With a Song in My Heart is Tai Kwun’s Community Arts Project in 2025. Curated and produced by Drip Music, a local jazz ensemble founded by renowned jazz guitarist Teriver Cheung, the project aims to bring together community partners, musicians, cancer patients, survivors and caregivers to share their challenges and experiences on the journey of battling cancer. Through storytelling, participants create songs to express their thoughts and offer a glimpse into their views on life and death.
Named after the jazz classic With a Song in My Heart, the project is inspired by Cheung’s personal experience recovering from the disease. On this journey, he met people from all walks of life who were able to understand and encourage each other, much like how jazz musicians respond and support each other unconditionally on stage. This echoes the spirit of improvisation in jazz music, where mutual respect, companionship, understanding will carry the ups and downs of life and help each other overcome the hardship through the power of music.
Based on the collaboration with Dr Alan Turry, the Assistant Professor at the music therapy graduate programme at the University of New York, Cheung got first-hand experience of the Nordoff-Robbins approach to music therapy. He realised that the method is an effective way to interact with special needs communities and can become a tool to help cancer patients in the face of challenges. This inspired him to create a platform to connect musicians who aspire to serve, learn, connect and grow with the community. Through these encounters, music becomes the vessel to envelop different emotions, allowing people to understand and empathise each other, creating a more harmonious and embracing community.
Details of the public events will be announced in early March.
Project Milestones
January 2025 | Project kick-off and participants orientation |
February to March 2025 | Music and creative workshops |
18-21 April 2025 | Public events at Tai Kwun, including movement workshop, sharing, mini-concerts, screening and concerts |
May to June 2025 | Online release of music and videos |
As a centre for heritage and arts in Hong Kong, Tai Kwun aspires to integrate the invisible power and value of arts into everyday life. In the community arts project, different communities are brought together through the means of arts to understand and care about topics that concern them. The purpose of the project is to nurture empathy among different communities using performing arts as the medium. Past community arts projects include two editions of the ÉLAN Lost Child Project HK (2020, 2022) and Remember The Time We Sing (2023). Both projects have been awarded in the Hong Kong Arts Development Awards in 2021 and 2024 respectively.