Council for Research in Music Education

The Education of Asian American Music Professionals: Exploration and

Development of Ethnic Identity
Author(s): Christopher Cayari
Source: Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education , Spring 2021, No. 228
(Spring 2021), pp. 7-24
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the Council for Research in Music
Education

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/bulcouresmusedu.228.0007

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Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education © 2021 Board of Trustees
Spring 2021 No.  228 University of Illinois

The Education of Asian American

Music Professionals: Exploration and
Development of Ethnic Identity
Christopher Cayari
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN

ABSTR ACT
Asian American people make up approximately 5.8% of the U.S. population (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2019) and pursue careers in a variety of musical professions. However, a monoracial
view of Asian Americans (Mok, 1998) that conceives of all Asian Americans as a homogenous
group without regard to ethnicity or cultural background has led to widespread stereotypes. The
desire to acculturate to U.S. culture and Western European art music ideals can pressure Asian
Americans to play certain instruments, restrict their involvement to particular areas of music, or
force them to portray their ethnicity in offensive ways. This study looked at the racial and ethnic
identity development of nine Asian American music professionals from various career paths in
education, performance, curation, and history through a web survey and subsequent semistruc-
tured interviews. Findings pertained to the musical upbringing of participants both inside and
outside of school, the social contexts that affected participants’ musical endeavors, pressures from
dominant cultures that participants faced while in school and during their careers, and the actions
participants took in their careers that were a result of growing up as Asian Americans in various
music learning contexts (e.g., school, community, familial, and informal).

INTRODUCTION
In 2012, the Pew Research Center reported that the Asian American population was the
fastest growing race group in the United States from 2000 to 2010 (Taylor, 2013). The
2019 U.S. census data show this trend continued annually in the 2010s, with Asians mak-
ing up 5.8% of the 327 million people in the nation (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019). Asian
Americans have found work in musical careers including, but not limited to, performance,
education, composition, curation, and management. They are underrepresented in some
professions and overrepresented in others. Data collected by the League of American
Orchestras show that Asian and Pacific Islander musicians made up slightly more than
9% of persons in 500 professional orchestras in the United States in 2014 (Doeser, 2015).
In contrast, a 2016 report on New York City stage productions (i.e., plays and musicals)
show the representation for all racial minority groups increased over the previous year
except for Asian Americans, who saw a 5% decrease in representation during the 2015–16

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Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education Spring 2021 No.  228

season; the prevalence of Asian Americans only reached 4% in two out of the 10 previous
seasons (Bandhu & Kim, 2016). Similarly, there has been disproportionate representation
in the U.S. music teacher population, as only 1.79% of those taking the Praxis II music
teacher licensure exams between 2007 and 2012 identified as Asian (Elpus, 2015). The
High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, a national survey of 940 U.S. high schools,
showed that Asian and Pacific Islander students make up approximately 4% of the school
population and 4% of music ensemble populations, while also being overrepresented at
14% in high school orchestras (Elpus & Abril, 2019). While statistics about the repre-
sentation of Asian Americans in musical institutions and industries can serve as a starting
point for research about this population, music educators may desire to study the experi-
ences of Asian Americans as they grow up in school music programs and explore career
paths in music professions. This study explored how the educational, musical, and cultural
experiences of nine Asian Americans who pursued careers in various musical professions
influenced the development of their racial and ethnic identities.

Asian Americans, Race, and Ethnic Identity

The way the U.S. government divides its population into only eight “race and Hispanic
origin” categories does not capture the complex ways people understand their races and
ethnicities.1 The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association advises
that “Race refers to physical differences that groups and cultures consider socially sig-
nificant. . . . Ethnicity refers to shared cultural characteristics” (American Psychological
Association, 2020, p. 142; italics in original). However, “race has assumed a synonymity
with ethnicity and culture in this country [that] complicates the identity process and
notion of group belonging for many multiracial Asians” (Root, 1997, p. 29). A preva-
lent conception in the United States is that Asian Americans are a monoracial group
(Mok, 1998), which makes no differentiation between people whose ancestors come
from the various 48 countries that make up the Asian continent. However, ethnicity
is “influenced by social and environmental forces such as history, family, community,
socioeconomic factors, geography, the period of history in which one grew up, and the
possession of other oppressed statuses” (Root, 1997, p. 35). People with multiethnic
Asian (having ancestors who come from different countries in Asia) and multiracial
(having both Asian and non-Asian ancestors) lineages became more prevalent in the
United States during the 1980s, a trend that has continued into the first two decades
of the 21st century. Asian Americans who reported multiple races in the U.S. Census
between 2000 and 2010 grew at a 60% faster rate than those who identified as “Asian”
or as a specific ethnicity like “Korean” (Hoeffel et al., 2012).
Strong connections to a cultural group can help people develop ethnic and racial
identity. For example, Oyserman and Sakamoto (1997) found that labels were useful
for some Asian Americans for developing a sense of collectivism with others of similar
cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Root (1997) outlined four ways people of Asian

