RESONANZ CHILDREN'S CHOIR: Singers from the Resonanz Children's Choir perform a group dance on stage during their concert My Name is Music. (JP/Rilwan Hamza)

Listening to children's natural and innocent voices, especially when they are singing, always creates a joyful and happy atmosphere.

Opening with "Simamaka", a dynamic song from Africa, and "Gundul-gundul Pacul", a traditional Indonesian song from Java, the Resonanz Children's Choir recently held a concert entitled My Name is Music.

The concert put smiles on the faces of the audience members and even got them laughing when the children jumped and ran around in excitement as they sang, turning the stage into a virtual playground.

Kak Rani, the conductor of the group, who is also a member of the Batavia Madrigal Singers, played an important role in ensuring the children performed the song arrangement according to plan, while being allowed to act naturally and have fun on stage. No doubt Rani's background as a kindergarten teacher helped her with this task.

The Resonanz Children's Choir, which was established earlier this year, is an arm of the Jakarta Chamber Orchestra. The choir is divided into 3 groups: Serunai (with singers between the ages of four to six years), Seruling (seven to 10 years) and Tifa (11 to 16 years).

Avip Priatna, the founder of the choir, said he hoped that between their routine activities at school, the children could still gain singing experience in a very enjoyable environment using creative methods. He said he believed this could help shape good personalities and mature emotions, intelligence and musicality.

In the concert, the members of the Seruling and Tifa groups showed how they could sing in a steady formation as a choir and focus on more advanced repertoires without losing the enjoyment of singing.

Team work was very essential here; the children are trained to be good team players -- a very good exercise, Avip said, to prepare them for the real world, where they will have to live and work together in harmony with others.

There are several other children's choirs that regularly perform in the country, including the Bina Vokalia, Ascencio and Paduan Suara Anak Indonesia choirs, as well as others. Some of these choirs have shown very good track records in singing both nationally and internationally. This, Avip said, was an indication of the singing talent of Indonesia's youth, which should be further developed.

The most important thing now, according to the Resonanz Children's Choir singing coaches, is to teach the right singing techniques so the children will have a very strong foundation to work from that can be further developed.

The five singing coaches of the Resonanz Children's Choir -- Avip, Nedi, Ita, Obi and Rani -- are dedicated to teaching their students to enjoy their singing experience, not only on stage, but also during their long rehearsals.

To capture the children's attention and keep them focussed, the coaches said, is quite a challenge; it requires patience and the use of creative techniques to hold the children's interest.

In the short time since its establishment, the choir has so far gained more than 60 members, with many more queuing to audition and join.

The choir's My Name is Music concert was brought to an end with all three age groups performing the songs "Kookaburra" and "Calypso". Looking forward to the next concert kids!

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