SOMA | School of Music and the Arts

Our Instructors

SOMA hires only the best instructors in the region - They are either graduates from the renowned Berklee College of Music (Boston, USA) or well-known professionals in the music industry who have worked with international artistes including Stefanie Sun, JJ Lin, Switchfoot, Michael Learns To Rock, Hady Mirza, Stereophonics, A*mei, Jeremy Monteiro and Sammi Cheng.

These highly qualified instructors are carefully selected to effectively impart their knowledge and skills, and at the same time, sharing real-world scenarios with students based on their vast performing and production experiences.

SOMA Instructor Profiles

KEITH KWOK
SONGWRITING & PRODUCTION
POP KEYBOARD PERFORMANCE LAB

Keith graduated from one of the most prestigious music school in the world, Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA.

Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Music in Music Production & Engineering, he was awarded the prestigious Summa Cum Laude (First-class honors). He has also received numerous awards at Berklee, which includes a Contemporary Writing and Production Achievement Award for outstanding writing, and being placed on the Dean’s List all seven semesters of his studies at Berklee.

Keith was trained at the Singapore Armed Forces Music and Drama Company (MDC) and has a vast track record as a performer.

Keith has also collaborated with numerous producers, songwriters and artists including JJ Lin Jun Jie, Michael Learns to Rock and Asian Idol Hady Mirza. He has also produced albums for Mediacorp, writing and producing songs for Project Superstar Finalists

As a trainer, Keith has 10 years of teaching experience and has taught music enrichment programs in over 40 secondary schools, junior colleges and tertiary institutions in Singapore.

Most recently, Keith was invited to be a guest trainer for Singapore Idol Season 3, coaching the contestants during all the songwriting segments.

GERALD LIM
MUSIC PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING
ELECTRIC/ACOUSTIC GUITAR PERFORMANCE LAB

Gerald graduated from one of the most prestigious music school in the world, Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music, majoring in Professional Music with concentrate in Music Production and Songwriting. While at Berklee, he studied under world-renowned guitar players like Jon Finn and Joe Stump and award-winning songwriters like Jack Perricone (Michael Jackson) and Pat Pattison.

While in Boston, Gerald worked sound, audio and rigging at various concert venues featuring world famous musical acts like Jimmy Eat World, Fallout boy, Killswitch Engage, Audio Adrenaline, Third Day, Steven Curtis Chapman and many more. Before his time at Berklee, Gerald also graduated with Merit at Altron School of Media Arts with a Double Diploma in Music Production & Engineering and Music Technology.

Gerald recently expanded his musical horizons spending 2 years in London working as a freelance recording and mix engineer learning from top producers and engineers in the UK recording industry, working at studios such as Miloco studios and Abbot Street studios. Highlights include working with Matt Foster, Jon Moss (Culture Club), Justin Hawkins (Darkness) and being involved in mix sessions of Stereophonics, Colin Richardson and Slipknot. In his free time, he also gigged around London and the UK as guitarist for the rock band, Dirth.

DAMIEN NG
MUSIC PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING

Damien graduated from School of Audio Engineering with a Bachelor in Recording Arts. Upon graduating in 2003, Damien was quickly hired to work for an inflight entertainment company. From there, he learned about the different media standards for inflight audio entertainment as well as editing and mixing for programs to meet the high standards of the aviation industry.

At the same time, Damien was heavily involved in recording, producing and mixing for local bands such as Bhelliom, Iron Fist and Aviery.

He was also responsible for setting up the multimedia facilities at Republic Polytechnic, School of Information and Communications Technology, which includes recording studios equipped with Euphonix and Steinberg, video editing studios and graphic/animation studios.

DANIEL LOH
MUSIC PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING

Daniel graduated from one of the top live performance technical courses in the United States - Full Sail.

Daniel started his journey into live sound engineering as a roadie and tech for several rental companies. Upon graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Management from the University of London, Daniel joined The Production People as Operations Manager, where he worked with clients such as Microsoft, Mercedes Benz and TAG Heuer. He also assisted in the technical operations of such events like the Singapore Food Awards and Womad Singapore.

