Lily Goh

Lily Goh is currently the Deaf arts & music practitioner. She regularly goes live on TikTok to teach Singapore Sign Language, and to share Deaf music with her viewers/subscribers. You can view her profile on TikTok. 

She taught sign language to public as a voluntary sign language instructor at the Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf) from 2002 to 2010. Now, she is the founder of ExtraOrdinary Horizons.

She is also a seasoned performing artiste who plays mallet percussion since her age of 10. Lily has received a formal training in music. She has obtained a Grade 8 in Percussion with Merit (2007), a Grade 6 in Percussion with Merit (2007), a Grade 5 in Music Theory with Distinction (2001) and a Grade 5 in Piano (1999).

Lily was the member of Canossian School Percussion Band from 1989 to 1995, and Concert Band of St. Anthony's Canossian Secondary School from 1994 to 1997. She also performed in Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Concert Band in 1998. She assisted in teaching percussion music at Canossian School from 2004 to 2015.

In 2004, she took part in the Singapore Idol Season 1 competition. She became the first deaf participant who got through two rounds and won much admiration from public. As a result, she appeared in different medias, such as Channel 5 – The Unsung Heroes (2004), Channel U – The Youth Decode (2005), Her World, Lime and other newspapers. Also, she won a marimba as her first award under the Talent Development Programme by the Very Special Arts (Singapore) in 2007. This marimba was sponsored by the Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore (Tiger Beer). With this musical instrument, she can explore and expand her skills and techniques in percussion. Also, she hopes to share her musical passion with deaf youths and in this way, they will be inspired to live their lives meaningfully.

Deaf music (formerly song-signing) is part of Deaf Culture and it is a beautiful blend of sign language and music, together with Deaf elements. It is another forte of hers! She had learnt this art when she became the member of Ngee Ann Polytechnic - HI! Club in 1998. She was elected to be the third President of NP HI! Club (1999/2000).

Since 1998, she performed at many events, representing NP HI! Club (1998-2001) and Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf) (2000-2008). She was a volunteer leader of XTOMIC that she had founded at SADeaf. Also, her overseas performance stints started in 2005. In 2008, Lily was invited to SPOTLIGHT - an Asian Festival of Inclusive Arts in Cambodia and she had touched many hearts through her Deaf music. Over time, she evolved into a seasoned performing artiste, specialising in Deaf music and percussion music. 

Lily was then invited to represent Singapore for ASEAN Festival of Disabled Artists in Myanmar from 1 December 2014 to 7 December 2014. She showcased her musical talents & skills in mallet percussion (xylophone) and Deaf music. Its highlights included the Flight of the Bumblebee, Happy Mallets and Rondo Alla Turca. Her 'Let It Go' song was adapted from the popular movie, Frozen in a Deaf way for a deaf lady who was suppressed of her freedom to express herself in Sign Language. She co-wrote her song, "If You Were In My Shoes" with a hearing singer, Audris Ho. This song emerged as a semi-finalist in UK Song-writing Contest 2015 (Music Video Category). Lily is also the member of the Purple Symphony since 2015, playing marimba. She is featured as part of the virtual choir interlude in the NDP2022 celebration.

Besides teaching sign language, she had contributed towards the development of beginners' course curriculum in Signing Exact English (SEE2) during her time with the Singapore Association for the Deaf. She had obtained her certificate of participation in Basic Linguistics in Sign Language in 2007.

 

She volunteered with H3 World TV, an international charitable Deaf media organisation, which produces and streams TV programs in International Sign (IS) to worldwide viewing audience. She produced monthly news reports that focus on stories in Asia for eighteen months.

She completed her undergraduate degree program in Sociology with Communication at Singapore University of Social Sciences in 2020, and it is assumed that she is the first Deaf student who majored in Sociology. She had completed the WSQ Advanced Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP) program at the Institute for Adult Learning (IAL) in 2021.

She was renowned for winning the Singapore Woman Award 2014, which is organised by MediaCorp. The Singapore Woman Award is a celebration of the ordinary woman who has made extraordinary achievements. It recognises women who have relentlessly helped others and benefited society and the public. It aims to encourage them to keep the passion going and inspire others to do the same.

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She received her award under Humanitarian and/or Voluntary Leadership for the Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World 2017, which is honoured by Junior Chamber International (JCI) Singapore, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to contribute to the world by preparing better leaders, who will in turn create better societies.

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You can find out more about her here. For more insights and updates, you can go to her personal website.