In this paper, we focused on a representative piano solo work Tai Chi (1987) by composer Zhao Xiaosheng...

While many activities that involve human movement customarily use music or sound as an accompaniment to enhance the overall experience of the performers and viewers, the details of musical aspects have often been neglected. Issues on synchronization between music and movement have often been debated particularly in the field of dance since music ca...

This study addresses the potential of a mobile learning model that integrates local Malaysian musical heritage in piano ornaments finger exercise. An asynchronous model adapted from the concept of karaoke was designed aiming at a synergy of piano exercise, edutainment, and heritage education with visual and auditory accompaniments. We aimed to rais...

This paper analyses ‘La bouscarle’, a movement from Catalogue d’oiseaux, which is one of the most extensive piano works written by Oliver Messiaen. A distinctive characteristic of this comparatively short movement is the harmonic colour constructed from the composer’s mode 3 in the representation of the river theme, serving as an important subject...

The ascendancy of China’s Cultural Revolution led to a purge of the rightists, including musicians. This article unveils composer Zhao Xiaosheng’s emotional entanglement of fear and suppressed hostility toward the revolution, reflected in the political and artistic ambivalence in his two ballades for solo piano composed after his father’s death.

Classically, the style of the generated music by deep learning models is usually governed by the training dataset. In this paper, we improved this by proposing the continuous style embedding z_s to the general formulation of Variational Autoencoder (VAE) to allow users to be able to condition on the style of the generated music. For this purpose, w...

Most studies of music and sports relate to the ergogenic effect of synchronization between music and movement in repetitive sports activities. As in dance, music is clearly important for sports routines that involve choreography. This study performs an experiment involving a rhythmic gymnastics routine to investigate whether increasing the congruen...

This paper presents an analysis of Olivier Messiaen’s ‘La Chouette hulotte’ from Catalogue d’oiseaux. The significance of this work lies in the representation of fear by the owls and ‘night’ music. Messiaen’s language of mode de valeurs representing the ‘night’ and the harmonic language of the tawny owl’s calls identifies Messiaen’s music.

This article examined into three Chinese composers’ compositional method based on the ancient Chinese philosophy I Ching. Transcoding the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching in the piano solo works of Chou Wen Chung, Zhao Xiao Sheng and Chung Yiu Kwong display new representative of Chinese New Music. The analysis shows Chou and Chung’s creations that empha...

This study took on a qualitative approach and examined the implementation of School- based Assessment (SBA) in a selected Malaysian lower secondary school focussing on music as subject. SBA or more commonly known in Malay as PBS (Pentaksiran Berasaskan Sekolah) was introduced as an alternative to the exam-oriented learning that has been generally p...

Fisherman Song or Yuge (1975) is one of Zhao Xiaosheng’s solo piano compositions that was composed during Cultural Revolution in China. It expresses the composer’s experience after following the fishermen taking their vessels to the sea, including his realization of the insignificance of humans against nature. Based on the analysis of the structure...

Phrasing is one of the most important features shared by music and a movement-oriented subject such as dance, or any sports routine that involves a choreography. As a pilot study to investigate the perception of inexperienced viewers, this study investigates whether an increased level of congruence between music and movement will enhance the visual...

The use of background music in accompanying work is a common phenomenon; however, there are debates on whether relaxing music may hamper work performance. The objective of this study was to examine a hypothetical assumption in testing slow music and its effects on typing speed among clerical workers. The experiment was conducted with participants (...

Deriving from the Western art form, musical theatre by local Malaysian productions has been increasing since the last decade. The multiculturalism of the community is also reflected in the growing trend of local bilingual musicals. Bilingual use in various art forms is not an unfamiliar phenomenon in Malaysia since it is a multicultural country tha...

Through observation and literature review, it is gathered that using conventional approaches in teaching traditional and folk music to the globalized and modernized society is a huge challenge. Nonetheless, the preservation of culture and traditional art forms is consistently encouraged by government and in the realm of education. This research dev...

The Qin and Jiangnan Pai schools of erhu playing reveal two different performing styles, each with its own unique skills and requirements. In past literature, some scholars looked into each school of erhu playing. However, there is a lack of research on the teaching the Qin and Jiangnan Pai schools of erhu playing especially in terms of how much th...

Past research shows music may deliver an ergogenic effect in sport performance. On the other hand, some others debate that background music may hamper work performance. This study took on an investigation as to whether fast music has an effect on typing speed. In recruiting subjects for this study, clerical workers whose daily work involves in typi...

This paper examines the area of erhu pedagogy, looking at the two different styles of Northern and Southern China: Qin pai and Jiangnan pai. The development of Qin pai erhu since the 1950s has resulted in a regional style that reflects a strong Shaanxi local folk and traditional music genre. On the other hand, Jiangnan music is widely developed in...

This article looks into the evolution of the diasporic Chinese lion dance in Malaysia. More importantly, it examines how this traditional art genre stands out among the many other forms that have withstood extinction. Although once regarded as foreign to the national culture in Malaysia due to its identity as a Chinese folk art, it was first threat...

Yueju (Cantonese opera), which originated in Southern China, has a long history in the genre of Chinese opera. This study examines how KSK Art Crew sustains this genre in Malaysia and examinesd the changes in its transmission processes. Past literatures reveal a number of published research monographs and articles on yueju in mainland China and the...

