Q: What is your background? Although this is a common and frequently asked question, it is one I find that I'm just not interested in answering for several reasons. First of all, in my opinion it is the music that is most important, and not I. If people are interested in knowing about the background of the music, I am more than willing to share what I know. In fact it is joyful to share. I know there can be a human-interest aspect to wanting to know about my background, but it seems to be an all-important obsession with many people that I find rather meaningless and irrelevant. Of what importance is it what university I went to or what teachers I studied with? The music is not a result of any of those things. People are always looking for a formula or a neat set of steps they can follow that will hopefully insure their own success, and frequently look to those who in their eyes are "successful" for the answers. Just look at all the self-help ...