 She spent much of her time drawing, playing the piano, or making up stories with her dolls as a child.Music played a major role in her life as a friend and spiritual guide, especially Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Bartók, Charles Mingus, Billie Holiday, and other classical and jazz composers.A gifted pianist who majored in music composition, she studied piano with Tanya Ury and Bernhard Abramowitsch and composition with Andrew Imbrie and graduated cum laude from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1961.