The Children’s literature book I read is titled, Yang the youngest and his Terrible Ear by Lensey Namioka. This story is about a Chinese immigrant boy named Yang. Yang and his family emigrated from China to Seattle. Yang’s entire family has musical skills except him. He tells us, “Father was a violinist in Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and his mom is a pianist”(Namioka, p.4-6). Yang’s father wants him to be good at music. Everyone in the family think, Yang is not trying his best. But Yang lack of talent for music is he says, “I have a terrible ear”(Namioka, p.7). He cannot hear the tunes his father expects him to play. Although Yang tries his utmost, he can’t seem to get music; hence, he looks for other outlets. Yang becomes friend with an American boy named Matthew. Matthew helps Yang learn English. The more Yang hangs out with Matthew, the more exposed he becomes to other sports and hobbies. In effect, Yang starts to love baseball; Whereas, Matthew enjoys music more than playing sports. The two boys wish they could swap places. Yang’s father organizes a quartet for parents. Yang...
Chang Rae-Lee, author of "Mute in an English-Only World," moved to America from Korea when he was only six or seven years old. He adopted the English language quickly, as most children do, but his mother continued to struggle. "For her, the English language…usually meant trouble and a good dose of shame and sometimes real hurt" (Lee 586). It is obvious, though, that his mother was persistent in her attempt to learn English and deal with her limited culture experience, as Lee accounts of her using English flash cards, phrase books and a pocket workbook illustrated with stick-people figures. Lee sympathetically connects with the audience through his mother, and forces them to make a personal conclusion when he ends the article with a lingering question in the reader’s mind; what if they had seen her struggling? Would they have sat back and watched or stepped up to help?
Woo cleans the house herself and no longer has a housekeeper. With the money she saved, she hired Mr. Chong, an ancient piano teacher, who can barely hear and whose eyes are too dulled to tell when Jing-mei messes up. He is so genuine that Jing-mei feels guilty and picks up the basic skills, but she is so bent on not pleasing her mother that she continues to purposefully lack in her efforts. She hates the piano. She hates the fact that her mother is shaping her identity. She hates that her mother forces it upon her. She hates that it's everything she isn’t: disciplined, elegant, and most of all controlled. Jing-mei wants to be who she wants to be, and with the piano around, she only continues to be who her mother wants her to be, but she can not tell her mother this. She is supposed to play a piece called “Pleading Child” which is a “simple, moody piece that sounded more difficult than it was”. Even though she had not practiced and didn't know the piece, she played anyway. Halfway through, she began to realize how awful she was. The silence that followed her performance and her parent’s disappointed looks unfolded the undeniable truth, Jing-mei was not a piano
Jing-mei realizes her mother was trying to help her out, but since their personalities clash, Jing-mei first believed her mother was forcing her to play piano. She thought her mother was setting up unrealistic expectations for her, when only she just wanted to see her daughter live the American Dream. She didn’t understand the Chinese way of thinking so she thought her mother was just being strict. Her mother wants her to be a strong, independent American woman. She just wanted her daughter to have all the opportunities she wasn’t able to have in China.
Similarly, Wong also grew up in America with a traditional Chinese mother. In contrast, Wong’s upbringing involves her mother forcing her into attending two different schools. After her American school day, Wong continues on with Chinese school to learn both cultures. Her mother felt it was her duty to “[. . .] learn the language of [her] heritage” (Wong 144). This puts a burden on Wong as she starts to despise the Chinese culture.