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Cayari Asian American Music Professionals

descent in the United States might develop ethnic identity. First, they might identify
with superficial cues like the color of their skin or prominent facial features to align
with a racial group (e.g., a fair-skinned, half-White, half-Asian person may identify as
White, or a Brown Spanish-speaking Asian may identify as Latinx). Second, people
may identify through a sense of kinship or mutual isolation. For example, students who
are Chinese, Kenyan, and Dominican might all identify as people of color in a music
ensemble whose members are predominantly White. Third, racial identity may be con-
nected to ethnicity or a specific country, like Chicano or Filipino American. Sometimes
these labels are used to distinguish one’s ethnicity from other Asians (Ocampo, 2016,
p. 146). Fourth, a person might refuse to identify with established race categories and
instead identify as just American, nonconformist, or “new waver” (Lee, 2015, p. 44).
A Nonlinear Model of Ethnic Identity  Sodowsky et al. (1995) developed a social psy-
chological framework to replace the monoracial Asian identity with fluid and complex
multidimensional ethnic identities. For example, Sodowsky et al. (1995) suggested that
Asian Americans can develop ethnic identities that are simultaneously “100% Asian and
100% American—Asian American or U.S. Asian” (p. 126). The psychologists indicated
that American identity was most often associated with assimilation to White culture,
while Asian identities are influenced by familial, cultural, religious, and neighborhood
contexts. A nonlinear ethnic identity orientation—which was informed by Asian accul-
turation studies from the 1980s—could be used to show how someone moves back and
forth among a strong specific ethnic identity, a bicultural identity, a strong U.S. White
identity, or an identity of cultural marginalization.
As Asian Americans have become more prominent in the U.S. population, they
have had to choose how much they want to assimilate (to be absorbed into a new cul-
ture allowing people to identify with the dominant community; Wolf, 1997), hold onto
ancestral ethnic and cultural identities (Le Espiritu, 2001), or find balance between the
two. Regardless of self-determined identities, Asian Americans are often influenced by
prevalent monoracial conceptions perpetuated by dominant groups. Broad stereotypes
of Asian American identity can be found in the ways they are idolized or demonized in
media and musical theater productions (see Mangaoang, 2018). For example, musical
theater shows like Miss Saigon, Madame Butterfly, The King and I, South Pacific, and
Pacific Overtures feature Asian men who are portrayed as either weak, submissive, and
effeminate or as conniving, predatory, and domineering. In contrast, Asian women
are sometimes fetishized and exoticized as they are depicted as delicate, often requir-
ing liberation from the oppression of their Asian heritage or government. Further,
White actors have portrayed Asian characters on stage, television, and film instead of
those roles being portrayed by people who match the demographics of the characters.
Caricatured depictions of Asians might deter Asian American performers and students
from getting involved in some musical endeavors on stage if undesirable stereotypes
persist.

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Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education Spring 2021 No.  228

Asian American Experiences in U.S. Schools  The monoracial identity also posits Asian
Americans as a model minority. Lee (2015) describes stereotypes about Asian American
students in U.S. educational institutions. They are perceived as: high-achieving academ-
ics, especially in math, computer science, and engineering (Lee, 2015, p. 11); quiet and
studious (Lee, 2015, p. 2); and from wealthy families (Lee, 2015, p. 35). The latter
perception stems from the impression that persons from certain countries, such as South
Korea and China, are rich. Part of the model minority characterization, then, casts Asian
Americans as ideal immigrants, boosting the U.S. economy, industry, and the arts.
However, Lee also argues that the model minority stereotype can lead to assumptions
about Asian American students that encourage White resentment of Asian American
success and invite hostility from other people of color. Furthermore, affirmative action
has positioned Asian Americans in a racial hierarchy that advantages them over other
minorities and White Americans (Allred, 2007), leaving them “susceptible to playing
the worst version of the racial bourgeoisie role” (Matsuda, 1997, p. 150). Lee (2015)
also argued that affirmative action in schools “highlight[s] the fact that the position
of Asian Americans as a model minority is contingent upon the stereotype of African
Americans as a failing minority” (p. 126). Informants in her study discussed how being
considered a model minority resulted in pressure to outperform peers and to succeed
meant they might be resented by peers; to fail meant they might be shamed by adults.

Asian Americans in Music Education Research

A search for the phrase “Asian American” in the full history of three prominent U.S.
music education research journals revealed 15 articles in the Journal of Research in Music
Education, 15 articles and one book review in the Bulletin of the Council for Research in
Music Education, and six articles in Update: Applications of Research in Music Education.
Additionally, five articles appeared with the same search term in the Music Educators
Journal, a leading U.S. practitioner-focused journal. After further analysis of the
abstracts, only two focused on Asian American people (viz., Lindl, 2018; Manes, 2009),
and two concentrated on ethnic Asian music (viz., Fung, 2007; Lum, 2009). Other
instances of the phrase occurred as “Asian American” was (a) discussed with statistics in
which the identifier was included as a formality; (b) used in the literature review and
not significantly present in the findings or discussion; (c) included generically in a list
of multicultural options; or (d) incorporated in a list of additional contexts one could
consider while studying race.
Substantive music education research that directly explores Asian American peo-
ple’s learning experiences has been published, however. Lindl (2018) studied the effects
of performing both Western and Chinese music on Chinese students who were part of
a racially diverse children’s choir. The group performed music from both Western and
Eastern cultures. Lindl found that participation in the group had positive influences on
not only the children’s musical identities, but also their cultural identities. However,
Lindl (2018) suggested, “An educator cannot assume that because someone identifies

