About Toa Payoh Guitar Club
Toa Payoh Guitar Club was formed in March 1974 under the Young People's Service section, Toa Payoh Branch library by a group of talented youths under the guidance of the library officer-in-charge. It was then known as Toa Payoh Branch Library Music Club. The main activity then was singing and very often, they would appear on television as they did very well in talentimes.
Share Concert Guitar Voices
Music was wide-span, ranging from piano to the guitar. The club was reformed in early 1976 under the name Toa Payoh Branch Guitar Ensemble with just eighteen members. Besides classes and ensembles, there were public performances. The club forged a new direction when it organized its first concert in August 1977, known as "Guitar Voices" where it recruited about seventy members.
SHARE concert was introduced in 1978. The concept was to share guitar interest to not only among members, but to the public. Eversince, SHARE concert has become an important annual event for our club.
Toa Payoh Branch Library Guitar Ensemble
Toa Payoh Branch Library Guitar Ensemble was renamed to Toa Payoh Branch Library Music Club in 1979 under general members acknowledgement. Reason was to encourage other musical instruments beside the guitar. Unfortunately, this turned out to be unsuccessful. A turning point for our club came in 1983. The name, Toa Payoh Branch Library Guitar Club was used.
Winning the 10th and 11th Yamaha Guitar competition in 1983 and 1984 respectively were the greatest achievement where our club took top spot in the Ensemble, Classical and Non-Classical section.
Following this competition, our club's focus was on Latin American Ensemble pieces and public performances to expose the club as well as to give stage experiences to the members. Several performances would include our annual SHARE concert and invitations to play in events such as, SIA 40th Anniversary Celebrations, People's Association Cultural Show, 100 Guitars of Singapore and the Singapore Festival of Arts, to name a few.
In March 1986, our club left the Toa Payoh Branch Library following a new policy adopted by the National Library. Because of this, our club was renamed as Toa Payoh Guitar Club. In September 1987, our club was registered with the Registry of Society, Singapore.
The Logo
In the early eighties, an attempt to design a logo for the club was fruitless. A second logo competition was later held in late 1988 and a suitable logo was finally chosen. In February 1989, this logo was approved by the Registry of Society, Singapore.
Eversince, the emphasis of our club was largely on guitar ensembles and much time has been devoted to creating a more formalized system for our club and the future of our club.
Guitar Ensemble
Formed in 1974 with just a few members, Toa Payoh Guitar Club, now situated at Toa Payoh Community Center, has grown to a strength of about seventy members to date. Our main activity is guitar ensemble. Besides our ensemble practices on every Saturday from 3.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m., we also organize activities such as Music Camp, In-House Guitar Competition, Entertainment Time (our mini concert) and not forgetting our annual SHARE Concert. Often we would receive invitations to perform at various places in Singapore for all sorts of occasion.
Besides playing the guitar, members are exposed to organizing various activities as mentioned above. Through organizing these activities, it helps members to acquire organizing and leadership skills. Our club welcomes anyone who is interested in playing the guitar and appreciation of guitar music regardless of their skills.
Sharing is our spirit. Developing cohesiveness, confidence an courage is just part of our learning path. For this, many of us have been with the club for many years.
