Goh Soon Tioe
Encyclopedia
Goh Soon Tioe is known in Singapore
musical history as a key player in the development of classical music for the post-war Singapore. He is also the father of Singaporean violinist-conductor Vivien Goh.
Born in 18 October 1911 in Padang, Indonesia
, Goh was the tenth of the eleven children in the family. His father Gho Goan Tee owned a trading firm and was a local Kapitan - a spokesperson for the Padang Chinese community and a representative for the Chinese government. Mother Lie Kie Pat was from Nias
and was of mixed Chinese and native parentage. They live in house on Batipuh Street (now known as Jalan Pasar Batipuh) in Padang.
The elder Gho died when Goh was three years old, leaving him in the care of his mother and Goh's older siblings. As a boy, Goh studied in the local town school and primarily taught in Dutch language. But he was active and mischievous child who often played truant from school and indulge in cock fighting. His strict disciplinarian mum would often punish him for playing truant - at one time she even put a ball and chain
on the boy's leg, and sent him to school in a horse carriage
, or a Bendi.
It came to the point that his mother felt she could not control him any longer, and thus sent him and other relatives to Singapore. Goh was 13 years old then, living with his 2nd eldest brother Soon Ho in Newton Road and continued his schooling at the Anglo-Chinese School
. The year was 1924.
Goh's family members were musically-inclined. In his home in Pandang, there was a piano left behind from his grandfather's time. And not to mention that Goh Soon Hin, his third elder brother also played the violin. But in all his childhood years the young Goh had never expressed any interest in music at all. And thus his passion for music started relatively late - and by chance as well.
It was the time when he moved to Singapore, he would hear his cook's son playing the violin at the back of their Newton house every night. That got the 17-year-old Goh interested in the violin, and embarked his musical journey with the violin with his first teacher, Filipino violinist Aguedo Raquiza. Raquiza taught all that he knew to his prodigy, and advised him to seek further instruction overseas. Despite his newfound love and conviction to become a great violinist, he could not convince his family to let him study music overseas. Instead, he was sent to work in their family business. But music still was never far from his mind.
, harmony and chamber music
as well. Goh performed excellently in all his annual exams, receiving the Premier Prix distinction award consecutively for three years. Goh even played with the Conservatoire Orchestra under Samuel Baud-Bovy.
He had also made new friends during his years in Switzerland - with father-son violin makers Alfred and Pierre Vidoudez, and American-Italian violinist Joseph Nardulli. Pierre helped him to correct his violin technique, and taught him the French language.
In all this time Goh's studies were funded by his family, but in 1935 he received news that his family could no longer support him in his music study, urging him to return to Sumatra to teach music instead. By August that year, Goh's finances dried up. Just as things was looking bad for him, Alfred Vidoudez introduced Goh to Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia
who was so impressed with Goh's musical talent that he offered Goh guitar lessons free of charge in Barcelona. Goh left Geneva for Barcelona in December 1935, and was further introduced to Spanish violinist Francisco Costa by Segovia who offered Goh to stay, and learn the violin from him in his home in Calle Muntaner. His soujourn in Barcelona came to an end, when Goh had to flee from the Spanish Civil War
in July 1936. As a parting gift, Segovia gave him a Rudolfo Cauracho guitar.
Goh arrived in Brussels via Paris and Holland, and went to seek Alfred Marchot at the Royal Academy of Music with a letter of introduction written by Costa earlier. Marchot was impressed with Goh's earnestness and his talent, and was willing to teach Goh for free. The prolonged hunger pangs, malnutrition and stress caused by the lack of food brought about a paralysis in three fingers of his left hand, killing his hopes of playing the violin ever again. Goh fell into the trenches of despair, but Marchot was happy to teach him the aesthetics of music until his death in July 1939. After 8 long years' of staying in Europe Goh finally saw that it was pointless to continue staying in Europe, and returned home in Padang with a heavy heart in September that year.
He went on to have a successful musical career as a Conductor of the Singapore Youth Symphony Orchestra between 1971 and 1975, and having found the Goh Soon Tioe String Orchestra. In his illustrious teaching years, he produced Singapore's musical prodigies like Dick Lee
, Lynnette Seah
, Kam Kee Yong, Seow Yit Kin, Melvyn Tan, Choo Hoey and Lim Soon Lee
, Music Director/ Resident Conductor of the National University of Singapore Concert Orchestra. In all the musical talents he had produced, violinist Lee Pan Hon was one he had remembered well.
