We can enjoy Mozart being performed by the Singapore Symphony, Western-style high rise corporate offices being constructed in Ho Chi Min City (Saigon) and Phong Pang (Cambodia, and a thriving Baseball League in Japan. Chinese music is being played by major American orchestra. Asia landscaping and architecture are to be found in abundance in Western American cities. The beauty of a Japanese garden is hard to match. Schools teaching the Martial Arts of China and Japan are to be found in many American communities—alongside the practice of meditation and promotion of mindfulness as a pathway to health. Richard Rodriguez (2003) writes about the “Brown” world of contemporary America in which we now live that is rich with the intermingling of “Black”, “Brown” and “White” skin perspectives and practices. Yet, the Gap still exists and presents a challenge of profound differences. Can we sustain important relationships while extending our head, heart and hands across the Pacific?
I have just identified several major challenges regarding differences in perspective and practice. There are many more to be identified and faced. The dominant, Western-based narrative has collapsed under the weight of a flat global environment (Friedman, 2007) that is threatening in many ways (Smick, 2008)). Can we learn anything from the three exemplars that I have identified and focused on in the three previous essays—or are these exemplars to far away in terms of time and space (Bach family and Lincoln) – or simply too limited (academic) in scope (Gilligan)? While these are legitimate concerns, I believe that several important lessons can be learned from each of these exemplars—and these lessons can be applied to the challenges associated with old and new, left and right, and East and West.
The Bach Family: What Did They Teach Us?
In our first essay (Bergquist, 2023a) attention was directed to the way in which several of the sons of J. S. Bach helped to preserve the music composed by their father, while moving forward with a quite different approach to their own compositions of “classical” music.
Guardian of Value
I related their orientation to preservation to the concept of Guardianship that was offered by George Vaillant (2012). Motivated by a strong desire to safeguard the past, Bach’s sons recognized that something old can be revered (and performed in the case of classical music) because it has lasting relevance even though musical tastes may change. Even today, we appreciate classical music of all eras—the repertoire of our symphony orchestras and classical music radio stations spans more than five hundred years (from the pre-Baroque music of Palestrina to the minimalist music of 21st Century composers such as John Adams and Arvo Part.
The collection of fine art that is to be found in contemporary museums spans an even greater length of time and even greater diversity of materials used and visual images presented. These collections include statues of ancient Greece and Rome alongside 21st Century representation of urban debris by Mark Bradford and Ethiopian-American visual representations offered by Juli Mehretu.
We guard the past because it offers profound insights regarding not only our heritage but also the contemporary times in which we are living. The sons of J. S. Bach recognized that this was true of all great art—including that which was produced in abundance by their father, the simple organ player who composed for God.
