About Us

Qualifications

Master of Arts in Music Education and Performance, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, United Kingdom

Fellowship in Music Education (FTCL), Trinity College, London

Profile

Michael has been in music education for more than 30 years. He continually pursues a philosophy of sharing both from acquired knowledge and personal experience, where his learners are the heart and passion of his drive in bringing out the best in them. A classically trained guitarist from his youth but in recent years has studied at the post-graduate level with Graham Devine and taken master classes with Vincent Lindsey-Clark. Michael continues to develop his highly accredited guitar ensemble methodology which also entails his well-written arrangements and compositions.

Through his years in training ensembles for the Singapore Youth Festival, Michael now mentors a team of highly qualified musicians through his music educational company, Avant Garde Promotions. His music entrepreneurial and managerial experiences spanning more than 3 decades has included artist management, corporate music productions, event and entertainment management.

Qualifications

Diploma in Audio Engineering

Profile

Nic Lee is a Singaporean music producer, arranger, composer and artiste with more than 15 years of industry experience.

Nic was the lead vocalist & guitarist from the band 迷路兵 “Milubing” which emerged as the champions for the 2005 Nationwide competition Superband Competition, which was monolithic in our local music industry.

While Nic was previously under Warner Music and Mediacorp, he too spent his National Service days in the Singapore Armed Forces Music and Drama Company (SAF MDC) as an Artiste.

To date, Nic has been onboard other Artistes’ projects to help write, arrange and produce. He is actively involved in all aspects of music; on record tracks, commercials, and corporate jobs.

Nic is currently the Studio Producer of the Singapore Raffles Production Suite. Whilst here, he has produced and recorded for local radio and for well-known local artistes and has worked alongside Veterans both local and overseas.

Qualifications

Master of Arts and Cultural Management, University of Melbourne, Australia

Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Music, Nanyang Techological University, Singapore

Profile

Mindy brings her eclectic experiences into the classroom, balancing academic knowledge with practical insight into performing arts management, with the view that knowledge is made at the edges and across boundaries. Her research interests include audience development and xinyao (新谣). An NIE-trained teacher with experience teaching multiple student levels, she plays 11 instruments and is not a typical classical musician, as she loves karaoke and Mandopop.

Her experiences as a percussionist have led her into the recording studio for both local and international projects. She walks the talk of lifelong learning, having recently picked up the viola. Mindy was previously a manager at the Singapore Wind Symphony and is presently Head, Support Services at the da ka:po Late Starters Orchestra, facilitating the joy of ensemble participation.

Qualifications

Post-Graduate Diploma in Education

Advanced Diploma in Film Production, Ngee Ann Polytechnic

Profile

Kelvin Sng completed his Advanced Diploma in Film Production (Directing) after receiving the Media Education Scheme Award from the then Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore in 2004. Now an established filmmaker and hailed as Million Dollar Director by the local media, his experience as a former teacher and Head of Department (HOD) with the Ministry of Education has also shaped his desire to be a lifelong educator. This eventually led him to become much sought after, having trained students, teachers, and adults in more than 200 schools, institutions, and organisations to date. His practitioner/educator identity has led him to be highly respected for his craft with his ability to impart them well.

Apart from filmmaking and education, Kelvin is also an accomplished lyricist. He has written lyrics for the theme songs of both his feature films “Taxi! Taxi!” and “The Fortune Handbook”, as well as for other singers and MediaCorp drama series.

Qualifications

Master of Research (Higher Education)

MBA (Distinction)

Profile

Willard strongly believes in student-centred learning approaches which underpins by scaffolding and reinforcing learning through various learning activities. These activities encourage interactions and collaborations among peers and most importantly, learning through the critical reflection in their individual learning journeys. He also believes in the emphasis on developing 21st-century skills specifically in building resilience as a learned skill so as to be agile in the face of adversity and rapid change. Willard is strongly committed to nurture and encourage students in their moments of self-discovery, to stay hungry, stay foolish and stay curious.

Willard has more than a decade of career experience in a management capacity, conducting audits, strategic gap analysis, and optimising business processes alongside his acclaimed academic expertise. As teaching is his passion, he simultaneously works as a teaching faculty member and research supervisor up to the Master’s degree level with various Universities and institutes of Higher Learning. In alignment with SRMC’s Core Value of Mentorship, Willard is also a Faculty Professional Development trainer, he shares best practices in applied learning and teaching, and a strong believer in a community of practice.

Qualifications

Master’s in Music Education, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver Canada

Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies (Film Production), State University of New York at Buffalo

Profile

John is a lecturer of music and sonic arts specializing in sound design and music composition for visual media. He believes in cultivating a sense of learning by doing through collaboration, peer learning, and imaginative learning. His approach to teaching has always been involved in the field of creative arts through project-based learning, cognitive apprenticeship, and problem-based learning. Lately, he has been researching the efficiency of introducing ‘real’ world projects into the classroom. To teach is very much like making a salad bowl. How much dressing and seasoning it needs depends on the educator’s knowledge of the subject. On the other hand, there is no perfect curriculum and teaching. Much like seasoning, we will leave out some and add in some. By adjusting through adapting, our curriculum and teaching in a continuity based on the ever-evolving of the world, we may perhaps get our learners ready.

John is a songwriter/composer with Funkie Monkies Publishing and his works had been on the charts on KK Box, Hitz FM, and Chinese Global Music.

Qualifications

Licentiate Diploma (Classical Guitar), Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music

Guitar Orchestra Specialist Diploma in Music Direction/Composition, International Niibori Academy of Music, Japan

Profile

Balraj’s academic pursuits are deeply entrenched in music composition, which is influenced by Asian music. His focus has been in composition for guitar ensembles and Popular/Jazz bands. He has studied Guitar Orchestra Music Direction under Professor Kazuyuki Terada at the International Niibori Academy of Music in Japan, and mentored by Maestro Alex Abisheganaden.

Balraj has been actively directing guitar orchestras in Singapore for the past 20 years. Besides directing, he has also been a passionate performer in Pop/Jazz/Classical ensembles and a Tremolo String ensemble. For the past 4 years, Balraj was invited by the Ministry of Education to conduct Music Leadership Camps for secondary school students in Singapore.

Balraj takes pride in his industry experience and educational philosophy to encourage young musicians to develop their music abilities and creativity skills, which is very much aligned with our College’s Vision.

For the coming year, Balraj will be involved with creating two online Music Education Video recordings of guitar ensemble music, as well as developing the Singapore Tremolo Strings movement here in Singapore.

Qualifications

Professional Diploma in Music Production and Engineering, Summa cum Laude, Berklee College of Music

Bachelor of Computing (Honours) in Information Systems, National University of Singapore

Profile

As a seasoned performer trained in audio engineering, Keith oftentimes comes across many well-meaning, but badly trained sound engineers working on gigs. As a result, he realised how little training a lot of these working engineers actually have. His passion in teaching is to correct this phenomenon by seeking to impart real-world experience and college-level theoretical knowledge to the next generation of engineers, so the industry standard can be raised as a whole.

Keith has been fortunate to work on some big organisation projects such as Sing China, SPOP, Singapore Youth Festival, Ministry of Education projects, National Health Group projects, etc. Through it all, he has not forgotten where he came from and is always on the lookout for young, up-and-coming artists he can work with. As a teacher and industry practitioner, Keith seeks to do this for the next generation of artists and talent.