Broadway singers live a tough life. Unlike recorded singers, there’s absolutely no post-production support or second chances while singing to a live audience. On top of that, they have to act and dance between their rather vocally challenging pieces. Broadway singers such as Ramin Karimloo, Sierra Boggess, Michael Crawford and Alfie Boe perform up to twice a day. Some Broadway singers record music in their spare time, whether it be personal interpretations of the famous music they sing every day, or their own original compositions. Everything about Broadway singers is indisputably a hundred percent real talent.

Introducing: Ramin Karimloo. He is currently playing the lead role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables on Broadway. On top of his Broadway career, Ramin also writes and records his own music. Unlike his live works, which are usually sung in a classical vocal style, Ramin Karimloo sings in a more modern fashion while retaining the complexity of the pieces he sings. In his album rendition of “The Music of the Night”, a song that he has probably sung thousands of times while playing the Phantom on West End, Ramin chooses to play the guitar while singing the vocally very demanding piece, which spans three octaves. His original works are also as impressive—songs such as “Constant Angel”, “Coming Home” and “Show Me Light” also showcase his voice in a similarly striking manner.

Alfie Boe, on the other hand, is a very different story from Ramin Karimloo. He sings in a rather neutral style on stage, but expresses his inner classical side with his very operatic recordings on his album. Being a true musician, he also covers “The Music of the Night”, but two half steps higher with a full orchestra. As much of a showoff this may sound, he does have astounding voice control, and can manage to sound calm and entrancing despite the strain being put on his voice. Also listen to other covers such as the very famous “When You Wish Upon a Star”, “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables, and “Maria” from West Side Story.

An honourable mention goes to Nicole Scherzinger, who is a founding member of the American girl group the Pussycat Dolls. Outside of her PCD works, she has proven to be an accomplished soprano, singing at various events. She has yet to record an album showcasing her wonderful natural voice, but there are videos online of her singing rather difficult songs such as “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” during live events.

This writer urges all readers, especially self-proclaimed “indie” music lovers to listen to the songs and artists mentioned in this article. Not only do they demonstrate the control, skill, and technique that sets Broadway singers apart, they can also fit anywhere in your playlist.

This article originally appeared in the March, 2014 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Russell Ng, a student at the Yew Chung International School of Beijing.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photos courtesy of wikimedia commons.

In the world of an IB diploma student, coffee is the antidote to turning a frown upside-down. Many would shrug and say, “coffee is coffee”, without considering where it all came from—as long as they can get their morning fix.But, how do we make our coffee? There are three ways of making coffee as we know it—through filtering, powder or espresso. Read on as we compare the three methods.

Filtered coffee
Filtered coffee can be considered a very economical version of the popular beverage. Grounded coffee beans are placed in a filter before water is allowed to drip through. The finished product is then collected at the bottom as black coffee.If you have ever ordered a “Today’s Brew” in a cafe, this is essentially how your coffee is made. The ratio of grounded bean mass to liquid coffee is fully maximised, ensuring a high concentration of coffee. However, when observed from under a microscope, filtered coffee has large and coarse caffeine particles, meaning that caffeine extraction is not completely thorough.

Powdered Coffee
A slightly more expensive variant of coffee is powdered coffee. This is the coffee we buy at supermarkets in jars or sachets. It is industrially produced by boiling filtered coffee for days until all water content is removed, leaving behind anhydrous powder. When boiling water is added to the coffee again, it essentially shares the same properties as filtered coffee. Powdered coffee is easy to store and prepare, making it ideal for the IB student, since “ain’t nobody got time” to wait for coffee filtration. Some companies take powdered coffee one step further by adding powdered milk and sugar to it before sealing up the sachets, marketing the product as “three in one” for the convenience it brings.

The Espresso
The best way of making coffee is through an espresso machine. High pressure boiling water gushes through grounded beans, producing very concentrated coffee.Espresso was traditionally hand-pressed, but today,mechanised air pumps are used to drive boiling water through the beans. An espresso can be said to be a template for coffee since many variants of the beverage were derived from the espresso. You can add a specific amount of water to an espresso for an Americano,a different amount of water for a Latte,or a dash of milk to make it a Macchiato. This is how most cafes make their coffee, including those in Beijing international schools.

