The Asian-American and Music
By wchung | 22 Feb, 2025

I hated learning piano but I'll still force my kids to learn it.

I thought I would write a little bit about my relation to music since it is such an integral part of my life. For one, I did grow up following the stereotype. I did start plunking away at the piano by the age of six. I did pick up the violin in the fourth grade. Judge me as you will, but the Asian musician stereotype did help me establish roots in music that helped me expand far beyond the stereotype.

For one, I hate piano, as any honest Asian-American will tell you. I hate the discipline of practice and of learning music theory. My piano teacher, though one of the best in the region, had a terrible method and did disgusting things like pick her nose and pass gas during my lesson, all when she thought I wasn’t paying attention. So you can imagine that I tried very hard to not be alert during my lessons.

I did all I could to avoid going to piano lessons. I tried to hurt my fingers. I even accidentally clipped my fingers once in a car door and averted a lesson. I sat in my underwear in an unheated room during the dead of winter so I could maybe get “sick” and avoid having to go to my lesson. It was a very deep-seated desire within me to be able to quit piano but of course, my parents figured it would be good for me so there was no way I was going to.

Along comes violin. Violin wasn’t as bad. I learned at the speed of all of my friends at school. Sure, there was some practice but with my piano background, I was already a step ahead. For one, I could already read music. I eventually took private lessons but they definitely were not as bad. I enjoyed violin more because as part of an orchestra, I blended in and could hide my mistakes. We all strived for perfection but the performance wasn’t reflected on any individual. So though disciplining myself for violin was a minor annoyance, in the end, I did enjoy the experience.

With violin and piano as my background, I set forth on a musical journey that I’m still taking today. I’ve since picked up guitar and learned how to sing with it. I’m untrained in both, but the skills I’ve acquired from my musical background made it much easier to pick up. I’ve also picked up drums and percussion, something I never thought I’d be able to do. But once again, things were easier than if I had tried to learn it cold.

By learning piano and violin as a kid, I developed my brain to be able to think musically and partitioned my mind to be able to multi-task at a young age. I learned theory, I developed an ear for music and this has become a very solid foundation for me to leverage new skills and instruments off of. Even though I hated going through the experience, I appreciate how far I’ve come. In the end, no matter how many times I had tearfully screamed at my mom, “I’m never going to let my kids go through this!”, I will probably force them to do it. It’s only for their betterment, right? Suck it up, buddy. You’ll love me in the end.