Ruth Simon, Cello
What do you do if you’re a really, really good cellist, but you haven’t played for 30 years and you want to play again? Why, you start all over with Suzuki Book 1 and C Major scales! We’ll get back to that.
Ruth was born in San Francisco, moved with her family to Brooklyn, NY, and then back to Berkeley when she was 8 years old. “I come from a family of serious musicians,” she says. “We learned to read letters and read music at the same time. We all started on piano and then we could pick an instrument to play.” Ruth chose cello because the sound appealed to her. “I was really lucky that my cello teacher lived around the corner. I would go there every day for a 15-minute mini-lesson. My cello stayed there.”
Ruth played in middle school and high school orchestras, as well as the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra—she played the JC Bach Cello Concerto with them. (Did JC really write it? That’s a rabbit hole we will leave for another day.) She also played with the UC Berkeley Orchestra in her senior year of high school.
Then off to Yale University for a degree in Environmental Biology—a major that didn’t even exist until she created it. “Hey, I’m a Berkeley kid!” Ruth taught high school for a few years and guess what!? She played cello with Prometheus for a bit, under Jonathan Khuner! But, academia called. Ruth went to Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego for a master’s degree (the cello languished behind). And then? A total 180°. “I realized I really like working with people.” So Ruth went to the Wright Institute in Berkeley for a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She’s been working since then as a clinical psychologist, raising a family (twins, a boy and a girl; her practice focuses on psychotherapy and parenting, especially twins!) and living life.
But, inevitably, the cello called. Ruth started lessons again 1.5 years ago (zipped right through those TEN Suzuki books!) and re-found Prometheus after googling around. “Playing is much more fun now! It’s purely for my own enjoyment. I think art is more and more important right now. It’s a haven. I’m so glad to be back with Prometheus!” And we too are so glad you’re glad!
