Skip to navigation Skip to content I Pray Before I Play Search: Login english / français Ministry Magazine Archives / 1949 / November I Pray Before I Play Florence Soon-Kin Wong By FLORENCE SOON-KIN WONG, Concert Pianist, Singapore and London It was at a music festival in England that I started the habit of bowing my head for just a moment in silent prayer before beginning each concert. It was during my first year at the Royal Academy of Music in London that I impulsively sent in my application form for an open pianoforte competition. When I arrived at the hall where the competition was to be held, my anxiety increased with the realization that the competitors representing the Royal Academy, the finest music institution in the British Empire, were all students already in their third to fifth years, besides many other experienced pianists. ...