Marco Carvalho
A new director this year and a new venue in September 2021. The next few months are expected to be rewarding for the Saint Pius X Music Academy, despite the financial challenges that it faces. Founded in 1962 by Father Áureo de Castro, the institution – one of the oldest music academies in Macau – has been led by pianist Basilla Sam Weng Io since last August. The new director of the prestigious Academy spoke to O Clarim.
You are a former student of Saint Pius X Music Academy. Did you ever think that, one day, you would be leading the Academy? This is a very special institution in Macau…
Yes. I’ve never thought of it, really. But I really had a good time studying music and learning music at this Academy. After I graduated – and when I was studying abroad – every time I came back for vacation, I would come and visit the teachers. The teachers were very nice and very kind. In a certain sense, the Academy is like a big family and I really had a good time here. I also met some very good friends with whom I was able to learn music and to share the knowledge I managed to learn about music. The Academy is a second family to me. It is, indeed, an honor that I can come back and work for the Academy. This is something that I never thought of. I feel grateful that Bishop Stephen Lee and also Father João Lau, the former director of the Academy, put their trust in me and nominated me to be the new director. I think I can serve the Academy mostly out of my love for this space.
How do you see your new functions? You were telling me how honored you were for being entrusted with the direction of the Academy, but do you see it also as a responsibility?
Yes, of course. Both. I started working in the Academy in 2018 and, at that time I just helped out with some basic administrative work. Now, being the new director, of course, I also have more responsibilities. It takes a lot of planning and there are a lot of issues that I need to solve. So, yes, it is a responsibility like I’ve never felt. The Academy is one of the oldest institutions in Macau devoted to teaching music. When I was young, not many students in Macau had the opportunity to learn music. Basically, at the time, most people just learned piano. That is the easiest instrument to learn. Violin, cello and other things are of a higher rank. Nowadays, it is easier: there are many music centers established. It’s easier for the younger generations of Macau to have the opportunity to learn music. I think this is a good thing, because it also means there are more professionals. They go out to study abroad and then come back and then teach. That means that music education is better than before; better than it was in the time of Father Áureo [Castro]. I think it is also something that he would be delighted to see. In my opinion, when he tried to establish this school, he knew the importance of musical education. That’s why he established this school. He wanted to use culture, use art to spread out beauty and goodness. Now more people have the opportunity to learn music, more students go into professions related to music and I think this is something that he would be delighted to know about.
Back then, when Father Áureo founded the Academy, there were fewer things for the younger generations to do, less distractions There were no computers, for instance. No internet, no games and nothing of the kind. Is music still something that the younger generations are still interested in nowadays? How many students does the academy have right now?
Now we have almost 200 students. We have one hundred ninety something, close to two hundred students. They are aged from four years old to adults, to high school students. Last year, we also had a composition course for adults. This year, we have enough adult students to apply for this course and try to pass the written exams. We have different kinds of levels of students and many of them started from a very young age and to see them grow up year-by-year into young ladies or gentlemen is something that the teachers find charming. Some of them even pursue music as their future career. Some of them have opened music centers or they take their ambition to a whole new level, by going abroad to study. After they have studied music in the United States or in other countries, many of them come back and they become our teachers. Our teachers are not quite the same as they were in the generation of father Áureo. They are more professional nowadays. We have teachers that got bachelor degrees, Master degrees and even a PhD degree and they are willing to come back and to serve the Academy. Father Áureo wanted to provide a well-rounded music education training. It was not merely about learning how to play the piano. When I studied here, we had theory, we had music history, we had oral and ear training, singing. Now, once that the students are much busier, it is hard for the student to take part in four lessons each week, so we are now down to only two lessons every week: piano or other instruments and also theory. We have opted for a different sort of approach. The oral training part and some of the history of music parts were incorporated in the theory classes. For advanced students, music history will be part of the training, having theory as a base. In my opinion, music education is still very appealing. It still plays a strong and important role in current education and I find it more important than ever.
How can we see the Catholic dimension of the Academy? You were mentioning that Father Áureo’s original intention was to make music a comprehensive subject. Music has always been a very important component in Catholic celebrations. We have choirs, soloists singing and music is a very important part of the liturgy. How can we see this Catholic dimension in Saint Pius Academy?
