Last Act in Hong Kong

The End of the Journey

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Mafeking Relieved

Pannacotta Delight

Nearly finished! My Assistant insisted I was photographed 'working' !

From the Peak

House Sampan

Note the Straw Fans on the ceiling!

Here I sit at the table of judgement, so to speak, for the very last time! In 38, under 16
boy's time, I will be a free woman, longing for rest, recuperation, and a cup of strong
Scottish tea ! I cannot tell you how good it feels to be on the very last leg. I even treated
myself to a pineapple ice cream from the little garage shop near the SKH Church, as a
celebration of the end in sight.

I suppered with two married adjudicators from Iowa US last night, and we sat around the
table at the Indian Restaurant looking as if we had been steam rollered, and then swept up
and dropped inside the nearest waste paper bin.

I cannot even begin to explain how near dropping point I am. Even some of the vibrant
young American chaps who have seemed from the first, like bouncing puppies, looked
washed out and delicate. This time it was not from an superfluity of alcohol !

The weather is lovely, sunny and about 22 degrees without too much humidity, so a fitting
climate to remember Hong Kong by. Even if it is one of only about 3 such perfect days in 5
weeks!

Finished ! Finished ! Finished !

Over 2400 scripts later, a sore thumb and first finger muscle, but I got there. The relief is awesome, in the true sense of the word, not in the teenage meaning of anything approaching OK !

I feel both elated and numb, all at the same time. Actually I was picked up at around 4.40pm, having finished in good time, and after picking up one other adjudicator at her venue, we then proceeded, due to bad communication on whose part I know not, to wait in the car for one and a half hours for the two delightful ladies judging chamber ensembles, and who had repeatedly told their assistant they would finish very late, and the transport needed to be altered accordingly. The message never got through ? so sitting for all that time, shattered and sleepy, rather took the edge off the euphoria!

Still, after a little food and a drink with some other Mafeking Relieved adjudicators, the feeling of freedom came back with a Hong Kong 'rush' !

My last day I decided to take up the offer of the free trip which the Association pay for, so I boarded a Grayline bus for a Deluxe Hong Kong Tour. Actually, the reason I did it was that there were two places I wanted to see, and on a tour I only need to sit on a coach. Not think. Not move until told. Not Queue !

We first went up the Peak on the historic Tram, and as the weather was beautifully sunny and clear, it was a good day to do this trip. The whole of Hong Kong can be seen, and the amazing almost vertical tram line, feels as if one is being pulled up Everest by a strong cable, looking straight up to the sky I hoped and prayed the cable would hold. Of course it did, and so we reached the top, the souvenir shops, the cafes, where I had my lovely freshly 'smoothied' lychee and grapefruit drink, and the all important view. Gorgeous it was, although I expect everything is through rose tinted specs for me today!

We then went on to Aberdeen (!). Now all through tbhis visit we were hearing about the history of Hong Kong and the British colonialists. I have to tell you, almost every old colonial name for places and building and roads is most definitely Scottish!!

NB Aberdeen, the first place the British landed, and named it after their base!
MacDonnell Station
Lockhart Road
Stewart Heights
Dundee Hall
etc etc etc

and almost all the girl's school uniforms from the lowliest state school to the most expensive private schools have a tarten as their skirt/pinafore/tie. I think many of the colonialists must have been intrepid Celts!

Over £700,000 for a tiny apartment in these areas of HK, the property prices are unbelievable! The views are lovely, and far removed from the city centre, but boy one would have to earn a mint to afford to live here. We had a ride on a Sampan around the harbour to see the fishing sampans and house sampans which still exist, albeit few nowadays. These may soon be gone, as the MTR are building a station to Aberdeen and the fear is that much of the sea from the Typhoon Shelter to the shore will be reclaimed for many more apartment buildings, towering ever higher up the mountainside.

I had a wonderful lunch, over looking the sea. The tour ended at Stanley, and I opted to leave there and find my own way back, so I wandered in the sunshine and breeze to the oldest colonial building in the area which is now a maritime museum. Here there was a lovely restaurant where I treated my self to a hard earned lunch, and sat like a gentlewoman of 1900 on a balcony with the raffia fans still in place for cooling, being served by discreet and quiet waiters in very smart outfits.

Crab cakes, Lemongrass Curry, Fresh Fruits Pannacotta and a fine Coffee.

Now I am really finished.

I fly tomorrow and land in blighty 11 hours thereafter.

A few days in the South to recover from jetlag over the weekend, then home, in two hops of a well travelled bunny, by Tuesday..................................................