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Cayari Asian American Music Professionals

as Chinese American that singing a token folksong from China will aid in their cul-
tural identity growth” (p. 46). Participants in her study self-identified in interviews as
“‘Chinese’ or ‘Asian’ even though the prescreening questionnaire identified them as
‘Chinese American’” (Lindl, 2018, p. 43); however, the distinction to be Chinese or
Asian did not preclude association with U.S. culture. Rather, participants were proud
of how their choir performed non-Western songs with what Lindl (2018) assessed as a
“typical Western children’s choir sound” (p. 43).
Hess (2017) argued “the ‘normative’ model of music education [has] historical
roots in Whiteness” (p. 16). The discourse, histories, and narratives most common in
music education have been created by White people and focus on “narrowly defined
Western referents” (Bradley, 2006, p. 12). Hess (2018) explained how developing coun-
ternarratives—stories told by people who are part of marginalized groups that challenge
dominant narratives—in musical settings has the potential to help students explore
their cultural contexts and challenge the discourses that “frame their lives” (p. 25). Shaw
(2014) suggested there are ways to bridge the Western canon to the cultural experiences
of students and teach them about their heritages. For example, Shaw discussed how
a Korean American teacher worked with one of her Korean American students. The
student had been introduced to Arirang, a traditional Korean folksong, by her mother
and grandmother. When the student experienced the song in a choral setting, she was
able to “capitalize upon her prior knowledge, previous experiences, and culturally-
informed performance practices, creating a culturally responsive learning opportunity”
(Shaw, 2014, p. 195). The teacher’s knowledge of Arirang, its cultural context, and
pronunciation helped the student develop a deeper connection to her parents’ culture.
Like participants in Lindl’s (2018) research, Shaw’s (2014) student participant wanted
to “sound more classical” (p. 186), referring to the Western European choral technique
she heard being emulated by a Korean children’s choir recording played for her by her
teacher. The melding of Western European techniques and Asian music provides a
thought-provoking context to consider how ethnic identity might be formed through
music learning activities.

Researcher Positionality and Research Question

My ethnic identity as an Asian American who grew up in predominantly White neigh-
borhoods influenced my positionality for this research. My mother was White, and my
father was from the Philippines. My racial and ethnic identity is complex. I considered
myself not only biracial, but also Hispanic, since my family lore was enmeshed with the
Spanish colonization of the Philippine Islands. As a child, my father wanted me to be
his “American son,” and while he was trilingual, he refused to teach me anything but
English. I was not to identify with his home country, but rather to be assimilated into
U.S. culture. I realized in my early 30s that my father’s pride in “America,” and what
I interpreted as shame for his home country, instilled a racial self-hatred in me, which
is common among children of Asian immigrants from certain countries (Wolf, 1997).

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Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education Spring 2021 No.  228

The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop an overview of the music
learning, societal pressures, and cultural influences of Asian American music profes-
sionals throughout their education and careers in musical performance, teaching,
curation, and creation. I considered participants’ perceptions of their ethnic identity,
which included Asian heritage and American identity, as well as their musical experi-
ences growing up and as a professional. My aims were addressed through the research
question: How have music learning experiences influenced the development of ethnic
identity in the lives of Asian American music professionals? By exploring the intersec-
tion between ethnic identities and music learning, school music educators may be able
to develop pedagogical approaches that are enriching for Asian American students from
diverse ethnic backgrounds while also encouraging them to envision potential lives as
musical professionals if the students express an interest in pursuing music as a career.

M E T H O D O L O GY
Data were collected in two parts for this exploratory qualitative study. The first part
was a survey that served to screen participants and identify their potential to inform the
study. The second part was a follow-up interview that probed the participants’ child-
hood musical experiences, careers, and racial and ethnic identities as Asian American
music professionals. To begin this study, I developed a 26-question survey with demo-
graphic, Likert-like scale, and open-ended questions. I conducted two cognitive inter-
views (Ryan et al., 2012) with Asian American musical professionals, one male and one
female, to test the survey. Each cognitive interview consisted of the participant reading
the questions aloud and providing answers. They were asked to discuss how the question
might be misleading, confusing, or offensive. Feedback was used to make minor adjust-
ments to the survey. After obtaining Institutional Review Board approval, I uploaded
the survey to Qualtrics for online distribution.

