Conduct Unbecoming

The challenge of conducting a student large ensemble is to convince everyone to buy into YOUR analysis of a work. The conductor does not simply keep time--essentially, he/she is trying to get about 65 people to execute HIS/HER vision, HIS/HER sound concept, and HIS/HER interpretation of a piece. There’s NO democracy in this situation—the conductor MUST have final say, and there is no room for debate. This is challenging because in most of these conditions, everyone is coming from a different place—some students prefer certain styles of conducting, some students despise anything that is not familiar, some students have specific repertoire preferences, and some students are simply just jerks! The challenge is to get everyone on the same page and to buy into what you’re trying to achieve. In order for a conductor to be successful, there can be NO distractions and the environment must be disciplined with high expectations.

SOOO, I mentioned earlier that John was having some difficulty with the trumpet players? Well, after the last rehearsal, he came home and had a Cheshire cat grin on his face. I asked him what had happened. He said with a bit of glee, “I had to get a little dark with one of the trumpet players!” Apparently, John had taken matters in his own hands! Here is the exchange:

Prologue: Trumpet player, laughing and talking, missed instructions on how to phrase a particular passage.

JOHN (stepping down from podium, locking eyes with player): Dude, I TRIED to be a nice guest, but I’m about THIS FAR from blowing my stack, and that’s NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO EXPERIENCE!

TRUMPET PLAYER: No response, but was too scared to even take the horn out of his mouth. EVERYONE was scared….

JOHN (to ensemble): You’re all performance majors, RIGHT? (Everyone nodded) Then WHY do some of you INSIST on doing things in rehearsal that would get you FIRED IMMEDIATELY from ANY PROFESSIONAL JOB????

After this exchange, you could hear a pin drop! Rehearsal was very productive after this incident.

Later, at the break….

JOHN (to trumpet player): So you want to be a professional trumpet player, right?
TRUMPET PLAYER: Yes!
JOHN: Well, at the rate you’re going, you’ll be LUCKY to be working at the GAS STATION out at the ENTRANCE TO THE UNIVERSITY! OR, maybe the ASSISTANT MANAGER of the SEVEN-ELEVEN!!

After this exchange, there were no more problems with the trumpet players!!

My piano master class went WELL, but there were a few challenges. The biggest one was that the students barely understood English, and I didn’t have a translator! Music is difficult to discuss in your own language, and to try to convey some of the complex concepts I had in mind, well, it was definitely daunting! The other main issue was the repertoire. The repertoire was PERFECT for a LESSON situation, but not conducive for a master class situation—a master class is basically a public lesson. In a public lesson situation, you hope for repertoire that is more “entertaining;” literature that is satisfying for the master teacher, the performing student, AND audience. In this particular situation, the repertoire was more appropriate for a private lesson, so I felt I could not be as engaging as I would like. But all in all I greatly enjoyed the students and this was a marvelous opportunity!

John and I recently performed a recital at Taipei National University of the Arts, and this was a WONDERFUL experience! The hall had fantastic acoustics, and I got to perform on one of the best pianos I’ve ever encountered! The piano was a phenomenal Steinway that was PERFECTLY voiced—it had such an amazing tone—really, it was such a treat for me! We also had an enthusiastic crowd—we even performed an encore, which was a first for us! The most moving factor about this experience was the support of the fellow Fulbrighters—SO MANY of them came to the recital, and they came from all over Taipei—some even came from Yilan, which is an hour away. Many Fulbright English Teaching Assistants (these are people who graduated from college last year) were present, and they came all the way from Yilan as well! I can’t tell you how much we GREATLY appreciated this—my OWN STUDENTS at Clemson University are not this supportive!

We have already celebrated TWO Thanksgivings! The first one was a reception hosted by the American Institute of Taiwan (AIT), and this gathering was VERY high class—MUCH too nice for our kids! The attire was business casual, so I wore khakis, nice shoes, and a nice sweater. Well, apparently, their idea of business casual was MUCH DRESSIER—most of the AIT people were wearing suits with ties, and the women were wearing elegant dresses! The AIT facility was STUNNING, and we all had a very nice time—the kids really enjoyed themselves. We also attended a Thanksgiving gathering at the home of one of Lauren’s schoolmates, Ben. Ben’s mother, Cheryl, is American, and she is married to a Taiwanese person. In fact, the entire make-up of the crowd was quite diverse—Constance, an American, has a Cantonese husband, and Roma is from India. I enjoyed asking questions about the culture and changes here since almost everyone at this gathering had lived in Taiwan for close to 20 years. I was VERY impressed with their Chinese language fluency—puts me to SHAME!

