June 15, 2023 • 34 mins
In honor of Father’s Day, we’re taking a break from regular programming to celebrate my Sound Engineer, and new dad, Shen! Short of having a producer, Shen is my sounding board. He has listened to every episode in draft format.
Middle Voice is an article and podcast episode I published with the Arizona Daily Star earlier in the year and part of a series, Dacapo Presents, that Shen and I collaborate on in our "spare hours."
Please enjoy!
Cashing our Trillions is Hosted and Produced by Common Solutions Media and Yvonne So. You can connect with me on Instagram @yso_mom, LinkedIn @yvonnecot, or e-mail me at cashingourtrillions@gmail.com
Sound Engineering by Tiezheng Shen. You can reach him at dacapopresents@gmail.com
Cover artwork graphic design by Jessie Li. You can reach her at jessieli.pers@gmail.com
Please subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you loved what you heard, please leave a review.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hi, their family. Today we're taking a break from regular
programming to acknowledge the dads who make catching our trillions possible.
What's that saying? Behind every great female podcaster is an
amazing male sound engineer. That is absolutely the case with me.
This past year, I spent many production hours in Shen's
(00:28):
home studio in early days, craddling his napping baby while
he balanced my tracks. Very on brand for catching our
trillions right the short of having a producer, Sen is
my sounding board. He has listened to every episode in
draft format. I remember when his baby was just a
couple months old, we're editing the Mallory McMorrow episode, and
(00:50):
when Mallory spoke about her postpartum experience, Shan listened so
intently and afterwards just visibly touched comment on how impactful
Mallory's candor was for him or a ragtag team. Shen
(01:12):
is a viola professor by day and a mic judge
enthusiast by night. So if it were up to him,
I would have at least one King of the Hill
or Beavis and butt Head clip in every episode. So
in honor of Father's Day, get to know my sound guy,
A new dad Shen. Middle Voice is an article and
(01:32):
podcast episode we published with The Arizona Daily Star earlier
in the year and part of our series Dacappo presents
Shen and I collaborate on in our quote unquote spare time,
Happy Father's Day to all the dads and father figures
in my life, and please enjoy Middle Voice. Bolis Tia
(02:19):
jung Chen and his wife pianist Jia jin Ka performed
the piece Estelita, translated as Little Star by the Mexican
composer Manuel Ponce, most noted for his ability to connect
the concert hall to the world of Mexican folk songs.
(02:53):
It's a traditional Mexican piece of love and yearning. Come
down and tell me that you love me just little,
because I cannot live without your love. Shen, who since
moving to the US, goes by his surname for simplicity,
(03:13):
and MITSI cannot bear to listen to the song because
it makes him miss Mexico and his Mexican friends, a
love cultivated through repeat trips to Mexico City since twenty seventeen.
For It started as viola master classes for Mexican and
Central American students who cannot afford international travel to viola Voice.
(03:34):
The largest viola festival in the region. Asilita is a
testament to the idea that music truly has no borders.
As a piece is also evocative of Home to Shen.
(04:01):
A song written in Spanish by twentieth century Mexican composer
speaks of home to millennial Chinese violist born on the
coast of China, an ocean and eight thousand miles away.
(04:28):
This story begins in Qingdao, China, a coastal city literally
meaning a zoor island in Chinese in the eastern Shandong
Province of China.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Because I think because of German occupation, that's why, that's
why Chindau is more western, it's not.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
The city's historic German style architecture and Qingdao Brewery, the
second largest brewery in China, are legacies of the German
occupation from eighteen ninety eight to nineteen fourteen and a
coincidental nod to the nationality of Shen's favorite composer, Paul
hindemanth a German violist, conductor, and composer. One of Shen's
(05:20):
earliest memories is as a kindergartener being sent down the
street with five rimmen be or less than one US
dollar to fetch a fresh beer for his father.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
A beer factory actually has three different locations and all
the facilities are different because they are the same formula.
But my grandfather only drinks the beer from the number
one factory, which is a German belt factory.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Chindau beer was produced at three different factories in town,
with locals developing a distinct preference and taste for a
certain factory, so much so that the patriarch of Shen's family,
his grandfather, a Ministry of Natural Resource official, used to
tease his son or Shen's father, that his taste for
factory one Chin Dauber was the cause of his own
(06:07):
inferior rank. While Shen lived and grew up in China,
he describes his upbringing as metropolitan surrounded by Bavarian architecture
that in the winter resembled more of an old world
European town than a bustling Chinese city.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Walk further, for extra tenment is that another timmin is
you can see this beautiful cathedral the German built ones. Yeah,
and my house is the house I grew up was
actually a German.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
German growing up on China's Yellow Seacoast. Shen was the
only son of a family of oceanographers, and since he
could remember, he wanted to follow in his family's footsteps
and eventually pursue a career in the sciences.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I never thought about to become a musician. I always
wanted to winning like a Nobel prize. Science. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Shan's parents loved music, and while his mother tried to
steer him towards Urhu, a two string bow Chinese vertical fiddle,
Shan not having more strings to play as in the
case of the violin, would be more challenging for.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Me to grow up learning violin instead of our Who.
