I was born in Taiwan. At age six, I started piano lessons. Four years later, I began to study violin; the violin lessons, however, lasted only for a year. At age twelve, my music education was put on hold, which was not uncommon for a child growing up in Taiwan in the 1980s -- academic excellence was always a top priority. In 1995, I received a bachelor's degree in computer engineering, which prompted my pursuit of a master's degree in the United States. I received a master's degree, also in computer engineering, from University of California, Davis in 1999.
In my college years, I took an interest in Jazz piano music. I would make piano arrangements for pop songs, but the music was never written down. Determined to further my music education in the United States, I read books on Jazz piano and theories, attended a few classes from Mark Levine in The Jazzschool in Berkeley, California, and went to Stanford Jazz Workshop in August 2001. During the workshop, I realized that spontaneity, which is essential for a Jazz pianist, was not my strong point. I then turned to music composition.
In 2004, I enrolled in several courses from Foothill College, including the three-quarter course "Music Theory, Literature and Composition" instructed by Dr. Paul Davies. At the end of the course, I was awarded a certificate of excellence in music, which encouraged me to further study music composition. I studied composition privately for two years with Jorge Liderman, who was a professor in University of California, Berkeley before his death in 2008.