Silence is the absence of sound, the lack of auditory vibrations traveling through the air. But this absence does not necessarily mean emptiness. Silence can communicate, can carry a weighted meaning, and can often transmit ideas and emotions of penetrating profundity.

I was a painfully shy child, sensitive and emotional - but the one thing I remember with crystalline clarity is the security and comfort I felt whenever I was with my mother. I was happy and content because of her - she made my life as normal as possible, and there was an absolute certainty that my mother would always protect me, always be there to hug and console me, and perhaps most importantly of all, would always understand me.

My mother seemed to possess an innate understanding not only of the power of silence, but also when it was important. She would quietly let me sit and play for hours at the piano and let me have countless hours of fun by myself (and later with my younger brother) as we created and acted out our different imaginary stories and scenarios, and had animated conversations with my stuffed animals as though they were real human beings. My brother and I were both avid readers and ever since I was five, she used to take us to the local public library every Sunday morning. She would sit there with us for 7 or 8 hours (until the library closed), as we consumed and read book after book. She always wrote down in a little notebook each and every book we read, what we thought about it, why we enjoyed it, and would ask us to rate it on a scale of 1 to 5. One day, after reading an adventure book, my brother and I become consumed with the idea of creating an imaginary world that involved defending the queen of the castle from various evil doers. I remember my mother quietly sitting at the dining room table as we jumped around the room, excitedly talking about all the different scenarios and possibilities. The next day when I came home from school, there was a pile of 20 to 30 empty boxes of different sizes. When I asked her what they were, she simply said, “I brought them home for you and your brother.” I still remember the indescribable glory and happiness of those next two weeks, as my brother and I cut up, colored, and painted those boxes and created the very castle that we had been talking about.

To this day, I marvel at how a first generation American and single mother was able to give my brother and I so much of her time while also running the household, taking care of all of my unusual music related activities and schooling, staying on top of my brother’s life and education, and running her own school in which she educated and influenced literally hundreds of other children. By nurturing me with her silence, my mother gave me a priceless gift - the freedom to be myself. She gave me the quiet I needed in order to think for myself, to formulate my own ideas, to choose my path in life, and to make my own mistakes along the way so that I could truly understand the learning process. On this mother’s day, I celebrate my extraordinary mother’s life, and the inspiration she continues to give me everyday.


As I keep up my maddening work pace this week, I thought I’d share some interesting articles and posts that I’ve enjoyed over the past few days:

- Via Chris Foley’s Collaborative Piano Blog: Chris shares a hilarious video of the singer/comedienne Anna Russell’s take on how to be an opera singer

- As an educator and as a strong believer and advocate for early childhood education, I have always maintained a strong interest in the field of cognitive psychology. This article on Elizabeth Spelke’s fascinating research at Harvard was interesting to me for several reasons. Although babies can develop visual differentiations between races and skin colors by the age of three months, language (that is, sound) and what we hear plays a greater factor in a child’s long-term development.

- Wil Wheaton’s blog is always a very funny, open, and refreshingly honest account of his approach to creativity and life. He recently wrote a post that discusses his thoughts about his creative career and shares some resources for aspiring writers.

- As those of you who follow this blog know, I took some time off this past weekend to do some internal spring cleaning. Going offline and taking some time for myself was wonderful and something that I very much needed to do. Tying in with my interest in education, both Chris Brogan and Chris Pirillo recently dealt with the issue of information overload, and how best to manage and handle our time in our current wired society. What I enjoyed the most about both posts was the idea that in the end (as I realized for myself last week) the solution lies not necessarily with better machines or filtering software, but with our own human selves, and our ability to decide and choose how we each define and take responsibility for our lives.

- Chris Brogan on saying no
- Chris Pirillo: How do you deal with information overload?

After a month of indecision, Spring seems to have finally decided to officially arrive here this week. It is as though something has visibly shifted in the city’s atmosphere, and the natural festiveness of the culture has once again permeated the air.

Meanwhile, this is what I spent this past week doing:



Between the piles of scores that I have to go through, work on, and learn for upcoming concerts, and various administrative and computer related tasks I have to do for different events this summer, I haven’t had any time to enjoy the marvelous seasonal change that is always my favorite time of year. I would much rather be like this little one, and simply rejoice in the sun and warmth outside:



This weekend I plan on doing some spring cleaning, not necessarily of the house (which, actually, does need to get done…), but of myself. I’m taking some time to do the simple things that bring me such pleasure - going to the museum to soak in beautiful art, taking a leisurely walk, reading a book at a cafe, watching a movie, and cooking and trying out new recipes. As someone who tends to be on the workaholic side, I’ve been trying to learn how to take the time that I need for myself. Nourishment of the soul is important in order to sustain continual emotional and mental concentration, and I hope the little quiet time this weekend will help to enrich and renew my inner self.