“Leopold Mozart, a court musician, began teaching Maria Anna, his first-born child, to play harpsichord when she was 8 years old. She progressed quickly, with 3-year-old Wolfgang often at her side.” Maria Anna was getting very good very quickly, with the help from her brother Wolferl. Both siblings helped eachother out , “Nannerl probably interpreted for Wolfgang and reinforced for Wolfgang what Leopold was trying to teach. She showed him that music is not only fun, but a way to communicate without words.” He learned from his sister the true meaning behind music, which made him grow as a performer. Support from family or friends is what separates a person from achieving their goals, or stumbling under the pressure, but both Maria Anna and Wolferl persevered with the help of each other and there dad and both achieved great
“The White Umbrella” by Gish Jen is a very reflective realistic fiction story of a chinese american girl’s youth. When the girl was young, her mother went to work without telling anyone. Her mom didn't even tell her father. The narrator and her sister just assumed normal life when their mother started coming home late. The story picks up one day when the two sisters are at their piano lesson. The older sister becomes envious when her piano teacher (Mrs.Crossman) applauds Eugenie (the girl whose lesson was before hers) on her playing. When the Eugenie leaves, the narrator notices that Eugenie has left her umbrella. Before she can react, Eugenie gets in her car and drives away. When the
"Prison Legal News - Legal articles, cases and court decisions." Prison Legal News - Legal articles, cases and court decisions. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2014. .
Campbell, Don G. The Mozart Effect for Children: Awakening Your Child's Mind, Health, and Creativity with Music. New York: William Morrow, 2000. Print
Many people do not realize the positive effect that popular music has on children. At a young age one of the breakthroughs for children is music’s benefit for language development. According to the Children’s Music Workshop, the effect of music education on language development can be seen in the brain. Studies have indicated that musical training develops the left side of the brain known to be involved in processing language and can actually wire the brain’s circuits in specific ways. The relation between both music and language development can also have advantages children. Listening to music can also improve children test scores and IQ levels. Dr. Schellenberg found that a small increase in the IQs of six year olds who were given weekly vocal and piano lessons. This leads to the fact that music is very helpful when it comes to education. Professor Christopher Johnson revealed that students in elementary schools with better music education programs sc...
Strickland, Susan J. “Music and the Brain in Childhood Development.” Childhood Education 78.2 (2002): 100-3. ProQuest. Web.
Wilson, Frank R. ed. Music and Child Development: the biology of music making. St. Louis: MMR Music, 1990.
“Paper Menagerie,” by Ken Liu, is an emotional story of a selfish son and his interactions with his out-of-place mother, who had immigrated from Asia to be his father’s wife. Jack is a half-Chinese, half-American boy who lives in Connecticut. In the beginning of the story, he is very attached to his mother, but certain incidents with other kids make him want to be as distant as possible from his Chinese mom. He demands that his mom converts to being a “normal” white American mom and that he and his family should give up all Asian customs. This beautiful story shows that selfishly basing your actions on the need to fit in can harm yourself and others.
I read the book “The Dead Lake” by Ismailov,Hamid, translated by Andrew Bromfield, that was published by (Pierene Press, 2014) with only 128 pages. The story is told about Yerzhan, the main character, who is a 12 year old boy that lives with his grandparents, mother and uncle in the remote town in Kazakhstan. It is told in third person, but we imagine ourselves in the position of the young boy. The town is old and nearly deserted as the only ones near are one neighbor and a train. His only surrounding is known as the Steppe, a deserted massive piece of land with an eerie sense. The steppe has many stories told about it to warn the children, it is also known as “The Zone”. The daughter of their only neighbor is the girl he always knew he would grow up to marry, especially with such few people. He knows what he wants and is driven to impress and win her over. The first part of the story describes the younger years of Yerzhan's life. Yerzhan is talented in music, and quickly learns to play the violin so well, but realizes that this talent will never be fully taken advantage of in his town, or even county. He is known as the talented musician, but what a shame he will not be acknowledged for it.
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).
A month later a boy of fifteen is on stage. He goes over the first few lines of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in his head, before he places his grafted hands on the keys. They land and start to play. But it's the wrong music. His fingers move with such an aptitude and speed that the boy closes his eyes and lets them go on. At first he doesn't notice the different tune. This song had been in his hands since he got them. But up until that very moment he had not been capable of naming what his hands had been playing, Prokofiev's Eighth Sonata.