In the pictures—our family with another Asian Fulbright family at the AIT reception; Lauren, Luke, and a daughter of a Fulbrighter at the AIT reception; Lauren and Luke playing with some Fulbright ETA’s at the AIT reception; John on the campus of Taipei National University of the Arts; John in rehearsal at the beautiful hall at Taipei National University of the Arts; John and some students after the recital; our family after the recital; Luke, Lauren, and Ben (Lauren’s schoolmate) at Cheryl’s house for Thanksgiving; friends at Cheryl’s house.

Up next….adjudicating the piano concerto competition at Chinese Culture University, visit to Maokong Tea Plantation…..

Coiffing, Climbing and Free Beer

It’s AMAZING what you can find on the Internet! Even though I emailed several people and asked for hair salon recommendations, I did not get any responses. I decided to do an Internet search and found an English-speaking hair stylist not far from where we live! I found her in a Taiwanese forum discussion on haircuts, and this forum contained her email, website, phone number, and directions to her salon! Pretty awesome! She was definitely on the pricey side--$1000 NTs (ca. $30 USD)—which is the equivalent of what I pay in the U.S., but by Taiwanese standards, MUCH TOO HIGH. I know if I told people here what I paid, they’d be shocked! I think Taiwanese people are used to paying around $200 NTs ($6 USD) for haircuts! But this hairdresser I found, Diane, had many great reviews in this forum discussion and she has had experience cutting hair in the U.S. I decided it would be better to pay a little more and be happy with the results than to pay less and have to wear hats and scarves for the remainder of my stay here (this actually happened to me when I had a terrible cheap haircut—this is why I’m willing to pay a little more for a good haircutter).

Another wonderful feature about Taipei is how CONVENIENT it is to get around. Seriously--I don’t have a car, I don’t speak Chinese very well, I don’t READ Chinese AT ALL, I have the WORST sense of direction, and SOMEHOW I’ve managed to travel fairly easily all over the city—even to other parts of Taiwan! Diane runs her business from her home, and I found it without much difficulty. BUT I did commit a few errors on the way. One happened while I was wandering aimlessly at an intersection looking for her alley. I totally wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and suddenly I backed into something in the middle of the street that was VERY hard—it even hurt my foot! I was thinking, WHAT is this object doing in the middle of the street, and it turns out I had run into a man in a WHEELCHAIR! He looked at me like I was NUTS, and I was MORTIFIED—I apologized profusely! I mean, WHAT ARE THE CHANCES!!?? In the MIDDLE OF TAIPEI?? This could only happen to ME!! The other mistake was that I kept buzzing Diane’s apartment and did not get a response. Fortunately I had her phone number and called her, and it turns out it was the WRONG apartment! I was REALLY happy no one was home!

Diane is Taiwanese, speaks English fluently, has a Swedish husband, and he speaks fluent Chinese. She’s lived all over the place—the U.S., Sweden, and Thailand. VERY interesting and creative person! We had fun exchanging stories on being an Asian married to a Westerner. Yes, I realize I’m as Americanized as they come, but I DO have an unfortunate Asian masochistic streak in me—we Asians are INCREDIBLY hard on ourselves and extremely self-critical. As a result, this can cause us to be critical of those who are close to us—another Asian characteristic. We both shared laughs about our husbands’ common responses: “You ALWAYS think I do EVERYTHING wrong!” It has INDEED been a while since I’ve spoken to a fellow Asian woman who’s married to a Westerner! Anyway, the money was well-spent—I really liked the haircut! I’d really like to go back before I return to the U.S., but the problem is that she did such a good job, I may not have to!

