Dr. Carole J. Ott

  • Music Performance
  • Associate Professor of Choral Music, 2014
Dr. Carole J. Ott

The Beauty of Gesture: The Invisible Keyboard of Piano and T'ai Chi, by Catherine David

This short book is a profound essay in which the author explores both beauty and gesture through the practice of T'ai Chi and piano. It was recommended to me by a lutenist I met at an early music festival when he learned I was a conductor and it quickly became a favorite. It is full of concentrated ideas and opportunities for meditation. One of my favorite quotes from the book is “True interpretation requires a saturated memory. To exit time, we have to pass through it.”