The Old and the New

Hong Kong Festival Part 2

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Hong Kong Festival Part 1

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Hong Kong Part 1

Chi Lin Nunnery and a Farewell Banquet

After my morning session I decided, as I had the afternoon free I would visit the Chi Lin Nunnery at Diamond Hill. In the evening there was the formal Farewell Chinese Banquet, at 7pm, so after getting back to hotel around 1.30pm ish I could not go too far.

I took the MTR, changed 3 times, it really is SO simple, and arrived at the station of Diamond Hill. My first thought was, this is a spaghetti junction place, there were 3 flyover motorways above my head as I emerged, how can a Buddhist nunnery be around here?

Not like the venues of most of the Convents I visit! I wandered out onto the road and found the sign for the nunnery and the Nan Lian Gardens, which is the public area of the house. It took 5 minutes to find and I entered the carved gates into what amounts to a tiny enclave of paradise in a totally urban and madcap district. In truth it was not 'quiet', the traffic could still be heard, but the gardens protected one from the clatter and clang, it became a distant rumble.

The gardens were magical, twisted banyan trees, swaying palm trees, bonsai trees in terracotta pots which looked hundreds of years old and rocks and falling water so beautiful it quite took my breath away. I wandered around the paths with Buddhist bells alternately tinkling and booming in the background. The birdsong was louder than the people (!) and the Lotus Pond full of lazy, fat goldfish, the size of a large salmon.

I wandered past the wall of water peacefully falling 20 feet down a glistening rock, and watched the large waterwheel turning, picking up, and then dropping water into one of the many sparkling ponds.

I was determined to have a bite to eat in the well known vegetarian and organic restaurant, and when I arrived at the low wooden building, lunch had finished, so afternoon tea, Buddhist style, was on offer. I plumped for the HK$60 set tea of fresh squeezed orange juice, a piece of vegan cheesecake (to die for) and some delightful sweet red bean puff pastries, finished off with a slice of melon and a square of dragon fruit. It was so beautiful, to the eye as well as the taste buds. I could not photograph it as no photography was allowed in the restaurant, you will need to use your imagination, and think Feng Shui and incredible symmetry!

I got back to the hotel around 5pm and after a hot bath went down to the Falcon Room for the dinner.

Well the wine was flowing, there were 10 courses, each more exotic than the next ! I had my first taste of truffle, young bamboo pith in some savoury sauce, tiny pinhead Japanese mushrooms, cod in black butter, beef and mashed potato (if you can believe it), gingered king prawns with sesame seeded green peas, scallops in fermented soy wine, rice with mixed seafood, mango pudding simply bursting with fresh mango, and small red bean jam puff balls.......we none of us could move by the end, and I retired around 10pm, but by the looks of some of the chaps at noon today, I suspect a veritable Buddhist waterfall of red and white vino, plus a few chasers topped off with Dragon Beer, had flowed through the veins of the brave, or the daft !

A good day.

Too much food, too much traffic, and just about enough greenery and flowing water to keep me going until I get back to blighty!

William Wordsworth and his Oriental Daffodils

A young lady playing in the street, I don't know the name of the instrument


'I sit, all a-drip, definitely not floating on high o'er vales and hills', to misquote William Wordsworth ! The temperature today is 30 degrees and the humidity almost 90%. It is life sucking weather if you hail from the far north where it sleets and snows and blows. ( Sorry friends in Paradise, I hope it is knee deep in snow and -5 degrees when I get home ! With deep apologies to my post lady).

When I finally get home, I hope not to see the thick haze of humidity mixed with air pollution when I leave my front door, and my craving in terms of nouvelle cuisine, would be a plate of Baked Beans on wholemeal Toast. If I had a handy Arabian lamp that would be my simple wish to the Genie!

The duets of yesterday were on the whole very pleasing. These young ladies are taught to be so sensitive and musical, something for which they are not much credited in the West I think. They work together beautifully, and communicate so well. Infact I have had two sets of twins in the classes and obviously, they sound quite alike, but they breathe in synchronisation and think like one mind. Most of the couples are, of course unrelated, and yet they are so well rehearsed, or so used to singing in small ensembles that they work together with total ease and with an unsaid trust. Therefore the music they make is often very touching and at its very best, incredibly moving.

Having said that, 16 year olds are the same the world over, and a few always slip through the teacher vetted net, and sing badly, and with all the enthusiasm of a whipped dog! It rather pleases me to see that girls will be girls, the world over.

I cannot believe the standard of the class I have had of the secondary school solo, 16 and under girls. In the end, out of the 45 performances, I could have justified any one of 5 singers as 1st place. They were so musical, so excited and sang with such poeticism, and this, in a foreign language. In the end, and after much wrangling I simply had to give the prize to number 1 ! One always questions oneself when giving a prize to the first singer, you think to yourself, ' have I forgotten what she really sounded like?', 'can I remember that far back ?', ' am I remembering with rose tinted spectacles?' and on and on.

