ARTIST WITH PASSION, MUSIC FOR PURPOSE(WRITTEN by VICTOR TAN)
His preparations, challenges, expenses and hard work has finally paid off. July, 21st 2012 was another milestone for a purpose-driven young artist to shine towards further heights as his second album was launched on that very day. Having a dream of writing his own songs to inspire the young, he too performs songs to inspire the faithful every weekend in his church, Faith Christian Centre, Kuala Lumpur.
This is the musical journey of Timothy Lim, also known as Tim Lim, who had gone from zero to growing hero in the local Christian community. His looks may be ordinary from the first glance, but little would strangers know that he is one of the faces of the local independent music industry. As a full-time Christian staff, his genres are mainly contemporary rock and gospel music. Besides of managing his own music career, he also oversees the growth and progress of Faith Music, the music project of Faith Christian Centre.
As he reflects throughout his life and his progress, he would sum it up as a learning experience. To him by living our lives by learning, we can see our strengths and weaknesses easily, as long we have the learning passion that drives us all. Through learning, we can even see things that we can be thankful for.
Timothy’s musician journey was a long one. Born in Ipoh, Perak in June 12, 1985, he first encountered his musical interests and talents during the days of his kindergarten experiences.
“It was there when I began to feel the interest of singing a song,” said Timothy as he reminisced his younger days as a child. “It is something that makes me and excited, like a small spark that gives you that sense of happiness.”
“During those days, I got exposed to singing as I was encouraged to sing and perform in Sunday School classes with other people.”
“Furthermore, my father was also a musician in my church, and that is also where I then learned how to play a guitar at 12,” he added.
The young Timothy Lim also learned the art of drums while being in the youth community in his church in Ipoh. He also learned other musical instruments like the bass and electric guitar. However, that small spark of talent encourages Timothy to sing with a guitar everytime he performs.
“During my early days being a musician, I began as a drummer, but of course sometimes I made mistakes while performing and there are better drummers than me,” Timothy reminisced his first days performing in church.
“It was great because my church allowed the youths a platform to perform as musicians during worship services.”
Years later, at the age of 17, Timothy discovered something beyond his singing and music talents – songwriting, an ability that not all singers have. While realizing his songwriting and composing abilities, he took himself up for a challenge to compose a song for his school’s prefect camp. Since then, after a superb, positive reception and thousands of praises heaped on his efforts, his confidence in songwriting had skyrocketed. He continued to write songs with his life experiences as his precious inspirations, as many encouraged him to pursuit his talents from his first song.
To Timothy, a great song is written when it is able to touch their audiences’ hearts, and make them feel that the song is related to them. The lyric of the song is the message what determines how impactful the song is.
“If you write a song with a meaningful message, like Jason Mraz’s ‘I Won’t Give Up’, and people are able to grasp the meaning with a nice melody, it would impact many people,” he said.
In 2009, throughout perseverance and patience, Timothy’s first album, “This Road” was released. As the title of his first masterpiece had suggested, his album reflects his expressions towards the journey and transformations of his life from his university days to his working life. At the same time, he had planted hope for his music works to be able to serve as an inspiration to others. His first time masterpiece was fully funded by himself and was recorded in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah with the aid of his Christian companion, friend and also fellow singer/songwriter, Jonathan Tse, who owns Purpose Records. Once again, like his first songwriting experiences, his first album was a great success, with him gaining publicity beyond his church.
What inspired Timothy Lim to produce “This Road” were not just his milestones he achieved during his teenage days.
“I did seek inspirations whether I should go for it. And suddenly, I felt my prayers are answered during my last semester of my college life when Jonathan Tse approached me and said that he will help me produce an album if I am ready,” he said.
Even though the satisfactions and rewards he gained from his hardest efforts were tremendous, but Timothy Lim admitted the circumstances that he had to endure to make his success happen. However, he also learned a lot in his first experiences in cutting an album.
“It is not easy to produce an album, I am thankful because I got the privileges of making one,” Timothy uttered with a smile.
During the production days of his first album, he faced financial difficulties as he has to support his own project like any other independent artists around him.
“I know it was very challenging for me to save much money for my project because my current job doesn’t pay really much. All of the planned tours and recording trips are funded using my own money,” said Timothy.
“Being an independent artist is indeed tough because you have to fund your own projects, when compared to artists who had signed a contract with music labels such as EMI and Universal Music,” he added.
Being a novice in the recording process, his coordination with Jonathan Tse in Kota Kinabalu was also a challenging one as most of their communications were done online due to the long distances, which may led to misunderstandings. Sometimes they would even have to plan within a certain time period.
“Sometimes when you are recording your songs, you have to go through many rounds to produce that perfect single. And when you are tired going through the sessions, you might get disappointed because you didn’t perform your best,” Timothy said as he recalled his days in the recording studio.
Besides of his passion of building his very own music career, Timothy also engages himself in full-time worship ministry. While his audiences are enjoying the weekends, he and his colleagues are the ones busy preparing songs and hymns for every worship service. Despite some pressure and technical circumstances, the “work hard, play hard” team ensures that everything goes well according to plan. You can even see smiling faces among them as they see themselves as a fellowship while working. The decision of him to take up the worship ministry was made as a response during his youth days to one of his youth leaders in his church in Ipoh.
Besides of gaining more popularity outside his church, Timothy experienced a positive turning point in his life as an artist ever since his first album was launched. The tours and concerts he went in Sabah and his hometown, Ipoh had coloured his life even more, with blessings and inspirations from the people who supported him. Invitations to events such as the Malaysian Gospel Music (MGM)’s Songwriters’ Showcase in 2011 had brought him to more exposures in the local music arena, giving him more taste of the industry.
Besides of pursuing music as his career and hobby, Timothy Lim also enjoys watching dramas and listening music from other artists. His music influences are from artists like Hillsong United, Planetshakers, Lifehouse, Switchfoot, Kutless, to name a few. Besides, being an avid Manchester United fan, Tim has high interests in football, which is also a game that he used to enjoy during his younger days.
Meanwhile, his fingers are crossed as he anticipates for his leap forward in his career. Busy days with upcoming tours awaits with extra work in his full-time church ministry, but passion and purpose are the key force that drives him forward like an Olympic athlete sprinting towards the finish line.
“I felt so blessed and honoured for being able to produce my first album, but there are still many spaces for improvements,” said Timothy as he begins to ponder at his second album, and for the harvest after many hard works for his second effort.
“Hopefully, it may turn out to be smoother than the first one”.
“If opportunities allow, hopefully I can continue to produce more albums with better songs,” he added.
As he continues developing and uplifting his music career, he believes that music is a God-given ability that should be used wisely.
“That's why I am doing what I am doing, and I enjoy doing what I am doing,” said Timothy Lim.
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This is the musical journey of Timothy Lim, also known as Tim Lim, who had gone from zero to growing hero in the local Christian community. His looks may be ordinary from the first glance, but little would strangers know that he is one of the faces of the local independent music industry. As a full-time Christian staff, his genres are mainly contemporary rock and gospel music. Besides of managing his own music career, he also oversees the growth and progress of Faith Music, the music project of Faith Christian Centre.
As he reflects throughout his life and his progress, he would sum it up as a learning experience. To him by living our lives by learning, we can see our strengths and weaknesses easily, as long we have the learning passion that drives us all. Through learning, we can even see things that we can be thankful for.
Timothy’s musician journey was a long one. Born in Ipoh, Perak in June 12, 1985, he first encountered his musical interests and talents during the days of his kindergarten experiences.
“It was there when I began to feel the interest of singing a song,” said Timothy as he reminisced his younger days as a child. “It is something that makes me and excited, like a small spark that gives you that sense of happiness.”
“During those days, I got exposed to singing as I was encouraged to sing and perform in Sunday School classes with other people.”
“Furthermore, my father was also a musician in my church, and that is also where I then learned how to play a guitar at 12,” he added.
The young Timothy Lim also learned the art of drums while being in the youth community in his church in Ipoh. He also learned other musical instruments like the bass and electric guitar. However, that small spark of talent encourages Timothy to sing with a guitar everytime he performs.
“During my early days being a musician, I began as a drummer, but of course sometimes I made mistakes while performing and there are better drummers than me,” Timothy reminisced his first days performing in church.
“It was great because my church allowed the youths a platform to perform as musicians during worship services.”
Years later, at the age of 17, Timothy discovered something beyond his singing and music talents – songwriting, an ability that not all singers have. While realizing his songwriting and composing abilities, he took himself up for a challenge to compose a song for his school’s prefect camp. Since then, after a superb, positive reception and thousands of praises heaped on his efforts, his confidence in songwriting had skyrocketed. He continued to write songs with his life experiences as his precious inspirations, as many encouraged him to pursuit his talents from his first song.
