Javier C. Hernández, Violinist Apologizes for ‘Culturally Insensitive’ Remarks About Asians, The New York Times, June 28, 2021.
...Zukerman angered many of the roughly 100 students and teachers in the class on Friday when he invoked racist stereotypes about Asians, leading Juilliard to decide not to share a video of his master class afterward with participants, as it had initially intended.
At one point, Zukerman told a pair of students of Asian descent that their playing was too perfect and that they needed to add soy sauce, according to two participants in the class. At another point, in trying to encourage the students to play more lyrically, he said he understood that people in Korea and Japan do not sing, participants said. His comments were reported earlier by Violinist.com, a music site.
Whoops! And now he digs in:
He made the remarks on Friday while offering feedback to a pair of sisters of Japanese descent.
After the sisters played a duet, Zukerman told them they should try bringing more of a singing quality to their playing, according to participants in the class. When he said that he knew Koreans did not sing, one of the sisters interrupted to say that they were not Korean, adding that they were partly of Japanese descent. Zukerman replied by saying that people in Japan did not sing either, according to participants.
He knows WHAT? Is that why K-Pop is taking the world by a storm, because Koreans don't sing?
I think he needs to take lessons from some of the young genius musicians Henry Lau has been working with. And then he needs to do penance by going on TwoSetViolin and successfully completing ALL the Ling Ling challenges. Word of advice: Dude, take your head out of your ass before you pick up the fiddle.
And, Mr. Zukerman, while you're at it, listen to some non-singing Koreans:
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Pinchas Zukerman: “What you need to understand is that we speak in English in a very different way than you speak in China. You understand? And that’s no fault of yours, that’s the way it is.”
— ninedragonspot (@ninedragonspot) June 29, 2021
[PZ does some faux-Chinese Ching-Chong talk]
PZ: “That’s not a violin sound.”
Scum. https://t.co/O9OnExCbpN pic.twitter.com/JuXcs065SV
If you scroll down through the comments you'll see that I've left a link to this whole master class.
* * * * *
Addendum: Posted to YouTube on July 13, 2021:
이스라엘 출신의 세계적인 바이올리니스트 핀커스 주커만이 지난달 미국 줄리어드 음악학교 온라인 강연에서 한 발언이 논란이 되고 있습니다. 아시아계 학생들을 비하하면서 특히 한국인들을 콕 집어 "한국인들은 노래하지 않는다. 한국인들에게는 노래하는 DNA가 없다"고 말한 건데요, 학교 측의 비공개 조치로 현재 강연 영상은 볼 수 없습니다. 하지만 당시 강연을 온라인으로 지켜봤던 미국인 바이올리니스트이자 저널리스트가 주커만의 인종차별적 발언들을 폭로했습니다. 당시 주커만이 어떤 말을 했고, 과거 이력은 어떤지, 소셜미디어 비디오머그에서 직접 확인해 보시죠.
영상취재 : 이상욱 / 편집 : 이기은 / 번역 : 인턴 신홍규
"한국인에겐 노래하는 DNA가 없다"는 발언의 목격자를 만났습니다 / 비디오머그
I'd add that the video pretty much speaks for itself.
Let TwoSet roast him!
ReplyDeleteOne of Zukerman's prodigies did a collabo with Henry; Sohyun Ko. Freestyling after she played Paganini. I wonder what she's thinking!
ReplyDeleteI know, Sally. I was thinking about that. Such a nasty thing to force on a 16 year old musician.
DeleteI think of the first masterclass I had to attend. At first when we were told we would be given a 'masterclass' and that it was a 'rare privalage' it was diffucult to work out why, the master certianly was but, in the previous two years had given two classes that did not have the same tag.
ReplyDeleteGetting to know you exercise. Clear him making an assesment.
Masterclass, you leave knowing something you did not, You also understand, you have been in the presesence of someone with the eyes of a hawk and experaince and knowledge far greater than you're own.
They are memorable things. What arts training does well, classes are formulated to be remembered (skill set the instuctors have, fudamental skill).
Insitutional fail. As these things are a vital part of the whole structure of learning.
It also will not be forgoten by the students, lessens occur in an unusual space, both terrifying and intimate.
Memorable, you do not forget the lesson.
