Posted March 25, 2026 in
Although Ronald Friedman, MD, Plano, Texas, at one time fit the definition of “child prodigy,” he resists that moniker – but what else could he have been, considering that he began to write music at age 10? “I started piano lessons at 8 and began writing music at 10, though I’m not entirely sure why,” he says. “I began by writing pop songs, and by age 13, I had recorded several complete songs onto an 8-track tape. My big dream as a kid was to hear my songs on the radio. The ‘standards’ I had in mind were performers such as Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, Neil Sedaka and even the Bee Gees.”
Dr. Friedman employs what he feels is a unique approach to songwriting, in which “I compose the lyrics and music together – mainly because if I write a melody first and add lyrics later, I have no way of knowing for sure that I’m not plagiarizing. It’s hard to tell whether I’m remembering a song or if it’s actually original, so doing it my way ensures that I’m not copying something. My other unusual approach is that when I compose music, I’ll hear all the instruments in my head – and then I’ll figure out how to convey it all.”
He works with a music editing program called Logic to find those instruments. “Some of the songs have 40-50 tracks to them, and I’ll think: ‘What is that instrument I hear in my head?,’ and then go through 40-50 ‘preset’ instruments to find the one that most closely resembles what I hear. But I begin by writing on the piano and then figuring out those other instruments as I go along.”
Dr. Friedman considerably raised the bar on his songwriting by composing cleaVage, a stage musical that’s been performed over the last three years in Plano and greater Dallas. The “true” story behind breast implants, cleaVage has been described as a musical that “provides a whimsical, insightful and surprisingly emotional journey into breast augmentation and reconstruction.”
“Breast augmentation has a fascinating history that’s never been told,” he tells PSN. “I felt the history of breast implants and all the surrounding controversies, if it’s going to be told, should be conveyed by somebody who does this for a living. Who better to do it?”
The performance of his musical involves a vast team of artists and technicians that, without whom, such a production wouldn’t get off the ground – similar in some ways to performing a complex breast reconstruction. “I’m well aware that I don’t (put on the shows) by myself,” he says. “I started the process, but ultimately it requires the skills of 30 or more different people. When the play receives its ovations at the end, I know that it’s not just for me – it’s for everyone involved, and it makes me happy to be part of a team that succeeds together.
“Similarly, when a patient is happy with the result of a plastic surgery procedure, it’s not just about what I’ve done – it’s about what we, as a team, have done,” he adds. “Everything we do is a team effort. And while I’d like to think I’m one of the important components of the team, I’m certainly not the only one.”
