MELANIE RICHARDS is a professional musician and teacher with many years of experience across the artistic spectrum. A native of Texas, she is an honors graduate of Barnard College, with departmental honors in music; she was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Her master's degree is in musicology from the University of North Texas, where she was elected to the honorary music fraternity Pi Kappa Lambda. Interests and in-depth studies have been in the artistic process, physics of music, spirituality and healing, and the arts in education.
Ms. Richards felt the need to write this book after observing and experiencing the effect of technology on our young people and on our society without the balance that the arts gives. She has given workshops, lectures, and classes (New York, California, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, Vancouver, BC) and has written articles for related publications (music, arts, spirituality). As a musician, she has worked as a pianist, organist, and teacher, maintaining a large piano studio, serving as class and tour pianist for Eurythmy Spring Valley (NY), and performing in chamber music settings in the New York area, nationally, and internationally. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Lucian, an artist.