On September 19, 2001, most students of KMYS had a chance to witness two excellent MPO orchestra players LIVE, right here at the KMYS Great Hall. Plus, it was for free! The two ever experienced players were Joost Slack and Tan Keng Hock. They play the oboe and the harp respectively. (Most of you must be wondering what an oboe is! Don't worry, just keep reading and you'll know soon enough). Apart from them, the Education Executive for MPO, Puan. Soraya Mansor was also present.

Before proceeding to the hall for the show, all the concert club members were specially invited to join Mr. Morris and the guests of honour for a buffet dinner at Mr. PM's house. (Sorry guys, but the invitation was strictly for concert club members). But I guess you'll be happy to know that we ended up having the lunch menu that day for dinner as well. It was really nice and tasty but most of us would have definitely preferred the burgers and fries served at the dining hall that day. Mr. Morris taught the guys some etiquette that night, Willie and Ruben ended up serving drinks to the ladies all night! Well, almost all night. Way to go guys! Anyway, by 8.00 p.m. everyone had arrived and in seconds everybody was chatting away with each other thus laughter filled the air. Amongst others present were Mr. Fellender, Pn. Rogayah, Mrs. Beadsworth, Mr. Zaidi and many more. Mr. Slack and Tan Keng Hong were very friendly and easy to talk to.

Well, at about 8.55 we began to go to the hall. The chairs were arranged in a 'C' shape giving the whole place a rather different look but a cozy feeling. Both Mr.Slack and Tan Keng Hong started to get their respective instruments ready. It was quite interesting to see Keng Hong tune his harp. As a matter of fact, we were all basically quite amazed by the size of it. It was about 6 feet tall and 3 feet in length, plus it had 47 strings all together consisting of all notes at least about 7 different strings a note! The oboe on the other hand, is rather similar to a flute but is much bigger and produces a different sound altogether. One has to use a reed to blow through it. According to Joost Slack one either buys that or makes it himself. Its really smaller and the diameter ranges from 0.59mm to 0.61mm.

They played three wonderful numbers - a Sonate by Bach, Sonate for oboe and harp by Alain Weber and a short piece 'Burung Kakak Tua'. It was pretty obvious that everyone present was really taken away with their ever so wonderful melodious playing. It was just beautiful. Apart from that, the two of them also gave a brief biography of themselves and explained a bit about their instruments. It seemed that the two of them had started playing at a very ripe age of 10 and has definitely had a tremendous amount of experience. The duo also chose to play such instruments because it was what their parents wanted. Over the years, they grew to love them.

On the whole, it was a wonderful performance and everybody loved it very much. I'm sure we're all grateful for the performers as well as Pn. Soraya Mansor to take the time to come here and be with us that night. The programme ended about 11p.m. both the players were then surrounded by fans asking them tons of questions as well as grasping their chance to 'try' and play the oboe or the harp. Two instruments already sounded fantastic. The whole orchestra would definitely be unbelievable. For anyone who's interested, do not hesitate to go for any one of the MPO concerts at KLCC. It's definitely a performance not to be missed. You know who to approach, don't you?