Participants
I sought out (a) individuals with a lineage from any country on the Asian continent;
(b) persons who had been music students in the U.S. kindergarten through 12th grade
(K–12) education system; and (c) music professionals who were well-established in their
careers. I aimed to recruit participants who were successful in various career fields, as
they would be likely to have varying experiences in K–12 school music programs, career
experiences that informed their musical endeavors, and professional knowledge of what
it was like being Asian American in their chosen musical career paths. I wanted a partici-
pant pool of musicians who represented various genres, ages, genders, ethnicities, and
careers. I used my professional connections, Internet searches, postings on social media,
and snowball sampling to find 12 informants, following the assumption that a sample of
12 participants within a group often reaches a point of saturation (Guest et al., 2006).
Therefore, recruitment for the survey stayed open until 12 participants completed the

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Cayari Asian American Music Professionals

survey by answering all the questions. I created a career profile for each participant
compiled from survey responses, which contained university degrees and descriptions
of accomplishments. Profiles were sent to a panel of experts (Denzin, 1989), who were
asked to give their inclinations of how helpful the participant might be for informing
the study. Presenting the data “without [the researcher’s] interpretation) to a panel of
researchers or experts to discuss alternative interpretations” (Stake, 1995, p. 113) helped
me understand what data about each participant others might find compelling. After
reviewing the responses and the full surveys, I asked 11 of the participants to continue
in the study. One informant did not respond to three requests for an interview, and
another was unable to complete the study because she disclosed in the interview that
she immigrated to the United States as an adult, meaning that she did not meet the
requirements of the study. Nine informants completed part 2 of the study.
Participants could choose a pseudonym and request that their ethnicity was anony-
mized. However, some wanted to use their name to be identified in the study. Therefore,
I contacted the Institutional Review Board and an amendment was approved to allow
first names at the participants’ request. The risk of being identified while talking about
racial and ethnic issues in music professions included potential future bias and awkward
social situations. Yet, there could also be benefits as being part of a study may bring
notoriety with audiences, colleagues, or one’s community. Table 1 describes key infor-
mation about informants, including their names/pseudonyms, age, gender, degrees, and
jobs at the time of data collection. The table also denotes participants’ ethnicity and
ethnic identities, which could differ from each other. For example, Sarah was ethnically
South Korean, but her ethnic identity was Asian American or White.

Data Collection and Analysis Procedures

Questions for semistructured interviews tailored for each participant were constructed
to develop a clearer picture of their K–12 experiences in music education, their out-
of-school communities, and their lives as musical professionals. Interviews also served
to triangulate survey data by allowing the examination of “evidence from the sources
to build a coherent justification for themes” (Creswell, 2009, p. 191). Interviews with
each participant, lasting 45 to 60 minutes, were transcribed. Participants were given
the opportunity to member check their transcripts, which was an attempt to validate
data by assuring what was said in the interview was accurate and intended (Creswell,
2009). Three informants offered feedback, and one asked to clarify what was said in the
transcript, which was changed to reflect their requests. Additionally, participants were
also given the opportunity to read an early version of this article to provide feedback and
correct any erroneous representations of themselves. Five asked to read the manuscript
and two provided feedback that led to adjustments for this study.
I analyzed the data from the surveys and interviews with a three-step process
(Emerson et al., 2011). First, I assigned emergent codes to all survey and transcript

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 Table 1
Participants and Their Identities
Name Age Gender Ethnicity Ethnic Identities Degree** Job
Aaron 38 Cis-male Half-Vietnamese and Asian, Vietnamese (not quite B: Music education High school choir teacher, composer/songwriter,
Chinese, White) pianist, singer
half-White M: Music education
Ariadne 47 Female Filipino Asian American, Filipino American B: Music education High school choir and orchestra teacher
M: Music
Neil 43 Male Filipino Filipino American, Asian American B: Chemical engineering Disc jockey, entertainer, sponsored performer
George 29 Male Filipino Asian, Asian American, Pacific B: Music theater Theater musical director, performing musician
Islander
m: Hearing and deafness
John 48 Male Korean (100%) Asian American, Korean American B: Economics College professor of the practice, curator
m: Art history
Kính 42 Male Vietnamese Asian B: Music education Full-time lecturer of music education
(formerly Asian American) m: Art
M: Conducting
PhD: Music education
Marcus 37 Male Half-Filipino, half-White Asian American, mix All- B: Fine arts Musical theater actor
American, mutt
Oliver 60 Born male* Half-Chinese, half-Japanese Asian, Asian American, Chinese, B: Violin performance Composer, performer, ethnomusicologist

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M: Ethnomusicology

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PhD: Ethnomusicology
Sarah 34 Female South Korean Asian American (White) B: Music education College professor of music education
m: Bassoon
M: Educational leadership
M: Music education
EdD: Music education

Notes. Names in italics are pseudonyms. The data in this figure were gathered through open-ended questions on the survey and represent the participants at the time they joined the
study. Ethnicity refers to the country from which one’s ancestors were born; ethnic identities refer to the ways participants identified themselves.
*After clarification, Oliver also currently identified as male.
**Degree abbreviations stand for the following: bachelor’s degree in [field] (B); minor in [field] (m); master’s degree in [field] (M); philosophy doctorate in [field] (PhD); educational
doctorate in [field] (EdD).
Cayari Asian American Music Professionals

data. This open coding procedure allowed me to identify trends. Then, I identified cat-
egories of codes and grouped similar codes to create a list of final codes that were used
to complete a second round of coding. Finally, I grouped data by their final codes into
categories and used them to organize the narrative below.
Limitations of the Study  I acknowledge that not all Asian Americans should be con-
ceived of as a monoracial group and encourage the reader to consider how the experi-
ences of the participants and my interpretations as an Asian American provide multiple
vantage points into a diverse population. Participants represented diverse ethnic origins
including having ancestors who lived in Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Japan, and
South Korea. Participants identifying as biracial had a White parent. No participants
identified as Black, Latinx, Hispanic, or Indigenous outside of Asia. While it was my
intention to include ethnically diverse participants whose ancestors came from various
locations across the Asian continent, self-selection of volunteers and the early decision
to limit the study to 12 participants precluded me from attaining that goal. On three
occasions, potential participants refused to join the study telling me that they did not
feel they were “the type of Asian you are looking for.” Finally, the professionals were
born between 1958 and 1989. Thus, the K–12 school years represented in this study
were 1964 through 2007.