This young lady sang beautifully, as did many, she sang with flawless English, not so many, and she sang every long phrase in one breath, two or three singers at the most.

Mostly though, she won because she made me cry.

Duet Singing in profusion

A beautiful Cross, which also means 1000, or one thousand ways to worship Christ. I rather liked the picture taken at one of the churches where I have been working

Back at Hotel Home, and a lovely episode of Dad's Army for R&R


It was another world last night when we went to visit poor Catherine in hospital. She is
very unwell and up until 6pm had been in a ward with 12 beds as close together as dates
in a box, no western food and many very sick, and very old ladies as her only companions.
It was not the most comfortable place to be. The federation ladies have been wonderful,
and made sure that just before we arrived she had paid $9000 HK and was moved to the
first class ward at the top of the building, which only had 6 beds and a TV. Still not exactly
Paradise Hospital in facilities or space. Poor girl. One can only be utterly thankful that it is
not oneself. Selfish as that seems when written down.


I am back at the Youth Studio, my favourite venue, and every morning I feel as if I am
getting slower and slower. We have a grand breakfast at the hotel with anything one could
want, from piles of bacon, eggs in many and various ways, lots of cereals, fresh fruits,
cheese, bread, and cakes in such profusion one could give a third world country type 2
Diabetes !


At this point all of us are making a picnic from the buffet to take for lunch. The picnics
seem to be growing each day as we need more lunch to keep us going, and I now
regularly see colleagues leaving the dining room laden with muffins, bread and cheese,
apples, bananas and hard boiled eggs ! The head waiter does not seem to have any
problem with it, thank goodness, and turns a Chinese blind eye to the petty theft!
I have 41 duets this morning. An interesting arrangement of Beautiful Dreamer by the
American composer of pot boilers of the late 19th century (I think!). A romantic and rather
deep southish melody for two equal girls' voices. It is quite tricky with lots of sliding
chromatics so either very successful or very NOT successful. This afternoon another 45
duets, and Round 9 of the arrangement of Martini's Plaisir d'Amour. Lots of lovey dovey
music for girls under 16 !

On with the motley!

Lunchtime update:

Am much cheered, I looked in my mark book at lunch time and found that I have the
morning off tomorrow ! Triple Yippee ! Course I pay for it by working til around 10pm, but at
least I can sleep in. Blissed out.....................Yawn

Caro mio Ben again and the Bird of Paradise

Sometimes one's faith in the system, and singing teaching in general is restored. What was, only yesterday, frustration and intolerance with a couple of relentless classes of youngsters who seem to have no idea of the meaning of the song, the language, or the style, is washed away by a small group of keen, eager, and well taught young men of around 16.

Today, once again in the dreary venue in Yuen Long, New Territories, I was musically 'tsunamied', with wave after wave of smart, intelligent and charming boys performing for all they were worth. They did not all have wonderful natural instruments, but they were well drilled and sang with passion and control all at the same time. 18 of them !

After losing my half day off yesterday to cover for poor Catherine, who is still in hospital and having a simply awful time, I was not happy at having to be on the transport this morning at 7.45am to travel out West, a loooong way!

Hearing these young men, and seeing their bright eyes just longing for imput and encouragement, cheered me up no end, and I felt I was back in that place in life I love. Helping them be better. I wish photographs were allowed, I would love a couple of shots of these boys, and had we enough cash in Inner Sound, I would fly them over in a shot, to be part of our male chorus ! I feel sure IS would welcome them with open arms!

Do we have £10,000 going spare do you think !

As if..........

The photos were taken at the SKH Holy Sprit Church, where I have spent a good deal of my adjudicating time. There was a special day (I know not what!) and some wonderful and exotic flower arrangements had been made to celebrate. They were simply too good to keep quiet about, and the smell in the place where they were exhibited was positively intoxicating. I am just displaying two of them.

Breathe in and close your eyes.

Stanley Market and burgeoning illness

Looks a little like Paradise!





The drive to Stanley and the market

I am back at the Youth Studio venue, which I think I can definitely say is my favourite ! It was the cute 5 and 6 year olds again Group 6 Urban, or something along those lines! I tallied up my classes and at the moment I have written in excess of 2400 crit sheets and had my photo taken about 3 million times ( that is an estimation, but it certainly feels like it).

