Prowess and winning awards can never act as a substitute for attitude and passion. One ASU student displays just this with her love of singing.
Communication senior Wendy Tan has been singing for less than eight years. Yet, when she sings, one would instantly assume she has been singing all her life.
“Compared to other singers, I started singing considerably later in life,” Tan said.
She said she managed to only discover her passion for music when she joined her high school choir when she was still living in Malaysia.
This discovery was the beginning of a remarkable musical journey that would add color and depth to the life of many. Ever since then, she said she has never looked back.
ASU contains a lot of talented singers in its halls of the music school, but only one simple thing makes Tan unique.
Computer science senior Emily Catellier is the music director of ASU TEMPEtations. She said she has worked with Tan for two years now.
Catellier said Tan’s warm personality almost always manages to singularize her from any crowd.
“Tan’s enthusiasm and genuine interest in the people she works with totally makes a huge difference,” she said. “This kind of attitude makes is difficult to ignore the talent and hard-work behind that bubbly attitude.”
Tan said she sees singing as a pillar of strength and an effective mechanism to express her individuality.
“Sometimes, I feel like I take singing too seriously,” she said.
Zi Ling, film-making senior and Tan's roommate, said Tan practices her music every single day through singing, playing the piano and gracefully strumming the guitar.
“Her room sounds like a concert every day,” Ling said.
In her senior year of high school, a choir that Tan led came second place to Poland at the International Festival of Songs in the Czech Republic.
Tan said that auditioning and being inducted into ASU TEMPEtations was the best thing that could ever happen to her as far as college memories are concerned. She said is humbled by the fact that the a capella group became a second family to her and that TEMPEtations also helped her to gain a lot of invaluable lifelong lessons.
Tan said that her best experience with the group was when she sang with the it for the second time at the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in 2015.
“It was one of the rare moments in my years of living on my own abroad where I actually felt like I was with family,” Tan said.
Biochemistry sophomore Amani Tinkasimile said that Tan displays a lot of vigor in her work. “I am therefore very honored to have her in my life as both a friend and teammate,” Tinkasimile said.
Tan said she does not regret not having some super cool hobby apart from music. This is because from her perspective, music has taught her a lot and brought a lot of happiness than she could ever get elsewhere.
Correction: Due to a reporting error the previous version of this article contained incorrect information about a source's educational background. It has since been updated.
Reach the arts reporter at smareker@asu.edu or follow @shantie_chido on Twitter.
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