Music Prof On the Road for Spring Break

Dr. Gifford Howarth first visited Singapore in the spring of 2006 on a travel fellowship as part of his doctorate program at Michigan State University. Since then he has made 5 additional trips to the Southeast Asian country, and on March 9th he is back on the plane for the 24-hour flight to Singapore. This visit is going to be a unique one.

Dr. Howarth has had a teaching relationship with the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore since 2006. His visits involve teaching percussion workshops and lessons with students of the school. He has built a great teaching relationship with Jonathan Fox, head of percussion at the conservatory. Mr. Fox is originally from Boston and studied music at The Juilliard School in New York City. He has been teaching and performing with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra since 2000.

During this visit to Singapore, Dr. Howarth will be performing in the Yong Siew Toh Percussion Ensemble Concert on March 17th. He will be soloist for the world premiere performance of composer Jim Casella’s MEANWHILE IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE for solo marimba and percussion ensemble. Also on the program will be Dr. Howarth’s arrangement of the popular solo guitar work LEYENDA by Isaac Albeniz. His arrangement is for solo marimba and percussion ensemble.

Dr. Howarth with Jonathan Fox and students
of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory

A unique addition to the concert will be a high school group from Kuching, Malaysia. Mr. Fox has also included the members of a St. Joseph’s Secondary School Marching Band from Malaysia to perform on the concert. Mr. Fox has a strong teaching connection with the school in Malaysia. In the spring of 2010, Dr. Howarth had the opportunity to work with the Malaysian marching band and is looking forward to their contribution to this concert.

In addition to performing on the concert, Dr. Howarth will be teaching private lessons and presenting a percussion masterclass that is open to the public. He looks forward to working with the diverse student population of the conservatory. The percussion students are from countries throughout Asia,  including Japan, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore.