MAKING BEAUTIFUL MUSIC; CAPE TEEN ON HER WAY TO BECOMING WORLD-CLASS VIOLINIST

Beautiful music has its secrets. Since age 5, Tarina Kang has been learning to reveal them.

"All music has a story behind it," said the Cape Girardeau 17-year-old. "There is more to music than just the words."

Kang, a native of Cape Girardeau, she has studied under some of the best teachers in the country and performed with world-class musicians.

The spunky, articulate teen-ager has a mature demeanor that betrays her young age, especially when she speaks of her true love, music.

"When anyone who loves music is away from it, they miss it. Only you don't really know what it is you're missing. You just feel kind of empty."

Kang will perform a recital Sunday in Cape Girardeau at Centenary United Methodist Church. The 2 p.m. performance is free and open to the public.

Accompanying Kang will be pianist Anje Kim, a graduate of Juilliard and native of Cape Girardeau.

At age 5, Kang began studying the Suzuki method of violin at Southeast Missouri State University. At 8, she was studying under Kurt Sassmanshaus at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. For four years, she and her mother made monthly trips to Cincinnati for a three-hour lesson from Sassmanshaus, who has studied under one of the most renowned violin teachers of modern times, Doris Delay.

Kang's accomplishments began to grow as she did. She attended summer music camps in Aspen, Colo., and studied under Jacques Isrealeivitch, concertmaster of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

During the summers of 1988 and 1989 at Interlochen, a national music camp, she was named concertmaster of the Intermediate Symphony and a year later, a member of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra.

She has won numerous honors and several scholarships, and for the last four years, she has studied under Josef Gingold at the University of Indiana at Bloomington. She will perform a solo recital there soon.

Kang, an honor student and president of the Beta Club at Central High School, said music has always come naturally for her. She still remembers the day her father showed her some sheet music and asked her if she'd like to learn to play the violin. The music was "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

"I was so intrigued by the notes, the way they were put on the five-line staff," she said.

She credits her parents, Dr. Han Mu and June Kang, for helping her love of music grow through support and encouragement.

"A person has to have really great parents in order to do something like this. My mother is patient with me and she never pushed me."

She speaks of the long commutes to music lessons and the opportunities her talent has given her and says, "I'm just beginning to realize the sacrifices they've made for me."

Her parents also encourage her to excel in school. "My father always tells me, `practice, but don't neglect your studies.'"

A veteran of music competitions, Kang said she prefers performing to competing for awards.

"Competitions are kind of weird because one will prepare for months and try to show all of his talent in 10 or 15 minutes, or however long the competition is, despite being nervous. I love competing, but I'd rather do a lot of performing," she said.

Kang practices more than three hours each day, one of those in the morning before school. Her music room in her parents' home is uncluttered except for a piano, music stand and a chair. There is no curtain on the single window.

"I like to practice sometimes in the dark, or with only the light through the window. I didn't want curtains."

She said her evening practices are uninterrupted and sometimes three hours long. Her concentration she credits to her mother, who when Kang was a girl, would urge her to "keep practicing."

"When I was younger I couldn't sit still for a half hour. But my mom would tell me to keep practicing. I think that's why I practice for long periods of time now."

Kang is uncertain of what the future holds for her. She will go to college but is undecided if she'll study music. She speculates that law and medicine are possible career choices, but for now, she's concentrating on finishing her junior and senior years of high school.

"One of my goals is to be able to write music," said Kang, who admits it will be a formidable task.

She plans to perform some of her favorite pieces Sunday: a sonata from Beethoven, short pieces from Elgar and Achron, and a concerto by Goldmark.

Kang said studying music has taught her patience and discipline and has allowed her opportunities beyond those of a "normal" teen.

"If I have kids, I want them to be able to experience everything I've gotten to experience," she says with a smile. "Music will always be a part of my life."