Photo courtesy of Andrew Paynter

by LAUREN FULBRIGHT

If you haven’t heard the sweet melodies and intricate piano music of Vienna Teng, you probably will soon. With her angelic voice and a style similar to Sarah McLaughlin’s, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter has already proven a formidable force in the music world. Her first two albums, Waking Hour (2002) and Warm Strangers (2004), both earned spots on the Billboard album charts, and the latter was No. 2 on Amazon’s bestseller list.

Born in California, Vienna has played the piano since she was five and began writing songs at a nearly equally tender age. Vienna recorded most of her first album while studying at Stanford University, where she majored in computer science. Currently, she is on tour to promote her third album, Dreaming Through the Noise, released this past summer.

I sat down with Vienna before her April 3 appearance at the Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Va. Here are some excerpts from our conversation.

On why she made such a brave move
When Vienna first decided to pursue music professionally, she left behind a comfortable job as a software engineer. While some may view her decision as a reckless move, Vienna says that quitting her job was the easiest thing she’s ever done.

“I had gone into computers because originally I wanted to go into medicine, but medicine didn’t allow for the possibility of pursuing music,” Vienna said. “So I thought I would maybe major in an engineering field…and I would save up my money in order to do music.”

Vienna says that after she received an offer from a label, and saved enough money to support herself for two years, she felt like everything was working out the way she had planned.

On pursuing your dreams
When counseling others who may be trying to decide between following their passion and being practical, Vienna reminds them that choosing a career in music means choosing a hard road.

“I would say: if you can’t picture yourself doing anything else, then you should go into something like music,” she said. “And if not, then maybe try and see if you can do it as just a hobby and see if that’s alright with you.”

On song-writing
Because Vienna’s songs sometimes take more than a year to write, she often works on more than one at a time.

“I’m sort of a desperate songwriter. I have one of those very needy relationships with my muse. I’m basically always taking whatever I can get, and if she’s being stingy I’ll just take it.”

Vienna says that when she gets stuck on a song, she will put it aside for a while and then come back to it later.

“It sometimes happens that I have two or three songs that are sort of stuck at various places, so when I go sit down at the piano and I’ll just work on any number of them at a time,” she says. “It just basically comes down to taking whatever I can get and working on whatever seems to be working.”

On finding inspiration
When writing songs, Vienna says she prefers to draw on a variety of sources, rather than relying solely on her own experiences.

“I was never really drawn to music that was extremely confessional,” she says “I personally thought my own life was sufficiently boring and that nobody would really want to hear about it song after song.”

Vienna says her favorite songwriters have always been the people who seem to tell stories and paint pictures of particular moments. “I think that’s sort of the way I try to write - I try to write about moments.”

On activism
As part of the tour for her new album, Vienna has added an environmental focus. She will be donating some of the proceeds from her merchandise to an environmental cause chosen by her fans, and she has tried to reduce carbon emissions on the tour as much as possible.

When asked why she decided to champion this particular issue, Vienna says she grew tired of being a passive observer and wanted to play a more active role in social issues. To this end, Vienna developed a “laundry list” for the tour, such as not drinking out of plastic bottles or using disposable table wear.

“We’re not doing anything other people can’t do, basically,” Vienna says. “It’s just a matter of deciding to make that a priority.”

Vienna’s activism is not limited to the environment. She is also planning to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity at different stops along the tour.