My teacher wants to find someone to start Urho and
call my mom said do you want your son to
play our Who? And my mom told me, do you
want to play ur Who? I said, no, only two strings,
it's not challenging enough. I remember my teacher's household was
very close to me, so Saturday morning, eight o'clock I
(07:39):
had to hold this violin case and walk to his
place and walk back an hour later.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
While Shan started playing the violin at the age of eight,
it wasn't until he was sent off to a boarding
high school and the village outskirts at Chin Dau, but
he began pursuing music seriously. Being away from his family
for the first time and experiencing a more rural lifestyle,
(08:07):
Shen stood out from his peers.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I wanted to sund me to a boarding school, but
the only countryside has boarding schools, and I was in
my class sixty students. I was the only one from
the city, and I looked different, I talk different, and
so that's why I.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Was which ultimately led to bullying. Shen sought refuge in
the music room, sometimes surreptitiously spending the night in the
music building with the lights off to avoid detection. There
he spent hours and nights immersed in playing and listening
to violin concertos. In his darkest childhood moments, Shan found
(08:46):
peace and a home in music.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I decided to to play violin for the rest of
my life because it's peaceful.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Chen moved to Shanghai a continuous violin and later developed
an instant love for the viola. During this time at
the music conservatory, a chance audition with conductor Israel gets
off and I may add questionable attire would change Shen's
life Forever and transplant this Chinese boy from chin Dau
(09:23):
to Central Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I asked you, Easy, I said, do you need a viewless?
Easy said, yes, how about your play for me? Just
as an audition? Easy, do you remember the twenty ten
I auditioned for you the Bartokovula Concerto? Remember the shirt
I was wearing the s There was.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
A was it like a playboy body shirt or something
like that. Yeah, that's right. But you know, that's what's
about going to a different culture. You know, you have
no expectations, so you know, you meet somebody who knows
what what they're going to wear, or what they're going
to say, or how they're going to stand or who knows,
But you just have to wait for them to put
(10:07):
their instruments, you know, on their chin and make some sound,
because that's sort of the moment of truth. But that's
one of the fun things about working inter culturally in
music is that.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Chen spent two years in Central Arkansas performing in gets
Off's orchestra, immersing himself in American life, improving his English,
and teaching music to local Central Arkansas elementary school students
through the Community School of Music at UCA program.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Music, which is my English, wasn't very good. But I
told a whole bunch of Arkansas kids. That was over
ten years ago, and then I came to Arizonta.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
He also fell in love with the natural beauty of
the Ozarks, dreaming of returning one day to buy a
house on the Arkansas River. Chen next moved to Tucson, Arizona,
to finish his masters and his Doctor of Music Arts
at the University of Arizona under Professor holm Shall. In
(11:12):
twenty sixteen, another chance encounter, this time initiated with small
talk in the orchestra practice room with Master Ahala Medina,
resulted in Medina extending an invitation to sn to teach
master classes and perform as a guest artist of Universitidad
Nacional Autonamo de Mexico in Mexico City.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It was very challenging back then because I've never been
to Mexico before, even didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
The news painted a mixed picture of Mexico, and the
twenty sixteen cries of wall building and a dangerous border
made Sheen a bit nervous to travel across the southern border. Moreover,
he was worried about the language barrier and not being
able to communicate with locals beyond his ability to order
five fief tongue tans.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And because I couldn't count in Spanish, the only thing
I could have count that was up to was to
five the sinko. Because I could only eat five tacos
lingua tacos. That's only Spanish, I know, because taco was
my favorite taco and I could only eat five all
(12:27):
of them, so sinco in Gataco.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Shan's preconceptions before arriving in Mexico were quickly dispelled when
On hel met him at the airport reception from when
he landed to departure on how his family and his
friends welcoup sheen with Mexican hospitality of Mikasa is sukasa, luga.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Is in craveless Parakomedi p Mexico is moan.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
With Shan leaving Mexico with a room in his new
friend David's house.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He called the room Shin's room. Every year, I actually
stay in the same room in David's house. It feels
like home is my own home. And I started to
unpack my luggage in the room. Have my viewla there
and the two K music stand put into my room
and so I could practice there. It wasn't a big room,
(13:25):
but it is definitely my favorite room in Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Jan recalls his first trip to Mexico City, where his
schedule was packed with solo concert on Thursday night weekends, sightseeing,
visiting on house friends and local markets, fallow by second
week of weekday teachings with another Thursday night concert with
a whole new repertoire. Jan also made it a point
to extend his public master classes by fifteen to thirty
(13:54):
minutes for each public member who did not have a
chance to sign up for lessons but wanted a consulting.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Most festiful students were signed up like ahead of the time,
and so I healy official schedule, But there are students
that didn't have a chance to sign up, or couldn't
sign up, or even didn't know what it was about
to happen. So but I still shared time for them
(14:23):
every day after the official master class in sometimes fifteen
minutes each, sometimes twenty minutes each. That I tried to
cover as more students as possible every time. When in
Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Well, he remembers being exhausted with the travel and pack schedule.
The experience was completely invigorating and transformative for Shan. That's
when Shan and Medina came up with the idea to
expand the event and create a local viola festival for
students who cannot afford international travel. In twenty eighteen, Viola Voice,
(14:58):
the largest Internet national viola festival in Central and South America,
was born. Shannon Medina wanted to bring a literal voice
to viola's and to showcase the unique voice the instrument
and its players.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Well, I.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Think I always think in the voice of the viola.
I love the name because I always think in The
important characteristic of the instrument is his voice.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
When you mentioned a solo instrument, people normally first they
think of a violin or cello or piano. Those are
the solo instruments, but viola is not. Viola is the
middle voice of any ensembles. Like if you have a
string horthead, we have a middle voice. And if you
have a there's a orchestra, we have the middle voice.
(15:56):
We don't get shared a lot of melody, So the
viola is a harmonic failure. But there's a large collection
of solo viola repertoire so that violists can explore and
to perform, and so this repertoire is actually represents our voice.
