Poly Hau-Yee Ng: memory fleeting ii – dementia

Poly Hau-Yee Ng (b. 1969) is presently teaching at the department of composition at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. She frequently participates in music composition projects with the arts education section of the Education Bureau, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, RTHK Radio 4, and the Hong Kong Arts Centre, including the ISCM World Music Days festivals in Hong Kong in 2002 and 2007. Besides that, she also collaborates with different arts organizations, such as the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra Jockey Club Keys to Music Education, and the open stage at Shatin Town Hall. Ng has become an honorary governor and programme consultant of the Children’s Music Foundation since 2013. She is now also a part-time lecturer at the HKU school of professional and continuing education.

About her percussion duo memory fleeting ii – dementia, Ng has written: “Dementia is not a specific disease but a general term for the impaired ability to remember, think, or make decisions that interfere with everyday activities. the timbre and textures describe the process of memory fleeting. This piece is divided into five sections: ‘floating,’ ‘flashing,’ ‘turn to tide,’ ‘fade away,’ and ‘the rest is . . .’. Each section uses the unique timbre of the percussion instruments to illustrate the theme, such as the metallic timbre making the feeling of floating in the first section. in fact, can we delete only unhappy memories? This piece is dedicated to my beloved parents and all dementia patients and their caregivers. walking side by side is not an easy task.”