“Faith – It does not make things easy, it makes them possible.”
“For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37)
In July 2019 (can’t believe it has been more than two years now), I finished the first official meeting with the musical committee with excitement and some apprehension. I was of course excited to be one of the two composers for my alma mater’s 50th anniversary musical, as opportunities to write for musicals do not come by easily. However, at the same time, apprehension raised in my mind when the committee told me that I was to write five songs, most of which would be spiritual, and more importantly one of them would be the theme song. In addition, all the songs were to be arranged for the school’s orchestra to perform. I did not want to submit work of mediocrity in a humongous and serious project like this, thus my apprehension.
“Cast your worries unto God by prayer” – That’s what I did before I even wrote the first note, and throughout the process of composing and arranging all the songs. Thank God for His faithfulness, not only did He sustain me during the painstaking process, He also provided. Not all the notes and words were lavished on me at once, but they came continuously until I finished the final note. I made several music-related breakthroughs in the meantime as well - I never imagined that I would use jazz and gospel rock with rap, two musical genres that I have previously performed but never composed on, in my compositions. I also never imagined that I would be able to come up with five different versions of the theme song “Everyone Is Special in God’s Eyes”. All of these would not be possible, if not God’s Grace and Providence.
Besides thanking God for making everything possible, I thank God for His honour – “Everyone Is Special in God’s Eyes” eventually had a Cantonese version, and this version became the theme song for Kei Wan’s 50th anniversary celebration.
And not to forget, my heartfelt gratitude to Kei Wan, my alma mater, for letting me be part of this wonderful journey.
Ms. Quennie Wong
(Alummna, 1995)
Recognize me through the musical
Being a 2010 graduate, it’s been a great pleasure to have a chance to participate in this musical production. During my days in Kei Wan, I wasn’t a very prominent student. I brought troubles to everyone, wasn’t very good at music, and definitely not the best academically. I am surprised that I wrote a musical for Kei Wan despite being a young graduate with such performance back then. In summer 2019, I had just finished the musical production in St. Mark’s College, I read the script of In HIS Eyes for the first time. I could not express how sympathetic I was with Jonah, that was exactly what I had gone through when I grew up. This in turn affected my composition so much that I realized some of my words expressing myself more than Jonah. It was never easy composing, especially every composer will come across many criticisms, after each and every note I wrote. It took me quite some time to reflect on whether I was satisfied with my work. Writing for a school renowned for fabulous education especially in music as an alumnus gave me even more pressure. I could not stop imagining the opinions I would receive, but it turned out to be excellent. However, COVID brought the whole production to a halt. I was so worried that I was going to lose this precious opportunity to make my dream of composing a musical come true. But thankfully, everything worked out. There were recording sessions, premiere, etc. Everything could be done in the new normal and was completed brilliantly. The musical has also reminded me of how I started composing. I was just the same as many students, I was lazy and hated practicing, but I liked to play the piano. I never practiced my exam pieces, but I would rather find pop songs or other classical music to play and I would improvise. I have been learning to compose in an increasingly sophisticated manner on YouTube for 4 years before I earned my opportunity in the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where someone would finally teach me how to compose. I was just like Jonah, but through trials, errors and persistence, I wrote a musical that received so much positive feedback.
“I’ll go on and not let go
of the flute I forever hold,
then they’ll know
deep in the soul
they are someone like me,
by then I’ll see someone recognizes me.”
I found someone who recognizes me, would you also not let go and wait for someone to recognize you?