(16:18):
Tried to move Anthona, tried to come up with a
name for our festival. The first thing came into our
mind almost instantly, at the same time as like, how
about something about the voice of the viola. Then we
came with this title called the Viola Voice. It's easier
to read and it's easier to remember.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
The following year, twenty nineteen, Conservatorio Nationale the Musica Mexico
joined his team and hosted half the event. Every year
that Shann traveled to Mexico City, Paulina, a local violist,
would attend his master classes.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
I am Paulina Cassas. I'm from Mixed City. I started
to play the piano when I was little, and then
I asked to my mother to buy me a violin
and I started to play the violin, and thirteen years old,
(17:18):
a little bit late for my age.
Speaker 7 (17:21):
At twenty twenty twenty one years old, I think twenty
one years old, tried with viola and I like a lot.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
For the first time that I started to play, it
was so so amazing for me. I am in love
with the sound.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And Paulina, too shy to communicate with her very limited English,
mostly communicated through her mom and a translator. Sean recalls
she started attending his master classes in twenty sixteen, and
she showed up for every single.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Student I heard. The very first person I heard to play,
the first one signed up for the maths class was Paulina.
I remember she didn't know any English. She was with
her mom. Walked into the concert hall and her mom
said hello, and she said all.
Speaker 6 (18:21):
I met Professor Sen in the first year of Viola Boys,
and I told him that I went to study at
the university and be a professional. And he listened to me.
And in that year I entered to the university in
(18:47):
Mexico City and I improved a lot. I mean, she
know me a lot since.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Years ago.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
Go and also with Chien, every year that he came
to Mexico City, I learned uh of him and I
am really enthusiastic for for listening to him to what
he's doing with the viola.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Paulina was a regular viola voice. Ellie had prior orchestra
obligations and could not travel from Puebla to Mexico City
to attentions master classes.
Speaker 8 (19:32):
My name is Elizabeth Calixto. I am from Puebla City.
My violin teacher showed me and spoke to me about
the viola and one time he uh permitted to play
(19:53):
with his viola and I really love the sound of
the instrument.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Ellie was able to get a spot when another artist
dropped out last minute.
Speaker 8 (20:07):
Like two years after during the pandemic in the Viola
Boys Festival online, I had the opportunity to meet to
Shene because one of the members' participants of the Viola
Boys didn't come to the to the class and I
(20:32):
had the opportunity to play.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yes, I remember, I remember someone sugned up and our
played and oh no, I remember that.
Speaker 8 (20:48):
I remember that I started with the viola when I
had nineteen years old? Hi or so yes, Shen, when
did you start viola?
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Nineteen two? So you guys all did you start violin?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
So everyone started violin viola okay, and then all of
were you the same, like once you touch the viola,
you love your sound, just like Paulina and Nellie.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
It was the same.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
In a full circle life moment, Shen is now an
adjunct FIOLA professor and recording studio manager at the University
of Central Arkansas, and Paulina and Ellie, the two Mexican
students who Sheen met at Viola Voice in Mexico City,
continue their master's studies with Shen at the University of Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
That's why, you know, that's why I think, that's why
I'm so comfortable to fitting in to the faculty right away.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Because every two weeks, Shen, a resident of Tucson and
a new dad of a six month old baby, travels
to UCA to instruct Paulina and Ellie. It's usually an
entire day's travel for him, which includes at lest he
is one airplane layover, but he makes sure to maximize
their time together.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
The flight going to be arrive I think four pm,
so I can get to campus at about five, so
we can have actually have dinner together that day, and
then we can move our lessons from Wednesday morning to
Tuesday night. Okay, so then we first lesson on Tuesday
(22:27):
night and Wednesday I'll let you practice on your own,
and then Thursday morning before I leave, so we can
have another lesson to check the progress during you know,
these two days.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
For Shan, he feels like he is extending the same
opportunities afforded him fifteen years ago when Izzy gets off
brought him to UCA, and this is his chance to
continue and pass on the legacy of contemporary composers to
the next generation of you, O list because you.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Know music is so I get you us on the
knowledge generation by generation, and like, actually, when you think
that this year is twenty twenty two, but we are
not far from the from the last few generations. If
you think of a part of the pass away in
the nineteen forties.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Music created by late twentieth Central European composers studied and
preserved by Chinese violis in the US. Now passing is
knowledge to Mexican students who hope to one day return
to Mexico City to deepen and share this repertoire across
Central and South America. Similar to Shen's own predicament, Paulina
(23:41):
knew that she would have the best opportunities to further
her studies outside of Mexico.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Now, the repertoire that I am playing with Professor Sian,
it's not to really common to play in Mexico. I
really would like to play in good orchestra. Maybe in Mexico,
definitely one of my jaensits. It could be come back
to my university in Mexico City and teach all that
(24:11):
I learned here, because we need a lot.
Speaker 8 (24:14):
Of good, good.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
Professors and good musicians in Mexico.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
The path from Puebla to Conway was rife with paperwork,
visa waits, and last minute domestic travel for Elie.
Speaker 8 (24:27):
Both my papers was delayed with the school, but the date,
the limit date was really near. I don't know if
I can go to the Arkansas because.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I really.
Speaker 8 (24:52):
I don't know if they accept will accept my papers
or not. It was so conf hues.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
But when Ellie realized the wait time for student visa
went get her to Arkansas and time for the first
day of school, she made arrangements to fly to Monterey,
Mexico for interview and visa processing.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Then I asked her to text me every day in
the morning to make sure she's safe, because I worried
it is not safe to travel by herself.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh did you traveled all by herself?
