Some local musicians, supporters and practitioners have come out to criticise the newly-launched Sing50 fund that aims to promote music among the young in Singapore.

With a S$348,000 kitty in the fund raised from personal donations of three individuals -- David Heng, Daniel Lim and Low Check Kian -- the plan is to purchase 50 Steinway-designed Lang Lang pianos at $26,000 each for use at the Sing50 concert on Aug. 7, 2015, which is organised by The Straits Times and The Business Times.

The pianos will then be given to 50 primary and secondary schools for music education and choir practices.

The math at this time of writing doesn't add up, as the total cost should be about S$1.3 million -- but not to worry: We are in Singapore, where money comes by easily.

According to the report, "$348k boost for home-grown music" by The Straits Times on Jan. 18, 2015:

The fund will build on that by introducing local music to younger generations and the community, and to cultivate in them an appreciation for and love of Singapore music.

It will be used to teach students to sing Singapore songs, and to support the organisation of song competitions and concerts to showcase local vocalists and choral groups.

Can't seem to get your head around how having expensive pianos will lead to music appreciation and love of Singapore music yada yada blah blah blah?

Here are 6 ways super expensive Steinway-designed Lang Lang pianos can inculcate the desire to be musicians in primary and secondary school students:

1. Use piano as a door-stopper

This is one of the most intuitive ways to use a piano. As a piano is heavy, it can prevent the door from closing when the wind blows.

And then once in a while the music teacher will do some runs on it to show that she still has it in her to ad-lib. This will cause students to be in awe of music about Singapore.

2. The Ministry of Education can put up a tender to call for a vendor to clean and tune the pianos once a year.

This will create a multiplier effect and trickle-down effect, and some how or other, the money will flow into the pockets of musicians because everyone else in the economy will generate enough revenue to spend on things. Like how having beers in a pub will pay for the singing services of a singer-songwriter and his band. Yay!

3. The piano will be put in the middle of the school hall as a visual reminder that playing music might pay off. Eventually. But not as much as accounting, of course!

Yay! KPMG here we go!

4. Invite Education Minister Heng Swee Keat to tour around the primary and secondary schools with the pianos and he will sing songs of hope about Singapore.

Viral video for sure!

5. Organise sleepovers in school for students and have the piano present in the room where students sleep.

The aura from the piano can interact with the students' chakra and then boom! Musicians are made.

6. Schools that receive the piano will have to extend their school compound by building a acoustically-sound concert hall to house the piano and have an intensive curriculum where students can major in music.

Source

This also happens to be the least plausible sounding method so far.

Hence, as you can see, many people think that buying 50 pianos is impractical to achieve results. But so what if it is?

Because this just shows that Singapore has done well by relying on superstitions the last 50 years. That doesn't mean we can avoid relying on it moving forward.

Top photo via

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