Caste
“There is only one caste -- the caste of humanity.
There is only one religion -- the religion of love.
There is only one language -- the language of the heart.”
-- Sathya Sai Baba --
I believe each of us have three caste systems.
One is a caste system in our everyday reality, one is a caste system we dream to exist in and the last caste system that exists in our subconscious mind and reflects our true inner selves.
Reading the fantastic book Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, the conversation can be a political one as well extending into other parts of our artistic world. These days with the spotlight on Asian females, it seems our voices and actions are evermore relevant. Berlin Philharmonic first hired a female member in 1982, Vienna Philharmonic until 1997 would not allow women to audition. First female concertmaster position was won by Albena Danailova in 2008.
Is it not human nature to seek a sense of belonging? In the quest for self identity, we structure our inner world according to our own set of caste systems. Religions, professions, race, gender, political outlook etc. all define us inside and out. Yet given the fluidity of life and continued growth, I firmly believe we must stay engaging with our inner soul to allow incremental changes and subtle shifts of nuanced points of view.
As a young Asian female violist studying in Europe in the 80s meant feeling like a second class citizen on a daily basis. One of the questions I would get from radio stations was “ We all know Chinese musicians have good technique, but how did you learn to be so musical?” The irony here of course is we all know to feel music is to be human. It wasn’t something you “learnt” but it was something you “felt”. If being human means tapping into the sensitivities of our responses to music; then we in fact all possess equal opportunities in engaging in this rewarding act of singing and dancing.
Classical music world is a very conservative microcosm of our society at large. From organizations, programming to education. Things have not evolved at the pace that they could have. Development of digital capacities is the single biggest factor in how we learn, how we communicate, and how we will evolve in the future. Already it has shaped our sense of sound, changed the format of artistic presentation and started to produce a generation of young musicians who are self educating online. The resources are endless, everyone is learning at lightning speed. Yet the internet is a mile long and an inch deep. Out of our healing from the pandemic, we are seeing incredible efforts of artistic collaborations. It is exciting to perceive the lines are starting to blur between the stage, audience participation and everyday life.
Recently as a homework assignment for our son who is a freshman in college, we watched the “Guess who is coming to dinner?” starring Spencer Tracy and Kathrine Hepburn made in 1967. It is a story of a young interracial couple seeking their parents approval at a time this scenario is challenging for most of the society. It is both inspiring to watch a storyline that addressed racism headon as well as shocking and perhaps sad in knowing that more than 50 years later this movie can still challenge us? Ultimately love is the most valuable quality any of us can carry in finding our common ground. It allows the magic of time and the grace of life to heal.
Playing the viola has given me a life I never imagined was possible. It allowed me global friendships, immense appreciation of different cultures and beauty, endless material to learn and discover. Music becomes the true language that transcends. In our daily lives of educating young musicians and performing , the act becomes about sharing the message of love, being of service to our communities while staying creatively alive. When I engage with a young idealistic violist, all I feel is how wonderful it is that we meet because of our shared passion? Then what can I do to serve them better?
It is a privilege.
世界上只有一个种姓(社会等级制度)——人类的种姓。
世界上只有一种宗教——爱的宗教。
世界上只有一种语言——心灵的语言。
师利·实谛·赛·巴巴
我觉得每个人都切身体会着三种等级制度。
一个是我们现实生活中的日常存在的等级制度，一个是我们梦想着能够存在的等级制度， 还有一个，则是存在与我们潜意识中的，反映我们真实内心和自我的等级制度。
阅读伊莎贝尔·威尔克森(Isabel Wilkerson)写的《等级制度》时，我们可以开启一段关 于政治的对话，但也可以延伸这话题到艺术界的某些领域。80 年代在欧洲求学的我，作 为一位年轻的亚洲女性中提琴手，我曾无时不刻的觉得自己是那个社会中的二等公民。 (这不单单是我的个人感受)，柏林爱乐乐团在 1982 年才首次聘请了女性成员，而维也 纳爱乐乐团更是直到 1997 年才允许女性乐手参加面试，甚至直到 2008 年，才诞生了其史 上第一位女性首席小提琴手——阿波娜.丹奈洛娃(Albena Danailova)。
古典音乐世界可谓是我们现代社会的一个保守的缩影。无论是(音乐会等的)规划组织， 还是曲目安排，或音乐教育等，这些事物发展的速度远没达到理想预期。数字时代已成为 影响我们学习，交流和如何在未来发展的最大、且单一的因素。它已经塑造了我们对于声 音的感知，改变了艺术的呈现手段，且已成功培养了一代年轻的利用网络自学的音乐家 们。数字时代提供了无穷尽的资源，使得每个人都得以以闪电般的速度学习新的知识。然 而，互联网提供的大数据却极易使人们浅尝辄止。
不断寻求归属感是人的天性。当年的我很幸运能有机会，以学生的身份，过渡到美国的音 乐氛围和环境里来。我也一直觉得，找到令人有归属感的团体和寻得自个人价值及自我认 同感是值得花费一生去探求的。在时光荏苒里，我渐渐发现，音乐是一种真诚超越文化、 年龄和性别的语言，甚至它无需一字一句就能深入人心。中提琴家的生涯给了我超越想象 的人生，它让我能够结交五湖四海的朋友，引领我去欣赏和陶醉于大千世界和其中的不同 文化，也提供给我无穷尽的新奇去学习，去发现。
早年当我在努力开辟音乐道路的时候，欧洲广播电台曾问过我这样一个问题:“我们都知 道中国的音乐家通常只有很扎实的基本功和演奏技巧，可您的演奏却十分赋有音乐性，是 在哪里习得的呢?”
我第一次那么深刻地觉得，无论我自身是多么地努力，欧洲的那种根深蒂固的等级制（或者说对中国音乐家们的刻板印象）都永远不会允许我向往的那种艺术世界存在。现在回想，竟已是三十年的匆匆岁月，时过境迁，改善却是微乎其微的。"
渐渐地，音乐表演成了分享爱的媒介。它领我为这个全球社区服务，也让我保有具有创造 性的活力。每每我与具有理想主义年轻中提琴手合作交流时，我都强烈地觉得，因持有共 同的热爱而相遇是件多么的美妙。这也不断敦促我去思索，如何能够更好地指引他们。
种种这些，于我而言，三生有幸。