Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sienna Wang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Sienna thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?
I studied engineering in college, and after getting my Master’s degree, I started working in the tech industry as a product manager. Despite living and working in a rational environment, I have always been an emotional classical music fan. Especially after working a long day in the office, a piece of Brahms or Mahler can always comfort me. So no matter how busy I am, I listen to music everyday and attend concerts almost every weekend.
After working in the industry for seven years, I started my Instagram account “Love Letters To Music” to share my love for classical music. I think my working experience in the industry has taught me the skills of planning and organizing, and the attitude of always being open minded. So when I first came up with the idea of putting my feelings for music into words on social media, I started with planning the content, writing the stories, designing the visual, and publishing the first posts seamlessly.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I have a rational head and an emotional soul. As a person who studies engineering and worked in tech, I am always touched by music and try to keep the moment when the music plays.
Therefore, I created the Instagram account “Love Letters To Music” to record my thoughts and feelings for music I like. I also hope to let more people who are not professional music players like me to appreciate classical music. We don’t have to be able to play a musical instrument or understand music theory in order to be touched by music, all we need is to be open minded and willing to listen. There is always a piece of music for you.
For example, when the weather becomes cold in winter, Vivaldi’s winter suite is the best with a cup of mulled wine. When everything seems to be unfavorable, Brahms could always comfort you. When things go well, Handel’s Water Music would make the moment more celebratory. When you face love and farewell, Puccini’s La Boheme always gives you his empathy. And when you can hardly fall asleep at night, Nocturne by Chopin never leaves you alone.
Music is composed with countless single notes, just like our life consists of endless meaningful moments.
So besides music performed in concert halls by world renowned musicians, I also enjoy music played by people around us such as buskers. I enjoy those music played in a casual setting and sometimes I find surprises in their improvisation. Music can be admired anywhere anytime, and we don’t have to be seated in a concert hall to enjoy it.
In “Love Letters To Music”, I connect music with my personal life stories to resonate with readers. As a listener, I understand sometimes people think classical music is difficult to understand. So I share my personal thoughts and feelings while listening to every piece instead of analyzing music with theories and evaluating the performance. I hope readers could find similar experiences in my words, and find music more approaching to life.
For instance, when I was younger, I enjoyed Mozart and didn’t like Brahms. However, with having more life experiences while getting older, I suddenly realize the melancholy in Brahms Symphony No.4, and feel like he is the one who understands me when I’m depressed about my work. And I appreciate how Brahms made the depression into beautiful melodies.
I believe this kind of experience can happen to anyone under different settings. So instead of seeing classical music as a complicated form of music, I like to see it as a person whom we might find changing through time. We didn’t like the person before, but as time goes by and things changed, we fall in love with the person and we admire this lover in different aspects.
So “Love Letters To Music” is my story of falling in love with music, and words I want to tell when I am touched by this beautiful and intriguing art. And I hope readers would find their affection towards music in my letters.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
I used to feel that it was really hard to convey my love for music to other people because music is beyond words. However, when I started writing and composing my words into Instagram posts with the music played in the post, everything became real.
And after posting the first three posts, seeing the layout and content formed, and words I spent hours writing really speak out from my heart made me more sure of what I am going to create.
The moment of seeing things take shape and the feeling of sureness was the most rewarding to me.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
I was a total non-creative. Actually, I think sometimes I can still hardly believe that I would be creative. As I mentioned, I was a very rational and level-headed person working in the tech industry.
However, my emotional soul was restless when I listened to music and I felt that I wanted to be part of the beautiful art every time I was deeply moved by it. So I began by writing down my feelings and thoughts and those old memories awakened by music. In this way, not only I was able to keep my obsession with the melodies, but also released my sensibility while I could seldom do.
Therefore, I would tell my past self, who was a non-creative, that I am able to be rational and emotional at the same time, I can be productive at work and be creative in another way. With my creation of writing about music, I am able to experience more love and life, find passion and peace, and realize that no matter how difficult life is, there is always comfortness as long as you are willing to listen.
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