Balance.
Resonate.
Flow.
In Donald Brinegar’s conducting class during my first year as doctoral student in choral music at USC, I discovered that these three verbs intersect and support multiple aspects of my life and work. From yoga, to singing, to conducting, to parenting, everything seems better when balance, resonance, and flow are in harmony. The challenge (and the fun) is figuring out what’s out of balance? Where is there a lack of resonance? What’s stopping the flow? Being able to answer these questions as they relate to various situations has been a key component to managing this rewarding and complicated life.
Conducting
Honestly, I miss choral conducting. I miss the singers, the connection, the spirituality, the magic of shaping the way voices touch other voices in shared space. The pandemic has really taken away our ability to fully practice this artform. Hopefully, opportunities for live conducting (if only on a small, informal scale) will happen in the coming weeks with my students at Harvard-Westlake and with my musical friends at Neighborhood Church.
Composition
The more I do it, the more I realize just how much I have to learn about composing music. I’m now analyzing the musical scores of revered composers from across the centuries so I can understand the idiomatic performance characteristics and notation practices of different instruments (especially for organ works). And I’m engaging more with composer colleagues, listening to their wisdom about the composition process. In my work as an adjudicator and mentor with the Her Voice composition competition for women, I get to engage with two phenomenal master composers Chen Yi and Stacy Garrop. I’m just trying to soak up as much wisdom as I can!
Singing
I’ve noticed that sometimes when I’m in a good mood or I feel like celebrating, I spontaneously start singing opera arias I learned in my undergrad days. My go-to celebration aria is “Je Suis Titania” from Mignon by Jules Massenet. Back when I was young, I thought It was the most virtuosic aria EVER, and I enjoyed learning it. I was never was able to master it, but it’s fun to just bust out random snippets of it between classes, in the car, while cooking, or whenever good news comes my way.
What’s your go-to celebration aria or song?
For Fun
My youngest daughter Natalie is a visual artist, and I absolutely adore her art style. Sometimes she sends me her drawaings just to brighten my day. She masterfully draws original anime-style cartoon characters using an app on her phone. I am AMAZED she creates such adorably pictures just with her finger on her phone! Here are three of her recent ones. This character is named “Cheesecake.” It’s Natalie’s cartoon version of herself. I’m completely smitten by my child’s “self-portrait.” It looks just like her in so many ways.
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