formosa quartet
jasmine
Jasmine Lin is a salsa dancer, lover of contemporary American poetry, and behind-the-scenes environmentalist known for her pacific treatment of bugs. She received her degree in romanticism from Italian opera and speaks English, Mandarin, and slow-but-mostly-precise German. A believer in loyalty, she can be found most days harboring thoughts of her parents and friends, eating organic produce, and striving against hypocrisy. She is best friends with a 345-year-old violin, with whom she travels extensively.
QUOTE CORNER
A page of quotes from friends
"I have been a vegetarian for 24 hours."
--Che-Yen Chen, announcing a personal record which he has yet to break
"I found a six-letter word!"
--Jake Braun, genuinely happy to find "dipers" in a game of Boggle
Una cabrita etica parletica pipiri pandamente pipiri pansuda...
--the beginning of a Spanish tongue-twister Felipe tried to teach me
"I'm no Einstein when it comes to momentous things."
--violinist friend Jason DePue, upon being asked to post a quote on behalf of
the Formosa Quartet's website
C: "Let's see... I'm eight, and you're eleven. That means... we could..."
J: "We could what?"
C: "Get married."
--conversation with friend Carl Yang when we were-- well, 8 and 11
"It's the only thing I'm enjoying."
--Cellist mentor/friend David Soyer, upon being asked by a fellow competition
jury member whether he was enjoying himself
"Well, I have to live up to my reputation..."
--David Soyer, when I asked him whether the above quote was true
J: "Maybe running shoes are overrated."
C: (aggressively) "Everything's overrated."
J: "Um. I have to think about that."
C: "So do I."
J: "Everything?"
C: "No, not everything."
J: "Is solitude overrated?"
C: "No. It's underrated."
J: "Is water overrated?"
C: "No."
J: "Is Pita Inn overrated?"
C: "No."
J: "Is music overrated?"
C: "No. You've found some things."
J: "I think running shoes are not overrated. I think
we overrated our tendency to overrate."
C: "I think I underrated my tendency to overrate."
--conversation with cellist friend Clancy Newman
"She is a little quirky but it can be very endearing."
--excerpt of an email that violinist friend Soovin Kim wrote to a presenter,
recommending me, sent to me by mistake
"I whole-heartedly veto my quote. You can quote me on that though."
--Sharon Roffman, declining permission to use the quote I originally had for her
"You wanted Hungarian strippers, right?"
--original Formosa Quartet cellist Ru-Pei Yeh, asking my preferences for her
bachelorette party
"Thank you all for your excellent musicianship, hard work, and most
importantly your most immature and perverted imaginations..."
--email from original Formosa Quartet violinist Joseph Lin, after the quartet's
first tour
MORE FAVORITE LINES...
Enjoy!
The Red Wheelbarrow
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
William Carlos Williams --courtesy of cellist friend Kathy Cherbas
They lived and laughed and loved and left.
James Joyce, Finnegan's Wake --courtesy of architect/violinist friend Nina
Chen
Now--for a breath I tarry
Nor yet disperse apart--
Take my hand quick and tell me,
What have you in your heart.
Speak now, and I will answer;
How shall I help you, say;
Ere to the wind's twelve quarters
I take my endless way.
from A. E. Housman's "A Shropshire Lad", spoken by two machines newly
made human in Roger Zelazny's "For a Breath I Tarry" --courtesy of
cellist/composer friend Jonathan Golove
The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, 'Is there a meaning to
music?' My answer would be, 'Yes.' And 'Can you state in so many words what
the meaning is?' My answer to that would be, 'No.'
Aaron Copland --courtesy of pianist friend Patti Ladpli
"It shows an abominable sort of conceited independence."
"Insufferable presumption!"
"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
--three of Ayano Ninomiya's favorite lines from Pride and Prejudice
Alles Vergaengliche / Ist nur ein Gleichnis. (Everything transitory / Is only a
simile.)
Goethe's Faust, Part II --courtesy of pianist/composer friend Ishmael Wallace
"Bun"
Music and Lyrics by Owen Lee
(To hear this song, check out
you look like you got dressed in the dark
you poet dancer salsa romancer
brazilian preener violin dreamer
impeccable warrior dim sum steamer
you introduced me to so much happiness
how can i ever pay you back
hair in a bun
childlike laugh
sacky dress
jazzy jazzy jazzy jazzy
you call us at midnight for dating advice
you're our little sister we're not just being nice
write me some poems i'll make some songs
and brew some tea maybe jasmine or oolong
an old fashioned girl you play with feeling
you live with feeling you dance with feeling
you stood by my worst side and always remember
the sublime music we made together
--a song bassist friend Owen Lee about me
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