貼上女兒這文，給她、碗豆、
四赴紐奧良 動手蓋房
我到紐奧良是卡翠納風災後第三年，我們為了能以更具體且有效率的方式幫助社區重建，連續三天與慈善之家合作蓋房子。我們這群受過嚴格訓練的音樂家、演員和舞蹈家，大多數人從未拿過鐵槌，不過，追求完美和成就的動力彌補了我們缺乏的經驗。
上午幫災民蓋房，下了工後則去當地的基督教青年會為三至十二年級的學生進行課後藝術輔導。雖然許多學生樂意投入藝術，但部分學生對藝術課程並沒有興趣，他們 只是因為下了課沒有別的地方可去。這些學生都在卡翠納颶風中失去家人、家園，聽到他們的故事，看到他們逐漸脫離外在硬殼，分享內心最深處的感受，使我們知 道關切確有必要。
我們20多位茱麗亞音樂學院學生組成的義工隊，也為紐奧良災民和其他的重建志工義演。四年來，教堂、志工宿舍的餐廳和客廳、慈善之家的工地、光禿禿的水泥地，都是我們的舞台。我們的表演琳瑯滿目，包括唱歌、吟詩和舞蹈。
今年春假我們在一個工地表演，有時要暫停讓汽車穿過觀眾所坐的街道，或是等待飛在上空的直升機離開，風勢很大，譜架又不牢固，還得請演員按住樂譜免得飛走，觀眾也寬容有加，每一場演出、每一個掌聲，都讓人回味。
在展開2010年旅行的規畫之前，我投入更多接觸社區的活動。每一場慈善音樂會、藝術課程和表演，都使我日漸感到身為音樂家，不應只藉由表演來與他人溝通聯繫，也有職責把古典音樂帶入無法接觸到這種音樂的人群與地方。
醫院養老院 分享音樂
透過茱麗亞教育推廣部門，近幾年我也赴紐約市區醫院、養老院和少年收容所，提供互動課程與表演。我和朋友組成大提琴和鋼琴二重奏，從古典樂曲目到彈唱迪士尼 兒歌，表演包羅萬象。有一次在少年收容所，我們還嘗試即興改編女神卡卡的「Bad Romance」! 三年來我們在紐約超過30個場所表演，每一批不同的觀眾都是挑戰，我得找出不同的方式分享音樂。
記得有一次到達演奏會場才被告知「沒有鋼琴，只有風琴」。這架「風琴」是個使用電池、四個八度音的電子琴。電子琴的琴鍵觸感不同，又沒有延音踏板，我臨時以控制音量鈕的方式進行表演彈奏。在曼哈 坦東城的癌症中心，我們把一台直立鋼琴運到走道，為躺在病床、無法行動的癌症病患進行十分鐘的表演。
收獲多於付出
雖然社區表演條件不佳，但聽眾聽得津津有味，幾個琴鍵失蹤或是走音，都使表演更有趣味，我在醫院大廳學到的即興演奏方式，肯定比在教室學到的多!
對茱麗亞音樂學院的許多同學而言，夢想是站上頂尖音樂廳與最好的樂團同台演出，但對我來說，表演藝術不再是陽春白雪，而是與生活、社區緊密結合的一環。
我從未想到癌症對我會是一種祝福！在接受最後一次放射治療後，我感謝癌症助我蛻變，讓我成為今天的我。(宋凌蘭譯)
作者簡介：Yvonne Chen自茱麗亞音樂學院畢業，今秋進入萊斯大學攻讀鋼琴演奏音樂碩士。(Yvonne Chen個人網站及部落格:www.pianistyvonnechen.com)
The Unique Performance By Reaching Out Through Music
By Yvonne Chen
When I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer halfway through my freshman year at the Juilliard School, I immediately felt the need to do something meaningful with my life. Then, I discovered a student-led group devoted to volunteering in the community, called ARTreach. It was in the midst of accepting applications for an alternative spring break trip to New Orleans. I signed up.
More Than Just Music
The New Orleans I met on this trip was three years post-Katrina. Our group of musicians, actors and dancers worked with Habitat for Humanity to build houses for three days. Our drive for perfection and accomplishment made up for the fact that many of us had never picked up a hammer before.
We spent our afternoons at the local YMCA, running an after school arts program for students from third to twelfth grade. While we were lucky to have many students eager to engage in the arts, some of the kids were simply there for lack of another place to go. Hearing their stories and watching them gradually come out of their shells to share their innermost feelings gave us the assurance that our presence in the community was a much-needed one.
Our group gave performances for the people of New Orleans and other volunteers in whatever spare time we had throughout the weeklong program. Our performances were a potpourri of songs, poems, and dance involving a truly collaborative effort.
The venues were as varied as our performances. Over my four years as a volunteer in the ARTreach program, I have performed in churches, volunteer housing cafeterias and living rooms, and Habitat for Humanity worksites (on the houses, in the street, and even on simple slabs of concrete). On our construction site performance this past spring, we endured passing cars, a percussive helicopter overhead, a strong wind and flimsy music stands, with actors holding our music scores – all of which proved to be quite the spectacle for our forgiving audience!
Connecting With Others
Before the 2010 ARTreach trip, I became involved in more community programs. With each additional benefit concert, arts education class, and performance, I felt increasingly aware as a musician of the need to not only communicate and connect with others through my performances, but also to bring classical music to people and places not exposed or accessible to it.
Through Juilliard’s Educational Outreach department, I began visiting New York City hospitals, nursing homes, and youth shelters to present interactive programs and performances with a friend as a cello-piano duo.
The performances ranged from our usual classical repertoire to Disney songs for children at a cancer center. Once at a youth shelter, we even improvised an arrangement of “Bad Romance” on cello and piano per a teenager’s request! Over three years, we performed in more than thirty facilities across the city, with each different audience challenging us to find new ways to share our music.
Out of Tune, In Touch
Reaching out to the varied audiences wasn’t the only challenge. At one facility, the piano I was to perform on turned out to be 4-octave battery-charged electric keyboard. At a cancer center, we wheeled an upright piano into the hallway and gave ten-minute performances for its bedridden patients as we rolled the piano past rooms down the entire corridor.
Though these situations were obviously not ideal, the audience never seemed to mind. The missing or sticky keys and “out-of-tune” instruments provided a quirkiness to all the performances that I ended up treasuring.
The Juilliard School has been known world-wide for turning out successful performing artists since its inception in 1905. For many of my classmates, the “dream career” is to perform in the top concert halls with the best orchestras. For me, though, my volunteer experiences have taught me the pleasure of teaching, collaborating, and being involved in something greater than being wrapped up in a ticket-selling repertoire.
I never thought I would consider having cancer to be a blessing, but as I finished with what will hopefully be my last dose of radiation therapy, I am incredibly grateful for how it has helped me develop into the kind of pianist I want to be.
Yvonne Chen graduated from The Juilliard School and will be attending Rice University this fall for a Masters of Music degree in Piano Performance.
(取自2012年8月出刊之世界日報教育專刊: 世界新聞網-北美華文新聞、華商資訊 - 走出殿堂 活出音樂新生命)