FINDINGS
Musical Experiences of the Participants During Childhood and Adolescence
Music was a large part of each participant’s childhood and included music at home,
ethnic music with family and friends, school music experiences, formal private lessons,
informal music learning, and community music groups. Respondents indicated that
their homes were full of Western musics, including children’s, folk, classical, rock and
roll, pop, R&B, religious worship, and musical theater. Sarah and Kính, both adopted
by White families, had no exposure to ethnic Asian music because their parents were
unfamiliar with it. Marcus’s and Oliver’s families desired assimilation with U.S. culture,
and their homes were devoid of Asian music. While no participants discussed ethnic
music in their surveys, five recollected the presence of ethnic music while being inter-
viewed. They experienced lullabies sung by caretakers and listened to mix tapes of ethnic
music in a limited capacity.
Activities in Asian communities—whether family get-togethers or community
gatherings—while growing up often led to either feelings of celebration or awkward-
ness. Particularly, multiracial participants did not necessarily find cultural refuge in
ethnocentric activities like their monoracial kin. At family gatherings, George’s fam-
ily passed out lyric sheets of Filipino love songs in Tagalog, which everyone would
sing together. Aaron’s father sang karaoke of Western popular music translated into
Vietnamese at social gatherings. Aaron had one Asian and one White parent. Both
George and Aaron experienced pressure from their Asian parents’ friends because they

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Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education Spring 2021 No.  228

were expected to sing in their parents’ tongues even though they did not know the lan-
guages. In contrast, Ariadne felt fortunate to know Tagalog as she sang along with her
family. Additionally, she performed folk dances and songs during competitive pageants.
John was the only one who received formal ethnic music training at a Korean school.
All participants were involved in school music education courses including, but not
limited to, orchestra, band, choir, show choir, mariachi, solo ensemble contests, private
lessons, and ballet. All participants except Oliver, Marcus, and Neil had general elemen-
tary music classes, and everyone except Sarah and Neil discussed taking private lessons. A
common experience was that parents insisted on daily practice for the instruments being
learned in those lessons. John explained lessons were an attempt by his parents to give the
best possible advantage growing up as he competed with his White and Asian peers. John’s
parents, who were immigrants, did not understand the Western traditions of the orchestra,
but insisted that their children experience orchestral performances. John and Oliver both
grew up near metropolitan cities and heard high-profile symphony orchestras perform
live. Additionally, informal music learning (e.g., learning guitar from books, recordings,
and friends) was also prevalent in participants’ childhoods. The only data that revealed a
connection to ethnicity was that Aaron recalled how Motown recordings and musicians of
color influenced the music he listened to growing up. He and his twin brother emulated
the harmonies of the Jackson 5 and Boyz II Men while singing in their bedroom.
When asking participants if they experienced any ethnic Asian music in their
K–12 education, John’s responses captured the prevailing sentiment: “Are you kidding?
If there was, it would have been insulting like a song from The King and I. It was never
real!” John’s allusion to real referred to Asian stories being told from White perspectives.
Kính recollected being cast as the lead in The Music Man:
Harold Hill is a White guy, so I started to realize I was not the same color as
Harold Hill in the movie. Now, as an adult, I think it’s hilarious and abysmal all
at once, but I thought that was cool as a kid.
Sarah was the only participant who was able to give any examples of Asian music in
her school music program: Sakura, a Japanese folk song dating back to the Edo period
(1603–1868), and Variations on a Korean Folk Song (Variations), a wind band piece
arranged by John Barnes Chance. His arrangement was inspired by hearing “Korean
‘ladies of the evening’ [who were] hired to dance with officers [of his U.S. Army jazz
band]” (Kelly, 1999, p. 28). The song became known as “Sarah’s song” among her peers.
She discussed:
My band director would write the order of the pieces we were going to play on the
board in shorthand. I walked in the band room, and I saw on the board the word
“Korean.” I felt sick, just really uncomfortable. The song had nothing to do with
me! It’s my song? But I don’t understand why. Just because it says Korean? The
discomfort was that everyone in the room was seeing the word “Korean” [on the
board], and in a predominantly White high school, being one of three people of
color in the room, I felt like the word put a big neon sign above my head.

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Cayari Asian American Music Professionals

The shorthand that the band director used to alert students of the rehearsal order inad-
vertently contributed to the alienation Sarah felt from her fellow students as they began
referring to Variations as “Sarah’s song.” This experience influenced her so much that,
as an educator, she refused to teach anything modal or pentatonic that sounded Asian,
regardless of whether she felt the piece was of sufficient quality.