I was expecting the first free afternoon in 8 working days today, however it was snatched from me as one of the British adjudicators was admitted to hospital last night from the hotel. She caught the flu 2 weeks ago, was only given a half day to recover and then has worked as much as the rest of us. She finally must have collapsed last evening, there is no medical news of her as yet and folk are only allowed to visit at 5pm. So I am covering someone else's singing class whilst they cover her harmonica class. Poor girl, she is in her 30's with a small daughter in the UK, feeling ill and homesick she told me, and should be flying home on Sunday. I do hope she makes it, as the airline will not let her fly is she has anything catching.

I am always astonished by the plethora and variety of English names many of the children have as well as their Cantonese name. This morning I have had, Audrey, Pearl, Ernest, Byron, Ada and Queenie. Such big and old fashioned names for such tiny babes!

Last day off.........we went to Stanley Market. A beautiful fishing town on the south side of Hong Kong Island. We took the bus, which was like being on a roller coaster. The trip over the middle of the island stopped at lovely bays called Repulse Bay and Deepdene, which rather smacked of Hampshire and Dorset in name! The road however was windy and twisty and taking photographs out of the window became an extreme sport.

The market, I remember from 23 years ago, and apart from the availability to pay by plastic, it seems not to have changed at all. The narrow lanes, the sheer volume of silk stuff, hats, scarves and purses was just the same, and the bright colours and sunshine made for a great day out. We lunched under an umbrella by the sea and drank fresh kiwi and watermelon fruit juices. A moment of idyll in an otherwise frighteningly urban and mega fast paced city lifestyle. I relished the cleaner air and the slower pace, even in a market, it bore no relation to the city centre madness that is the Ladies Market or Temple St Market.

By the time we got back to the hotel I think we both felt human again, and as if the city cobwebs were momentarily blown away.

I am now exhausted, and if honest, counting down the days to coming home. Catherine is the 4th adjudicator to get ill, and the 2nd to need the hospital, I am avoiding everything and everyone now, and using my anti bacterial spray with all the gay abandon of a cheap cologne! Keep your fingers crossed for me that I stay well!

Positive thinking.

Caro mio Ben and a Coconut Curry

My super duper curry served in a coconut shell !

Well, I think this is the dreariest of my venues! I was on the transport bus for around an hour and having driven out into the New Territories some 35 miles maybe, I arrived at a school which is modern, but seems crumbling and with the all pervading smell of serious damp. I am sure the extremely high humidity just about eats into every building, and, I am told, that is why the air conditioning is on all the time, hence the sometimes freezing conditions in the halls !

Well even the air con has not been able to halt the rapid march of damp and mould in this building. It is still only 8.55am as I write, with a long day ahead of me. I think my clothes will need a good blow through or wash by this evening! This is when I need a strong and clean Paradise gale blowing !

Update to follow at lunchtime...........

Lunchtime is upon me, and I am writing this in the silence of the damp hall where I have just consumed my sandwich and banana. The damp smell has never left even though the air con has been blasting away for the last 4 hours or so. Being such an innovative people, and so into technology I cannot understand why they do not use dehumidifiers which, in industrial sizes, like the air con units, would do the job better maybe, and would use far less electricity, at least for the part of the year when it is humid, but not cold enough for the freezing power of the six whopping great machines in this hall alone. However I am sure someone has addressed the idea, and thrown it out as a scientific non starter!

The boy's class, set piece being Caro mio Ben at the end of the morning, was filled with ups and downs. Two poor chaps could not finish their song because the pianist was so poor, they had an impossible task just to hold the melody line. This is NOT usual. I have heard many many young accompanists who are truly superb and better than many of the adults infact. They play sympathetically and listen to the singers and even cover mistakes. So this mornings' debacle was my first encounter with the problem.

An American colleague and I went out for a meal last night which was lovely. I wanted to post a photograph of the food, as my curry was served in a green coconut shell! Hers was in a normal bowl, so not nearly so exciting. It tasted delicious too and was full of coconut milk and mild spices as well as a type of vegetable I had never tasted before. We tried to hazard a guess at the family type it came from, but neither of us could place it in any veggie family we knew. Suffice to say the small, green, rugby ball shaped fruit or vegetable tasted delicious. Fresh and juicy and totally unknown.

I now face 49 versions of I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, set to music by Eric Thiman and so difficult it is, I have never taught it in my life. I remember singing it at school - boy my teachers must have been ambitious and talented, and a teeny bit brave!

I will survive...........

Mattinata and Tantrums

Leoncavallo the perpetrator of the Mattinata upset

I think I threw a large, and fearsome tabby cat amongst some very nervous pigeons last night. I was, once again at the Shau Kei Wan church in a commercial multi storey high rise building for my evening session. I heard a very good boys class, which has as it's set piece Vorrei, by Tosti. An unusual choice for teenaged boys, but there you go! All was going swimmingly until I had the Open Soprano Solo, the last class of the day.

