Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

The Chinese zodiac Tiger epigrams are from “Chinese Zodiac: Tiger,” http://pages.infinit.net/garrick/chinese/tiger.html (visited December 18, 2009), and “Chinese Zodiac: Tiger,” http://www.chinesezodiac.com/tiger.php (visited December 18, 2009).

Chapter 1: The Chinese Mother

The statistics I cite are from the following studies: Ruth K. Chao, “Chinese and European American Mothers’ Beliefs About the Role of Parenting in Children’s School Success,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 27 (1996): 403-23; Paul E. Jose, Carol S. Huntsinger, Phillip R. Huntsinger, and Fong-Ruey Liaw, “Parental Values and Practices Relevant to Young Children’s Social Development in Taiwan and the United States,” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 31 (2000): 677–702; and Parminder Parmar, “Teacher or Playmate? Asian Immigrant and Euro-American Parents’ Participation in Their Young Children’s Daily Activities,” Social Behavior and Personality 36(2) (2008): 163-76.

Chapter 3: Louisa

The country music song I quote is “Wild One,” written by Jaime Kyle, Pat Bunch, and Will Rambeaux. My Chinese zodiac characteristics come from the following Web sites: “Monkey Facts,” http://www.chineseinkdesign.com/Chinese-Zodiac-Monkey. html (visited December 18, 2009); “The Pig/Boar Personality,” http://www.chinavoc.com/zodiac/pig/person.asp (visited December 18, 2009); and “Chinese Zodiac: Tiger,” http://pages.infinit.net/garrick/chinese/tiger.html (visited December 18, 2009).

Chapter 5: On Generational Decline

For an illuminating study of Asian “music moms,” see Grace Wang, “Interlopers in the Realm of High Culture: ‘Music Moms’ and the Performance of Asian and Asian American Identities,” American Quarterly 61(4) (2009): 881–903.

Chapter 8: Lulu’s Instrument

Brent Hugh, “Claude Debussy and the Javanese Gamelan,” available at http://brenthugh.com/debnotes/debussy-gamelan.pdf (visited December 12, 2009) (script for a lecture recital given at the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1998).

Chapter 9: The Violin

On how to hold the violin, see Carl Flesch, The Art of Violin Playing, Book One, trans. and ed. Eric Rosenblith (New York: Carl Fischer, 2000), 3.

Chapter 12: The Cadenza

On Asian overrepresentation at top music schools:

At leading music schools and departments, Asians and Asian Americans constitute from 30 to 50 percent of the student population. The numbers are often higher at the pre-college level. At highly regarded programs such as Juilliard Pre-College, Asians and Asian Americans compose more than half the student body; the two largest groups represented are students of Chinese and Korean descent studying the violin or piano.

Grace Wang, “Interlopers in the Realm of High Culture: ‘Music Moms’ and the Performance of Asian and Asian American Identities,” American Quarterly 61(4) (2009): 882.

Chapter 13: Coco

On Dr. Stanley Coren and his rankings, see “The Intelligence of Dogs,” available at http://petrix.com/dogint/ (visited July 24, 2009). Other sources I cite: Michael D. Jones, “Samoyeds Breed — FAQ” (1997), available at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/dogs-faq/breeds/samoyeds/ (visited July 21, 2009); and SnowAngels Samoyeds, “The Samoyed Dog: A Short History,” available at http://www.snowangelssamoyeds.com/The_Samoyed.html (visited July 21, 2009) (italics added).