The trip to the hairdresser was productive because I also found a couple of stores that sell reasonably-priced kids’ clothes. I have been having a VERY HARD time finding stores that sell kids’ clothes! Most of them are WAY over-priced—I wish there was something like an Old Navy here! Luke is in desperate need for long pants—I should have brought more, but I was thinking I could buy some here since I heard clothes were cheap. Well, apparently this doesn’t apply to children’s clothes! Anyway, I was VERY pleased that I found a couple of stores finally! I also made a stop at the Sogo Department Store because there was this MEGA SALE there, and the Sogo Department Store was so close to Diane’s business. There were extra police at the subway station and at the store because of this sale! This was during the day on a Friday, and it was INSANE! Sogo sells designer brands, and it seemed that prices were cut by around 60%. I only went because I had to experience this—I didn’t buy anything! It was like the Friday after Thanksgiving, only a little more NUTS!

We FINALLY made a trip to Yangmingshan! Yangmingshan is the most famous mountain in Taipei and was the summer residence of Chiang Kai-Shek. Actually, I go twice a week to Yangmingshan since Chinese Culture University is located there. But I still haven’t been to the Yangmingshan National Park, which is where I wanted to take the family. The bus drops us off about a kilometer from the park, and you take a hiking trail to the park. SOOOO, we didn’t actually do as much at the park as we wanted because the kids were pretty tired by the time we walked there! Plus, I didn’t want to tire them out so they could walk BACK to the bus station—I didn’t want to have to carry anyone! But the kids were real troopers and loved running about the hiking trails, and they really enjoyed themselves. Yangmingshan is BEAUTIFUL and a PERFECT place to go if you want to relieve stress. It’s serene, very scenic, and it’s like you’re in an alternative universe from Taipei—also great for hiking. I believe that I made ONE good call on this trip—I did NOT bring a stroller to Taipei, and I think this was the right decision. I really had to ponder that one. My feeling was that Taipei is quite crowded and the sidewalks are unpredictably bumpy and narrow—I thought a stroller would prove to be cumbersome. Luke is at a borderline age—Lauren has NO problem with walking, but I did wonder if Luke could handle it. Well, I think I made the right decision. A stroller on Yangmingshan would have been a pain and I found this to be true in many circumstances. I do see parents with strollers, even people with DOG strollers, but I don’t know how they handle it! And Luke has actually exceeded my expectations—he’s turning out to be a great walker!

We ended up going to the Taipei Main Station food court for dinner. I had to mention this because there were already Christmas trees there!! I did NOT expect this at all—I wasn’t even sure they celebrated Christmas here! So I HAD to take a picture of the kids next to a Christmas tree—how often do we get to see THAT in Taiwan?

We made ANOTHER trip to Carrefour—before any of you say, AGAIN, I MUST write about a couple of things I never had the chance to mention. I pointed out the overstimulation, right? Well, I want to elaborate a bit. When you go there on the week-ends, you can get tons of free samples. The people offering free samples are OBNOXIOUS! Many of them have handless microphones and TALK CONSTANTLY about their products, and they’re all talking simultaneously! Also, you can get free samples of alcohol—the HARD stuff! TODAY when we were there, you could sample WHISKY, SCOTCH, and VODKA!! You can get SERIOUSLY INEBRIATED at the Carrefour! I actually took a sample of Carlsberg BEER! Anyway, one of the pictures is of a skinny Taiwanese girl giving out free samples of alcohol at the Carrefour! Also at the Carrefour—SUSHI EXPRESS, which is where we ate! Sets of 2 Nigiri sushi only cost $1 USD—AWESOME deal! The sushi is ready-made and you grab whatever you want off of a conveyor belt. For the four of us, dinner was $13 USD—a STEAL!! I provided a picture of that as well!

Next up….my piano master class FOR SURE, John’s recital…..

In Pursuit.....

A big chunk off my plate—I performed my recital at Chinese Culture University! It kind of evolved into a lecture-recital! At first, they told me that I would perform a regular recital. Later, they asked if I could introduce each piece before I performed it. Eventually they asked if I could use Power Point since it would be helpful for those who didn’t know English—they’re REALLY into Power Point here! So I ended up frantically preparing a Power Point presentation! In all my professional experiences in Asia, I have found that everything morphs into something else, and all you can do is go with the flow and see what happens! In a week I will conduct a formal master class with some piano students performing solo piano repertoire. So far my primary teaching duties have centered on chamber music, and the pianists I have been working with have been in the context of chamber music literature, not solo literature. I’m getting the feeling that the pianists need more time with their solo literature and didn’t want to embarrass themselves by playing for me too soon—keep in mind they started school in the middle of September, and it takes at least a couple of months to get a piece ready!