I am thrilled to see that all the singers in the Open classes, which is only up to 23 you understand, dress beautifully for the occasion, and take it very seriously.

The set piece was the Mattinata by Leoncavallo. It is very well known, and thus often butchered by singers not really up to the task! Well, it was a fine class, with 9 very competent singers, all looking as if they had stepped out of Vogue magazine. There were also 3 very fine singers, all of whom study at the Chinese University Music Department, and clearly have some excellent singing teachers.

One was tiny, smiley and with a light voice entirely suited to the song, and soared up to the top A's. The next was a very fine voice, big, full and she was wearing a very gracious evening dress, and sang in a sophisticated and mature style, with perhaps a teeny hint of 'I've won this before, and it is a dead cert this time'. The last of these 3 was tall, long haired and sang with joy and freedom, and not a hint of pre conception about results, thus there was a lovely freshness to her performance.

Well I was really taken by the latter, and I wrestled with myself over the first and second place for about 10 minutes. My gut feeling won, and I chose the latter singer, she exuded pleasure and happiness rather than contrived professionalism.

My second placed lady, who fully expected the glory, and thus to be put through to the final was not pleased, wept and swept out of the room like the QE11 in full sail, dress flowing and rippling with indignation.

Oops. Sometimes that sort of surety simply does not cut the mustard with me.

Ah well, we have to be loathed at some point in the 5 weeks I suppose, and I suspect I have been slightly less loathed than some of my male colleagues who get a little testosterone-ish frisson from going against the grain!

I got back to the hotel at 9.30pm, had an extra strong cup of M&S tea with Nestlé Creamer ( the milk turns to yogurt too quickly!), watched an episode of Dad's Army, and fell into a satisfied sleep.

The wicked at rest!

China and learning to bargain

Looking down from the King of the Land building

The Commercial shopping mall as big as Broadford !

Port entry and immigration to mainland China

My banana fritters neatly displayed on a bed of fresh lettuce ? ! Eaten whilst waiting for my glasses to be made

First Class to China, not a slow boat in sight!




I was so whacked after two days of 3 sessions and then one of 2 last Thursday, Friday and Saturday I could barely write my name, never mind an adjudication sheet, so I decided, when I got back to the hotel on Saturday evening that I needed to get right away from it all.
I went down to Jeffrey in the concierge area and booked myself on the trip to mainland China leaving at noon on Sunday, for about 8 hours. I knew if I did it via a 'tour' I would be driven, mollycoddled and generally not have to use my brain at all.

I slept as late as I could and then was picked up promptly by the bus and tour guide Jimmy.

We collected two other families from other hotels and in total we were only 8 people, so quiet and no crowds! I am getting punch drunk by the noise pollution and overdrive of constant high pitched Cantonese conversation wrapping around me all the day long!

We were put in the First Class section of the train to Shenzen, a brand spanking new city just over the river border between mainland and Hong Kong. At the terminus which was at the city of Lo Wu, we had, thank goodness, a 150% efficient and mother hen type of guide. I would not have wanted to negotiate the Chinese immigration and customs on my own. I was particularly scrutinised because my passport had a work visa clearly stuck onto a page inside. The shiny and glitteringly decorated uniformed border control staff wanted to know if I was a working alien in Hong Kong ?! No comments please ( although there was a small Star Trek frisson crossed my unflinching face).

No amount of my answers could be understood, so Jimmy, bless him, had to mop up the linguistic mess and tell them I was leaving HK on March 31st and it was a temporary appointment, and I was not an alien!

We were transported in a small people carrier to an amazing building with a viewing tower on the 100th floor, where even in the cloudiness we could see almost all of HK and the river border in all it's colonial glory! Then we were taken to the Imperial Museum of Art and Jade. They had some of the Terracotta Warriors on display which were amazing to behold, especially so close up. The spectacle was in the detail and the fact each face and dress is unique, which they said was much more difficult to see when there are 5000 of them!

The jade rooms were astonishing, much like the Amber Rooms at the Catherine Palace in St Petersburg, so overwhelming in the colour, beauty and skill of the craftsmen. I bought a small Moonstone. Only allowed to be sold at government outlets, and with a government stamp of authenticity, this truly gorgeous round golf ball sized stone, glows in the dark when it sits in the sun, and for millennia was the evening form of lighting at the emperor's palace.

Then we got to the shopping.

Well I am no pro at shopping, but this was unbelievable. The size of NASA, with the variety of all the shopping malls I have ever visited in the known world, and the cheekiness of a 100 cheeky teens distilled into one small salesperson, and one at every one of the 10,000 stalls and shops.

