Hady Mirza, Asian Idol, and acing the English exam
This posting has been brewing in my mind - and considering how many posts there have been on the Internet about the unexpected win by Singapore Idol Hady Mirza in the inaugural Asian Idol, I believe enough has been said.
What intrigues me though is how Hady went about his song choices. But to justify the relevance of such an over-aired topic as the Asian Idol 2007, I need to compare the steps, road, and strategy (whatever you might call it) to "cool", "clear" planning, much like what Singaporean students regularly do for their exams.
Consider the similarities between Hady Mirza's Asian Idol performance and an ace candidate in an English exam:
1 Know your audience:
Good English teachers regularly remind their students to acknowledge and be mindful of the backgrounds of their readers. In the case of Hady Mirza, I am convinced he clinched the crucial second vote from every valid SMS from the Indian sub-continent because he was the only Idol other than the Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant to sing an Indian song. Hady made his entrance singing "Dhoom" with Abhijeet Sawant. So all those years of Singaporean students learning the songs of other races finally paid off!
2 Looks count in any face-to-face encounter:
I have always reminded students to pay attention to how they look before an oral exam or crucial interview (nails cleaned, fringe neatened, no jarring veggie bits on your teeth, zits tamed and cleared, all sweat and oil banished from your complexions and zippers checked, etc).
3 Project a cross-cultural sensitivity: In this respect, Hady Mirza has an advantage with his pan-Asian look. If you were a Thai living in any of the six competing countries, Hady Mirza would come across as most familiar. Many Chinese living in Malaysia and Singapore would think of him as looking much like a Chinese. In essay-writing, the candidate who earns an A, be it in creative composition or argumentative writing is one who can strike a universal chord. In his rendition of "Berserah", Hady came across to the judge from the Philippines as singing a love song, not unlike the love songs from her own country.
4 Hook your reader: Ask yourself what would catch the reader's attention and use it. Hady Mirza, when asked what he did to de-stress and prepare for the competition, revealed that he "hit the gym". He knew the competition was as much a visual as well as an aural experience for his audience so what he could not offer by way of captivating costumes he could make up for with as cool an image as he could project onstage.
5 Don't over-prepare;
Never write an essay you memorised or in this case, don't sing a song you have sung too many times before. Jaclyn Victor is an astonishingly good singer, but she sounded like she had sung "Gemilang" many times before - very practised and poised but somehow detached. Hady, on the other hand, has said that Taufik Batisah's composition "Berserah" ("Surrender") meant a lot to him and it showed. Audiences watch a reality competition to catch moments of unedited magic; readers relish that connection with the writer - they want a peek into the writer's mind.
6 It pays to be relaxed:
I think it must have helped that Hady Mirza was not in the running at all and the pressure was off him. Ken Lim must take credit for this approach because while the other Idols' reputations preceded them and felt pressured to demonstrate their vocal ability, Hady came off as enjoying the experience onstage. In the same vein, the candidate before an exam should relax and quit slaving over word lists. While there is some need to demonstrate one's command of English in an essay, it would not do to trot out the long words with only that in mind. It would not then, as Ken Lim says, be "keeping it real".
What intrigues me though is how Hady went about his song choices. But to justify the relevance of such an over-aired topic as the Asian Idol 2007, I need to compare the steps, road, and strategy (whatever you might call it) to "cool", "clear" planning, much like what Singaporean students regularly do for their exams.
Consider the similarities between Hady Mirza's Asian Idol performance and an ace candidate in an English exam:
1 Know your audience:
Good English teachers regularly remind their students to acknowledge and be mindful of the backgrounds of their readers. In the case of Hady Mirza, I am convinced he clinched the crucial second vote from every valid SMS from the Indian sub-continent because he was the only Idol other than the Indian Idol Abhijeet Sawant to sing an Indian song. Hady made his entrance singing "Dhoom" with Abhijeet Sawant. So all those years of Singaporean students learning the songs of other races finally paid off!
2 Looks count in any face-to-face encounter:
I have always reminded students to pay attention to how they look before an oral exam or crucial interview (nails cleaned, fringe neatened, no jarring veggie bits on your teeth, zits tamed and cleared, all sweat and oil banished from your complexions and zippers checked, etc).
3 Project a cross-cultural sensitivity: In this respect, Hady Mirza has an advantage with his pan-Asian look. If you were a Thai living in any of the six competing countries, Hady Mirza would come across as most familiar. Many Chinese living in Malaysia and Singapore would think of him as looking much like a Chinese. In essay-writing, the candidate who earns an A, be it in creative composition or argumentative writing is one who can strike a universal chord. In his rendition of "Berserah", Hady came across to the judge from the Philippines as singing a love song, not unlike the love songs from her own country.
4 Hook your reader: Ask yourself what would catch the reader's attention and use it. Hady Mirza, when asked what he did to de-stress and prepare for the competition, revealed that he "hit the gym". He knew the competition was as much a visual as well as an aural experience for his audience so what he could not offer by way of captivating costumes he could make up for with as cool an image as he could project onstage.
5 Don't over-prepare;
Never write an essay you memorised or in this case, don't sing a song you have sung too many times before. Jaclyn Victor is an astonishingly good singer, but she sounded like she had sung "Gemilang" many times before - very practised and poised but somehow detached. Hady, on the other hand, has said that Taufik Batisah's composition "Berserah" ("Surrender") meant a lot to him and it showed. Audiences watch a reality competition to catch moments of unedited magic; readers relish that connection with the writer - they want a peek into the writer's mind.
6 It pays to be relaxed:
I think it must have helped that Hady Mirza was not in the running at all and the pressure was off him. Ken Lim must take credit for this approach because while the other Idols' reputations preceded them and felt pressured to demonstrate their vocal ability, Hady came off as enjoying the experience onstage. In the same vein, the candidate before an exam should relax and quit slaving over word lists. While there is some need to demonstrate one's command of English in an essay, it would not do to trot out the long words with only that in mind. It would not then, as Ken Lim says, be "keeping it real".
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