Past literature reveals that repetition in music is an important hook for attention as well as an important factor in gaining preference. This study investigates repetitive motifs in western popular music composition and arrangement. Fourteen chart-topping popular songs were selected and studied. Methods include identifying the repetitive motifs an...

This study explores the application of a rhythmic musical pattern to a sequence of ten-digit numbers and its effect on short-term memory and the retention of sequential auditory input in non-musicians. Three sets of ten-digit numbers were used as independent variables, one without the addition of a rhythmic pattern, and two sets with rhythmic patte...

This study looks into the visual perception of phrasing in a Tai Chi routine as affected by a change of music. The research aimed to investigate whether the quality of phrasing between music and movement is improved with a more congruent accompaniment. Sixty respondents, undergraduate music majors from two universities in Malaysia, were invited to...

This article explores the effectiveness of Alexander Technique in reducing tension in piano playing. Much of the literature regarding the Alexander Technique tends to be guide books for various uses targeting actors, musicians, sportsmen and so forth. There are also a growing number of alternative medical research studies that examine the effective...

24 Seasons Drums performance began at Foon Yew High School, Malaysia and it has been a popular performing art genre since. The art combines a fusion of elements from Chinese culture such as martial art, dance, music and Chinese calligraphy. There is still a lack of literature concerning its transmission method and therefore, this article highlights...

Phrasing is an important aspect in both music and choreography, not only for dancing but also in many sports routines such as rhythmic gymnastics, martial arts, synchronized swimming and figure skating. The understanding of phrasing between music and movement provides a clear and meaningful structure to the entire routine. This study aims to look i...

This article examines how Dama Orchestra has recontextualized shidaiqu (时代 曲) in a theatrical setting. Dama Orchestra was originally a Chinese orchestral group in Malaysia that, due to economic crisis, changed its focus from classical music to staging the more popularly demanded shidaiqu. Shidaiqu is a southern Chinese song genre popular from 1920...

This study investigated the effects of music software integration in the high school music teaching and learning process. Most of the existing literature on music learning covers issues of face-to-face and one-on-one classroom settings, instrumental learning and singing in both curriculum and co-curriculum design, with some studies on software inte...

Over the past twenty years, research in Buddhist music shows development and change from liturgical chant to commercial Buddhist music. The present study examines the global wave in Buddhism by looking into the growing phenomenon of “Buddhist” musical theatre in an Islamic country – Malaysia. This paper highlights the binary between the rhetoric of...

The issue of using music synchronously or asynchronously in the field of dance has long been discussed by scholars and practitioners. In sports which involve a routine, it has been observed that some athletes use music merely as a background effect while others opt to choreograph routines in close congruence with musical details. This paper aims to...

This paper presents a previously unreported method of laryngeal vocal sound production that is capable of producing pitches even higher than the whistle register (M3). Colloquially known as the glottal whistle (here referred to as M4), this method has a wider range than M3 and features frequent instances of biphonation, which is of interest for tho...

Musical phrasing is an important element in generating expression, demonstrating the direction of music structure, giving a sense of melodic contour and so forth. Like other musical elements such as articulation, dynamics, harmony, meter, rhythm and tempo, musical phrasing also features greatly in the choreography of dance and of sports that involv...

Reviewing different views and definitions labelling the psychological state of 'being' when a musician reaches peak performance, this study examines the hypothetical assumption that theories and movement from taichi's qi flow (the Chinese medical term for vital force) may be a factor in contributing to what various scholars in psychological study a...

This paper examines theories of taichi, and the application of this Eastern philosophical concept of movement in the aspect of piano playing technique. The theory of yin and yang, which is the philosophical backbone of all taichi movements, is examined in depth and its theory is employed in studying the traditional and modern approaches of piano pl...

Music plays an important role for sports events such as rhythmic gymnastics, synchronized swimming, skating and so forth. From a musical perspective, it is found that the lack of congruence between music and movement is observed through videos such as the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games. Interviews were conducted with coaches and the study reve...

Dama Orchestra in Malaysia has transformed through the implant of theatrical elements as exemplified by Butterfly Lovers—The Musical staged in 2006. This concert orchestra of the Chinese diaspora has grown into a musical theatre production company with regular full-house audiences for a series of productions of between ten and twenty shows a year....

This study first explores the issue of muscular contraction and relaxation in piano playing from a Chinese science perspective. The main aim of this article is to examine the classic Chinese concept of yin and yang and how it forms the movement principle in taijiquan, then goes on to investigate this further as applied to the concept of relaxation...

The main aim of this paper is to examine why performance services industry is far being gender neutral. It discusses the feminist debate through the authors' self-reflective accounts, which rely upon the application of certain concepts of justice, equality, and humanity. With the rise of feminist and then gender studies through the last quarter of...

Musical theatre production in Malaysia in recent years has been growing. Some productions are low-budget small scale concerns, while some are larger-scale musicals, involving professionals from different areas of expertise, a huge budget and a longer period of planning. The larger-scale musicals have proven their success, such as Puteri Gunung Leda...

Vigorous debate over issues of traditional and mode rn methods of piano playing has occurred among researchers, pedagogues and performers during the past 100 years. In addition, due to the intensely competitive environment within which upper-level professional pianism occurs, there has been an increase in the attention educato rs have paid to injur...