As a child, Lee Pan Hon had shown talent in music, but living in the Chinatown slums his family was too poor to afford proper clothing for the then 5-year-old boy in 1958. Goh took upon himself to groom young Lee, to becoming a great violin maestro in the United Kingdom.
Goh was awarded Pingat Jasa Gemilang
(Meritorious Service Medal) for his immense achievements and contributions to the Singapore society. He died in 1982.
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
musical history as a key player in the development of classical music for the post-war Singapore. He is also the father of Singaporean violinist-conductor Vivien Goh.
Born in 18 October 1911 in Padang, Indonesia
Padang, Indonesia
Padang is the capital and largest city of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is located on the western coast of Sumatra at . It has an area of and a population of over 833,000 people at the 2010 Census.-History:...
, Goh was the tenth of the eleven children in the family. His father Gho Goan Tee owned a trading firm and was a local Kapitan - a spokesperson for the Padang Chinese community and a representative for the Chinese government. Mother Lie Kie Pat was from Nias
Nias
Nīas is an island off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. Nias is also the name of the archipelago, containing the Hinako archipelago....
and was of mixed Chinese and native parentage. They live in house on Batipuh Street (now known as Jalan Pasar Batipuh) in Padang.
The elder Gho died when Goh was three years old, leaving him in the care of his mother and Goh's older siblings. As a boy, Goh studied in the local town school and primarily taught in Dutch language. But he was active and mischievous child who often played truant from school and indulge in cock fighting. His strict disciplinarian mum would often punish him for playing truant - at one time she even put a ball and chain
Ball And Chain
"Make This Love Right" , is a single written and produced by New Jersey house music producer Romanthony. The song was released on Azuli Records of New York in 1993. The song was something of an anomalous cultural craze in the city of Cork, Republic of Ireland, in the late 1990s where it became an...
on the boy's leg, and sent him to school in a horse carriage
Horse-drawn vehicle
A horse-drawn vehicle is a mechanized piece of equipment pulled by one horse or by a team of horses. These vehicles typically had two or four wheels and were used to carry passengers and/or a load...
, or a Bendi.
It came to the point that his mother felt she could not control him any longer, and thus sent him and other relatives to Singapore. Goh was 13 years old then, living with his 2nd eldest brother Soon Ho in Newton Road and continued his schooling at the Anglo-Chinese School
Anglo-Chinese School
The Anglo-Chinese School ; is a family of Methodist schools in Singapore, and Indonesia.The name is usually abbreviated as "ACS", with the junior college as "ACJC", and its students and alumni referred to as "ACSians" , or "ACS boys" .ACS was the first school...
. The year was 1924.
Goh's family members were musically-inclined. In his home in Pandang, there was a piano left behind from his grandfather's time. And not to mention that Goh Soon Hin, his third elder brother also played the violin. But in all his childhood years the young Goh had never expressed any interest in music at all. And thus his passion for music started relatively late - and by chance as well.
It was the time when he moved to Singapore, he would hear his cook's son playing the violin at the back of their Newton house every night. That got the 17-year-old Goh interested in the violin, and embarked his musical journey with the violin with his first teacher, Filipino violinist Aguedo Raquiza. Raquiza taught all that he knew to his prodigy, and advised him to seek further instruction overseas. Despite his newfound love and conviction to become a great violinist, he could not convince his family to let him study music overseas. Instead, he was sent to work in their family business. But music still was never far from his mind.
Europe and Spain
In 1932, he received an opportunity to audition for a recruitment by the Geneva Conservatoire in Switzerland. The panelists did not take to his performance kindly, and thought he was not good enough to be selected. With anger and disappointment, he resolved to impress the panel with his performance in the next audition. He began taking lessons from Maggie Breittmayer who drove him hard and polished his technique. He pushed himself harder practising 8–10 hours a day for the next 6 months. And finally, his talent stunned the audition panel and admitted him directly to the Superiere level of study. A Swiss pianist serving as one of the Conservatoire panelists even helped the convince Goh's family members to allow him to study music and develop his talent at the Conservatoire. In the three years of music study with the Conservatoire, he was trained by Breittmayer and Oscar Studer, even took classes in solfegeSolfege
In music, solfège is a pedagogical solmization technique for the teaching of sight-singing in which each note of the score is sung to a special syllable, called a solfège syllable...
, harmony and chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
as well. Goh performed excellently in all his annual exams, receiving the Premier Prix distinction award consecutively for three years. Goh even played with the Conservatoire Orchestra under Samuel Baud-Bovy.