Social Contexts and Musical Learning

The racial makeup of participants’ communities influenced their social contexts and
thus their learning experiences. Neil and Marcus were surrounded by racially diverse
peers while growing up in metropolitan neighborhoods, and both felt their Asian iden-
tity helped them in their careers, disc jockeying and musical theater, respectively. For
example, Neil went to a United Methodist church where his peers introduced him to
hip-hop. He recalled:
My church was extremely diverse. By the time I got there, there was a Pakistani
family I grew up with and an Estonian family. I had the opportunity to interact
with other kids my age from the Black community. One kid was older than me, a
teenager, who could b-boy [breakdance]. I remember being enamored with him.
I would follow him around like a puppy. That infatuation led to getting into hip-
hop later on in high school. My pastor’s son gave me a copy of NWA’s Straight
Outta Compton and Eric B and Rakim’s Follow the Leader. I went on a church
retreat, and I was on the bus with all the Black kids. I remember De La Soul just
came out, and they were all singing it. This was before the Internet. It was all over
the radio. Everyone knew all the words. I got introduced to DJing that way. I
became enamored with hip-hop. I fell in love with it.
Neil believed his ethnic identity helped him stand out as one of a few successful
Asian American hip-hop artists. He continued, “I embrace the fact that I was automati-
cally different than a lot of people, because I look different. Fortunately, I never felt
hampered friendship-wise, cultural-wise by that.” The only other participant who dis-
cussed ethnic identity development at church was John, who sang traditional Catholic
hymns translated into Korean with his congregation.
Aaron, Ariadne, Neil, George, John, and Sarah experienced music outside of school
through community youth orchestras. Each noted that their community orchestras
had a larger proportion of Asian American musicians than their schools’ orchestral
programs. Participants also noted how Asians were prevalent in the higher seating place-
ments of the orchestral strings’ hierarchy. George explained:
You wouldn’t normally see the top four chairs filled by non-Asian people. It
was noticeable when a non-Asian person got first chair or a really good chair.
Everyone looks around and is like, “Oh, who’s this person who cracked into the
top four?”
Competition between Asian American musicians was a source of stress for John,
who described rivalry with his peers as a point of pressure for him to perform at a high

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Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education Spring 2021 No.  228

level. One of his childhood friends was on the cover of Time at the age of 13 and had
performed with his violin on the Tonight Show. While competition among Asians in
community orchestra was a source of stress for some, for others, these experiences pro-
vided the first exposure to other Asians. Kính reminisced:
Regional youth orchestra was when I created friend groups not composed of
people from home, but rather students from a large area in central Pennsylvania.
It is also the place where I met other Asian people; I had wondered if anyone else
looked like me in the place where I grew up. There weren’t any people of color in
the town where I was raised, so I was just another White kid. Yikes! There they
were, the Asian faces playing—yes, you got it—violin, viola, and cello. Who knew
they existed? That had an enormously important impact on how I viewed myself
in high school both as a person and as a musician.
Kính’s comment alluded to two stereotypes about Asian American musicians: They play
violin, cello, and piano, and they play those instruments at a high level. Sarah had lim-
ited experiences with Asian Americans in her community and school orchestras because
the woodwind and bassoon sections were predominantly White. Stereotypes regarding
instruments bore conflict for Sarah who was often asked what she played. Expectations
regarding what instrument she played were interpreted by her as both racist and sex-
ist, because others expected her to play a high-pitched instrument because she was a
woman.
Ethnic Identity and Professional Experiences  Participants disclosed that lack of Asian
representation in nonstring sections of ensembles, popular culture, and entertainment
media made it difficult to feel accepted while navigating musical experiences situated in
White culture. Sarah lamented, “Maybe if there was this huge movement where Korean
American women started playing the bassoon, then all of a sudden, maybe I would
look like a bassoonist to somebody who is not informed.” This sentiment was echoed
by George and Ariadne who have jobs performing music in theatrical settings. They
discussed how most Asian Americans are limited to musical roles from The King and
I, Miss Saigon, Madam Butterfly, or Pacific Overtures. In contrast, Neil felt being Asian
American gave him an advantage for looking different in the hip-hop scene. Similarly,
Marcus, who was cast as a leading actor in the highest level of musical theater produc-
tions across the country, felt grateful that his ethnicity (half-Filipino and half-White)
helped him get into college and gave him the experiences and look casting directors were
seeking. Marcus identified as “All-American” rather than focusing on his ethnic heritage,
which he admitted was initially a defense mechanism.
I didn’t want to be associated with any stereotypes at the time. I was feeling like I
was being boxed in. I didn’t like that feeling. I was feeling like [other ethnic identi-
ties] didn’t reflect who I was. I thought growing up in America and having a lot of
diversity in my upbringing translated into me using [All-American] and adopting
that phrase to describe myself. Eventually, it became a label that I owned. I am
Asian American, but I’m also this, too.

