SZ-Magazine: Do you remember the first piece of music that touched you?
Meredith Monk: My mother always gave me DannyBoy sung, an Irish folk song. She was a wonderful singer and also performed on the radio in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Singing was something completely normal and natural for me from an early age – a bit like breathing. They say that when I was three I wandered around our neighborhood and sang to everyone.
You come from a very musical family: your mother sang pop and jazz on the radio, your grandfather was an opera singer, your great-grandfather was a cantor at a synagogue in Moscow.
Yes, but such an inheritance can also be difficult. For a while I was unsure of where my place in this family might be, so I focused more on dance and movement. I had learned Dalcroze rhythms as a child, which is a method of teaching children rhythm and musical expression through a variety of movements. In college I enrolled in both singing and dancing at the same time. I also sang folk songs. I loved the sincerity and intensity of the old British ballads. Her sadness fitted my mood quite well at the time.