Go UTP!
Ok, so early this week I found out that for the first time ever, private universities were taken into account when the public universities were assessed for their quality. And the university I studied at, University Teknologi PETRONAS, was one of the 18 universities out of 58 who was ranked 'Tier-5' or 'Excellent'. Go UTP! I was quite excited to read the news. Of course, this is an local ranking system so it's not very comprehensive. But it's not bad for a university that has around 5000 - 6000 students per semester and only offers courses in Engineering and IT.
And then tonight, I had free tickets to a show at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra performed by UTP students. The groups comprised of Gamelan, Chinese Orchestra, Performing Arts, Virtuoso and International Culture. I was rather skeptical as to how the standard of the performance would be, seeing as they were all mostly students, plus I've heard the groups perform before during my uni years, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I'm pretty much too lazy to go into a full review, but it was a mix of cultures. Some of the pieces had gamelan with a modern band backing it (electric guitar included), the Chinese orchestra had classical instruments backing it, saw a lot of Chinese orchestral instruments that I couldn't name. There were also a lot of cultural dances, both local and foreign (they were going for a unity theme, plus my uni has foreign students). There was also singing. Which was distorted. There was a Malay girl singing a Chinese opera-esque piece and it pretty much sounded like she was wailing as the words were unintelligible. Then during the international performances with vocals, again similar wailing.
Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without some fangirling. During one of the Chinese orchestra performance, they had a solo flute piece. The flutist was cute! He played some kinda Chinese flute (no idea what it's called) and I think he was probably professionally trained previously. There is no way he can do that solo if he had just started to learn the instrument. Yeah, I suspect some of them might have started learning the instruments when they entered the group in uni coz they accept beginners but I'm sure the soloists had professional training beforehand.
Ok, so that's pretty much it for tonight. I'm off to read some Kradam fics. Yes, I am a huge Kradam fan, lol.
And then tonight, I had free tickets to a show at the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra performed by UTP students. The groups comprised of Gamelan, Chinese Orchestra, Performing Arts, Virtuoso and International Culture. I was rather skeptical as to how the standard of the performance would be, seeing as they were all mostly students, plus I've heard the groups perform before during my uni years, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I'm pretty much too lazy to go into a full review, but it was a mix of cultures. Some of the pieces had gamelan with a modern band backing it (electric guitar included), the Chinese orchestra had classical instruments backing it, saw a lot of Chinese orchestral instruments that I couldn't name. There were also a lot of cultural dances, both local and foreign (they were going for a unity theme, plus my uni has foreign students). There was also singing. Which was distorted. There was a Malay girl singing a Chinese opera-esque piece and it pretty much sounded like she was wailing as the words were unintelligible. Then during the international performances with vocals, again similar wailing.
Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without some fangirling. During one of the Chinese orchestra performance, they had a solo flute piece. The flutist was cute! He played some kinda Chinese flute (no idea what it's called) and I think he was probably professionally trained previously. There is no way he can do that solo if he had just started to learn the instrument. Yeah, I suspect some of them might have started learning the instruments when they entered the group in uni coz they accept beginners but I'm sure the soloists had professional training beforehand.
Ok, so that's pretty much it for tonight. I'm off to read some Kradam fics. Yes, I am a huge Kradam fan, lol.