I'd really like to see and hear a video of that masterclass. Zukerman's remarks – that Koreans and Japanese don't sing – is so egregiously stupid that I wonder if something fishy is going, something other than mere stupidity and prejudice. Here's a first-hand account from one Laurie Niles:
ReplyDeleteAt issue was his interaction with a set of young sisters, both born in New York and with a long set of accomplishments. They opened the master class with a performance from Spohr's "Duo Concertante." Symposium participants were given video of their performance in advance, so I actually watched that video before the master class. I noted that they "sounded like sisters singing together," their sound matched so beautifully as sisterly voices often do. They were playing by memory and had really mastered this complicated music and created a lot of great moments in their interactions, smiling at one another and truly playing as one. "I could listen all day," I wrote.
They played again live, at the beginning of the master class. "It's almost too perfect, I mean that as a compliment," Zukerman said. "Think less about how perfect to play and to play together, and more about phrasing. A little more vinegar - or soy sauce!" he laughed. "More singing, like an Italian overture."
They played some more, and he still wanted more expression.
"Too boxy - have fun!" he said. "The violin is a singing instrument, not a stringed instrument. There is nothing wrong with vibrato, there is nothing wrong with sliding. In fact I recommend it."
"Sometimes if you have a question about how to play it, sing it," he said. "I know in Korea they don't sing." He went on to talk about how wrong it is, that in Korea they don't sing. ...
He went on to talk about telling a story with one's playing, but it was hard to listen after this. This was a virtual event, but if I'm honest, if it had been live I would have stood up and walked out of the hall. Instead I lay down on the couch next to my computer and put my hands over my face as the class continued.
I'm wondering if, as Niles says, the performance was fine, technique and expression and together, and THAT's what bothered Zukerman. He couldn't deal with it and so made up some nonsense objection just to make an objection, in principle, to assert that he was indeed The Master.
I would say it goes with outsaying the players were very talented or they would not attract attention and comment, time sensitivity. They are rare events, even with a small amount of students, still very time limit.
ReplyDeleteReally with this kind of stuff, you are not going to hit it with out a lot of stoping and starting.
Stop do it again, stop, again. It can be rather brutal. Realy you have to learn for youreself.
If it had not hit the mark the crit should come in the final note, after performance.
Effectivly what is expected, is a performance that equals the greatest. That is the standard. You can't turn that on a dime, through a simple direction, it has to be played out and found.
Masterclasses we had were small and class sized. Not sure but I don't think this was, so an element of display, although here more an act of indecent exposure.
Really you are there to learn you're craft, its not pretty, most of the important stuff is non-verbal. level of intamacy required. I don't see how you do that as part of a public display.
Requires trust.
"Not sure but I don't think this was, so an element of display, although here more an act of indecent exposure."
DeleteI'm not even sure Zukerman was in the same room with the performers. From Niles' account: At the end of their segment he bid them goodbye and added, "I hope I can see you one day in person so I can give you a big hug."
This seems more like what you're talking about: Music: Ride the Lizard, Valkyrie, Ride It!
From the author's account, she liked that they sound "sisterly". A beautiful tone isn't enough in itself to produce music that sings; the phrasing has to exhibit give and take with the listeners. Unfortunately, it is very possible that the performance expected -- the greatest, as Jeb says -- is difficult to attain if the sisters are so attuned to each other that they are more audience to the piece and each other than playing to the audience outside themselves. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteNo, the phrasing is about the internal logic of the music and has nothing to do with the listeners.
DeleteIt seems Zukerman has been saying such things for awhile. One of the commenters on Niles' column mentioned this passage from a 2019 interview:
ReplyDeleteI think there have always been child prodigies ... People like Horowitz, Rubinstein, Rachmaninoff, Heifetz, these were all great prodigies. Probably in some ways they were even more amazing than those today, because they came from a culture that already understood the inner workings of music and art. Because of where it comes from: Europe, Russia—that’s where the music came from. Not India, or Japan, or Korea. It came from those countries and therefore those prodigies were amazing. They still are! Beethoven, Mozart—these are huge prodigies. They are the ones who have really cultivated the Western hemisphere in the last 500 years to make us who we are today as a society.
Here's a video of Zukerman giving a master class of the kind you mention, Jeb.
ReplyDeleteThere's some remark about China at 7 or 8 minutes in, but we get more extensive remarks at the end, starting at about 31 minutes (it's marked on the video page).
DeleteJudging from remarks I've seen on Twitter, these attitudes from Zukerman have been an open secret in the string world for years.