I was tugged and pulled at every store, and hailed 'Missy missy you buy from me' Missy, you want MY stuff' 'Missy Missy Missy.........' bearing in mind I was only one of thousands of shoppers, they must all lose their voices at the end of the week. Actually I don't think there ever is an end to the week.

Well the bargains were there for the taking, s I had a jolly good go at spending money, and even ventured to have a new pair of Prada (ahem) specs made, in one hour. I must say they are great and lighter and better than my own. They simply put my glasses into a machine and read the prescription. They cost @ 10 times less than at 'should have gone to S..........'

I bought toys, a bag, pottery and all manner of souvenirs and was hard pushed to spend very much. The thrill of bargaining finally infected me, and now I feel I can go to the Co op in Paradise and knock them down by 50%! I know, I will get gently arrested if I do, but hey I passed my bargaining exam with flying colours!

Tired, limp, but victorious we climbed back onto the train and was back in the hotel by 9.30pm.

The power of the Yuen, Dollar, Pound, blah.

For one day I was the richest women I know. Then brought swiftly back to the earth with the loud bump of 55 tinies singing the Lazy Sheep and the Boy, sharp at 9.30am on Monday morning. I have said it before, and I will say it again.

No rest for the wicked.

A Piper by Michael Head and the Red Whiskered Bulbul

I had a glorious morning off today before I traveled to my next venue. I lounged, surfed the Internet a bit, had the latest allowable breakfast, and generally made the most of some down time.

It seemed deceptively easy to find from my given directions, but I was glad I left enough time to get lost. The outer reaches of Hong Kong Island, although designated 'Urban', are quite alike, as with most inner city built up areas, I looked around after emerging from the MTR and visibly quaked !

What I did see however, was a pair of what I now know to be Red Whiskered Bulbuls! I heard the most vibrant and tuneful singing from the top of some small town trees. In between my panic at getting lost the moment was calmed by these pretty little birds 'fluting' around my head. Their little pointed tufts standing to attention like a rather conservative Mohican. I stopped, mid panic, and marvelled at the decibels forthcoming from such little bodies. Size does not matter !

In my extremely comprehensive adjudicator's folder I found a map and a photo of the high rise church which was my venue. Well to be honest all high rise buildings here are VERY similar. It was raining - well not like Paradise rain you understand - but enough to ensure that I would be a little damp if I walked around too much.

I opened the file and must have looked like a mad professor / ultra keen tourist who needs to have his/her notes around all the time, whilst the general public navigated around my person giving me quizzical looks of pity. I eventually found the building by 360 degree sky gazing and finding the distinctive top floor windows, blue and rounded like a moon base bay window. I used my nose and headed for it, and after a few twists and turns I found myself at the East Commercial Building, all 60 floors of it! I eventually got into the lift and here I am!

My class was the under 18 soprano solo which I had heard last week with not a huge amount of successful performances, so I was feeling a little dubious. Michael Head, Irish poem and lots of key changes. Mmmmmm....

Well I had to eat my own humble pie. It was an astonishing class, at least 5 of the singers could have been winners on another day, and I was blown away by the stylish and sophisticated performing. One young lady was magnificent, her English was superb and her tone quality equal to any I have heard anywhere. I wanted to jump up and teach her, on the spot! Of course I did nothing of the sort!

My comments were so complimentary and positive, I got the feeling that the girls were incredulous. Anyway, I awarded my 90, 89 and 88 for 1,2,&3 placings and felt I had really listened to some high quality singing.

The next class was the under 18 Alto class which had as it's set piece the miraculous Silent Noon by Vaughan Williams. The story changed, sadly, and I inwardly groaned as this most beautiful of all VW's songs was over sung, much to speedy and with little care for being in tune! I must have written ' take care with your tuning at, 'like Rosy blooms' 54 times. As there were 15 singers with 23 more to come later this evening, perhaps 54 is a small exaggeration, but who's counting! It felt like 54 tired strokes of the black roller ball!

What I really meant was - Aaagh! My poor ears!

But I am, of course, much too polite, and I just kept smiling. Stiff upper lip saves the day.

The Sailor's Song by Haydn and 12 Tenors

The YMCA Hallway

A Beautiful Sculpture at the YMCA Entrance



This is the middle of my second week and i am beginning to feel the exhaustion my colleagues who have done this before told me would happen! I fell asleep at 8pm last night with the BBC World News still playing on the TV and they were still ploughing on with the news when I awoke this morning!