In 2002, Daniel enrolled for the Show Production and Touring program at Full Sail. During his studies, he worked as an audio tech in various events such as the Orlando Source Awards and Moe.Down Festival. Upon graduating as the Valedictorian of his class, Daniel returned to Singapore and got himself involved, engineering for events such as Baybeats, Sonic Fest and Asian Television Awards.

In 2005, Daniel joined NUS Centre For the Arts (CFA) as the Technical Manager for the University Cultural Centre (UCC). Since then, he has overseen the operations for large-scale events such as NUS Arts Festival, NUS centennial musical Man of Letters and President Bush’s Lecture. During this time, Daniel has kept to his sound engineering roots by engineering live concerts for artistes such as Corrinne May, Radio Mundial and Switchfoot.

As a trainer, Daniel has taught live sound reinforcement techniques to Churches since 2001. Currently, he is the Assistant Director (Production Services) at UCC.

JOSHUA G NAIR
MUSIC PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING

Joshua graduated with Honours from School of Audio Engineering with a Bachelor in Recording Arts in 2003. While pursuing his degree, he was hired by School of Audio Engineering as Head Supervisor. This position saw him actively involved in all aspects of the school's recording facilities. He oversaw all technical aspects, constantly ensuring industry standards. Eventually, he joined the teaching department and taught various digital audio modules in Singapore and Myanmar.

At the same time, Joshua was the chief audio engineer and producer at Blackisle Studios where he was heavily involved in recording, producing and mixing local bands from a variety of genres. Local acts he has worked with include Rudra, Bhelliom, Cesspit, Stentorian, Bad Obsession and Truth Be Known.

His passion to be actively involved in all aspects of audio has seen him in a variety of roles.; he has composed music for short films such as ‘Never Been Touched’, starring Koh Chieng Mun, which was featured at the Berlin Asia-Pacific Film Festival 2005. He has produced theme songs for local telemovies including ScreenBox's comedy ‘Ganyut’, featuring local Malay comedian Alias Kadir on vocals. He is also the official live sound engineer for local metal legends Rudra, Bhelliom and Truth Be Known when on tour in US and Asia.

Joshua is currently with Singapore Polytechnic's School of Digital Media and Infocomm Technology where he manages the school's recording facilities.

CHRISTINE SHAM
WRITING FOR TV & FILM

Christine graduated from the prestigious Berklee College of Music with Cum Laude and majoring in Professional Music. During that time, she had played her first concert for Hong Kong singer/actress Vivian Chow. To date, she has toured and performed with many international artistes which include Gigi Leung, Leo Ku, Jimmy Lin, Phil Chang, Eric Moo, Francis Yip, Maria Cordero, and most recently, A*mei, Sally Yeh and Stefanie Sun.

Based in Singapore, Christine has established a name for herself as a composer for the media. Clients she has composed TVCs for include Nokia, Singtel, Caltex, Tiger Beer, Singapore Army Defense, Standard Chartered Bank, Osim and Toshiba. She also scored the soundtrack for the highly acclaimed Eric Khoo movie ‘Be With Me’, which opened for the Cannes Film Festival in 2005. From 2000-2005, she also produced the audio content for inflight entertainment for major airlines such as China Airlines, Finnair, Thai Airways and Malaysia Airlines.

In her free time, she plays the keyboard with several bands including the all-female band Walking on Water, the Singapore Pop Orchestra and currently with Ngak and the Ang Moh Pais at Dragonfly every Sunday.

ERNEST CHUA
STRUM & SING GUITAR PERFORMANCE LAB

Ernest graduated with a Diploma in Music Production & Engineering from Altron School of Media Arts and a Diploma in Songwriting and Production from School of Music and the Arts. He is also a Product Design & Development graduate from Nanyang Polytechnic.

After National Service, he followed his passion for pop music and started work as a Music Publishing Executive and quickly promoted to Artiste and Repertoire Manager (A&R) working hand in hand with Universal Music Publishing (Asia). He has also been involved in music production, working on many commercial albums as Assistant Producer and has also collaborated and performed with artistes such as Li Fei Hui and Kelly Poon.