Speaker 8 (25:24):
Yes? Yes, by myself yes.
Speaker 9 (25:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
And because the Mexico City the waiting waiting time was
a three months so no way for her.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
To It was faster the process through Monterey. Yeah, but
it's additional costs for you too, right to go because
you had to fly to Monterey and everything.
Speaker 8 (25:43):
Yes, because Monterey is really so far from.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
My Ellie and Paulina are also very aware of the
personal and financial sacrifices of their families, who are wholly
supporting their daughters in whatever way they can hand. For Ellie,
in addition to improving her viola skills, she believes this
time at UCA and in America will also help her
broaden her personal horizons and help her in her personal growth.
Speaker 8 (26:13):
But my family really support me to do all all
the paper only things. They were really helpful for me.
They are so important for me, and I'm grateful with
(26:34):
my family.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
I think that I've heard that again and again from
our international students that coming to coming to school in America,
coming to school here at UCA, even in this little burg,
that it has grown them as people. And I think
that they've become people of the world in the greatest
set the sense of that. And I need to say
(27:02):
to your listeners, my hat is off to anyone who
comes to a foreign country and learns in a language
that is not their home, you know, not their native
tom and they have to do it at a university levels.
It's unimaginable to me, who was born and raised in
(27:23):
America in an English speaking person.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Doctor Play is equally keen on having Eli and Paulina
in the music program, and he's quick to point out
that education is a two way street. That while Elli
and Paulina are receiving music instructions in the US, their
presence on campus, their dedication to music and to furthering
their music studies, also elevates the music program at UCA.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
And so we are better for the multiculturism that we're
experiencing here and that these two young ladies from Mexico
are bringing here. We are better for them being here,
not just them better. You know, they already were. They
already gifted and talented, and Shen's had a lot to
do with they're coming along before they got here. But
(28:11):
I've asked them if they're if they have found a
home here, you know they have. They are very comfortable,
they feel at home here. I think that Shen has
done a good job though of inculcating them into Conway
and helping them because in the.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Time I speak to Elliot and Paulina, they always focus
on the positives, and even when I prod them with
questions of the obvious difficulties of adjusting to Southern American life,
they're quick to remind me of the rich community of
international students they have befriended on campus. And it may
seem that Conway, Arkansas, a town of sixty thousand residents,
(28:47):
is an unlikely and improbable place for foreign artists to thrive.
But after speaking to doctor Plat and hearing about how
intentional he is about making the UCA Music program a
home for all, it's certainly is positioned to be a
global hub for music.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
You know, I think that people would be I don't know,
impressed it is the right word, but they would maybe
be surprised at the level of internationalism of our town
and the numbers of corporations and companies manufacturers who are
right here in the surrounding area, and the various things
that they make, and the various skills that they're looking for.
(29:27):
But we are also an international culture, and you know,
Mexico is really important to us right now, and partly
because of Shen's work, but Mexico is important because we're
building a fabric of shared experiences. And I'm an absolutist.
Music is worthy of study for its own sake, not
(29:48):
because it makes us better poets or better mathematicians, or
I think it does all those things. It lends to
this hemispheric learning experience that makes us better as a people.
But I also believe in preserving and replicating and re
re performing the greatest of the minds of the world.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
So amazing because someday you you can meet another person
and that born in another country and you and in music,
it's really beautiful because we can communicate with with music
and with a lot of traditions that we sometimes even
(30:45):
can talk about it just playing. And that's the power
of the music, that we can be connected around the
world from different countries. And that's so, so, so beautiful
too with musicians, and it's like a global language.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
A global language. Shn Ellie and Paulina have mastered and
communicate fluently in While bits of their verbal communications are
lost in translation, once they pick up their bows, the
barriers melt and no translation is needed. On the week
SHN is in Tucson, they meet via zoom Shen's instructions
(31:28):
extend beyond the viola. He also helps Paulina and Ellie
budget for everyday life in the US, prepare for their
housing situations next year, and encourages them to participate in
our ubiquitous American fall customs, like spending a day at
the pumpkin patch.
Speaker 9 (31:45):
Any plans for the full break it study? No, no, no,
that's you can all do that, okay. Any want to
take take YouTube somewhere to visit Arkansas or maybe Memphis, Texas?
Anyone the full season Like now, it's really the best
(32:07):
time to travel around Arkansas because all the leaves are
turning golden yellow color and the red right, and the
weather's cooling down so quickly.
Speaker 5 (32:18):
There.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
The three also laps into talk of Mexico Vshen. You
can hear his wanderlust and a longing to get back
to the city that holds such dear place in his
heart and for Pauline and Ellie, and excitement to share
stories of their homeland with someone who treasures it as
much as them.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
So I need to remember this. So what is in
Coyo can right? Mexico City? Yes?
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
So you see, people doesn't have to be rich to
enjoy music, right, I remember first time when I went
to Mexico City. Do you remember what is an instrument?
Is called you? You're rolling a like a musical box.
Speaker 6 (32:58):
It's like my love.
Speaker 7 (33:01):
America.
Speaker 5 (33:03):
I love it and I talked to them about this
all the time. If you dream it, you can do
it here. And I think that's the American experience. It
is hopefully will always be a land of opportunity and
the ability to become what you dream.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
When I was at boarding school, I just wanted to
play music the rest of my life, and now I'm
teaching music in the US. This is a mold on
my dream come true.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
This episode was produced by me and sound edited by
Shan cashing Our Trillions is part of the Seneca Women
Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. If you have a story to share,
please email us at Cachingurtrillions at gmail dot com. Make
sure you subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app
(34:02):
or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you liked
what you heard, please take a moment to rate and
review it. It would really mean so much to me.
