Hi Teresa and faithful supporters of Teresa!
Since Teresa is busy with her examinations right now till 11 October, I am also trying to busy myself with something which I hope to be of benefit to her. What I am about to post the fifth and final installation of the mini-series, featuring some songs which I have selected and put forward as recommendations for Teresa. I hope she can consider the songs for her future performances after her examinations because of the following reasons:
1) New songs will continue to showcase her singing talent and ability.
2) New songs will continue to stretch and improve her singing talent and ability.
3) New songs will help to attract even more supporters to be aware of her singing talent and ability.
4) New songs will help to further one of Teresa's favourite interests – singing for the fun and enjoyment of it.
Usually, this information should go directly to Teresa and Madam Tseng but I want to put them up here so that firstly, other supporters can also give their opinions, if they have any, about my recommendations. Secondly, I also consider this gesture as a form of respect to other supporters because I believe many will like to know what song recommendations I am giving to Teresa. Of course, thirdly, I hope this mini-series will keep the fan club active and lively since I believe many of us here are so concerned about our dear Teresa.
Teresa, just like my performance report on the Yellow Ribbon Fair event, if you are going to read this during your examination period, I will again gently advise you to read the mini-series only after your examinations are over. I hope you concentrate on the current examinations at hand first before reading all these new information because they may crowd your mind, which is not good during examination periods. Unless someone deletes my posts, you have all the time to read and mull over them after your examinations are over.
Recommended Song Selection and Development (Part 5 & Final Part)
The ninth and the tenth song recommendations are go back to the Mandarin song selection and I have decided to pamper you with songs from some of your more familiar singers after recommending eight songs of varying difficulty for you (forgive me if I have recommended some really difficult songs so far). After going through all the latest albums from both singers, I found two songs which have approximately the same theme of love and gratitude but sung in very different ways and styles. Since both singers are familiar to you, I believe you should have no problems with performing these two songs (after practice) with good performing confidence.
1) The first song I am recommending Sandy Lam’s "Xiang(1) Xin(4)". The link is below for the listening pleasure of supporters who wish to know how this song sounds like.
http://www.haoting.com/htmusic/127018ht.htm(Disclaimer for recording company of Sandy Lam: The link above is only for the listening pleasure and knowledge of supporters in TFC and idollic.com/teresa/, provided as a means of convenience for the abovementioned objective without any intention to propagate the song as a form of piracy.)
The reasons why I choose this song are:
1a) I know it is weird that I chose a song from Sandy Lam because you have already been singing “It Wasn’t Meant To Be” quite frequently in your recent performances before your school examinations. However, I also considered the element of continuance and I feel that this song can also help to bring out the strengths in your vocals. The song’s lyrics and tune are catchy enough and do the song justice to earn a place in the mini-series.
1b) With your grasp of Sandy Lam’s earlier songs, I believe you should not have any problems singing this one in particular. Although the song sounds very restful to the listener, it actually has a hidden difficulty. You should be careful of the very short rest times in the song, especially the chorus and the bridge portions and the sudden rises in notes in a few words in the lyrics.
2) The second song I am recommending is Zhang(1) Hui(4) Mei(4))’s “Yin(1) Wei(4) Ni(3) Zai(4)” The link is below again for the listening pleasure of supporters who wish to know how this song sounds like.
http://www.haoting.com/htmusic/116169ht.htm(Disclaimer for recording company of Zhang Hui Mei: The link above is only for the listening pleasure and knowledge of supporters in TFC and idollic.com/teresa/, provided as a means of convenience for the abovementioned objective without any intention to propagate the song as a form of piracy.)
The reasons why I choose this song are:
2a) This song is definitely very different from Sandy’s song, with a much lighter and faster song pace to boot. I personally think it is a little repetitive in the lyrics section compared to Sandy’s song but it should be able to cut itself a niche place in performance events that require faster-tracked songs to boost the event atmosphere.
2b) The song is easy to learn but catching your breath will take some practice because the chorus goes by very quickly. Song lyrics are also just as catchy and light in its own way, bringing a good sense of joy and happiness with the theme of gratitude of love. Thus far, you have done quite well for Zhang Hui Mei’s old and new songs and I believe this one will add another tasteful selection to your song repertoire from your favourite singer.
Song Developmental Path aka Ge(1) Lu(4) for Teresa:
Shiorisei made a very important point about you possibly having your own songs to sing. I don’t know if any local or foreign song-writers are going to pen songs for you in the TV Idol Drama soundtrack or 2007 Chinese New Year compilation CD but I believe with the nod that you have given to the judges during the CSS competition, you are still going to follow the Shi(2) Li(4) Pai(4) path and sing songs to impress audience with your abilities and skills.
The song recommendations in the mini-series are just a rough guideline from my analysis based on the combination of the following: your vocal skill and potential + current and projected image portrayal + current supporters’ preferences + song acceptability of audience + latest song creations and listeners’ trends. I hope I had not made myself look too silly in front of Madam Tseng and yourself if the two of you find some of the song recommendations less savoury because we have not really spoke at length about how your song developmental path is going to be so everything was based on best estimates on my part. If you wish to converse with me about this matter, you know how to reach me. I leave that decision entirely up to you.
Do remember that song developmental path at your current stage is important because it will mean possible market and listeners’ niches in this highly competitive environment. I personally feel that you should keep your options as open as possible so you can have the opportunities to attempt new songs. I am actually very glad that till date, you have already chosen songs from some of the best singers in the industry – Zhang Hui Mei, Sandy Lam, Fish Leong and F.I.R. However, do consider songs from other singers, even from male singers as well, because your image is not really fixated by the majority of the listeners in Singapore yet. So that means the field for experimentation is still open and you should use it wisely to showcase your talent and ability. For me, there is no such thing as “Guo Qi” songs or singers, but only good singing and bad singing of songs.
Well, enough said for now. This is it - the final installation of the mini-series for song recommendations and song developmental path for Teresa. I hope all faithful supporters of Teresa in both teresatseng.com fanclub and idollic.com/teresa/ forum have enjoyed the mini-series that I have written and benefited in whatever tiny little ways you deemed so.
I would like to thank New Curious Boy 2006, Shiorisei, Chengsong, and a number of my personal friends who had helped to contribute to the mini-series of song recommendations and developmental path for Teresa. I could not have done this alone without the help of all of you.
For me, it’s a really fun attempt to do song recommendations again because I get to listen and analyse as many as fifty songs in a space of a week or so. The last time I did such detailed song recommendations was like for a group of friends in some singing competition – and that was really enriching too. And my mind now is clogged full of songs but as long as Teresa benefits somehow from this mini-series, it will be worth it.
Sean Ho
"Music clears the mind, fills the heart, moves the soul."
