MINISTERING THROUGH MUSIC (PART 1)
By Christopher Quah
Ministering through music isn’t just about singing Christian songs or having a concert in church. Just ask Alwine Heng who is a music teacher for almost close to 40 years. She has been using music, to reach out to others for God. Her music centre is more than just a place to learn music but to build relationships with her students and to share the love of God. Alwine who is the daughter of a pastor said that she was introduced to music when she was just 5 years old.
“I had my first piano lesson when I was barely out of kindergarten. It begun when a church member who had just started her career as a music teacher was looking for students. My mother who was a housewife registered me to learn from her. So that is how my love for music started,” Alwine recalled.
Aside from piano, Alwine also learned how to play the saxophone, guitar and drum. She even plays the clarinet.
“I took up other musical instruments because playing the piano can be a lonely experience since you only play it by yourself, but learning the other instruments allowed me to play in a group, like in an orchestra,” she said but added that she doesn’t teach all these musical instruments except the piano as they are meant for my personal enjoyment.
Starting from her first ever music lesson since kindergarten age, she continued diligently into her music education and by the tender age of 14, she had already attained the grade of a music teacher under the ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) certification system.
“At the age of 14 I only taught those who were younger than me and only on Saturdays. At this age of course I had to go to school, from Monday to Friday. Teaching piano on Saturdays was to earn a little pocket money. From there I was asked to play in Sunday school, before being promoted to play during the youth ministry and then finally to play during the Sunday church service. So, you see, I’ve been teaching all my life,” Alwine said. She then continued her studies at a university, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in music.
Alwine added that her journey in the field of music was not always that smooth sailing.
“I was born in Ipoh, Perak and since my father was a pastor we have to move a lot. My family never stayed in one place for long. I had to quit music schooling for a time being after completing my 4th grade in music and again in the 6thgrade, because my father had to move to a new place every 4 years. So, every 4 years I had to look for a new music teacher, which was a challenge. Sometimes I was under very fierce music teachers. One of such teachers even threw my music book away and then asked me to pick it up. I almost wanted to tell my mum that I would quit. Thankfully I didn’t, and because I went through all this, I teach my students very differently,” she said.
But her first forte as a full-time music teacher didn’t happen until she got married and moved to Penang with her husband.
“I actually became a music teacher in Penang and it was by coincidence that I started my first class. I had just moved to the island and would play the piano at home from time to time. Then one day some of the neighbours heard it and rang my doorbell. They told me they heard me playing the piano. So, they asked me whether I was interested to teach. That was how I started teaching piano in Penang,” she explained.
MUSIC AND MINISTRY
But what really sets her aside from most other music teachers is how she shared the love of Christ to many of her students and impacted them not just in their music knowledge but also their growing up years as well.
As a testimony on how effective her approach is, she explained that to date she has a 3 years of backlogged applications of students to study under her.
“People who book me this year, can only learn from me three years later,” she said.
Her success is not just because she teaches music extremely well but it’s because she forms a close relationship with the students. In fact most students who attended her class ended up sharing all their personal problems to her. This leads to some interesting results where, even parents come over to ask her to help them with their children when they are at wits end.
“There was this incident when one of the parents came to me for help with their daughter. She wanted to quit her music studies. She told her parents that she wanted to quit music after her grade 5 music exam unless she could continue under me. So, they quickly contacted me, and I agreed to coach her so she could continue her music journey. She is now doing her Masters in Music in Taiwan,” Alwine recalled.
She also told Asian Beacon about another case of a student that had problems. But this one was with his school attendance.
“He was the classmate of my eldest son, Joshua. This boy had learnt music from me. His parents called me up one day and told me that their son kept running away from school almost every day. It was so bad that his grandfather had to stand beside his class window and wait for the lessons to be over. The moment he left to go to the toilet, the boy would try to run home. So, the desperate parents called me to talk to their son. So, I had a heart to heart talk with the boy and I encouraged him. After that he didn’t run away anymore,” Alwine explained.
She added that the reason why she managed to get through to the boy was that she was willing to listen to him, while his father would cane him in order to make him behave.
“I think his parents could guess who to call the moment they realised they needed help. His father told me that every time after class he would be talking about me non-stop for days. It would be Mrs Heng this, and Mrs Heng that,” she explained.
The interesting thing about Alwine’s music class, was that a number of students who came to her were either failing in their music grades or were with special needs.
“Just like the case with the girl above, I am usually the one the parents turned to, in order to stop their kids from quitting their music studies altogether,” she quipped.
To be continued in Part 2 of Ministering Through Music