Thank you for listening.
Hi, their family. Today we're taking a break from regular
programming to acknowledge the dads who make catching our trillions possible.
What's that saying? Behind every great female podcaster is an
amazing male sound engineer. That is absolutely the case with me.
This past year, I spent many production hours in Shen's
(00:28):
home studio in early days, craddling his napping baby while
he balanced my tracks. Very on brand for catching our
trillions right the short of having a producer, Sen is
my sounding board. He has listened to every episode in
draft format. I remember when his baby was just a
couple months old, we're editing the Mallory McMorrow episode, and
(00:50):
when Mallory spoke about her postpartum experience, Shan listened so
intently and afterwards just visibly touched comment on how impactful
Mallory's candor was for him or a ragtag team. Shen
(01:12):
is a viola professor by day and a mic judge
enthusiast by night. So if it were up to him,
I would have at least one King of the Hill
or Beavis and butt Head clip in every episode. So
in honor of Father's Day, get to know my sound guy,
A new dad Shen. Middle Voice is an article and
(01:32):
podcast episode we published with The Arizona Daily Star earlier
in the year and part of our series Dacappo presents
Shen and I collaborate on in our quote unquote spare time,
Happy Father's Day to all the dads and father figures
in my life, and please enjoy Middle Voice. Bolis Tia
(02:19):
jung Chen and his wife pianist Jia jin Ka performed
the piece Estelita, translated as Little Star by the Mexican
composer Manuel Ponce, most noted for his ability to connect
the concert hall to the world of Mexican folk songs.
(02:53):
It's a traditional Mexican piece of love and yearning. Come
down and tell me that you love me just little,
because I cannot live without your love. Shen, who since
moving to the US, goes by his surname for simplicity,
(03:13):
and MITSI cannot bear to listen to the song because
it makes him miss Mexico and his Mexican friends, a
love cultivated through repeat trips to Mexico City since twenty seventeen.
For It started as viola master classes for Mexican and
Central American students who cannot afford international travel to viola Voice.
(03:34):
The largest viola festival in the region. Asilita is a
testament to the idea that music truly has no borders.
As a piece is also evocative of Home to Shen.
(04:01):
A song written in Spanish by twentieth century Mexican composer
speaks of home to millennial Chinese violist born on the
coast of China, an ocean and eight thousand miles away.
(04:28):
This story begins in Qingdao, China, a coastal city literally
meaning a zoor island in Chinese in the eastern Shandong
Province of China.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Because I think because of German occupation, that's why, that's
why Chindau is more western, it's not.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
The city's historic German style architecture and Qingdao Brewery, the
second largest brewery in China, are legacies of the German
occupation from eighteen ninety eight to nineteen fourteen and a
coincidental nod to the nationality of Shen's favorite composer, Paul
hindemanth a German violist, conductor, and composer. One of Shen's
(05:20):
earliest memories is as a kindergartener being sent down the
street with five rimmen be or less than one US
dollar to fetch a fresh beer for his father.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
A beer factory actually has three different locations and all
the facilities are different because they are the same formula.
But my grandfather only drinks the beer from the number
one factory, which is a German belt factory.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Chindau beer was produced at three different factories in town,
with locals developing a distinct preference and taste for a
certain factory, so much so that the patriarch of Shen's family,
his grandfather, a Ministry of Natural Resource official, used to
tease his son or Shen's father, that his taste for
factory one Chin Dauber was the cause of his own
(06:07):
inferior rank. While Shen lived and grew up in China,
he describes his upbringing as metropolitan surrounded by Bavarian architecture
that in the winter resembled more of an old world
European town than a bustling Chinese city.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Walk further, for extra tenment is that another timmin is
you can see this beautiful cathedral the German built ones. Yeah,
and my house is the house I grew up was
actually a German.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
German growing up on China's Yellow Seacoast. Shen was the
only son of a family of oceanographers, and since he
could remember, he wanted to follow in his family's footsteps
and eventually pursue a career in the sciences.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
I never thought about to become a musician. I always
wanted to winning like a Nobel prize. Science. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Shan's parents loved music, and while his mother tried to
steer him towards Urhu, a two string bow Chinese vertical fiddle,
Shan not having more strings to play as in the
case of the violin, would be more challenging for.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
Me to grow up learning violin instead of our Who.
My teacher wants to find someone to start Urho and
call my mom said do you want your son to
play our Who? And my mom told me, do you
want to play ur Who? I said, no, only two strings,
it's not challenging enough. I remember my teacher's household was
very close to me, so Saturday morning, eight o'clock I
(07:39):
had to hold this violin case and walk to his
place and walk back an hour later.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
While Shan started playing the violin at the age of eight,
it wasn't until he was sent off to a boarding
high school and the village outskirts at Chin Dau, but
he began pursuing music seriously. Being away from his family
for the first time and experiencing a more rural lifestyle,
(08:07):
Shen stood out from his peers.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I wanted to sund me to a boarding school, but
the only countryside has boarding schools, and I was in
my class sixty students. I was the only one from
the city, and I looked different, I talk different, and
so that's why I.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
Was which ultimately led to bullying. Shen sought refuge in
the music room, sometimes surreptitiously spending the night in the
music building with the lights off to avoid detection. There
he spent hours and nights immersed in playing and listening
to violin concertos. In his darkest childhood moments, Shan found
(08:46):
peace and a home in music.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I decided to to play violin for the rest of
my life because it's peaceful.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Chen moved to Shanghai a continuous violin and later developed
an instant love for the viola. During this time at
the music conservatory, a chance audition with conductor Israel gets
off and I may add questionable attire would change Shen's
life Forever and transplant this Chinese boy from chin Dau
(09:23):
to Central Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
I asked you, Easy, I said, do you need a viewless?
