Prize for percussionist behind the ‘sound’ of ECU City
ECU Vice-Chancellor Professor Steve Chapman presented WAAPA student Joey Eng with the award for outstanding engagement.
A pandemic lockdown, a new university campus and a visionary soundtrack have led to a gifted ECU student receiving an award for outstanding engagement.
WAAPA Bachelor of Music (Classical Performance) student Joey Eng was honoured with the ECU Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Engagement for his exceptional contribution to connecting with the community.
A talented percussionist and composer, Joey was instrumental in the widely acclaimed WAAPA ‘Brave the Wave’ project as video editor. The music of ‘Brave the Wave’ featured as the iconic soundtrack behind the launch video for the ECU City campus.
‘Brave the Wave’ brought together 124 WAAPA students from across Australia and overseas to record an entirely original piece of music from their homes during WA’s first pandemic lockdown in 2020.
This incredible feat of synchronicity and musicianship inspired, united and delighted people from around Australia and the world.
The awe-inspiring work led to the music being chosen to help unveil ECU’s vision for its world-class Perth CBD campus and continues to resonate with audiences.
“The emotional impact of Brave the Wave is not just testament to the power of music, it’s also a result of Joey’s extraordinary efforts and dedication to his craft, “ said ECU Vice-Chancellor Professor Steve Chapman CBE.
“Joey has demonstrated a commitment to engage and activate ECU City and has performed beautiful music works in public concerts in the last year.”
As video editor of ‘Brave the Wave’, Joey spent more than 200 hours editing 130 videos into one. The video has attracted more than 110,000 views on social media and news outlets. ‘Brave the Wave’ was composed by WAAPA alum Jonathan Jie Hong Yang and also featured the work of ECU alum Maddie Ivy.
Since ‘Brave the Wave’, Joey has also lent his talents to composing original music for ECU City’s design animation video.
Joey’s community engagement has also extended to his work with the Australian Youth Orchestra, the WA Charity Orchestra and his composition and performance of public music works. These works have included solo compositions and as a member of WAAPA’s percussion ensemble Defying Gravity, which he performed as part of a flash mob at the site of ECU’s future university campus, earlier this year.
Tim White, Coordinator of Classical Music at WAAPA, predicts a bright future ahead for Joey.
“Joey is going to be one of ECU’s most outstanding graduates and we are all going to be very proud of his future achievements,” he said.
To read more about Joey’s extraordinary work, visit his webpage https://www.joeyengmusic.com/