#37 Piano & Violin
March 20, 2008 · 2 Comments
Posted March 17th, 2008 by YASPY Chick · 1 Comment
Asian parents always want to refine their children. This includes enrolling them in music lessons at a very young age until about the beginning of high school. But not just any kind of music lessons: piano or violin “edification.” (At times, flute is acceptable too.) These instruments symbolize, to many Asians, the epitome of refinement. It isn’t too different from the English during the Regency and Victorian periods when a young middle class woman’s ability to play piano was a sign of her sophistication. This asian refinement is a sign of accomplishment because the asian parents are able to “afford” these frills. The children, due to their parents constant struggle to show other parents up, are forced to take these lessons.
The piano is considered by asians as the core instrument that one learns in order to first un
derstand the essentials of music. Why? In order to successfully know how to play piano, asians must know how to read both the treble and bass clefs. That means understanding the intricacies of a whole other language at the ripe age of 3, which in turn, allows most asian children to comprehend how to efficiently use their left and right brain hemispheres at an earlier age. Do you ever wonder why asian children are so gifted mathematically and spatially? That’s your answer. Asians will also enroll their children in musical classes to serve the community.
For Asian-Christian families, the ability to play piano means that the child can have his or her turn at “performing” during church services. That way, Mrs. Chung can brag (more on bragging below) to everyone that it’s her Jenny out there playing “‘Praise My Soul’ like an angel.” The accolades don’t end in the congregation hall. That’s why pianos are, most importantly, expensive. To have one in the living room is a subtle (in an asian sense) way of telling everyone that the Asians are keeping up with the “Joneses” (or the Wongs).
In asian circles, piano is the choice instrument, followed very closely by the violin. The violin is often a preference because it’s small and portable, great for young children. Asian kids start private music lessons as 
kindergarteners (before they start learning how to use chopsticks, but after they start their introductory calculus lessons), or even while in pre-school (I had my first piano lesson just before my 4th birthday)! The sound it makes is very soft and smooth when playing strictly classical music (a proper Asian kid does NOT fiddle). The violin, like piano, is also more likely to be a “star” instrument, which will more times than none draw more attention to the child’s parents.
To Conservative Asians, most other instruments are a no-no. Especially brass instruments and instruments associated with bands and more popular music. To Asian parents, instruments such as trombones, saxophones, trumpets, percussive drums, guitar (especially ELECTRIC GUITAR) are blasphemous. Asian parents don’t want their child to risk becoming evil rock musicians! Asian kids must be proper. They must be able to play the kind of music that can be heard at church or when family friends visit. They must be able to read at a 5th grade level before they are potty-trained. And most importantly, they must learn how to heckle with other children when trading lunches in order to achieve the most economical utility.
Note from Author: Acceptable instruments other than piano and violin include: flute, clarinet, oboe, cello (only after Yo-Yo Ma became a big star), and vocal ensembles. (At my middle and high schools, the flute sections at ensembles were overwhelmingly Asian while brass instruments were white.) The guitar is allowed after the age of 18, when children are legal adults and want to play sad songs about how the girl in Multi-Quantum Physics isn’t digging their outfit or accepting their invitations to buy boba (but let’s save that for a later post).
LMAO! I've noticed that white parents who adopt Asian kids also do this... and will invite / guilt other families to attend the recital.
Zimri said...
March 20, 2008 10:27 PM
Obviously, the piano/violin thing is also heavily driven by the "Asian prodigy" mentality. Of course, it's a chicken/egg situation. Why are Asians disproportionately represented in the music competitions and best-known music programs (e.g., Juilliard, Curtis)? Is it because Asian parents push their kids more? Or are the kids themselves more competitive and self-motivated because perhaps they see an area where they have a better chance of succeeding among their peers (i.e., a situation where size may not matter, as it would in sports, and even there, you have the Asian ice skating prodigy)?
Or there anything to the idea that Asian kids might be innately more talented musically as a class? That is, why should we presume that Asian kids work harder on average than non-Asian kids at being good at their instruments, yet the first violin section in many school programs is inevitably a sea of Asian names and faces. More to the point, when you hear a really good kid (of any race) play, it's not just the technique, it's the emotion. Somehow, the kid really "gets it," managing to convey emotions that are wildly beyond their years, which can only be coaxed out, not really "taught" or "learned" accept by mimicry, which only goes so far. And, among Asians, why do the Korean kids, in particular, seem to be generally more successful at an earlier age, at least anecdotally? It's an area ripe for theories and speculation.
Let's start with the Korean whiz kids. (Full disclosure, I'm of Chinese descent, born and raised here in the U.S., who trained at one of those well-known music schools, but music is not my current profession.) I am sure there are those of Korean descent who will back me up, but I can tell you from personal experience knowing the overseas Koreans who end up here as youngsters for professionally-directed musical training, it can be argued that they did work damn harder than others to get here. They've been winnowed through local and national competitions, coached by other talented Koreans who studied overseas, so what we see over here are the cream of the crop. It's a ticket out of the country for the kid and/or the parents vicariously or actually. On the other end of the spectrum, you get the really well-off Korean parents who can afford the best training for their kids, and will even buy them an orchestra appearance. For other Asians from elsewhere(China/Taiwan, Japan, etc.) not as big an incentive for economic or other reasons; they've got other opportunities to succeed over there.
But that still leaves the broader phenomenon of Asian kids in general being more highly represented among the musical prodigies, or at least filling the ranks of those first violin sections, even they will never be Yo Yo, Lang Lang, or other double-named phenoms. Perhaps we only think that relatively more of them are Asian because we Asians simply notice them more, and want our kids to be just like that, so our view is simply distorted. Or it could simply be that more of them are enrolled in music programs on average, which probably explains a lot, and they stick with it because their parents want them to, or they want to. (I think that's what one comment implied about white parents perpetuating the stereotype with their own their Asian adoptees.)
I am willing to entertain the idea, however, that there may just be some natural intellectual affinity or predisposition towards musical talent in Asian kids, if it is linked with other stereotypically Asian "talents." (Let's leave aside the legions of tone-deaf Asians like my dad, who nonetheless spoke perfect tonal Mandarin Chinese.) How surprised would we be if the Asian-American kid who plays Bach well is also likely to be good at chess and/or math. Of course, they may be mutually reinforcing talents, sort of like kids who are good at one sport are likely to be competent at others, not to mention enjoying those others.
Whatever the source of Asian kids' musical successes, I agree the parents' involvement and own interests and expectations are probably among the strongest factors, regardless of the child's talents or lack thereof. Is this a bad or good thing? Well, I suppose, nothing intrinsically wrong with success earned honestly and with hard work. Although whether those kids are missing out on something else as a result is another discussion.
Anonymous said...
March 21, 2008 1:55 PM
You forgot the article about Tennis
Henry C said...
March 24, 2008 12:22 PM