Spirit Flame - The Story of Yu Boya
“One of the components of lasting art is a spirit flame within the created that can ignite inspiration and hope, and survive time’s ways.”
Zihyin
Here is a short story that illuminates my current value system, and what I feel is possible outside the university walls. The story is about Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi, two real people who lived over 2000 years ago in what is now called Wuhan China.
Once upon a time, long, long ago in China, there were two friends, one who played the harp skillfully (Yu Boya) and one who listened just as skillfully (Zhong Ziqi). When the harpist played a song and sang about a mountain, the listening friend would say, “I can see the mountain before us.” When the Yu Boya played a song about water, Zhong Ziqi would say: “Here is the running stream.” One day the Zhong Ziqi fell ill and died. That very day, after playing one more time at his dear friend’s grave, Yu Boya cut the strings on his instrument and never played again. [1]
This story exemplifies the Chinese ideal of friendship. The term Zhiyin (知音) means literally, "to know the tone"; it has come to describe a close and sympathetic friend. The values that motivate my work now since I left the university include searching for this “spirit flame,” as well as looking for Zhiyin or “knowing each other’s tones.” Making these connections in all my musical interactions is truly my goal. I endeavor to do this by making and encouraging music making with dear souls, friends and colleagues – free of corporate concerns about money and austerity that hamper funding for the arts now in college settings. These concepts are full of meaning to me, and to all involved.
Searching for the “Spirit Flame” and Zhiyin
Of course, when one begins to look for something specific, one usually finds it everywhere, and so it has been for me. I am going to list some of the meaningful projects I’ve been involved in—not to ring my own bell, but to illustrate the use of what I understand to be my musician’s “poetics” to disrupt the university status quo: 1) by performing previously suppressed music; 2) by encouraging discussions that unpack the attachment to the hierarchical dominator (colonizer) model in classical music and the university; 3) by creating new works through collaborations with multiple artists exploring disruptive themes, such as the equality of shared trauma or combining multiple styles, sounds, and stories in disruptive “performative utterances.” These projects are inside, outside, and on the edges of the university.
Inside/Outside: Spirit Flame and Zhiyin in Student Projects
I have found the “spirit flame” in the mentoring and teaching of my dear students, who are making a go of it in the world right now. Ontario is a student of mine who recently was accepted into a Ph.D. program in ethnomusicology, along with a hefty scholarship and teaching assistantship package; Ontario is working on a project of performing anti-slavery songs from a book by Joshua Mc Simpson, written in 1852, and which was rediscovered by my colleague Lauri Scheyer. Marielle is another student, a classical soprano; she just finished a concert tribute to Joni Mitchell. Michael, yet another, is finishing his masters degree with a thesis topic on how and why Chicano people should listen to classical or “white” music. These students are all aflame with their missions. They light me up.
Inside/Outside: Spirit Flame and Zhiyin in Colleague’s Projects
I have found the “spirit flame” in consulting for amazing colleagues at other universities and by participating in their innovative projects. I helped my colleagues at Vanderbilt University create L’enfent et les sortileges, an opera by Ravel, during the worst of the U.S. Covid19 epidemic. I helped the City of Riverside and University of California Riverside put on a classical concert for children ranging in age from six months to three years old, a piece called All About Bears. I had the privilege of igniting inspiration in a class of high school girls in New Jersey who want to be entrepreneurs in the arts by doing a workshop for them over Zoom. I am regularly invited to perform original songs for a spiritual service at the Center for Spiritual Living in West Georgia, near Atlanta. I perform and invite guests to perform on regular Tiny Concerts over Patreon. I am proud to say that I am the soprano of a vocal quartet that performs regularly around the Los Angeles area. Just Us sings upbeat arrangements of standard pieces in four-part harmony. It is a blast and truly makes a difference in people’s lives.
Outside: Spirit Flame and Zhiyin in Audiences
I have found the “spirit flame” by performing for people who listen—I mean who really listen— like the skillful listener in the story above. These intimate performances will forever stay in my heart. The audiences are in a variety of non-traditional or unexpected places, like a homeless shelters, a prison, a student audience, a house concert, and an art exhibit by differently abled artists, many senior living centers, vacation groups, clubs and private parties. Not to mention my own back yard concert series.
Outside: Spirit Flame & Zhiyin in Collaborations
I have found the “spirit flame” by working on my own heart-felt projects with talented collaborators. At the request of Laura Hinton (one of the colloquy organizers and editor of Chant de la Sirene), I am sharing short examples of my work. The first is from a project is called Her Pieces Live, A Revival of Art Songs by Women Composers. I am sharing our short video about an art song in German, “Laue Sommernacht,” written by the irrepressibly new woman of the 20th century, Alma Mahler.
I am performing the soprano with an accompaniment track recorded by my collaborator and friend, Dr. Katharine Boyes. These pieces by women composers are not regularly taught inside the university and I am happy to share this video with you outside the university. I hope you enjoy it.
“Nonetheless” co-written by myself and a Daniel Whitlow (former student, former inmate, current friend and colleague)
One of my former students from my time teaching at the California State Maximum Security Men’s Prison in Lancaster, California, is Daniel Whitlow. He is a formerly incarcerated husband, student, poet, and musician, who is dedicated to expressing himself, and also to helping others do the same. He has stayed in touch with me since having his life sentence commuted just over a year ago. We shared that “spirit flame” on a project we worked on together at the prison. We are sharing our poem with you about our belief that trauma is humanity’s shared story.
How the Future Looks to Me from Outside the University Walls
Released from the corporate values and attitudes that limited my work at the university, and with my eyes wide open to the work that must yet be done, I can now choose my projects and the colleagues with whom I work and create. I can now infuse each project and collaboration with positive energy, that “spirit flame,” understanding each other’s “tone” and working together towards “igniting inspiration and hope that can survive time’s ways.” The diversity and expanse of these projects I believe demonstrate how far I have gone—way outside my previous academic lane. In doing so, I now can belong to a wider community of poets, writers, musicians, artists, and academics, those who take powerful poetic steps to protect what is good, true, and right, both inside and outside the university.
[1] “Zen Bones Zen Flesh” by Paul Reps adapted by Jacky Sach in The Everything Zen. Everything Publisher, 2011.