Espresso machines are rather bulky and expensive, making it impractical for the home user. However, since the turn of the century a new type of espresso machine has emerged—the Nespresso machine. This machine is programmed to make the perfect espresso from pre-grounded beans packaged into pod-like capsules.There are many blends to choose from,including caramel, chocolate, citrus and even decaf. An increasing amount of people own Nespresso machines for convenient access to quality coffee.

Coffee is coffee
At the end of the day, regardless of how coffee is made, it is here in the form of a warm beverage to keep us awake. These three methods of making coffee have their different merits, from price to convenience to quality.Despite these differences, the writer is an avid coffee enthusiast and loves all forms of coffee equally.

This article originally appeared in the November-December,2013 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Russell Ng, a student at the Yew Chung International School of Beijing. 

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photos courtesy of trophygeek and bortescristian (Flickr)

My friend and I were hungry the other day while hanging out and decided to buy some bread to quell our hunger. We walked down to the basement and saw a Paris Baguette beside a BreadTalk. Being Singaporean, I naturally went for the BreadTalk.

It is only natural for people to support local brands from their place of origin: just as the Koreans carry their Samsung phones, use Kia Cars and buy bread from Paris Baguette, the Chinese should also carry their own local HTC phones and use their brand of ChangHong television. Why do they not?

Quality
While it is true that China has a bad reputation for their products, it is also undeniable that the quality of their products has been improving. Since 2004, ChangHong has allegedly made 90% of televisions imported to the United States, as ordered by a foreign branded company. When a ChangHong branded television is placed alongside that of a foreign brand, the Chinese brand is significantly cheaper. The same manufacturer makes these televisions with the same specifications, but their prices vary. The only difference between the products is that the label shows a different name.

The Chinese consumer will buy the foreign brand, as they believe this gives them “quality assurance” and is a good way to show off to guests. However, Chinese companies essentially make everything in China. This trend for foreign brands is also why the industry of imitation goods in China flourishes. With the price of a fake leather LV bag in China, one can buy a genuine leather handbag that is sturdier. However, the latter does not have the element of foreign-made glamour.

There was a milk powder scandal in China in 2008, when milk formulas were found to contain the harmful substance melamine. Since then, laws have been created and the Chinese milk industry is following rules as strict as those of their foreign counterparts. However, in January 2013, the Chinese tourists bought so much milk powder from Australia that supermarket shelves were completely empty. The brands that they bought could have been found in China, with the same production formula, but Chinese consumers instead chose to buy foreign products.

Name
Interestingly, there is a Japanese brand of CD players that manufactures and assembles their products in China before shipping them back to Japan to have warning labels put on before selling them to the Chinese market. This allows the product to fit the legal definition of “imported product,” giving the company reason to sell it at a high price and have a better name to increase demand – “Made in Japan” as opposed to “Made in China.”

Japanese stationery also faces similar favoritism. People would rather use a “Japanese pen” made in China, costing RMB 10, than a Chinese pen of similar quality for less. While the adults show off their television to their guests, the younger generations show off their stationary.

Locally-made products are equally as safe as their foreign counterparts and their quality can be similar. There is no reason to favor the foreign brand name just for its alleged better quality – they are all made in China by the same group of manufacturers, and at a much cheaper price. Don’t be fooled by brands!

This article originally appeared in the March 2013 issue of UNIT-E. It was written by Russel Ng, a student at Yew Chung International School of Beijing.

About UNIT-E
UNIT-E was founded in the spring of 2010 with the aim of establishing a non-profit, student-run magazine for international students in Beijing. Staffed by current students from a range of international schools, the magazine provides an amalgam of cultural tidbits, fragments of Beijing student life, and a broad spectrum of unique perspectives from a diverse group of young adults.

Photo by Flickr user tossmeanote