When Tomoko was a student at the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music, she studied music theory including composition analysis, harmony, and
counterpoint with Sol Joseph.
Sol Joseph was born in 1912 in Chicago, and was a Phi Beta
Kappa music scholar at the University of Chicago. At the age of 24, Sol Joseph
married Belle Rosenstein, and they had two sons. During World War II Sol served
in the U.S. Army.
Mr. Joseph’s connection with the Conservatory started in
1948 after he and his family moved to California. Local classical musicians
encouraged him to apply, and he became a professor of music There he taught music
form and analysis counterpoint, harmony, and music literature for almost thirty
years. Sol Joseph also conducted the Conservatory orchestra for a while.
Sol Joseph’s teaching venues also included the University of
California Extension an San Francisco’s Community Music School. In addition,
Sol served as Congregation Sherith Israel’s organist and as the Jewish Folk
Chorus of San Francisco’s pianist and later their conductor. Over the years Sol
also conducted the San Francisco chorus and the Berkeley/Richmond Jewish
Community Center Yiddish Folk Chorus.
Sol Joseph died at age 90 in 2002, and Tomoko remembers him
and his teaching to this day.
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