I read Cynthia
Selfe’s article during a car ride to see/hear Joshua Bell--a famous violinist--
play Brahms with the LA Philharmonic. While reading the following quote, I
thought of one of Joshua Bell’s narratives, which he shared in an interview: “an individual’s relational positioning vis a
vis their own and others’ literacy practices and values is not simply a detail
within their narrative but, rather, a specific form of personal and political
rhetorical agency,” (Selfe). I use Bell’s story to encourage students to calmly
approach performance situations.
Bell explains that, when he was a
kid, he completely botched the beginning of his piece during a competition. After
he messed up, he played with reckless abandon because he thought he lost. I
tell my violin students this story before they perform, for the sake of helping
cope with performance anxiety. I also use this story before I present
information or perform because I think that giving the audience a sincere
moment is more important than a flawless delivery. This is an example of how I
use other peoples’ narratives politically and personally. I am including a link of Joshua Bell's narrative here.
Violinists shape narratives while they
perform. Most violinists have heard the Mendelssohn violin concerto, but we all
keep listening to it because every violinist plays it differently. Even though
all of the notes are the same, violinists nuance phrases; therefore, every
violinist plays differently because each violin student has had different life
experience and different music-learning experience.
The same is true
for responding to text. I will not have the same response to this article that
my classmates will have because I have a different background from each
classmate. Selfe says, about students, “Our own professional commitment…
encourages us…as Bruce Horner has observed, to objectify students as
interchangeable learning subjects, as if they come to us without context,
without histories, without culture, and without their own personal narratives.”
This quote reminds me of the symphony.
Similar to a teacher and his or her
students, symphony conductors generally do not know the background of the musicians
in the symphony. However, similar to the teacher and students, the conductor
does not need to know the musicians’ backgrounds. The musicians bring
music-learning background to rehearsal. Likewise, students gain experience in
the classroom and add to their personal and political narrative.
To the left is a picture from 2010 of me and some violin friends outside of the Walt Disney Hall, which is where I saw Joshua Bell play with the LA philharmonic over Fall break.
Both of my parents are music teachers and created a youth symphony called Zion Youth Symphony Orchestra. I was on a Zyso tour, during this picture.
