Artists Registry

ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My life as a musician - performer, composer and lyricist, listener, fellow, and teacher - has many purposes. I seek to reveal myself and the world I perceive, through music, in ways that grow and change as I do. I try to listen, take in experience as it comes to me, and interpret it in some significant form. I am dedicated to giving people music that I believe is valuable and true, through playing, writing and teaching. I pursue a life brimming in art and peace.
As a performer, I create impressions of my experience and ideas, and try to connect with the audience and my fellow musicians. Live performance is a chance to create a great cycling of energy among artists and listeners, a reciprocal flow that enhances us and the music. To achieve this goal, for me, artistic integrity is primary : my love of the music I choose to perform, its organic value, and continual development of my performance through study, practice, and work with other musicians. Also, I must be completely present in the moment, as much of my playing is improvisation. When the desired end is achieved, I often surpass my own knowledge and expectations. Whether playing for just a few people or a large concert hall, I find that the listeners bring spirit and new understanding to the music. This enriches my performance immeasurably.
As a composer and lyricist, I want to inform listeners and musicians in some way. This "informing" might be as simple as the smell of a rose, or as complex as a saga of betrayal. I seek to portray visions through my own details and coloring, balanced with more universal experience. I put a great value on gaining musical inspiration from any source. Over the years this has included love, mountains, homeless people, sea ice, cats, and the concept of diffusion, among others. I believe life's variety invites us to be open, and to try to align ourselves with the moment. Part of the work and joy I experience as a composer, is to translate bits of life into music.
The observations and interpretations of musicians and listeners greatly enliven my compositions, often expanding my perception of them. So a good portion of my work is to take in these offerings, and to maintain a fluid dialogue with others. Another great gift of composing, is the process of learning it entails. Writing music develops and deepens my understanding of form and detail - in the music, in myself, and in life in general.
Collaborating with other artists gives me the chance to try interweaving our ideas. We meet each other inside the work, and thrive on the excitement of living material from a fresh source. This has been true in my work with musicians, students, dancers and poets. I enjoy the challenge of bringing disparate parts together through discussion, improvisation, juxtaposition, and any other number of ingenious human efforts.
Teaching is a gift and a precious duty. I am devoted to sharing the joy of making music, and to demystifying that process. After years with students of all ages and levels, teaching is still completely refreshing. Illuminating a concept, demonstrating a technique, or searching for the right hook to draw in the student's mind - these are acts that interest, educate, and move me.
As a musician living her life day to day in the world, my purpose is simply to be the most fulfilled version of a human being that I can. I have many interests "outside" music - nature sciences, languages, spiritual development, etc. - and I foster the interdevelopment of these aspects in myself. I see parallels of motion, form, color and space in different systems. They are a vibrant presence in my daily work. Just as this makes my music richer and fuller, so does the music permeate every part of my life, giving greater meaning and deeper understanding to each moment that I live.