The Academy stresses music and art education as an integral part of a holistic education. When Father Áureo established the academy, he also wanted to provide a very strong and systematic music program for the young people. Starting this year, we established a motto for the Academy. This motto was approved both by the bishop and by Father Lao. We still don’t have an official English translation, but the motto in Chinese is 「以樂載道，以德惟馨」 (“Yíh ngohk joi douh, yíh dāk wàih hīng”). These two phrases, what do they mean? The first part means we want to use music as a vehicle to educate, to teach the students the truth. The Chinese word “douh” has a few meanings. For a Catholic, it means the word of God [the Way]. The second meaning also has to do with the spread of the word, with evangelization and the spread of the Gospel. In the Chinese tradition, we also refer to “douh” when we want to refer to “the truth and the foundation of the Universe.” The second part means that whatever is left behind is the fragrance of virtue. It is not about money, it is not about a career or anything. What matters the most is your personality, your virtue and the way it can affect others, make people feel good. That’s the fragrance that you leave behind. It is something that people will always remember. Virtue is not something that I want to achieve within one year, within a month. It is a lifetime achievement, something that we have to keep pursuing. We are not merely teaching the students good piano skills. We don’t focus on that only. We also want to help them to become better persons, to have a good attitude, a positive attitude. We want them to have good manners, to know how to respect the others and also how to respect themselves. I think that this is also something that the Catholic Church would like the people – no matter whether they are Catholic or not – to experience and understand, so that they can be better human beings.
You were mentioning that people have less and less time. The younger generations are no exception. Is it one of the challenges that you face, as the Director of the Academy… The fact that most of the students are overburdened with the things that they have to do?
It also depends on their attitude. To take piano lessons, to learn music doesn’t mean that they have to be a musician in the future. I know that some parents ask their kids to have music lessons because they want them to have extra skills, so that they can learn more things. But I think that should not be the final goal. They should know that if they send their kids to study here, they shouldn’t be focused only on how good they play. This is not something that we focus on. Maybe the Music Centers will have that sort of expectation: they will want the students to win the competitions, have high marks in the examinations, but for the Academy that is not the main purpose. We hope to create an environment that the students might enjoy, so that they don’t find music to be a burden or a difficult task. We don’t want this experience to be something boring or hard. Of course, throughout the learning process, you will encounter difficulties, but they are willing to overcome these difficulties without feeling that they are being dragged to piano lessons. That is not enjoyable and if that happens, then the kids will not be happy and sooner or later, if they feel that they are being dragged, they will probably quit after a few years. Some kids find it boring at first, but after a few years – three, four years – they discover a certain attraction. They find joy and a sense of achievement. It also depends on how the parents transmit their expectations to their own children.
What would you say are the main challenges that you face as the new director of the Academy?
There are a lot. Challenges of financial nature, challenges in terms of manpower and in terms of space. As you see, we have almost 200 students in no more than ten classrooms and the space is very limited. Fortunately, we will have a new school building, which is located near the old Ricci School and Nam Van Lake. This building is under renovation now. It is a heritage building and we have to submit the plan to a lot of changes, so we can transform it into a music school. At the same time, we have to restore and preserve what’s already in that heritage building. It involves the setting up of a lot of things, like a sound proof system and a few other things and all of that takes money. The renovation process is really, really expensive. So, financially, we have quite a few challenges. Of course, we welcome any sort of donations for the new school and also for the Academy, but this is only the financial part. Even in our current location, we are experiencing some financial problems. With the Covid-19 pandemic, we had to hire a cleaning company to clean our current venues everyday. That is an extra expenditure that we have to bear every month. On the other hand, there’s also the manpower issue. Apart from me, we only have two other members of staff to take care of two hundred students and 14 teachers, to communicate with the parents and to do all sorts of work. It is not that I don’t want to hire new staff, but, because of spatial and financial limitations, at this moment, we cannot afford to hire staff, because we don’t have an office for them. But I hope that, when the new venue is ready to use, our perspectives might improve.
When will the project of the new school be finished and when will it open?
Because of the pandemic, the renovation was kind of postponed and we expected the renewal works to be finished by the end of this year, in December. I hope that nothing else will pop up, because many of the new materials that we need are imported from Europe, so I am hoping that we don’t have to face a new outbreak that might affect the construction period. We expect to move in next year, in September. (Photo by Alexandra Ferreira)
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