El Cerrito, a long way from home...but a new musical promised land for me

For years I was a New York City dweller, born and raised in the Big Apple, with all the hustle bustle, subway noise, bus emissions, and peak cultural events at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall.

A grad of the FAME NYC High School of Performing Arts, I arose at the crack of dawn to take the IRT to Manhattan's hub, Times Square, from where I walked a few short blocks to "P.A." (Past grads included Liza Minelli, Robin Strasser, Dom De Luise, and Murray Perahia.)

It wasn't long before I found myself at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio, a far cry from my native grounds. It was at the nudging of my piano teacher, Lillian Freundlich, an Obie alumna. She sent me to the hot and humid Midwest where I barely survived tornado alerts, torrential rains, and snowstorms in April, though my musical education was enriched by great mentoring.

What a surprise to return to New York City a few years later, as a grad student at Washington Square's NYU – back in the din of urban living, but with culture as an abiding cultural embrace.

California relocation was next, but it wasn't to a prized area. I found myself smack in the core of stifling heat in agriculture's heartland, the Central Valley (not my choice, but dictated by a spousal job opportunity).

Though I'd set up a piano studio looking out on a garden paradise, I could barely breathe when I went outdoors. The air pollution alerts abounded and the Tule fog added harmful particulates. With 100-degree temps lingering for seven months of the year, I could barely tolerate a life of indoor refrigeration.

After raising six children, three of whom attended CAL Berkeley, I made frequent visits to the campus and neighboring Hills with the sniff of Eucalyptus and balmy air breezes luring me back.

Soon enough, I became obsessed with finding my way to the Bay to embark upon piano teaching and performing.

My dream came true three years ago when I made the lunge and rented a very small room in an El Cerrito home that looked out on the Hills with a breathtaking view. (The only visual reference I have dates to a blog published in Word Press, titled, "A Room with a View," http://arioso7.wordpress.com/2011/04/06/a-piano-room-with-a-view/.)

It was this El Cerrito studio baptism that led in time to a bigger space, higher up in the Hills, alive with the sound of music.

Finally, I'm well-planted in my new space, amidst a garden of flowers, mature trees, and refreshing air breezes.

It's a paradise found with a Baldwin grand piano housed in a magnificent acoustical space.

Fritz, age 8, amplified the beauty of this musical setting by playing a duet with me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PFq0cCwujE.