I was at a YMCA Lifelong Learning Centre yesterday which was an amazing place, and I had the most wonderful Assistants who (for the first time in HK)kept plying me with lovely tea, sometimes English Breakfast and sometimes Chinese Jasmine. It was so refreshing and made such a difference to the dynamic of the day! The white porcelain cup and saucer was a beautiful swirling and curved design, and I felt as though I was in an expensive restaurant!

The Assistants, or Stewards as we call them at UK Festivals, are on the whole utterly efficient in every respect of the desk work, and a feast of information with regards to places to eat locally, and where the best shopping can be found, along with translating and helping with pronunciations of the singers names. I have to say my cantonese is non existent, but my ability to pronounce the English written names is improving by the day.

The weather has hotted up somewhat, in the last few days it has been around 26 or 27 degrees with 80% humidity. This means that most of we Westerners are dripping until we arrive at our venue and the air conditioning kicks in. My driver this evening told me that when he was a boy in school there was no air con, or even a ceiling fan until the 60's. He said that learning was very difficult, and school started at 7am and ended at lunchtime from May to November.

Nowadays all schools use a full day for the whole year, so even though they now have to work more hours, at least they do it in the comfort of a cool breeze!

I heard an amazing class of 12, 18 and under tenors who sang The Sailor's Song by Haydn. Understand that this was 1 group, in 1 venue, and I will hear another 3 groups. How many British counties could furnish an ajudicator with up to 45 young tenors!

The song is fast and furious and all about Britain's Glory at Sea! Very incongrous, and a bit colonial, but boy these chaps sang with gusto and fire! I heard 5 lads from the same school who must have an excellent teacher. It was a pure joy to adjudicate them with all the detail I would use at a music school in the West, and these singers are singing in a foreign language.

I was hard put to choose the winner, and I am under no circumstances whatsoever, allowed to tie, so that means some cruel decisions, and those decisions based on the smallest of differences.

I had a ball, and gave the young men a short masterclass on abdominal breathing! They were such fun to work with, and so appreciative of any knowledge.

What with the regular tea and the plethora of tenors, what more could I want ?! (except more sleepzzzzzzzzzz).

Ivor Gurney and Pumpkin Soup

The school motto at today's venue. My assistant said it meant something like,
Honesty and Hard Work make a Good Person. Sounds a good motto !



It is the end my second Monday and I am back at the favourite CafeO, where I need to record that officially I have just eaten the most beautiful soup I have ever tasted in my life. It was Pumpkin and Ginger with fresh herbs. A richer, tastier more zingy bowlful it would be hard to find in the Eastern world, and probably the Western world! It was served with a slice of herb bread and came to the princely sum of $HK28, around £1.45. I am so happily replete that my day, in a primary school only about 4 miles from mainland China has faded into a soft focus memory !

I had another round of Ivor Gurney today, the Under the Greenwood Tree 14 year olds again. Today was mostly of a poorer standard and there were even 3 or 4 girls who were very unprepared. This is the first time I have met this problem since I began over a week ago. Even the less good voices have all been thoroughly well practised, and knew the notes and words more than adequately. I actually had two young ladies of 14 who could not get through the song, and even worse, giggled at their friends and partners in crime in the audience. This did not go down well with other teachers and my assistant, and was clearly very unusual behaviour ! The looks from said adults would have felled a charging elephant !

On the plus side I heard around 6 girls all from one school and thus one teacher I assume, who we're terrific! They sang with style, confidence and a real understanding of the Shakespeare text. They even had a cantonese version of Middy vowel shapes ! The TH sound still evades them somewhat, but there were some valiant efforts, but it is clearly so difficult for them to use the tip of he tongue.

It is clear proof that a teaching sound is instantly recognisable, and I asked the group of girls who all wanted the obligatory photo with Mrs Big (in more ways than one you understand) at the end of the competition, to pass on my congratulations to their talented teacher. I would have been proud to put my name to them !

Praise indeed !

A Day Off and a bit of Retail Therapy

Ladies Market Mong Kok


What a super day off ! I meandered down to breakfast at around 9.30am and joined most of the other late sleeping adjudicators and had a leisurely meal and chat, which is not the case on a work morning ! The plan was to do a little market shopping and have a simple lunch before returning to the hotel and relax before my ultra early transit car at 7.45am.

A colleague and myself took ourselves off to Mong Kok a few stops along the MTR into Kowloon and on Nathan Road. We visited the Ladies Market and marveled at the stalls selling fantastic silk outfits, from dresses to pyjamas, purses to iphone covers via handbags in fake designer styles and jade jewelry. We had a ball. I even managed to do a bit of haggling, and managed to reduce the price of a purchase by a third. Boy was I proud of myself.

After catching a bus back along the bustling Nathan Road where you can barely see windows for brightly lit signs, flashing neon lights, and people, we got the Star Ferry back across the water, and wandered slowly back to the hotel.