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Cayari Asian American Music Professionals

Additionally, Marcus used his platform to challenge stereotypes when asked to play an
Asian character in an offensive way. He explained,
I find that I occasionally have to work against stereotypes. That’s always a little
awkward, because you don’t want to play the stereotype. It has to do with accents
where they are not necessary, but the directors want it. It takes the power away
from the role sometimes. It detracts from the story, and we don’t need the accent
to tell the story. They want to tell a different story than I do. You butt heads with
the directors and producers sometimes, because with the accent comes all the dif-
ferent stereotypes that are associated with Asians.

Developing Ethnic Identity: Assimilation, “Not White,”

and the Pursuit of Asian Roots
Aspiring toward assimilation and exploring ethnic roots were two themes for how
participants navigated their music learning and careers in U.S. society. Some partici-
pants’ parents wanted their children to experience “American” life. For example, John
explained, “When my mother and her friends came to America, they had Korean
names, but they all put on their kids’ birth certificates American names. It was a real
moment of pride when your kids were really American.” Despite attempts to assimi-
late, participants experienced monoracial identities forced upon them. Ariadne felt
as though she was living a “double life” as an American, celebrating her culture with
her family and friends outside of school and conforming to a predominantly White
society at school. Kính, Aaron, Sarah, and Marcus, who grew up in predominantly
White neighborhoods, identified specific moments at school when they realized they
were not White. Aaron was persistently asked, “What’s not White about you?” He
explained:
The quickest answer is, “I’m Asian.” A slightly longer conversation, I’ll say, “I’m
mixed. I’m White, and I’m Asian.” If we were talking about race in one of the
music classes that I teach, I bring my own narrative into the discussion. I’ll say
that I’m biracial, and that I’m mixed. I’ve always had trouble with that as a label
because you think of all the surveys that you have to fill out and they are like,
“Pick one.” Ah! I guess they want to know what’s not White about me, right? That
category can be anything.
When George moved to a “Whiter neighborhood” from the diverse area in which he
lived when he was born, he realized he was the only one eating rice on his first day of
school. He insisted his parents allow him to switch to macaroni and cheese. Avoidance
of ethnic roots was common for some participants. Sarah clung to White culture and
avoided ethnic Asian interests like fashion, food, books, movies, television shows, and
other topics of conversation.
Experiences with being outside of the norm continued into participants’ profes-
sional careers. John, who was the first Asian American president and CEO of a major
U.S. orchestra, discussed how being different undercut his success:

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Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education Spring 2021 No.  228

When I first became president, I was not only Asian, but I was really young, too.
The disregard [from those around me] added to my insecurity. Back then I didn’t
even know the extent of the racism. It prevented me from having confidence in
my opinions, instincts, and direction. I was constantly second-guessing myself, no
matter how much praise I received. That is partly a combination of my upbringing,
but also, because people always saw me differently. It was most prevalent in my
fundraising work. I ask for money from primarily rich White old people.
He provided detailed examples of comments and situations in which donors, audience
members at benefits, and colleagues during everyday operations said things to him that
were racist and oppressive.
In contrast to assimilation, some participants pursued their ethnic identities
through music. For example, Kính identified as White during childhood, yet, as he
became an adult, he believed that he was “raised among the apes,” because he felt
animosity toward “the family [he] grew up with” as they had erased his ethnicity and
gave him a “White name.” Kính’s ethnic identity blossomed when he learned about his
ethnic heritage and infused it into his musical career. Kính developed relationships with
other Asian Americans and Asians while teaching in K–12 schools, during his master’s
degree program, and through his pursuit of a doctorate. He also changed his name to
what was given to him by his Vietnamese orphanage caregivers and visited countries
in Southeast Asia to conduct research and teach. Oliver, who grew up playing Western
classical music and listening to “anything but Chinese [father’s ethnicity] and Japanese
[mother’s ethnicity] music,” learned koto (漢字/箏)2 and gagaku (雅楽) from Japanese
traditions while he pursued a master’s degree in ethnomusicology. While growing up,
Oliver was given ample opportunities to pursue orchestral and piano music that was
based on Western traditional music. It was not until he was a musicologist working with
the National Endowment for the Arts in 1990 as a grant reader that he saw concerts of
Asians and Asian Americans performing their ethnic music. Finally, Ariadne commit-
ted to teaching her students Asian music through conducting Filipino folk songs with
her choirs, and George became a member of a Filipino American group of Broadway
performers who work toward the awareness and equality of Asians in musical theater.

I M P L I C AT I O N S
This exploratory study investigated the experiences of Asian American music profession-
als while growing up and the ways their musical endeavors influenced their ethnic and
racial identities. The implications of this study for music education cannot be generalized
to the entire population of Asian Americans since data from only nine participants were
analyzed. However, their stories provide a starting point for considering how ethnic and
racial identity is constructed through musical experiences in the lives of Asian Americans.
Examples of fluidity regarding ethnic identity discussed by Root (1997) and the nonlinear
model framework developed by Sodowsky et al. (1995) were present in the data. Ethnic
and racial identity can be fluid throughout one’s life as desire to focus on, learn about, or

