Professional Documents
Culture Documents
12/2/16
With the new information I had learned so far, I was curious to explore
whether her parents Chinese background, particularly her mothers Chinese opera
music, influenced her own taste in music, and how music factored into her life
socially, so that I could draw further parallels between her experiences and mine. As
it turns out, she had never taken an overt interest in her mothers opera singing,
which I felt was the strongest link to Chinese music-culture present in her life, and
she stated she was never a huge fan of other kinds of Chinese music. In fact, her
favorite music of the time was rock and roll, as she grew up in the 70s. I found this
as a tiny surprise, and it also broadened my perspectives slightly on how it must
have been growing up in such a different area and yet still having some interests
line up with what I knew of music-culture back in those times. Her experiences in
band that she recounted lined up rather closely with what Ive personally
experienced having taken band in my school years before college. The main key
aspect I noticed was the distinct social circle that emerges between bandmates; this
is to say, how you may have a certain group of friends that you interact with mainly
through band, and then another group that isnt involved in band, one you may
have had even before joining band. The band room also still served as something of
a social hub, which I observed in my high school years.
Lastly, I was curious on her interest in and views on music have changed
since then, as she had come to the states a fairly long time ago, and I believed it
prudent to find out what has changed. She had never found the time visit actual
musical concerts of musicians she enjoyed, but she did express an interest in the
jazz genre, with one artist specifically in mind. Im partial to Mindi Abair, shes an
alto sax player. She has made quite a name for herself these last several years.
She had first discovered Abair while working in a retail job and seeing one of her
CDs, and, having already had an interest in jazz, became of fan of her since, which I
had been aware of, but thought it necessary to explore regardless. Lastly, I asked
her what her thoughts on music are today compared to when she was growing up.
Music has changed quite a bit, she began, and she described how she feels music
today is driven heavily on artistic expression, and how music can be a response to
tragedy, whether external or internal to the artist, which I completely agree with.
Overall, I found that conducting this interview helped me better understand my
mothers past and also offered a valuable perspective on how music can affect us all
in the ways that we interact with it growing up.