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Lim Soon Oo
 

At thirteen Lim Soon Oo was playing the fiddle  in a little known school orchestra in Bukit Mertajam. Today he is a leading conductor famous for his talent for coaxing the best out of such humble material as school orchestras and shaping them into top prize winners. Under his baton Ipoh's Poi Lam Independent School were champions in orchestral competitions in 1990, 1992 and 1995. Lim Soon Oo went back to BM in 1995 and this time  his home orchestra of the the Jit Sin High School won the prize. That was in 1997. 

Lim Soon Oo was taught the violin by Maestro Woon Wen Kin and Jiriheger of Czechoslovakia, the piano by Woon Nen Kin, theory of music by Saw Yeong Ching, conducting by Qu Chunquan and Xia Feiyun; for bandology he studied with James Wang Ying Chieh. He has played with the Penang Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra

As well as conducting Chinese music played with Chinese musical instruments Lim Soon Oo conducts marching bands. The Jit Sin High School band coached by him won the Penang State Marching Band Championship in 1995 

Soon Oo learnt conducting the hard way, stealing time in between school  examinations to learn the art of conducting from China maestros, paying for his "holidays"  with his hard earned money.

Back to Jit Sin in 1995 as music director, thanks to strong backing from the headmaster and funding by enthusiastic school governors Soon Oo honed the skills of the players until today the  orchestra has become the pride of the school. Soon Oo says that the secret of success is motivation. Once the kids learnt to appreciate the importance of music and the potential of their instruments they would find the time themselves: the rest was a matter of training and learning from the experienced, fingering and  bowing and marking. Playing levels were raised higher by the setting of targets.

In Singapore each school has a conductor who is helped by several assistant instructors. Soon Oo has to work alone. Under these restricted  conditions he uses the experienced sections to lead and to teach the younger members of the orchestra. 

Soon Oo is pleased that there is state encouragement  for Chinese instrumental music  There is a hope that in two to three years time orchestra playing will be introduced to the primary schools. This development and the coming of examiners from China will drastically  raise standards. 

In April the Jit Sin School Orchestra displayed its virtuosity when conducted by Lim Soon Oo it performed at Dewan Sri Pinang with Singapore's famous Lim Sin Yeo on the Dizi (flute) 
 

The Jit Sin School Orchestra is 32 years old. The beginnings were an interest in Teochew music on the part of the Han Chiang Association of BM. The 1968 little group of amateurs has grown into the famous school orchestra of today 
 

  Lim Soon Oo is listed in the  China Dictionary of Chinese Musicians. He has represented Malaysia at the China Arts Council's Hua Yanjun International Conference at Wuxi, Jiangsu, the North American Chinese Music Society's 3rd International Conference at Beijing, The Chinese  Music Education Methodology in Guangzhuo. He is a chartered member of the World Association of Marching Show Bands Malaysian Chapter, representing Malaysia at the 3rd and 4th annual meetings at Sydney and Brisbane He was special guest at the Midwest International Band Conference and Clinics in Chicago in 1996, representing Malaysia