The Theft of Wonder

Truth be told, dinners here in Hangzhou have been a bit difficult, with everyone speaking Mandarin and having such a good time (the Chinese love  to laugh and there is such a healthy enjoyment between the women away from their husbands) that no one is particularly concerned about translating the conversations to me. 

 

But last night, with just three of us, I got into a serious conversation with Chen Ro, my translator and she translated to the organizer Tonny to get him involved. The question on the table was why he was interested in starting an Orff Levels training in China. Tonny is mostly a businessman, an excellent organizer, the force behind all these surprise parties the last three years and simply a fun and stellar human being. I did wonder whether his motivation was financial and a way to upgrade the status of his organization amidst three other competing Levels training in China. So his answer surprised me. 

 

He was sincerely concerned about the future of Orff Schulwerk in China. It turns out that he was at the first training I did in 2006. (He says he was not in that famous photo of over 100 people because he took the photo!) It was a time when there was a great deal of energy from young people excited about this whole new approach to music education and indeed, both Chen Ro and Cao Li (friend and translator from last week’s course) were at the course and in the photo. He now is worried that young people simply look at short videos of an Orff lesson on WeChat and think that’s enough to try to copy and call themselves Orff teachers. They don’t know what they don’t know and don’t seem interested in finding out. 

 

Then Chen Ro confirmed that the students in Shanghai Conservatory where she teaches are so different than the ones she taught 20 years ago. They have no passion, no curiosity, no twinkle in their eye. They show up to class because it’s on their schedule and do the bare minimum work. Yet another confirmation of Jonathan Haidt’s (The Anxious Generation author) perception that a phone-based childhood/ teenage-hood/ young adult-hood, robs people of a healthy curiosity, sense of wonder and inner drive to follow a vision wherever it might lead. They just go from sensation to sensation, distraction to distraction, with no through line of considering how they might evolve and what they must do to get further down a path. The opposite of the “enduring dedication” noted in the last post.

 

By contrast, my colleagues James, Sofia and I have lived our working lives by the motto “Whatever it takes.” Follow any teacher who has that spark that will ignite our flame, even if they are far away and it would be more convenient to study with a local one. Read the next book, listen to the next piece of music, study the next instrument or musical style, plan the next class with the driving question “How else can we do this?” behind it. It’s the force that drove us to work so far beyond any job description— renting theaters, driving U-haul vans that we pack ourselves, shopping for deer-horns or bamboo poles or whatever other props we need for a dance or a play or a class we have in mind. Flying 17 hours across the world to discover what we can learn from teaching a workshop in a new place. And so on.

I have been so moved by the 80 people who showed up to my Jazz Course here and couldn’t help but feel the contrast with the 8 or 10 in the U.S. who came to a Jazz Workshop I offered for free. Not the least bit of awareness that this opportunity to study with a “world-famous” Orff teacher with 50 years of experience behind him might be worth their precious time. 

 

So once again, damn these machines that are robbing us of the needed human understandings, passions, and commitments to grow beyond who we are at any given moment. We all know their conveniences but are far from understanding the dire consequences of how they diminish us. Young people, get thee to an Orff workshop and open your eyes and hearts to a lifetime of joy, connection and constantly renewed sense of wonder. You won’t regret it!