Childhood
Meg Robinson grew up in North Carolina, and started piano lessons at the age of 7. She continued studying classical piano until she was 14 years old. Given a guitar as a gift when she was 13, she taught herself to play, and began singing and using the guitar as accompaniment. This was during the height of the folk music era. Meg began writing songs at this age, a passion which continues to this day.
In high school, Meg sang in several choral groups and was a member of an a cappella group which performed some of her compositions. During this time, she continued to write and sing her own songs.
Early Adulthood
In college, at Case Western Reserve University, she formed a band called “Over Easy.” The band included drums, piano, clarinet, flute, oboe and guitar. Over Easy performed many of Meg’s compositions , and was a popular group on campus.
After college, she worked for Children’s Television Workshop, producers of the popular children’s television shows Sesame Street and The Electric Company. She became Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Research working under Edward Palmer. The research department was responsible for determining the appeal and educational effectiveness of the television programs produced by CTW.
Meg went on to receive a Masters Degree in Education from Harvard University. After college, she worked as an editor and then got involved in computer marketing. While working as a product specialist for General Electric Information Services Company, she continued singing and writing songs.
Children's Singer
Meg married and moved to the Washington, D.C. area. When she had her first child, she realized that there was not much music for 6-12 year olds and so she started writing songs for this age group, solving what she called the “Mickey Mouse to Madonna” syndrome. Jim Morris, the Performing Arts Director of the Smithsonian Institution, decided to produce a recording of these songs with a back-up band. Meg sung under the stage name “Potomac Red.” The album is called “Wonder If They Know.” Meg was nominated as Best New Children’s Music Singer by the Washington Area Music Association.
Meg Embraces the Harp as an Adult
In 2000, Meg began to study the harp.. She took lessons with Astrid Walschot-Stapp, who was then the harpist with the Baltimore Symphony. Soon after beginning her harp studies, Meg started composing pieces for the harp. Her teacher Astrid strongly encouraged Meg to continue writing music and to publish her pieces, as there was not a large repertoire of accessible, melodic and easy music for the instrument. Meg brought her music to Afghan Press, who has published her compositions ever since then. Having played the guitar, banjo and harp, her husband, a physician, has diagnosed her as a Serial Stringed Instrument Player. There is evidently no cure for this affliction.
Meg has a podcast called “The Meg Robinson Show,” exploring the stories that make us who we are. This interview format show gets the back story of what makes people tick. The podcast includes original music written by Meg to accompany all of the conversations. Interviews include an FBI agent, a 60-year-old woman who explores online dating, a man who was in a concentration camp as a child and was liberated on a train.