Community Profile - Melanie Webster

Melanie Webster is a musician, teacher, and performer living in Sebastopol.  She moved here to attend college and has stayed here ever since.  She has two great kids, two cats, too many flowers, and too many weeds to pull.  She dreams of performing a string quartet in a castle overlooking Salzburg, Austria.

Birthplace:  Berkeley, California

Who's the most insightful person you know (be it real or fictional), and why?  Dr. Shinichi Suzuki, for his superlative insights on teaching violin.

What's your favorite book?  "Clara" - a fictional biography of Clara Schumann's struggle for excellence as a performing pianist, mother, and wife of composer Robert Schumann.

What's your favorite movie?  "The Red Violin"

What's your favorite food?  Mozart chocolates, direct from Austria.

What's your fondest memory?  Visiting Stradivarius' violin workshop in Cremona on my birthday.

What's your biggest pet peeve?  Violas that won't keep time.

What renowned person would you choose to be stranded with on a desert island, and why?  Itzhak Perlman, if he brought along his violin and his jokes.

What's the best thing anyone has ever given you (not necessarily a material thing)?  A fabulous Sartory violin bow.  

If you could possess any super power, what would you choose to have, and why?  Super-choice: To perform Paganini's 1st Violin Concerto with the San Francisco Symphony - with only one mistake.

What 4 renowned people who've ever lived would you invite for dinner (note: any members of your family are already invited)?  Beethoven, Brahms, Midori - and Ringo Starr.

What's the best thing about life?  A string quartet with the right stuff - and players.

          Sonoma West Times & News, August 31st, 2006

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"Children are seedlings. 

Unless the seedlings are cared for,

beautiful flowers cannot be expected."  

-S. Suzuki   

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