Ernest is a sought-after judge for singing competitions and has judged many major competitions such as Talentquest ’05, ’06, ’07 and '09, Impressario ’04 and ’05, My Show! ‘07 and the Yellow Ribbon Songwriting competition ’05 and ’06.

He now performs with his chinese rock band, BlackForest, at many venues around the country such as the National Stadium, Indoor Stadium ,Dragonfly, DXO club, Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza, GasHaus, Art House, River Hong Bao 2007, Youth Park and the Esplanade.

Ernest was signed writer under Touch Publishing and wrote the theme song 'My Freedom' for the local movie The Days. Most recently, Ernest was invited to be a guest trainer for Singapore Idol Season 3, coaching the contestants in songwriting.

BEN CHUA
ELECTRIC/ACOUSTIC GUITAR PERFORMANCE LAB

Ben is one of Singapore’s rising guitarists and has been touted the “Steve Vai of Singapore”. With 9 years of performing experience and 5 years of teaching experience to date, he is a much sought after guitar instructor. He is also the lead guitarist of local band Crossbred.

Ben formed his first band Crossbred at the tender age of 17, gigging frequently at various locations and events around Singapore, including Youth Concert, Rock For Good, Art Tapestry and Singapore Street Festival. Crossbred earned itself a reputation as one of the youngest instrumental rock bands in Singapore to perfectly cover technically challenging tunes from guitar virtuosi Steve Vai, Andy Timmons, and Yngwie Malmsteen. Crossbred was featured in the Straits Times as a “young and upcoming band”, having won band competitions such as the annual Singapore Street Festival.

Ben has also performed and recorded for locally-renowned bands Ridge and Peepshow. Specializing in rock guitar and theory, he has also conducted various guitar workshops around Singapore.

SIMON LAI
ELECTRIC/ACOUSTIC GUITAR PERFORMANCE LAB

Simon’s journey into music started at the age of 12. He has 12 years of playing and 5 years of teaching experience. Simon grew to be a dedicated, versatile guitarist with an unbridled passion for music, ranging from Progressive Rock, Pop, Metal, Funk and Jazz.

With this dedication and passion, many opportunities were presented to him. These opportunities led him and his bands to achieve numerous awards through competitions such as Yamaha Asian Beat, Power Jam organized by Power 98FM, Straits Times School of Rock, SuperBand, and many more. Simon received the Best Guitarist Award in the recent Yamaha Asian Beat Band Competition 2008/2009; with his band Ridge coming in as the 1st runner up.

As a performer, Simon has performed in many events and shows held by Mediacorp such as the 2006 Sky Symphony Countdown held by Channel 5 and New Year Countdown Show 2009 held by Channel 8. Simon is also active in the “underground” music scene where he performs in gigs such as Rock for Good Charity event 2006 with his instrumental Band Crossbred, as well as being the opening act for the premier of Rock School the movie.

As rock/fusion instrumental is his preferred choice of music, Simon is also an active member of Fretboard Frenzy, a group that aims to provide platforms to showcase local experienced and aspiring instrumental musicians.

As a guitarist in many bands through the years, Simon has gained much experience as a performer and also as a musician, he believes in being educated in this art form and studied under his Sensei, Rosli Mansor. With his experience and education that he receives, Simon hopes to impart his knowledge and skills to his students as he strives on to improve himself in all areas by not just being a guitarist but also a musician.

Simon now performs every Sunday at Dragonfly, as well as Firefly every Monday and Tuesday. He is also in the midst of producing and recording his first instrumental album.

REGINE HAN
VOCAL PERFORMANCE LAB

Regine has almost a decade of performing and recording experience under her belt, and has worked with numerous music producers in the industry.

Starting from the age of 17, Regine has been signed under and managed as a artiste by Grand Canyon and Talent Page, doing performances in various cafes, pubs, road shows, events and functions. She was also involved in the recording of Chinese New Year songs for Mediacorp's Chinese New Year Countdown TV Show, Mediacorp's Charity Shows , just to name a few.

