Lost In Translation

This week the music school hosted a group of students from The East China Normal University (ECNU) Orchestra of Shanghai. Monday, we began with a master classes with students from both the U. of Memphis and the ECNU. A master class is a “public” lesson (as opposed to a private one). Two Chinese students performed in the master class my teacher taught at, and then she critiqued; however, there was a language barrier. So, a bilingual Chinese music student from the U. of Memphis translated. Then, at orchestra rehearsal on Wednesday, both the U. of Memphis and ECNU orchestras had a joint rehearsal; our conductor had to translate the entire rehearsal. The back and forth translation got very frustrating and time consuming. But when we started to play, it all of a sudden dawned on me that music is a universal language! I had forgotten this, because I was so lost in translation of the aural language. So, when we played, I felt that we played as one; we were finally all communicating with the same language. We had to rely on music in order to converse with each other and that was a new and exciting experience. So music making is what connected our two orchestras—with sound and heart.