He had also made new friends during his years in Switzerland - with father-son violin makers Alfred and Pierre Vidoudez, and American-Italian violinist Joseph Nardulli. Pierre helped him to correct his violin technique, and taught him the French language.
In all this time Goh's studies were funded by his family, but in 1935 he received news that his family could no longer support him in his music study, urging him to return to Sumatra to teach music instead. By August that year, Goh's finances dried up. Just as things was looking bad for him, Alfred Vidoudez introduced Goh to Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia
Andrés Segovia
Andrés Torres Segovia, 1st Marquis of Salobreña , known as Andrés Segovia, was a virtuoso Spanish classical guitarist from Linares, Jaén, Andalucia, Spain...
who was so impressed with Goh's musical talent that he offered Goh guitar lessons free of charge in Barcelona. Goh left Geneva for Barcelona in December 1935, and was further introduced to Spanish violinist Francisco Costa by Segovia who offered Goh to stay, and learn the violin from him in his home in Calle Muntaner. His soujourn in Barcelona came to an end, when Goh had to flee from the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
in July 1936. As a parting gift, Segovia gave him a Rudolfo Cauracho guitar.
Goh arrived in Brussels via Paris and Holland, and went to seek Alfred Marchot at the Royal Academy of Music with a letter of introduction written by Costa earlier. Marchot was impressed with Goh's earnestness and his talent, and was willing to teach Goh for free. The prolonged hunger pangs, malnutrition and stress caused by the lack of food brought about a paralysis in three fingers of his left hand, killing his hopes of playing the violin ever again. Goh fell into the trenches of despair, but Marchot was happy to teach him the aesthetics of music until his death in July 1939. After 8 long years' of staying in Europe Goh finally saw that it was pointless to continue staying in Europe, and returned home in Padang with a heavy heart in September that year.
Singapore
Arriving home a broken man with a crippled dream, Goh picked himself up and told himself I will make my fortune with these two violins. In 1940, he established a music studio above a garage in Oldham Lane in Singapore, and gave music and French language lessons. The business did not last long as the Japanese had invaded and occupied Singapore in 1941, and he was rounded up along with other able-bodied men by the Japanese. Goh was made to stand under the hot sun for three days, and when one of his friends in the group was allowed to leave, his friend was given a choice to choose another person to leave with him and he chose Goh. Both Goh and his friend had escaped death, while the rest of the group were sent to the firing squad the very next day.He went on to have a successful musical career as a Conductor of the Singapore Youth Symphony Orchestra between 1971 and 1975, and having found the Goh Soon Tioe String Orchestra. In his illustrious teaching years, he produced Singapore's musical prodigies like Dick Lee
Dick Lee
Richard "Dick" Lee Peng Boon is a Singaporean pop singer, composer, songwriter, and playwright. He is best known as a Singapore Idol judge, but often too as spokesperson for the New Asian generation....
, Lynnette Seah
Lynnette Seah
Lynnette Seah Mei Tsing is an internationally acclaimed Singaporean violinist serving as co-leader of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra as the only musician to have performed full-time with the SSO since 1979 - a position she is holding on at the Symphony together with Alexander Souptel.She is...
, Kam Kee Yong, Seow Yit Kin, Melvyn Tan, Choo Hoey and Lim Soon Lee
Lim Soon Lee
Lim Soon Lee is a Singaporean conductor and violist.-Education:Soon Lee began his piano and violin training at a young age, under the tutelage of Goh Soon Tioe, Tan Kah Chin, Tan Kian Seng, Moses Wang, and Vivien Goh....
, Music Director/ Resident Conductor of the National University of Singapore Concert Orchestra. In all the musical talents he had produced, violinist Lee Pan Hon was one he had remembered well.
As a child, Lee Pan Hon had shown talent in music, but living in the Chinatown slums his family was too poor to afford proper clothing for the then 5-year-old boy in 1958. Goh took upon himself to groom young Lee, to becoming a great violin maestro in the United Kingdom.
Goh was awarded Pingat Jasa Gemilang
Pingat Jasa Gemilang
The Pingat Jasa Gemilang , instituted in Singapore in 1962. The Medal may be awarded to any person who has performed service of conspicuous merit characterised by resource and devotion to duty, including long service marked by exceptional ability, merit and exemplary conduct within Singapore...
(Meritorious Service Medal) for his immense achievements and contributions to the Singapore society. He died in 1982.
Further reading
- Abishegenaden, Paul (2005) Notes across the years: anecdotes from a musical life. Singapore : Unipress.
- Koh, Tommy (ed.) (2006) Singapore : the encyclopedia. Singapore : Editions Didier Millet.