Musicians from a Different Shore: Asians and Asian Americans in Classical Music

by Mari Yoshihara

Overview

In the first book to account for the growing prominence of Asians in the world of Western classical music, Mari Yoshihara grapples with the significance of this trend. This is a book about the about the origins of a social and cultural phenomenon, but it is also about the lives and work of individual musicians devoted to their art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592133321
Publisher:	Temple University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2007
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Mari Yoshihara is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.She is the author of Embracing the East: White Women and American Orientalism.

Table of Contents

Preface     vii
Introduction: A Rising Scale in Relative Minor     i
Early Lessons in Globalization     11
Voices     49
The Roots and Routes of Asian Musicians     62
Playing Gender     100
Class Notes     131
Voices     166
A Voice of One's Own     187
Conclusion: Musicians First     225
Acknowledgments     235
Notes     239
Selected Bibliography     255
Index     263

Editorial Reviews

An associate professor at the University of Hawaii, Yoshihara (Embracing the East: White Women and American Orientalism) delivers a comprehensive cultural, historical and ethnographic study of Asians and Asian-Americans who pursue Western classical music in the United States. At age three, she began piano lessons in Japan. After moving to California at 11, she started more rigorous musical training. Passing up the conservatory, she chose to major in American studies at the University of Tokyo, eventually returning to the U.S. as an academic. This study is the result of her in-depth interviews with 70 orchestra members, soloists and university and conservatory faculty, as well as her own experiences of master classes, auditions, a recording session, workshops and some 100 concerts. Describing Asian musicians' personal histories, roots, gender dynamics, experiences and goals, she dispels common misconceptions, such as the assumption that Asians have a natural affinity for Asian music. Yoshihara's scholarly background and musicianship merge in this probing, authoritative survey. The extensive bibliography lists sources in both English and Japanese. 18 b&w illus. not seen by PW. (Oct. 28)

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Publishers Weekly

Examining the subject of why so many Asians devote their lives to playing Western classical music, Yoshihara (American studies, Univ. of Hawaii, Manoa; Embracing the East: White Women and American Orientalism) looks at the issues surrounding Asian and Asian American culture and whether training and performance of Western classical music really are driving forces. She offers a historical background of post-World War II Asian culture to explain the convergence of politics, commerce, and everyday life that led to the prevalence of classical music in middle-class homes. Discussion and interviews with numerous musicians-including Kent Nagano, a conductor affiliated with the Berkeley Symphony, the Opéra National de Lyon, and the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, among others-are intertwined throughout with various explanations for the phenomenon. An involving mix of personal information and research data on the topic, this book will be of interest to the secondary through graduate school educational market, as well as public and academic libraries.
—Bradford Lee Eden

Library Journal

"An excellent overview of the role that Asians and Asian Americans have come to play in the world of Western classical music. It is beautifully written, extremely lucid, and well researched. What is particularly enlightening here is the author's dedication in seeking out many musicians to interview and her integration of these stories into a coherent whole."
—Timothy D. Taylor, Professor of Ethnomusicology and Musicology, University of California, Los Angeles

From the Publisher