Focus, Discipline, and Patience

Seventeen years of violin study and performance, since age 6, have taught me self-discipline and patience -- hours of practice just to get a music phrase to sound right. Playing in orchestras and sight-reading orchestral scores have taught me focus and sharpened my ability to grasp things quickly and accurately. All these have also taught me the value of balance, contrast and counterpoint -- the value of a delicate piannisimo after a blast of fortissimos, the breaths of largos and lentos after a run of breathless allegrettos, and violins contrasting or blending their soprano and tenor voices with deep sounds of the basses. Winning instrumental competitions, leading a student orchestra, and teaching have given me self-confidence and an appreciation of strategic and analytic thinking. Working with others has helped me understand teamwork and honed my communication skills.

Understanding an Audience and Communicating a Meaningful Message

Six years of dance performance, competition, teaching, and judging have deepened my grasp of what it takes to reach an audience. Dance, like music, has an intellectual and logical base. Dance is based on an understanding of how a body moves and of the essence of a particular dance. West Coast Swing's essence, for example, is its elasticity within a slot. Before one can learn the choreography of International Standard ballroom dances, like the Foxtrot for example, one must learn such essentials as the flavor and rhythm of a particular dance, partner movement, framing, the line of dance, the four walls, etc. Partner dancing involves developing a sensitivity to one's partner and an ability to balance one's moves with a partner's needs.

Balance, Style, and Punch

Then there are the emotional and stylistic dimensions of both music and dance. After one has a firm insight into the intellectual and rational core of both arts, one has to add an emotional and stylistic dimension so that the music or dance resonates with the audience. Creativity, innovation, intensity, and a sense of play can add that punch.

My graphic studies and experience have shown me how closely the graphic arts parallel music and dance and how much they parallel valuable lessons I have learned in life -- the interplay between harmony and dissonance, light and dark, night and day, sound and silence, the equilibruim needed to make these elements play off of each other, and the need to balance substance and style.

My life in the arts has also taught me how to capture a meaningful moment in time as with a camera, and make it meaningful for the intended audience as well. The ability to savor this moment, learn from it, and recreate it in music, dance, or graphic art for others is a gift that I strive for constantly.