Ann McCutchan: You’re a writer, and you’ve also composed many songs. I’m very interested in your musical background. You know I am a musician, too, and was coached in chamber music with both of your parents, Richard Burgin and Ruth Posselt, who were well-known violinists. I’m curious about your background in that musical household, and the effects of that upbringing on you as an artist, in general.

Richard Burgin: Well, next to not having more children, as I only have one, the biggest regret of my life is that I didn’t go into music, study and pursue it seriously, so I have to begin with that.  I never studied music, except when I was very young.  I played the piano with my aunt, who was my mother’s sister — she had a number of sisters who were also professional musicians.  I studied with my mother, too.  One of my earliest childhood memories was crying because I wanted to go out and play, and not practice the piano.  My parents were both kind of liberal softies; they gave in and I never studied piano again.  Everything I do in music is by ear; I have no training whatsoever.

AM: What kind of teacher was your mother?

RB: She was a perfectionist. It was probably a big mistake to study with her.  I was 6 or 7 years old when I stopped, and my main memory was her perfectionism.  That decision really shaped the rest of my life, because Iâ