As a prolific performer, Regine has vast experiences performing at unplugged acoustic gigs and full band gigs. She has performed in for corporate clients such as British American Tobacco, Google, Singtel (product launch gigs), Resorts World Sentosa (Casino), cafes such as The Ark (木船), TCR Music station (弹唱人), Hard Rock Cafe Singapore, as well as events including Spring Scream Taiwan (春天呐喊), Indie Festival of Music Arts (KL, Malaysia), Singaport Art Festival, Singapore Food Festival, Huayi Festival @ the Esplanade, 春到河畔 @ Marina Square, Countdown Shows, Compass events, National Day events etc.

Regine now performs with her chinese rock band, LGF, and has performed at many venues around Singapore such as the Esplanade, the Istana, The Art House, Youth Park, and various shopping malls. Most recently, LGF won the Japanese Idol at the Matsuri Festival organised by FM 96.3. They also have an original composition in the PlaySpeak Compilation CD, featuring veteran bands and artistes from around Asia. One of their singles 'Grey' was used in the soundtrack of Hong Kong's online drama series Lumina.

TAN BOON GEE
DRUMS PERFORMANCE LAB

Boon Gee is one of Singapore’s top drummers and has performed and collaborated with numerous award-winning artistes such as Jeremy Monteiro, Tanya Chua, Anthony Fernandez and O’Donel Levy.

From 1996 – 2000, he performed and toured with the NUS Jazz Band as resident drummer , and since 2000, has been performing and touring as resident drummer with Thomson Big Band, performing in music festivals such as the first Singapore International Jazz Festival in 2001 backing Ernie Watts and Eldee Young, and the IAJE Conference in Canada in 2003.

In 2004, Boon Gee became the resident drummer at Jazz@Southbridge and has performed with various renowned performers such as Yoshiro Okazaki, Eugene Pao, James Flynn, Marcus Printup, Dan Phillips, Coli Aitchison, Dale Barlow, Cherryl Hayes, Harry Happel, David Gomes & Junji Delfino and Chris Varga.

Boon Gee is also a much sought-after sessionist drummer. He has done recordings for funk-rock band Ugly In The Morning’s self-titled album, Suria Channel’s Konsert Solo Series, and Jacintha Abisheganaden’s ‘River Flows’ album.

A self-taught drummer, that is versatile in playing all genres of music, Boon Gee is enthusiastic to share his knowledge and experience with budding and rising drummers at SoMA.

ALFE KIM
DRUMS PERFORMANCE LAB

Alfe is a veteran drummer and has been a leader of the local independent music scene for more than a decade.

Through his passion and belief, he has lent his music voice and skill across the varied and vibrant music communities of Singapore, regardless of language and music genre, from the indie to the commercial, and from the contemporary to the underground.

From 1998 - 2002, he was a member of 'Livonia', an alternative rock band which scored a string of radio hit singles such as "Zerofeel", "Let Go" and "Vengeance Is Mine" and was the recipient of Compass's Top English Pop Song 2000.

In 2001, Alfe joined 'Opposition Party' as permanent support drummer, and has performed in UK, France, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China & South Korea to support their overseas activities.

He has also performed with local chinese gothic metal pioneers 'La' Dies', Top40s band 'Alterego', jazz groups such as 'The Broke Quartet', 'Horizons','Waters Edge', rock instrumentalist Shern Wong and various session work for groups such as 'Havana Brown' and local alternative rock band 'En'x'.

A pioneer of the Singapore Jrock scene, his current & former students include Vics (Lucify), Jun (Ethe'real), Geist (LivEvil) & Ridzwan (Aries Kaizer) and he has supported & mentored many local Jrock groups including 'Deathopia', 'Yi Xuan Feng', 'Genexis' and Singapore Street Festival 2004 & 2005 closing band 'D'Jparty'.

He is a founding member and the current chairman of 'Drum Xchange Singapore', a non-profit group that brings drummers together in the spirit of drum knowledge sharing and community-building.

Alfe is endorsed by Mapex Drums and uses Zildjian Cymbals.

