Who says you can't have it all? Ellicott City resident and world-renowned pianist Christopher Shih has soloed with numerous orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra. In 1997, he was one of the top four Americans in the Tenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. He is also the grand prize winner of three international amateur piano competitions: Washington DC in 2006, Boston in 2007, and Paris in 2008.
But, did I mention? It's Christopher Shih MD -- Dr. Shih is a practicing gastroenterologist, having received his B.A. from Harvard and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins.
Music and medicine, when done well, display the two cerebral hemispheres in uncommon accordance. A pianist's counting, memorization, and technical skills, are best done in the left brain, but his expression, emotion, and passion are housed in the right. A physician knows how to work with certain aspects of the human body through what she has absorbed in med school with her left brain; she knows how to work with a patient's (equally vital) mind and spirit when she listens to her right brain, practicing empathy and creativity.
As your child's brain develops, it makes sense to call on him or her to use both hemispheres -- especially at the same time, as in piano, or DRAWING! -- strengthening the corpus callosum (the massive structure of nerve fibers conducting "messages" between the two halves). Each half brings much to the table; let's have them shake hands and collaborate, shall we?
You can hear Dr. Shih play this Sunday, 8 PM, as part of the Candlelight series at the Monteabaro recital Hall, Howard Community College. Info: PHONE 410-997-2324 EMAIL info@candlelightconcerts.org. Or, watch Dr. Shih's impressive corpus callosum in action on video, here.
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