“play by myself: the Bach Partita in d minor for solo violin. there is a part in the piece where it's like the sun just starts to peek out of the clouds after a long and violent storm. 

Beethoven for string quartets. string quartets allow you the intimacy of making music just with four people. bigger than solo violin but more personal than an orchestra. 

in orchestra, i love playing Brahms, his music is so dense, complex and deep. and, of course, anything we play at the Cabrillo Festival! there is a kind of high we get from 40-80 people working hard at making beautiful music from dots on a page.”

“when COVID hit, i started teaching my full load on Zoom the first day after shutdown and hardly took a break for about a year. kids didn't have much to do so they really wanted violin lessons! teaching over Zoom taught me to be much more clear and succinct in my use of words. i couldn't use my hands to help shape a bow hold, i had to learn how to describe in such a way that a seven year old could understand. so i became a much better teacher. my students also became much more independent. i couldn't tune their instruments for them, so they had to learn how to. i couldn't really hear their true tone, so they had to learn how to listen better and be their own judge of tone. that made them better students and violinists. the downside was it was hard on the kids, to have everything on Zoom, and when i finally saw them in person, there were a few odd habits that had developed! but those were easily fixed. one huge positive is that i can now confidently teach remotely. i have one young student who lives in Seattle, and i have never met her in person! but she loves her lessons and is doing quite well. i also started a three year old over Zoom and didn't meet her for almost a year. she is progressing by leaps and bounds, and it's nice to have the Zoom option since she lives about an hour away. 

another positive for us is that our son came home to do college remotely, so we feel like we got an amazing and unexpected gift of having him home with us. he was a great roommate! and he helped me when i dug up about 600 square feet of grass to put in a farm. my husband and i also got to hike together almost every day, a habit we still enjoy.”

“we are looking forward to our son coming home for Christmas. we always go caroling in the neighborhood. our more musical friends and neighbors who like to sing get together, get fortified with warm food, spiced cider and hot buttered rum, and then go house to house with caroling books, flashlights, jingle bells , drums and lots of cheer! i will hopefully have quite a few holiday gigs now that we are opening up a bit more. i also get my students to go out and play holiday music for the community whenever possible.”

“for my Women In Literature book club, we read Mrs. Dalloway by Virgina Woolf. her writing has so much rhythm and cadence. the first time i read it a number of years ago, i wasn't really that into it. the second time, i absolutely LOVED it. i am also really enjoying reading Moby Dick out loud to my husband. i had no idea Melville was so funny! for my translation book club, we just read The Visitation by Jenny Erpenbeck. i haven't digested it all yet, but it was a lyrical and heart breaking book that read like a fairy tale. my book clubs are like a dream come true for a serious reader, because all of the women in them are serious scholars of literature: published writers, poets, journalism teachers, feminist studies scholars. i learn so much from these strong and amazing women.”

“a month ago, it was the jumpsuit and the one two crop top. now it is the cable knit sweater tee and either the essential pullover sweater or the all day cardigan. i am ALWAYS cold. i look forward to finally wearing my work from anywhere trouser and a wool blouse when i perform with the Marin Symphony this concert set!”