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Cayari Asian American Music Professionals

present different aspects of ethnicity or race change. Participants in this study who iden-
tified with Whiteness, assimilated into American culture, or avoided Asian musics and
traditions at one point in their lives were not precluded at other times from studying an
Asian music tradition, sharing Asian music, or performing as an Asian character on stage.
Music ensemble experiences may have influenced the way participants identified
ethnically. A prevailing experience across the participant pool was that school music
ensembles were predominantly White, while community groups—youth orchestras in
particular—were made up of racially diverse musicians. Every participant in this study
pursued Western European art music as a child, pointing out that their parents valued
the benefits of large ensembles, and some parents were unable to explain those benefits
beyond having faith that participation in orchestra would give their child an advantage
over White and other Asian children. This was a desire for assimilation toward a U.S.
musical culture, and these desires may have perpetuated stereotypes that Asians should
play violin, cello, and piano. Stereotypes also resulted in assumptions about participants’
majors in university study and their ability to perform tasks in their job. Some participants
felt like they were held to a higher standard than others. This pressure stemmed from both
parental expectations and their own desire to play the part of a skilled Asian musician.
John, a high-achieving violinist, embraced the way the music education system valued him
as part of his ensembles, and yet resented that being an Asian American violinist came
with high expectations and steep competition with others. In contrast, Marcus’s adoption
of an “All-American” identity helped him feel included as part of the diverse racial land-
scape in the United States; however, he was still racially profiled by directors.
The participants who were in community orchestras as children spoke about the
common presence of Asian American musicians in their ensembles’ string sections. I
argue that these sections became Asian spaces because of the prevalence of Asian musi-
cians. The existence of these spaces contributed to the pressures that came with com-
petition and caused stress on some participants to live up to widely held expectations.
In some instances, Asian spaces may perpetuate a musical aspect of model minority
pressures akin to what Lee (2015) discussed regarding the academic expectations placed
upon Asian Americans. However, they might also be a source of pride and give musi-
cians a sense of belonging, especially if there are no other opportunities to interact with
other Asian Americans as was the case with Kính. Having a designated musical space
for a minority community has potential advantages, such as providing a safe space to be
one’s self (McBride, 2017), explore varied aspects of one’s identity (Pascoe, 2011), find a
place of belonging (Green, 2010), and feel empowered to pursue the music and history
of their marginalized community (Cayari, 2019). Music educators might consider how
to encourage Asian spaces without perpetuating stereotypes that pressure students into
playing certain instruments because of their ethnicity. Moreover, Asian cliques might
develop what Adler and Adler (1995) called strata, or levels of hierarchy that exclude
those who do not act like, look like, or measure up to the most elite (for more on how
strata emerge in musical ensembles, see Abril, 2013).

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Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education Spring 2021 No.  228

Future research could expand this study to include participants whose families
come from countries in Asia that were not represented in this study, such as India, the
Middle East, and the Republic of Turkey. In this study, there were similarities between
participants who grew up in comparable neighborhoods in the United States. Yet,
experiences growing up in predominantly White neighborhoods vastly differed from
the encounters of those who grew up in racially diverse neighborhoods. Expanding this
research would help explore whether these similarities and distinctions were coinciden-
tal due to the small sample size or whether they are part of a larger trend. Finally, the
two adoptees in this study demonstrate two extremes of how Asian and White ethnic
identities might be embraced or shunned; research with more Asian American adoptees
might provide perspective on how racial differences between students and their parents
affect music learning and ethnic identity.
It may be encouraging that Asian Americans are represented at the same percent-
age in U.S. school music ensembles as they are in schools’ general populations (Elpus
& Abril, 2019). However, all participants in this study shared that Asian musics and
peoples were not adequately represented in their school music curricula. While some
examples were present in the schooling and lessons of participants, the prevailing
sentiment was that participants wished they had more experiences with Asian music
in school growing up. Teaching students about Asian and Asian American music and
performers may have positive effects on students by encouraging them to develop their
ethnic identities through meaningful experiences that incorporate the music of their
cultures. While the participants in this study experienced little to no Asian music in
their K–12 school music programs, many went on to pursue careers that allowed them
to explore their Asian heritages and develop their ethnic identities. Music educators
could give their students opportunities to develop their ethnic identities by supporting
their students’ ethnic and cultural backgrounds through music learning activities.

AUTHOR’S NOTE
Preliminary findings from this study were presented at the New Directions in Music
Education Conference in East Lansing, Michigan, in 2017.

NOTES
1. The U.S. Census data in 2019 identified the following race and Hispanic origin categories:
White alone; Black or African American alone; American Indian and Alaska Native alone; Asian
alone; Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone; two or more races; Hispanic or Latino;
and White alone, not Hispanic or Latino (U.S. Census Bureau, 2019). A brief about the 2010 U.S.
Census data stated, according to the Office of Management and Budget,
“Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast
Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Asian population includes
people who indicated their race(s) as “Asian” or reported entries such as “Asian Indian,” “Chinese,”

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Cayari Asian American Music Professionals

“Filipino,” “Korean,” “Japanese,” and “Vietnamese” or provided other detailed Asian responses.
(Hoeffel et al., 2012, p. 2)

2. The Japanese kanji characters for koto, 漢字, were suggested by Oliver as he learned the
instrument in a Japanese context. In Chinese traditions, it is more common to use 箏.

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