Although the lecture-recital went very well, I usually find speaking and playing problematic. I prefer to do one or the other—perform OR talk, and I’m not too crazy about doing both. When I speak and play, it’s more difficult for me to completely focus on my performance and I’m afraid of getting distracted by talking and running the Power Point! In other words, I have to switch gears quickly, and I’m fearful that my performing will suffer as a result! But I actually had a terrific time—the audience was very responsive and seemed interested in what I had to say, which makes everything much easier! AND John was extremely kind enough to come to my recital and support me, which means I put him to work and had him change the slides for me! That helped IMMENSELY!!

The saxophone teacher at Taipei National University of the Arts, Kenny, arranged for John to give a saxophone master class at Shi Chien University this week. Kenny is extremely friendly and amicable, and has even invited us to his wedding in December! Anyway, Kenny offered to drive John to Shi Chien University and Kenny was lamenting that full-time saxophone jobs in Taipei were non-existent. As a result, he is an adjunct lecturer at 7 different schools—colleges and middle schools. He was also not pleased with the pay as an adjunct lecturer. So John is thinking, “ok, he’s probably going to be driving me in a Ford Escort!” Well, you can imagine John’s surprise when Kenny’s car turns out to be a LEXUS! MAYBE the pay as an adjunct lecturer is not that bad?

As much as John has enjoyed conducting the band at Taipei National University of the Arts, he has found that SOME things are universal—the trumpet players talk too much! AND they give a BIT of attitude! For those of you who are not musicians, brass players, ESPECIALLY TRUMPET PLAYERS, are notoriously obnoxious—I apologize to any brass players out there, but hey—YOU KNOW IT’S TRUE. Musicians jokingly call them “brassholes!” So John has encountered this stereotype in Taipei as well! If this band were HIS band, he would absolutely know how to deal with this—he’d completely annihilate them! John is laid-back about everything--EXCEPT matters concerning music. You don’t MESS WITH JOHN when he’s in the process of preparing repertoire that means a great deal to him—he takes it VERY seriously and is ULTRA committed--more so than I am. SOOOO, when he encounters ANY type of obstacle during the pursuit of his musical goals, it IRKS him—it’s like he takes it PERSONALLY! BUT the problem is that he’s a GUEST—this group is NOT his! So he’s not quite sure how to handle this. He’d love to just throw them out during one rehearsal, just to make a statement! And they’re not really that bad—he just wants to nip this in the bud NOW! In addition, he’s not quite sure what is culturally acceptable! So right now he’s pondering his options…..and trying to find out what IS acceptable….

Auntie Yin delivered my mom from Hsinchu and my mom stayed with us in Taipei from Wednesday until yesterday—she just left for the U.S. My sister-in-law, Violet, was here visiting her family, so we decided we should all get together for dinner. Violet came up with the idea of meeting at Taipei 101, presently the tallest building in the world and perhaps the no. 1 attraction in Taipei. This building is considered one of the Seven New Wonders of the World and Seven Wonders of Engineering, and contains the world’s fastest ascending elevator. Taipei 101 has numerous shops and restaurants, and we dined at a Japanese grill restaurant in the food court. In the picture of the four ladies: me, Violet, her mom, my mom. Afterwards, John, my mom, and the kids went up into the building. We were allowed to explore the 88th, 89th, and 91st floors—the outside observatory was on the 91st. The views were absolutely incredible and the kids had a fantastic time! I tried to get a night shot from the observatory, but it came out a little blurry!

