Multicultural Music Program Gives Kids Global Perspective
By Karen Pojmann
THE INDEPENDENT, August 13, 1996
Growing up in Hong Kong near her father's piano factory, music was an integral part of Clara Hsu's life. Now in the basemen of the Chinatown Clarion Music Center shop she and her father run, Hsu and musician Michael Santoro invite groups of school children into an ancient world of non-western music.
Hsu and Santoro say the pro-gram, Cultural Awareness Through Music, can bridge gaps among nationalities for an international, multicultural generation of children. At the same time, kids learn forms of musical expression not through a homogenized plunking of "Chopsticks" on a well-tuned piano, but through a veritable medley of sources, with instruments rang-ing from the Erhu to the Australian didjeridu. a favorite.
Music mirrors society
Santoro says music is analogous to society.
"The instruments are harmonious," he said. Some of their scales are different, but you can make the tonalities work together, just as people can.
Hsu and Santoro started the program, geared, toward 2nd through 9th graders, last November with Hsu's son's class. Since then, they've given the workshop to about 15 school groups, both local and from other states. Now they're trying to attract more schools to the workshop.
Opening the mind
Santoro begins each program by asking the children to open their eyes to images they might not have seen before, to open their ears to different music, and to open their minds to other cultures.
The students then listen to musical recordings, watch slides or films of the people and countries from whom the music originated, learn the history of the instruments and watch them played by teachers or guest musicians, and finally get to make music themselves. In the end, the children are taught a simple rhythm and play in a group jam to get a feel for what Santoro calls a "musical dialogue".
"We like them to immediately feel they can do something with it." Hsu says.
Countless instruments
And the musical possibilities seem infinite. A mere glance at the array of music-makers in the Clarion shop unveils both count-less types of instruments and multiple versions of the same instrument as designed at various points in history or by people on different continents.
"They can see the creativity of people, that one simple instrument can be made in very different ways," Hsu says. "It's really incredible."
The range of flutes alone encompasses the ancient Chinese bamboo flute, the lovely and mournful Native American flute and the modern, western flute. Hsu says seeing the many materials from which instruments are made evokes an appreciation for resourcefulness.
Cultural awareness
Santoro said teachers love the program because it complements their existing curriculum. By its very nature, international music education in the program incorporates several fields of academic study, including geography, history, social studies, and mathematics.
It also fills the void left by cuts in funding for music and other arts in public schools. But Hsu said while cutting arts is tragic, it might allow music education to eventually rise from the ashes with a fresh, global perspective.
"Because of the disintegration of arts in school, there are more opportunities for other cultures to come in and for students to have a say in their culture," Hsu says.
Not only do European American students learn about music and cultures to which they might not otherwise be exposed, children of non-western descent or immigrant parents can learn about their native cultures.
Hsu said she recognized a need to address and explore these cultures through her own two children.
"I watch them growing up, and they consider themselves 1OO percent American." Hsu says, but they question sometimes."
Hsu and Santoro remember a young Indian girl who came to a program with her class and, having never seen Indian instruments before, got to play them at Clarion.
The program stresses, though, that all music is open to all people, and Hsu and Santoro emphasize its accessibility by having children not only learn about the instruments but play them in a traditional manner, proving, Santoro says, "that you don't have to be Indian to be in an Indian ensemble."
"A long time ago, you and I would be continents apart," Hsu says. "Now we're right next to each other. It's important to have some understanding and appreciation of each other."
Clarion also offers private les-sons on the piano, violin, didjeridu, and Chinese instruments.