After a restorative cup of tea I decided to take my washing to the British Laundry, and deposited a few lb's of clothes at the tiny window, where even on a Sunday the ladies are scurrying right and left hidden behind piles of bags of garments - most of which belong to the festival adjudicators I think!

I can collect it tomorrow, and have already paid my meagre HK$41, or just over £3.......so will have a draw full of clean clothes by the time I get back from work tomorrow.

7.45am Aaagh!

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, via the MTR

Studio 2



Diverse life in Chai Wan, nature and machine



The clever MTR, each line lights up to let you see exactly where you are!



It is Saturday and tomorrow I have my first day off in the week. I feel like I need a sleep in, but if I do I may sleep around the clock until Monday morning and work again! So a lovely American wind adjudicator and I are going to SHOP. I remember all those years ago when I was last here a gigantic Chinese department store on the famous Nathan Road, Kowloon called Yue Hwa. It seemed to furnish me with all the gifts I could (a Carry, and b) Afford ! So we are braving the MTR to Kowloon and keeping a tight grip on our credit cards!

There is also the Ladies Market in the same ish area, and I suggest that we will also do our bit for Sino British US relations by hitting that market too. One or two of the chaps have looked sheepishly into a shop, but will need to become a good deal more professional in their approach if they are to get anything lovely for their other halves!

I am again back at the Youth Studio today, and what a great place it is. A 14 storey ultra modern building with every available amenity for young people under 19. Not computer games, or TV, but learning libraries, fast Internet, sport, dance and music studios, a cafe, safe shops for school stuff, instruments, sports equipment etc. and all at cost price. There is a concert hall, and around six recital, theatre and Drama studios, and much more that I have not yet found.

I am in one of the drama studios, which has a wonderfully new piano as well as a great acoustic and air conditioning.

You can see from the photograph what a great venue it is, and how good to hold singing competitions in such high quality conditions. I heard a flock of 56 Cuckoo's Courtesy of Martin Shaw, sung by 7 and 8 year olds, and mighty fine they were too. One tiny soul in puffed up pink did actions and as the final phrase ' Goodbye to you' was sung she raised her hand and eyes to the sky and literally watched the bird fly away. I was transfixed, and very moved. It was so gentle, yet so very poignant.

Ah well, on with the motley, and 48 ' I wandered Lonely as a Cloud' words by Wordsworth - now there is a thought, do they have daffodils in Hong Kong ?

Michael Head's A Piper and a Vietnamese Curry

A Temple without purpose


Today I am for the second time this week working in the SKH Holy Spirit Church at Shatin in the Eastern New Territories. I took myself out for a walk in the lunch break and found a tiny park with a small old, but well preserved temple at its centre. These small places are all nestled in between giant blocks of flats or enormous schools, and in this case overshadowed by a gleaming and up market hotel. I am pleased to see that it was so well preserved and the paintwork in fresh and vibrant colours. I took a photo of the sign next to the tiny building which stated very clearly however that - No religious activity must take place here !! A temple without a purpose?!

I heard a mixed bunch of 16 and under girls singing a very tricky Michael Head song called A Piper. I cannot imagine how tricky it would be to sing an Irish poem to the fleeting and complex text and rhythms of this song, when one's first language is Cantonese !

The problems seem to be in making a proper 'th' sound and not singing 't' instead, I wonder if the tongue works differently in Asian languages. When I ask the singers to try, they can do it but with much giggling and scratching of metaphorical heads ! They are a very polite bunch though, and smilingly put up with me trying to correct their English.

The afternoon brought 35 sets of duettists all under 19 and singing an indifferent edition of the famous Plaisir d’amour by Martini. I heard some remarkable ensemble singing which was both beautiful vocally and so utterly together in terms of part singing. There is a definite instrumental feel to much of the singing, it is as if the voice really is taught as another instrument, and not as I may teach it, a unique physical part of the person. It is difficult to put into words, but I think the Western approach of treating each voice as a totally unique sound, is not the approach here.

That said, it may be a new angle on singing teaching, but it works, and it produces lovely tone and a wonderful ability to blend.

After being brought back to the hotel at about 6pm and recovering with a cup of tea and a rich tea biscuit (from M&S of course!) myself and another adjudicator risked a Vietnamese restaurant where absolutely nobody spoke a word of English. I stuck to vegetarian food, and had a wonderful Green Coconut Vegetable Curry and steamed white rice, which was fantastic……………..

Back to the Youth Studio tomorrow for another round of the Ivor Gurney sing off, and Round 2 of the under 14 duets.

No rest for the wicked!