I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. I was surrounded by music at an early age I started playing the violin in elementary school. My Aunt Natalie gave me her violin so that I would have an instrument to play and continue throughout my life. I went to Skyline High School, U.C. Davis, U.C. Berkeley, Stanford and Emory University. I studied Music (Violin, Viola, Cello, Bass & Piano) and Dance (Ballet, Modern,Jazz & African) in School. I grew up surrounded by alot of bay area talent such as Sly and the Family Stone. Bands were always playing in my neighborhood. It was not surprising to run into Larry Graham or the Whispers or some of our famous Bay Area talents on the way to school or out for an evening of fun.Thank God for Music and Arts in Schools!
The Violin - the sweet old Amati! - the divine Stradivarius! Played on by ancient MAESTROS until the bow-hand lost its power and the flying fingers stiffened. Bequeathed to the passionate, young enthusiast, who made it whisper his hidden love, and cry his inarticulate longings, and scream his untold agonies, and wail his monotonous despair. Passed from his dying hand to the cold VIRTUOSO, who let it slumber in its case for a generation, till, when his hoard was broken up, it came forth once more and rode the stormy symphonies of royal orchestras, beneath the rushing bow of their lord and leader. Into lonely prisons with improvident artists; into convents from which arose, day and night, the holy hymns with which its tones were blended; and back again to orgies in which it learned to howl and laugh as if a legion of devils were shut up in it; then again to the gentle DILETTANTE who calmed it down with easy melodies until it answered him softly as in the days of the old MAESTROS. And so given into our hands, its pores all full of music; stained, like the meerschaum, through and through, with the concentrated hue and sweetness of all the harmonies which have kindled and faded on its strings. Oliver Wendell Holmes
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