BENJAMIN ANG
ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION

Benjamin is the Music Director of the Electronic Music Lab, the leading facility in Singapore for creating, recording and performing original electronic music. He studied Electronic Music at the Boston University School of the Arts, while at the same time completing his MBA and Masters in MIS. Recently, he expanded his musical horizon by taking music production courses from Berklee College of Music.

While teaching at the Electronic Music Lab, he has composed commissioned works for arts events, scored short films, and produced original electronic compositions for commercial product launches. He also conducted a public workshop on electronic music at the Singapore Art Museum in 2009. His performance venues have included dance clubs in Singapore (Zouk), as well as overseas in Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Benjamin is a regular DJ for Singapore Dark Alternative Movement events, where he often plays his own remixes. He is also the producer, arranger and remixer for electronic pop band Cosmic Armchair, who launched their debut EP in 2009, and were featured on two electronic dance music compilations in 2009.

LEE FENGHENG
ELECTRIC/ACOUSTIC GUITAR PERFORMANCE LAB

Feng is an experienced guitar instructor, performer, composer and music arranger. At a tender age, he has set his foot down in the local music industry as a performer, session guitarist as well as a songwriter. Being proficient at both the acoustic and electric guitar, he often sessions for others. Also being versatile in many genres, he is able to deliver his gigs and studio work with much ease.

He has performed on National TV for Channel 5's Live 'n' Loaded with his former band, Quantum Revival, and at Esplanade from time to time. He currently performs with his band, Afterhours at places like, One Altitude, One Twenty Six, Oriole@313, Timbre Arts House, Timbre Substation.

He is also an award-winning songwriter. He competed against over 300 song entries and emerged as the Champion of the Eco Music Challenge 2 (organised by National Environment Agency) with his song 'World Without Fences'. He has since received widespread media attention. He was featured on The Straits Times' Home, TimeOut Singapore and had radio interviews on 987FM, 933FM and 958FM. The song was chosen as the Theme Song of Clean and Green Singapore 2012 and was on the national airwaves on Channel 5, Channel 8, Mio TV, Movie Theatres and on various local radio stations. He also emerged top 5 in The Next Big Thing, a singer-songwriter competition organized by 987FM.

He continues to perform, session, compose and arrange music on a freelance basis.

TAT TONG
POP MUSIC ARRANGING

A graduate of the Yamaha Special Advanced Course composition programme for talented young musicians, Tat Tong is a fast-rising composer, producer, arranger and mixing engineer in the Chinese pop industry and beyond.

A gifted composer and performer from a young age, Tat has represented Singapore in 3 international music events, the earliest occurring when he was just 13 years old. He was selected to perform his original compositions at the 1995 GII Junior Summit in Tokyo, as well as the 1999 UNICEF Junior Original Concert Tour in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. He also represented Singapore in the 1999 Asian Electone Festival in Singapore, where he clinched the top Distinguished Performer Award.

Tat is responsible for five #1 hits and nearly 20 Top 10 hits to date in Asia, including Derrick Hoh's "当我知道你们相爱". His work has been featured on major-label releases from Warner, Sony, and Universal Music, and his global clientele includes artists from the UK, USA, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and Singapore. As a signed songwriter under Universal Music Publishing, Tat's songwriting and arranging work has won accolades from artists and critics, including a spot in the Global Chinese Music Awards' Top 10 Albums of April 2011. Hong Kong A-lister Hins Cheung (Universal) has also raved about Tat's mixing work, remarking that it is "nuanced and layered mixing" with "unparalleled production quality".

Tat has also worked with some of the industry's biggest names, including multiplatinum singer-actor Christian Bautista (Philippines), industry stalwarts Show Luo (Taiwan) and Karen Mok (Hong Kong), and fast-rising newcomer Derrick Hoh (Singapore). Apart from mainstream music, Tat is also a celebrated producer-engineer for a cappella music; his work has garnered dozens of awards in the annual Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARA), the American a cappella industry's equivalent of the Grammys.

Tat is classically trained and holds an ABRSM Grade 8 for Music Theory and Piano Performance. He also holds a Yamaha Grade 3 (the highest examinable grade) for Electone Performance. In the midst of his busy schedule in the music industry, Tat is thrilled to have the opportunity to impart some of his experience to students of SOMA.