My Music Autobiography

One of my very first experiences with music outside of the Western Art canon was in kindergarten. I remember going to presentations of American Indian music and dancing about once a week, and our school even hosted its own miniature “pow wow.” Another time, an American Indian author and musician visited to promote his book, but what I remember the best was listening to him play a few songs on a traditional flute and explaining the significance of each song. I remember being very interested in the music and feeling intrigued by how strange but wonderful it was. I didn’t really appreciate it as much as I do now, and I certainly didn’t know how to pursue my curiosity back then, but I did enjoy it for the year that I attended that school. 

 I was also exposed to Japanese folk music from a very early age. My maternal grandmother is Japanese and while she wasn’t comfortable singing to me herself she played many tapes and CDs of traditional Japanese songs, especially lullabies. Her favorite song was (and still is) “Sakura, Sakura”, the cherry blossom song. I don’t remember most of the words, but I remember enjoying hearing many different versions and arrangements of that songs and trying to sing along. I even went through a very short period where I was very interested in learning how to play the koto. (Needless to say, that phase didn’t last very long.) Looking back, I realize that since I grew up around this kind of music I never thought that it was weird or exotic. Sometimes when we went to Asian restaurants I still even recognize some songs here and there. I feel very lucky to have been exposed to such beautiful music for so many years. 

 I learned violin through the Suzuki method, which emphasizes the importance of group classes and playing with other violinists of all different ages and levels. For me, this included going to Suzuki retreats held at lots of different colleges and schools, and attending all sorts of classes on violin playing. One year, I took a class on Irish fiddling and that has stuck with me to this day. Suzuki is memory and listening based, and since traditional Irish fiddling is passed down by memory, it was the ideal activity for a Suzuki camp, but it was also a total blast! I learned about twelve or thirteen songs and it was challenging for me, but it was also fun because my dad’s side of the family is Irish and he knew a lot of the tunes I worked on and I felt like I was exploring part of my heritage. I still love Irish and Celtic music and I enjoy playing it, but it is hard for me to remember all of the songs. 

 I went to another camp in high school and although it was an orchestra camp, we had a workshop on old-time music. It was one of the coolest musical experiences I’ve ever had! We played three old-time songs from Appalachia, and one even had words, and we had to sing while we were playing, which I wasn’t thrilled with, but did anyway. (The sacrifices that must be made for art...) But being someone who has a bad habit of getting “stuck” in the music and reading music, it was a great way for me to go beyond my comfort zone and explore the traditional music of this country. (I would also just like to add that I am a huge – huge – fan of The Civil Wars and since their style is mostly inspired by old time music, I felt super cool to be playing music that emulated their sound. ☺)