I've always been drawn to the special language of music. As a child, I picked up music from all around me - radio, TV commercials, movies, English song tapes, school bells... I enjoyed playing back what I heard and mashing them together into my own medleys, and sharing the delightful results with other people. I took up
classical piano when I was about 4, and then some violin, viola, singing, and
jazz piano throughout my school years. I was 'the piano girl' that accompanied everyone, and in some concerts, I just stayed on stage the whole time as they switched from band to choir to orchestra. I loved a wide range of different kinds of music, some of which I was embarrased to admit, but over the years these varied experiences have given me inspiration in the most unexpected places.
In college and grad school, I discovered an even more diverse and exciting world of music, involving
improvisation,
composition,
experimental music, and
intermedia fusions, thanks to the one-and-only
Princeton Laptop Orchestra (PLOrk) and the
Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford University, which provided me with new useful tools for innovative music-making and an open playground for experimentation.
After that, I worked at
Smule for a few years making content for their karaoke and piano apps, and during a hackathon there I first got my inspiration to create
MIDI art, which always seems to amuse people. In the recent years, I checked off a lot of bucket-list items of 'firsts' - I performed
Rhapsody In Blue with a full orchestra, I got to try my hand at film scoring for the cartoon series,
Marshmallow Stew, I published the
SoulPrints Podcast, and I released a couple of
solo piano albums near and dear to my heart.
And most recently, I started
teaching piano and have found so much joy and growth through it. My 5-year-old self that was playing medleys for people had wanted to be a piano teacher some day, and here I am. And so much more. I hope to continue to discover new worlds of music and share the delight with others.