Easy said, yes, how about your play for me? Just
as an audition? Easy, do you remember the twenty ten
I auditioned for you the Bartokovula Concerto? Remember the shirt
I was wearing the s There was.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
A was it like a playboy body shirt or something
like that. Yeah, that's right. But you know, that's what's
about going to a different culture. You know, you have
no expectations, so you know, you meet somebody who knows
what what they're going to wear, or what they're going
to say, or how they're going to stand or who knows,
But you just have to wait for them to put
(10:07):
their instruments, you know, on their chin and make some sound,
because that's sort of the moment of truth. But that's
one of the fun things about working inter culturally in
music is that.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
Chen spent two years in Central Arkansas performing in gets
Off's orchestra, immersing himself in American life, improving his English,
and teaching music to local Central Arkansas elementary school students
through the Community School of Music at UCA program.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
Music, which is my English, wasn't very good. But I
told a whole bunch of Arkansas kids. That was over
ten years ago, and then I came to Arizonta.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
He also fell in love with the natural beauty of
the Ozarks, dreaming of returning one day to buy a
house on the Arkansas River. Chen next moved to Tucson, Arizona,
to finish his masters and his Doctor of Music Arts
at the University of Arizona under Professor holm Shall. In
(11:12):
twenty sixteen, another chance encounter, this time initiated with small
talk in the orchestra practice room with Master Ahala Medina,
resulted in Medina extending an invitation to sn to teach
master classes and perform as a guest artist of Universitidad
Nacional Autonamo de Mexico in Mexico City.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
It was very challenging back then because I've never been
to Mexico before, even didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
The news painted a mixed picture of Mexico, and the
twenty sixteen cries of wall building and a dangerous border
made Sheen a bit nervous to travel across the southern border. Moreover,
he was worried about the language barrier and not being
able to communicate with locals beyond his ability to order
five fief tongue tans.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
And because I couldn't count in Spanish, the only thing
I could have count that was up to was to
five the sinko. Because I could only eat five tacos
lingua tacos. That's only Spanish, I know, because taco was
my favorite taco and I could only eat five all
(12:27):
of them, so sinco in Gataco.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Shan's preconceptions before arriving in Mexico were quickly dispelled when
On hel met him at the airport reception from when
he landed to departure on how his family and his
friends welcoup sheen with Mexican hospitality of Mikasa is sukasa, luga.
Speaker 4 (12:50):
Is in craveless Parakomedi p Mexico is moan.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
With Shan leaving Mexico with a room in his new
friend David's house.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
He called the room Shin's room. Every year, I actually
stay in the same room in David's house. It feels
like home is my own home. And I started to
unpack my luggage in the room. Have my viewla there
and the two K music stand put into my room
and so I could practice there. It wasn't a big room,
(13:25):
but it is definitely my favorite room in Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Jan recalls his first trip to Mexico City, where his
schedule was packed with solo concert on Thursday night weekends, sightseeing,
visiting on house friends and local markets, fallow by second
week of weekday teachings with another Thursday night concert with
a whole new repertoire. Jan also made it a point
to extend his public master classes by fifteen to thirty
(13:54):
minutes for each public member who did not have a
chance to sign up for lessons but wanted a consulting.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Most festiful students were signed up like ahead of the time,
and so I healy official schedule, But there are students
that didn't have a chance to sign up, or couldn't
sign up, or even didn't know what it was about
to happen. So but I still shared time for them
(14:23):
every day after the official master class in sometimes fifteen
minutes each, sometimes twenty minutes each. That I tried to
cover as more students as possible every time. When in
Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Well, he remembers being exhausted with the travel and pack schedule.
The experience was completely invigorating and transformative for Shan. That's
when Shan and Medina came up with the idea to
expand the event and create a local viola festival for
students who cannot afford international travel. In twenty eighteen, Viola Voice,
(14:58):
the largest Internet national viola festival in Central and South America,
was born. Shannon Medina wanted to bring a literal voice
to viola's and to showcase the unique voice the instrument
and its players.
Speaker 5 (15:14):
Well, I.
Speaker 4 (15:16):
Think I always think in the voice of the viola.
I love the name because I always think in The
important characteristic of the instrument is his voice.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
When you mentioned a solo instrument, people normally first they
think of a violin or cello or piano. Those are
the solo instruments, but viola is not. Viola is the
middle voice of any ensembles. Like if you have a
string horthead, we have a middle voice. And if you
have a there's a orchestra, we have the middle voice.
(15:56):
We don't get shared a lot of melody, So the
viola is a harmonic failure. But there's a large collection
of solo viola repertoire so that violists can explore and
to perform, and so this repertoire is actually represents our voice.
(16:18):
Tried to move Anthona, tried to come up with a
name for our festival. The first thing came into our
mind almost instantly, at the same time as like, how
about something about the voice of the viola. Then we
came with this title called the Viola Voice. It's easier
to read and it's easier to remember.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
The following year, twenty nineteen, Conservatorio Nationale the Musica Mexico
joined his team and hosted half the event. Every year
that Shann traveled to Mexico City, Paulina, a local violist,
would attend his master classes.
