Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Los Angeles is witness to the prevalence of Asian/Asian American students in local elite music academies and university Schools of Music, and the dominance of Asian (mostly Chinese or Chinese American) winners in local Western classical music competitions. How can one account for this success in an art form that is so far removed from Asian immigrant native culture(s)? One reason may be that Confucian-influenced Asian culture is discipline-oriented, and Asian/Asian American parents often mandate their children to undertake training in skill acquisition and self-discipline through learning and excelling on a Western instrument. Although Mari Yoshihara echoes the old chestnut that “Asians’ success in this field…exemplifies their assimilation into Euroamerican culture” (Yoshihara 3), this does not account for social realities. This paper considers how excelling in what is considered an elitist art form further sets Asian youth apart from their non-Asian classmates. This feeds into the established stereotype of the Asian model minority, and as a consequence Asian immigrant children are often perceived to be further removed from mainstream American popular youth culture.