In the Key of Z: Classical
An extension of herself | Ashley Park
3/6/2025 | 3m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
Ashley is playing beyond her years and creating exquisite pieces you need to hear to believe.
It was the sparkly dress that hooked her, but it’s the connection with the audience that keeps her coming back for more. Sitting down with WXXI Classical Host Steve Johnson, Ashley explains her unique way of visualizing music as colors as much as sound. Her years of study under YooJin Jang, has her playing beyond her years and creating exquisite pieces you need to hear to believe.
In the Key of Z: Classical is a local public television program presented by WXXI
In the Key of Z: Classical
An extension of herself | Ashley Park
3/6/2025 | 3m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
It was the sparkly dress that hooked her, but it’s the connection with the audience that keeps her coming back for more. Sitting down with WXXI Classical Host Steve Johnson, Ashley explains her unique way of visualizing music as colors as much as sound. Her years of study under YooJin Jang, has her playing beyond her years and creating exquisite pieces you need to hear to believe.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipMy name is Ashley, and I play the violin.
I first started playing violin when I was in kindergarten, so I was around, like 5 or 6.
We were on vacation in New Jersey and there happened to be a classical concert.
And I think what really caught my eye was like the sparkly dress the violinist was wearing.
So I think that's really what, like, pulled me towards violin.
I would like, always go home and like pretend to play violin with like a pillow and like a stick.
That's wonderful.
Have you gotten to play in your sparkly dress since then?
Yeah.
As soon as I started, like, I would always, like, perform in front of my family.
I think I always really like performing because I can connect with the audience.
I notice when you’re playing you seem very in the zone.
Like you sort of disappear into your own little world.
What does that feel like for you?
I think it's just like I'm thinking about the piece and the emotions I want to come across or, like, the story I want to come across to the audience.
So I think when I do that, I just like, I'm just also in the zone because I'm telling the story.
I heard that you actually conceptualize music in a kind of a unique way.
How do you think about it when you're playing?
I think about it as colors a lot of time.
When I first get a piece, I try to like, think about the emotions as colors.
So I can change the emotions really quickly.
You describe your violin playing as another voice.
I think it’s because I've been, like, playing the violin for so long that it's like a part of me.
And I think that's just really cool that I can, like, tell the audience I want to show them or what the composer wants.
There's no right answer to music.
Like it’s just how you analyze the piece or how you express it, The composer writes a piece, but it depends on, like each artist of how they analyze and how they want to perform it.
In the Key of Z: Classical is a local public television program presented by WXXI