I decided to take advantage of my mom’s visit and assigned her to read through all of Lauren’s papers from school! In the U.S., I was CONSTANTLY OVERWHELMED by the HUGE amount of papers I’d receive from Lauren’s school. Well, as you can imagine, it’s even MORE OVERWHELMING when the papers are ALL IN CHINESE! I also arranged for her to speak with Lauren and Luke’s teachers so I could get a better idea of how things are going. It seems that things are fine, but as expected, Lauren does have issues with the language barrier. Two days a week, a student from the university tutors Lauren individually and helps with her homework. I try to do what I can, but I feel like a loser because I can’t do the homework! So yes, I feel a bit inept! But it seems Lauren is hanging in there with all those over-achieving Taiwanese kids! And the other kids just LOVE her—she’s a especially a hit with the older kids—they all want to play with her!

I also took my mom shopping for DVDs. One of the reasons she was very enthusiastic about visiting here was because she wanted to add to her collection of Korean DVDs. She and her Chinese friends in St. Louis are COMPLETELY addicted to them. My mom has been quoted as saying, “Those DVDs are my LIFE!” We tried a couple of places—an area called Guang Hua Plaza, which is an electronic geek’s paradise! We had a few issues getting there. After asking for directions about 5 times and being directed the wrong way 5 times—at one point, we crossed one particular intersection back and forth around 4 times—we finally found the place! You see, I thought it was just me—whenever I ask for directions, I always get LOST! I just assumed it was my pathetic Chinese. But even my mom, who speaks fluently, had a hard time!! So it’s not ENTIRELY my fault! Well, but then it is my mom and me…very similar to the blind leading the blind—we’re both pretty horrible with directions! Fortunately we found the area, and even though we found some DVDs, Guang Hua Plaza is really a place to buy digital equipment—it doesn’t appear to be a DVD place. But we also ended up finding some DVDs at Carrefour, the Taipei equivalent of Wal-Mart.

We had terrible weather this past week-end—very rainy and windy--so it was a mall week-end! We went back to Taipei 101 and browsed around some more and we also went to another shopping area called the Breeze Center. Both places were WAY out of our price range—mostly designer stuff—but they both had awesome food courts! Really, the food courts in the U.S. CANNOT COMPARE to the ones here! We did break down for the kids one time—they did have Subway one time! But at least I made sure to have something Chinese! AND another time we had hot pot! VERY tasty! One of the pictures is of Luke and Lauren looking exhausted after eating hot pot!

I don’t know when, but I VERY much want to take the family to Yangmingshan, and John and I are DYING to go to the National Palace Museum!

Next up….shopping for kids’ clothes, getting my hair cut, getting ready for John’s recital, my piano master class….MAYBE Yangmingshan???

Weighty Issues

John and I are having are greatly enjoying our students. We’re discovering teaching chops that we hadn’t used in a long while! For John, conducting the band has been a phenomenal experience. John used to be the assistant director of bands at the University of Milwaukee and gave up band after he became a saxophone professor at University of West Georgia. So working with the wonderful, disciplined, and responsive students in the band at Taipei National University of the Arts has been a fantastic experience, and he’s greatly enjoyed conducting on a regular basis again. At Taipei National University of the Arts, the orchestra, not the band, is actually the top group, but some of the students in the orchestra are asking John if they can also play in his group! One bassoonist actually came up to John and said, “Oh, you such good conductor! I would like to play in your group!” John believes this has been one of the best band conducting experiences he’s ever had. For me, I’m having a BLAST coaching chamber music groups! I’ve never taught in a department that had such an active chamber music program and I’m LOVING it. Just this past week, I was wondering if the students were benefitting at all from my work there, and then the other day, two groups sought me out and requested that I listen to them and give them suggestions! I ended up having awesome sessions with them! I just love it when students take the initiative and actually WANT to work with me, and John feels the same way! Hey, we’re musicians—we constantly need our egos stroked, and like to feel needed!

My sister-in-law, Violet, arrived last Sunday, and my mom arrived on Wednesday! Violet is here visiting her mother and sister, and my mom is visiting us and one of her dearest friends, Auntie Yin. Auntie Yin resides in Hsinchu, a town approximately 90 minutes away from Taipei. Hsinchu is the Silicon Valley of Taiwan. Before I was born, my parents and 2 brothers (Bill and Ken) used to live in Hsinchu and eventually moved from there to the U.S. Auntie Yin’s husband recently passed away and before he passed away, she had hired a live-in maid to help take care of her husband. Since her maid, Aleja, is still on contract, Auntie Yin decided to bring her maid to our apartment and help us out a bit! She and Auntie Yin cooked a couple of wonderful meals for us, and then she, Aleja, and my mom went to Hshinchu together.