To Timothy, a great song is written when it is able to touch their audiences’ hearts, and make them feel that the song is related to them. The lyric of the song is the message what determines how impactful the song is.
“If you write a song with a meaningful message, like Jason Mraz’s ‘I Won’t Give Up’, and people are able to grasp the meaning with a nice melody, it would impact many people,” he said.
In 2009, throughout perseverance and patience, Timothy’s first album, “This Road” was released. As the title of his first masterpiece had suggested, his album reflects his expressions towards the journey and transformations of his life from his university days to his working life. At the same time, he had planted hope for his music works to be able to serve as an inspiration to others. His first time masterpiece was fully funded by himself and was recorded in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah with the aid of his Christian companion, friend and also fellow singer/songwriter, Jonathan Tse, who owns Purpose Records. Once again, like his first songwriting experiences, his first album was a great success, with him gaining publicity beyond his church.
What inspired Timothy Lim to produce “This Road” were not just his milestones he achieved during his teenage days.
“I did seek inspirations whether I should go for it. And suddenly, I felt my prayers are answered during my last semester of my college life when Jonathan Tse approached me and said that he will help me produce an album if I am ready,” he said.
Even though the satisfactions and rewards he gained from his hardest efforts were tremendous, but Timothy Lim admitted the circumstances that he had to endure to make his success happen. However, he also learned a lot in his first experiences in cutting an album.
“It is not easy to produce an album, I am thankful because I got the privileges of making one,” Timothy uttered with a smile.
During the production days of his first album, he faced financial difficulties as he has to support his own project like any other independent artists around him.
“I know it was very challenging for me to save much money for my project because my current job doesn’t pay really much. All of the planned tours and recording trips are funded using my own money,” said Timothy.
“Being an independent artist is indeed tough because you have to fund your own projects, when compared to artists who had signed a contract with music labels such as EMI and Universal Music,” he added.
Being a novice in the recording process, his coordination with Jonathan Tse in Kota Kinabalu was also a challenging one as most of their communications were done online due to the long distances, which may led to misunderstandings. Sometimes they would even have to plan within a certain time period.
“Sometimes when you are recording your songs, you have to go through many rounds to produce that perfect single. And when you are tired going through the sessions, you might get disappointed because you didn’t perform your best,” Timothy said as he recalled his days in the recording studio.
Besides of his passion of building his very own music career, Timothy also engages himself in full-time worship ministry. While his audiences are enjoying the weekends, he and his colleagues are the ones busy preparing songs and hymns for every worship service. Despite some pressure and technical circumstances, the “work hard, play hard” team ensures that everything goes well according to plan. You can even see smiling faces among them as they see themselves as a fellowship while working. The decision of him to take up the worship ministry was made as a response during his youth days to one of his youth leaders in his church in Ipoh.
Besides of gaining more popularity outside his church, Timothy experienced a positive turning point in his life as an artist ever since his first album was launched. The tours and concerts he went in Sabah and his hometown, Ipoh had coloured his life even more, with blessings and inspirations from the people who supported him. Invitations to events such as the Malaysian Gospel Music (MGM)’s Songwriters’ Showcase in 2011 had brought him to more exposures in the local music arena, giving him more taste of the industry.
Besides of pursuing music as his career and hobby, Timothy Lim also enjoys watching dramas and listening music from other artists. His music influences are from artists like Hillsong United, Planetshakers, Lifehouse, Switchfoot, Kutless, to name a few. Besides, being an avid Manchester United fan, Tim has high interests in football, which is also a game that he used to enjoy during his younger days.
Meanwhile, his fingers are crossed as he anticipates for his leap forward in his career. Busy days with upcoming tours awaits with extra work in his full-time church ministry, but passion and purpose are the key force that drives him forward like an Olympic athlete sprinting towards the finish line.
“I felt so blessed and honoured for being able to produce my first album, but there are still many spaces for improvements,” said Timothy as he begins to ponder at his second album, and for the harvest after many hard works for his second effort.
“Hopefully, it may turn out to be smoother than the first one”.
“If opportunities allow, hopefully I can continue to produce more albums with better songs,” he added.
As he continues developing and uplifting his music career, he believes that music is a God-given ability that should be used wisely.
“That's why I am doing what I am doing, and I enjoy doing what I am doing,” said Timothy Lim.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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