Speaker 6 (16:57):
I am Paulina Cassas. I'm from Mixed City. I started
to play the piano when I was little, and then
I asked to my mother to buy me a violin
and I started to play the violin, and thirteen years old,
(17:18):
a little bit late for my age.
Speaker 7 (17:21):
At twenty twenty twenty one years old, I think twenty
one years old, tried with viola and I like a lot.
Speaker 6 (17:34):
For the first time that I started to play, it
was so so amazing for me. I am in love
with the sound.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
And Paulina, too shy to communicate with her very limited English,
mostly communicated through her mom and a translator. Sean recalls
she started attending his master classes in twenty sixteen, and
she showed up for every single.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Student I heard. The very first person I heard to play,
the first one signed up for the maths class was Paulina.
I remember she didn't know any English. She was with
her mom. Walked into the concert hall and her mom
said hello, and she said all.
Speaker 6 (18:21):
I met Professor Sen in the first year of Viola Boys,
and I told him that I went to study at
the university and be a professional. And he listened to me.
And in that year I entered to the university in
(18:47):
Mexico City and I improved a lot. I mean, she
know me a lot since.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Years ago.
Speaker 6 (19:00):
Go and also with Chien, every year that he came
to Mexico City, I learned uh of him and I
am really enthusiastic for for listening to him to what
he's doing with the viola.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Paulina was a regular viola voice. Ellie had prior orchestra
obligations and could not travel from Puebla to Mexico City
to attentions master classes.
Speaker 8 (19:32):
My name is Elizabeth Calixto. I am from Puebla City.
My violin teacher showed me and spoke to me about
the viola and one time he uh permitted to play
(19:53):
with his viola and I really love the sound of
the instrument.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Ellie was able to get a spot when another artist
dropped out last minute.
Speaker 8 (20:07):
Like two years after during the pandemic in the Viola
Boys Festival online, I had the opportunity to meet to
Shene because one of the members' participants of the Viola
Boys didn't come to the to the class and I
(20:32):
had the opportunity to play.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yes, I remember, I remember someone sugned up and our
played and oh no, I remember that.
Speaker 8 (20:48):
I remember that I started with the viola when I
had nineteen years old? Hi or so yes, Shen, when
did you start viola?
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Nineteen two? So you guys all did you start violin?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (21:08):
So everyone started violin viola okay, and then all of
were you the same, like once you touch the viola,
you love your sound, just like Paulina and Nellie.
Speaker 2 (21:20):
It was the same.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
In a full circle life moment, Shen is now an
adjunct FIOLA professor and recording studio manager at the University
of Central Arkansas, and Paulina and Ellie, the two Mexican
students who Sheen met at Viola Voice in Mexico City,
continue their master's studies with Shen at the University of Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
That's why, you know, that's why I think, that's why
I'm so comfortable to fitting in to the faculty right away.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Because every two weeks, Shen, a resident of Tucson and
a new dad of a six month old baby, travels
to UCA to instruct Paulina and Ellie. It's usually an
entire day's travel for him, which includes at lest he
is one airplane layover, but he makes sure to maximize
their time together.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
The flight going to be arrive I think four pm,
so I can get to campus at about five, so
we can have actually have dinner together that day, and
then we can move our lessons from Wednesday morning to
Tuesday night. Okay, so then we first lesson on Tuesday
(22:27):
night and Wednesday I'll let you practice on your own,
and then Thursday morning before I leave, so we can
have another lesson to check the progress during you know,
these two days.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
For Shan, he feels like he is extending the same
opportunities afforded him fifteen years ago when Izzy gets off
brought him to UCA, and this is his chance to
continue and pass on the legacy of contemporary composers to
the next generation of you, O list because you.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
Know music is so I get you us on the
knowledge generation by generation, and like, actually, when you think
that this year is twenty twenty two, but we are
not far from the from the last few generations. If
you think of a part of the pass away in
the nineteen forties.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
Music created by late twentieth Central European composers studied and
preserved by Chinese violis in the US. Now passing is
knowledge to Mexican students who hope to one day return
to Mexico City to deepen and share this repertoire across
Central and South America. Similar to Shen's own predicament, Paulina
(23:41):
knew that she would have the best opportunities to further
her studies outside of Mexico.
Speaker 6 (23:46):
Now, the repertoire that I am playing with Professor Sian,
it's not to really common to play in Mexico. I
really would like to play in good orchestra. Maybe in Mexico,
definitely one of my jaensits. It could be come back
to my university in Mexico City and teach all that
(24:11):
I learned here, because we need a lot.
Speaker 8 (24:14):
Of good, good.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
Professors and good musicians in Mexico.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
The path from Puebla to Conway was rife with paperwork,
visa waits, and last minute domestic travel for Elie.
Speaker 8 (24:27):
Both my papers was delayed with the school, but the date,
the limit date was really near. I don't know if
I can go to the Arkansas because.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
I really.
Speaker 8 (24:52):
I don't know if they accept will accept my papers
or not. It was so conf hues.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
But when Ellie realized the wait time for student visa
went get her to Arkansas and time for the first
day of school, she made arrangements to fly to Monterey,
Mexico for interview and visa processing.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Then I asked her to text me every day in
the morning to make sure she's safe, because I worried
it is not safe to travel by herself.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Oh did you traveled all by herself?
Speaker 8 (25:24):
Yes? Yes, by myself yes.
Speaker 9 (25:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
And because the Mexico City the waiting waiting time was
a three months so no way for her.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
To It was faster the process through Monterey. Yeah, but
it's additional costs for you too, right to go because
you had to fly to Monterey and everything.
