“Larissa Smith began her piano studies at the age of four and made her public debut two years later at the Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, Poland. An active chamber musician and solo recitalist, Ms. Smith has performed publicly throughout the U.S., Russia, Ukraine, Poland, and Germany…blah blah blah … Ms. Smith served as the director of the Piano Department at Thomas Edison High School … yadda yadda yadda … Ms. Smith teaches piano privately and was recently awarded the Steinway & Sons Top Teacher Award for 2016 and 2017 … “
Ms. Smith this, Ms. Smith that.
My entire existence as a pianist is as “Larissa Smith.”
All the concerts I have played.
The degrees I have earned.
The awards I have received.
The concerto debut.
The multiple flyers and posters.
Larissa Smith, piano.
And as I prepare for another recital, I see:
Larissa Rosenberg, piano.
Who is that?
I have no problem taking my husband’s name. I wanted to do that. I still want to do that (well, it doesn’t matter now because my name is legally changed…LOL!). I have absolutely no regrets about it.
But as I look at the name that proceeds “piano” … I don’t know who that is.
Larissa SMITH did all those thing. Not Larissa Rosenberg.
So I have a dilemma.
Something doesn’t quite feel right about it. Yet.
Do I keep a “stage name” as Smith?
Do I start anew with Rosenberg?
It’s a tricky predicament. Because being a concert pianist is not my career. And I don’t ever plan it to be a career. But it is something I do every now and then.
I wasn’t expecting to feel this way.
But here I am.
Without a solution at the moment. More a curiosity of the feeling and what to do next.
The reality is, I don’t really have an issue with Larissa Rosenberg, piano. I DO have an issue with writing a bio with Larissa Rosenberg doing all these cool music things …
Because it was actually Larissa Smith that did all those cool music things.
A possible solution per my husband’s creativeness:
“Most recently, Ms. Smith became Mrs. Rosenberg after walking down the aisle to Bacarolle by Chopin and also the theme from Rocky. Ms. Smith would like to thank her parents, Paul & Christine Smith, for their constant support of her musical pursuits, and her husband, Michael Rosenberg, for his love and support and inspiration to continue growing as a musician and teacher…”
Good, right?
And it’s true. I did walk down the aisle to Rocky and Chopin.
To be continued… “What’s in a name? Part 3”?
The last two days workouts:
Do what makes you happy.