OK, I have to relay a conversation between my mom and Auntie Yin! Bear in mind they were speaking Chinese and this is MY translation:

MY MOM: Did Aleja have enough to eat? She didn’t eat very much!
AUNTIE YIN: Yes, she had enough, she usually doesn’t eat very much!
MY MOM: Really? But she’s FAT!!
AUNTIE YIN: Yes, she is—that’s why she doesn’t eat much! She’s on a diet!

They had this conversation IN FRONT OF ALEJA!! Granted, they were speaking Chinese, and Aleja doesn’t know much Chinese (she’s Filipino), but STILL, I was worried she could have picked up on some of those words! So, there you have it, a HUGE cultural difference! Taiwanese and Chinese people are BRUTALLY BLUNT about weight issues, will tell you to your face if you’ve gained weight, and will even tell you if they think you’re fat! And people here don’t get insulted by this, they just agree and respond with something like, “yes, that’s true, I’ve gotten fat!” When we were in Chengdu, China, last year, my cousin introduced me to his 15-year-old son, right in front of him, by saying, “this is my son! He’s a little FAT!” When John heard that, he was completely shocked! Later I told John that Chinese people say stuff like that all the time and just don’t take it personally. The administrative assistant at Chinese Culture University told me that her husband likes to do mountain climbing. I was impressed and said that he must be in very good physical condition. She replied, “Oh, no, he isn’t—he’s quite FAT!” Americans would NOT be able to tolerate such comments! The word “fat” is practically an obscenity! In fact, people in the U.S. would rather be called obscenities than be called fat! In the U.S., comments like that will send a female of ANY AGE into therapy for the NEXT 10 YEARS!!

Since my mom was in Hsinchu with Auntie Yin, this past week-end we took the high-speed rail to Hshinchu to visit them and spent the week-end there. The high-speed rail is AWESOME! It travels at approximately 160 mi/hr and the ride is SUPER smooth—you barely feel like you’re moving. And it only took 30 minutes as opposed to 90 minutes by bus/car! The children LOVED it! Hsinchu also has a brand new station, and the building is quite futuristic-looking (see picture). My mom is having a blast in Hsinchu with Auntie Yin. Auntie Yin has a very nice town house with Aleja, the live-in maid, and they’re playing mah-jongg with some of Auntie Yin’s friends. I’m telling you, she’s living the life there! While we were in Hsinchu, we were again treated to some awesome food Auntie Yin and Aleja cooked, and Auntie Yin’s son, Willy, also visited with us. Willy is one of Bill’s childhood friends.

Willy drove us around Hsinchu and showed us where my parents and brothers used to live and where my dad used to work before he studied in the U.S. My mom says that Hsinchu has COMPLETELY changed—much more developed and urban with many, many buildings. It’s still not nearly as large as Taipei, but it is definitely a thriving city. However, the area where my family used to live is quite suburban-looking with many trees and areas of green grass, very UNLIKE Taipei. Also, my family used to live in the same neighborhood as Cho-Liang Lin, the internationally renowned Taiwanese violinist. Practically all the houses that used to be there are gone, including my family’s house, but Cho-Liang Lin’s residence is still intact and is considered a landmark of Hsinchu. In the pictures—the one of our family in front of the apartment building is where my parents’ house used to be, the one of us in front of the brown house is Cho-Liang Lin’s former residence. The group photo is of our family with Willy, Auntie Yin, and my mom. The pictures of my mom and our family are at a university close to Auntie Yin’s house—National Chiao Tung University. National Chiao Tung University is considered the most prestigious research university in Taiwan and is renowned for its excellence in electrical engineering, computer science, and management.

Since Auntie Yin is still mourning her husband’s passing, my mom decided to stay in Hshinchu for a few more days to keep her company—she will stay with us in Taipei later this week. Also, she seems to be having too great a time there--we decided it would be more fun for her if she stayed there a little longer!

Next up….my recital at Chinese Culture University, dinner with Violet’s family….