Speaker 8 (25:43):
Yes, because Monterey is really so far from.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
My Ellie and Paulina are also very aware of the
personal and financial sacrifices of their families, who are wholly
supporting their daughters in whatever way they can hand. For Ellie,
in addition to improving her viola skills, she believes this
time at UCA and in America will also help her
broaden her personal horizons and help her in her personal growth.
Speaker 8 (26:13):
But my family really support me to do all all
the paper only things. They were really helpful for me.
They are so important for me, and I'm grateful with
(26:34):
my family.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
I think that I've heard that again and again from
our international students that coming to coming to school in America,
coming to school here at UCA, even in this little burg,
that it has grown them as people. And I think
that they've become people of the world in the greatest
set the sense of that. And I need to say
(27:02):
to your listeners, my hat is off to anyone who
comes to a foreign country and learns in a language
that is not their home, you know, not their native
tom and they have to do it at a university levels.
It's unimaginable to me, who was born and raised in
(27:23):
America in an English speaking person.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Doctor Play is equally keen on having Eli and Paulina
in the music program, and he's quick to point out
that education is a two way street. That while Elli
and Paulina are receiving music instructions in the US, their
presence on campus, their dedication to music and to furthering
their music studies, also elevates the music program at UCA.
Speaker 5 (27:50):
And so we are better for the multiculturism that we're
experiencing here and that these two young ladies from Mexico
are bringing here. We are better for them being here,
not just them better. You know, they already were. They
already gifted and talented, and Shen's had a lot to
do with they're coming along before they got here. But
(28:11):
I've asked them if they're if they have found a
home here, you know they have. They are very comfortable,
they feel at home here. I think that Shen has
done a good job though of inculcating them into Conway
and helping them because in the.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Time I speak to Elliot and Paulina, they always focus
on the positives, and even when I prod them with
questions of the obvious difficulties of adjusting to Southern American life,
they're quick to remind me of the rich community of
international students they have befriended on campus. And it may
seem that Conway, Arkansas, a town of sixty thousand residents,
(28:47):
is an unlikely and improbable place for foreign artists to thrive.
But after speaking to doctor Plat and hearing about how
intentional he is about making the UCA Music program a
home for all, it's certainly is positioned to be a
global hub for music.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
You know, I think that people would be I don't know,
impressed it is the right word, but they would maybe
be surprised at the level of internationalism of our town
and the numbers of corporations and companies manufacturers who are
right here in the surrounding area, and the various things
that they make, and the various skills that they're looking for.
(29:27):
But we are also an international culture, and you know,
Mexico is really important to us right now, and partly
because of Shen's work, but Mexico is important because we're
building a fabric of shared experiences. And I'm an absolutist.
Music is worthy of study for its own sake, not
(29:48):
because it makes us better poets or better mathematicians, or
I think it does all those things. It lends to
this hemispheric learning experience that makes us better as a people.
But I also believe in preserving and replicating and re
re performing the greatest of the minds of the world.
Speaker 6 (30:21):
So amazing because someday you you can meet another person
and that born in another country and you and in music,
it's really beautiful because we can communicate with with music
and with a lot of traditions that we sometimes even
(30:45):
can talk about it just playing. And that's the power
of the music, that we can be connected around the
world from different countries. And that's so, so, so beautiful
too with musicians, and it's like a global language.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
A global language. Shn Ellie and Paulina have mastered and
communicate fluently in While bits of their verbal communications are
lost in translation, once they pick up their bows, the
barriers melt and no translation is needed. On the week
SHN is in Tucson, they meet via zoom Shen's instructions
(31:28):
extend beyond the viola. He also helps Paulina and Ellie
budget for everyday life in the US, prepare for their
housing situations next year, and encourages them to participate in
our ubiquitous American fall customs, like spending a day at
the pumpkin patch.
Speaker 9 (31:45):
Any plans for the full break it study? No, no, no,
that's you can all do that, okay. Any want to
take take YouTube somewhere to visit Arkansas or maybe Memphis, Texas?
Anyone the full season Like now, it's really the best
(32:07):
time to travel around Arkansas because all the leaves are
turning golden yellow color and the red right, and the
weather's cooling down so quickly.
Speaker 5 (32:18):
There.
Speaker 1 (32:18):
The three also laps into talk of Mexico Vshen. You
can hear his wanderlust and a longing to get back
to the city that holds such dear place in his
heart and for Pauline and Ellie, and excitement to share
stories of their homeland with someone who treasures it as
much as them.
Speaker 2 (32:36):
So I need to remember this. So what is in
Coyo can right? Mexico City? Yes?
Speaker 5 (32:42):
Right?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
So you see, people doesn't have to be rich to
enjoy music, right, I remember first time when I went
to Mexico City. Do you remember what is an instrument?
Is called you? You're rolling a like a musical box.
Speaker 6 (32:58):
It's like my love.
Speaker 7 (33:01):
America.
Speaker 5 (33:03):
I love it and I talked to them about this
all the time. If you dream it, you can do
it here. And I think that's the American experience. It
is hopefully will always be a land of opportunity and
the ability to become what you dream.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
When I was at boarding school, I just wanted to
play music the rest of my life, and now I'm
teaching music in the US. This is a mold on
my dream come true.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
This episode was produced by me and sound edited by
Shan cashing Our Trillions is part of the Seneca Women
Podcast Network and iHeartRadio. If you have a story to share,
please email us at Cachingurtrillions at gmail dot com. Make
sure you subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app
(34:02):
or wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you liked
what you heard, please take a moment to rate and
review it. It would really mean so much to me.
Thank you for listening.
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