YPAW 10: Pauline Lee

Episode 10 of the You Play A What? podcast, hosted by Vincent Tan, titled "YPAW 10: Pauline Lee" was published on August 12, 2020 and runs 71 minutes.

August 12, 2020 ·71m · You Play A What?

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Summary

Fellow Royal Northern College of Music (UK) Alumnus, Pauline Lee, joins me on this episode of You Play A What? Pauline is an established pianist who is now based in Singapore since returning from her studies in the UK. Apart from her work with young aspiring musicians at the School of The Arts in Singapore, Pauline can also be seen working closely with performing arts organization such as local opera company, The Opera People. Her pursuit for a music career did require a set of trade offs. Tune in to this episode to find out exactly what they are!

Episode Description

Every now and then, this question will float up amongst my musician colleagues "If given a choice now, would you still choose to do what you do?". Over the years, I found myself giving different versions of my answer, this answer is usually informed by the current state of my life. If you asked me the question now, as compared to June - July 2019 (a time where I had no work engagements) or the second year of my studies in the UK (probably the worst year of my life) I would have answered the same question differently and with differing level of conviction. I personally have a limited pool of friends that are non-arts practitioner and I wonder if people working in different industries will contemplate on their career choice like we do. What I do know is that you can be an amateur musician and have incredible proficiency on your instrument. This was shown evidently in the British Brass Bands where majority of the musicians hold a day job unrelated to music or in music education in secondary schools. It takes a great amount of courage to decide that you will leave your career progression behind, get enrolled into a Master's Degree Course half way around the world in Music Performance and at the end of it all, return to Singapore and build a career as a portfolio musician. Pauline took the risk, she left behind her well-paying job, jumped on a flight and began her career as a professional musician.

Based in Singapore, Pauline is a regular performer as well as an educator, collaborating with musicians of different levels and working with organizations such as The School of The Arts and The Opera People. Catch Pauline in action as she teams up with different singers for the Kopi and Songs Series produced by the The Opera People, a 10-episode live streamed recital series.

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