10 MOST INTRIGUING MUSICOLOGICAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS:6

6.Music Preference

Recently I met a Chinese traditional Zheng player (18 stringed zither), and we happened to talk about musical preference(what type of music you listen to, etc).What struck me is that she strongly identified that she does not like listening to Chinese traditional music in general or Zheng music in particular, but she does enjoy playing Zheng. In other words, she only enjoys Zheng when she plays it but in her leisure time she never ever want to listen to this type of music in any circumstances (unless she has to learn a new piece and wants to hear others' playing). Instead, she likes listening to popular music of China and does that a lot in her free time.

This also struck me because I feel that I have the same kind of feeling. I played Chinese traditional erhu music since i was 9 years old. In the beginning i really liked it and remember listening to it all the time in my free time. But now (or for quite some years) I have came to be just like her, enjoyed playing very much (especially in an ensemble) but never want to listen to it in any other time for any purposes other than learning. I also do not find myself listening to traditional Chinese music at all at my free time when I can choose my own music.

So what is in this paradox? I think it is more than just a matter of musical preference or musical taste and how it discrete when some one actually produces the music and when some one choose to listen to the music. I think it also has to do with ones familiarity to the music. I think I lost my interest in listening probably partly due to the fact that I have came to play and master virtually all repertoire on the instrument and knew every piece in detail. That way it might have deprived the joy of listening to something when you become so conscious about it. I try to think of another example, such as piano music, and I think i do have a tendency to not want to listen to the pieces that I already mastered. I also remember Nikolaj Znjaider saying that violin has been ruined for him--he can never enjoy and appreciate and respect a recording like listening to a pop song that you like.

But if I want to generalize this it might need further study: does that mean, say, if a musician played some standard repertoire in classical music then s/he would never be able to enjoy listening to it other than when s/he plays? And why is that? Does that say something deeper? Why could s/he still enjoy playing it? When does s/he get tired of that?

People say that one of the characters of music is that you can listen to the same piece of music for a thousand times or for decades and still appreciate it and every time you'll find something new. But is that really the case? if so, to what degree?

Time Management for Graduate Students

Why being a graduate student is so busy, that it is possibly even more busy than many others who have a job? Earn less but more busy? That is actually true. The key to this puzzle lies in the fact that a graduate students have to play so many different roles simultaneously. For instance, a graduate student has to take courses (often heavy-load seminars); teach courses; do research on their own; deal with other career-related activities; other activities. Thus, a graduate student in daytime is a student and a teacher (and a researcher). You think you can have your job done by 5 or 6pm, but hello, if your daytime is filled with going to classes and teaching classes, when do you want to do your homework and do your lesson plans and gradings? Night time is the only answer. Plus you have to research and write papers at night time too. Conclusion: there is no way that you can have a regular evening like normal "job" people do no matter how hard you work during day time. Thus, is time management for graduate students possible? (in order to have a regular "relaxing" period?)

After three years of being a grad student, I figured that out(not the solution but the dilemma). I used to blame my time management skills that I could not have regular night times doing whatever I want to do but have to work hard all the time. But now I know it's impossible. Regular people go to job to complete their task; but we go to classes (either take or give) only to be assigned our task; and that is not even the bigger part of the whole task (research!), so how can we not working after hours?

What should I do?

Shuo, Welcome to the 21st Century

I have been going through a transformation recently. Before 2006, I felt that I was the kind of person who prefers to dig up century old music and books, does not care about what's going on in the real world today. That's why I didn't care about economics or environmental science either. Now it's different.

The reason is complex. Partly I felt being more realistic and practical after being in the US for three years and seeing others going around searching for jobs, which is not the best time. Another reason is tied to my fundamental personal philosophy that makes sense for the change--not being afraid of doing what I want to do, because there is nothing I could lose. I also feel that personal interest and real-life situations, making a good living, are two different things, and one do not necessarily have to live in the bubbles of the dreams and not getting real. I heard that when I told someone once that I wanted to study astronomy physics because it was intriguing. Now i understand how that feels. To get real.

I have been speculating how music can be real: music is everywhere, but why do people say that it's hard for a musician to make a living? It is hard in many cases. I've searched online, library,to get to know music education, music therapy, music and technology, music industry...I want to bring more wonderful music to use to make life better. 

DON'T EVER FEAR THAT YOU MIGHT GET LOST DOING WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. A simple idea is all it begins with. Simple Ideas matter. As long as you go for it, and do not afraid of lose. Because all success come after failure. And it takes time.

Research question

The shift of register in qin music and in Bach Cello Suites.

10 MOST INTRIGUING MUSICOLOGICAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS:7

7:Music Breathing and Phrasing Typology

One of the greatest contemporary Chinese erhu soloists, Min Hui-Fen, used to say to me, in a definitive manner, that 'what is special about bowed string instruments, erhu and violin alike, is that it delivers a continuous line that flows without stop--different from a sound point in time delivered by plucking a string or striking a key on the piano'. She suggested that I must follow this and play always a long, continuous musical line that hold the continuous breath and vibrato. Now Indonesian rebab player would disagree with this generalization--they are trained aesthetically to play fiddle music in a highly discontinued manner. Where they got this idea of breaking a continuous musical line into several parts and let them flow out one by one is for sure from the singing, if you've heard the Indonesian singers, whom the fiddle imitates. Where erhu master got her idea--not necessarily a traditional Chinese one--is possible to be related to the modern solo erhu aesthetics that is akin to the influence of violin music. Yes, to think about it, great violinists know how to play a long continuous line of music that can last a few minutes without apparently taking a breath, and that is for sure a very different typology than the Indonesian rebab.

10 MOST INTRIGUING MUSICOLOGICAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS:8

8: Fiddle Music Typology

Indonesian Rebab is mostly used to accompany and imitate singing by following closely the melody of the singers. Indian Sarangi has the same relationship with the singers but at the same time is not regarded as the important instruments such as sitar and tabla. Chinese huqin plays a great role in the ensembles that accompanying the Chinese opera singing, but never follow the singers that closely as it stands out. Violin in Western classical music usually do not serve as the imitation of the singers and by all means developed the most specialized techniques that requires an excessive amount of specialized training to master. How and why do cultures classify, value, and make use of fiddle instruments differently, on top of their diverse musical styles, playing techniques and conventions?This is one important question if one wants to understand the lives of different fiddles---a most common instrument found in many many cultures.

10 MOST INTRIGUING MUSICOLOGICAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS:9

9 Music and Affection

The music therapy must be functioning through social and psychological factors. So, music and affection--both person-to-object affection and person-to-person affection----is the topic right on top of no.10. Why do people feel music has a probably stronger communication power than language (despite the saying that 'music is a universal language')?Some say music communicates affection and mood. When I met the Indonesian singer Rita Tila, and we played with Gamelan ensemble for two weeks followed by two concerts, everyone feel great emotional attachment with each other. Even though we have not talked much with one another, we feel that playing music ties us stronger than other means of communication--through music making, we feel we are so close and we know each other so well that it's even better than if we've talked for a long long time.