Start the New Year Right with Piano Pieces

 

What better way to bring in the new year than with music? And piano music offers a way for an individual to kinesthetically set the tone for the upcoming 365 days.

The new year is a time of creation. As the 18^th century was coming to a close, Joseph Haydn wrote the sacred oratorio The Creation to depict the creation of the world. While it was originally scored for voice and symphonic orchestra, it has also been arranged for solo and four-hand piano.

J. S. Bach thought systematically about the year, not surprisingly; “In dir ist Freude” is a gladsome way to herald the new year. This chorale prelude is one of the preludes collected in Bach’s Orgelbüchlein, which marks various points in the liturgical year.

Particularly in Vienna, people welcome the new by clapping to Johann Strauss’s Radetzky March, composed in 1848. It can be arranged for piano solo and duets. The Champagne Polka is another selection by Johann Strauss that fits for New Year’s Eve parties. He wrote the piece as a little joke, imitating the sound of champagne bottles being uncorked. While the piano version does not “pop” as convincingly, it still captures the spirit of the pol,ka

Since 1936 musicians gather to perform at New Year’s concert in Vienna, and Johann Strauss II’s Pizzicato Polka was played that first year. Another piece by Strauss II performed at the first concert was Die Fledermaus Overture of his famous opera. This Strauss’s Blue Danube is another piece performed at the New Year’s concert, often as an encore. All three pieces have been arranged for the piano.

The modern English composer Ernest Tomlinson appreciated light classical music. In 1976 he created Fantasia on Auld Lang Syne, which uses that traditional song as the main theme, but also weaves in snippets of other 150 other pieces. Another orchestral composition, it has also been scored for the piano.

May 2022 be harmonious….

Christmas on the Piano

 

Some of Tomoko’s favorite composers wrote Christmas music for the piano.

Liszt, for example, composed a suite of twelve pieces: Weihnachsbaum (Christmas tree). Several of the pieces are based on traditional Christmas carols. He dedicated this work to his first grandchild Daniela von Bülow, who was born on Christmas Eve. This suite was first performed on Christmas Day, 1881, in Daniela’s hotel room in Rome.

Another composer who was inspired was Bartok, who heard regional traditional Romanian carols, called colinde, and transformed them into two series of piano pieces totaling 30 works.

It is not surprising that Cesar Franck composed four Christmas piano pieces. He was a major French Romantic composer and music teacher. In his thirties he became the organist for the Basilica of Sty. Clotilde in Paris, a position he held until he died in 1890. One of his most famous compositions was the communion anthem “Panis Angelicus,”  but he also wrote a set of four piano pieces specifically for Christmas, again based on traditional carols: “Christmas Carol from Anjou,” “Now Tell Us, Gentle Mary,” “Old Christmas Carol,” and “Whence Comes This Rush of Wings?”

Christmas traditions also inspired composers, such as Berlioz. In 1844 he composed “Rustic Serenade to the Virgin on the Theme of the Roman Pifferari” for the melodium organ, which was invented by an organ builder friend of his. The inspiration came from his time in Rome. While he did not enjoy Rome itself or think much of the music from there, he was impressed with the traditional oboe called a pifferi. The pifferari were rural wandering musicians who performed devout concerts before images of the Virgin Mary.

Another Christmas tradition moved Schumann. His miniature piano composition “Knecht Ruprecht” refers to St. Nicholas’s attendant. This character was a wild country foundling whom St. Nicholas raised, and helps give out presents – or punishments to naughty children. Schumann’s piece is part of his Album for the Young collection, written in 1848.

Mendelssohn also wrote piano works for children. His Opus 72, 6 Kinderstücke (Children’s Pieces), was original not tied to the holiday, but the 1847 English edition of the work was named Six Christmas Pieces.  He wrote this opus specifically for children and adapted his style to children’s musical development (e.g., using fewer accidentals and more familiar time signatures). At the time of this composition, Mendelssohn and his wife lived with a relative who had seven children.

Especially as Tomoko enjoys her grandson Kai, she may well be playing some of these Christmas pieces for him.

 

Japanese Candles

 

Candles are a part of several religions practiced in Japan. As Tomoko grew up in Japan, she experienced Protestant uses of candles in religious activities at her high school: Ferris Academy in Yokohama; she accompanied the student choir at these observences. Then during her college musical study Tomoko played the organ at the local Catholic church, which feature votive candles.

Japan has a long history of candles outside of Christianity, starting during the Nara Period in the 8^th century. These first candles were imported from China, and were very expensive. Those candles were molded in paper tubes, used rolled rice paper for wick, and dipped in wax made from whale fish or honey.

During the Muramachi Period (1336-1573) Japanese people started making their own candles, called warosuku. These candles continue to be made by hand by wrapping washi Japanese and then dried rush leaves around a thin bamboo stick. Next melted wax from sumac or haze trees is layered around the covered stick, which results in a cream colored candle. To finish the candle, the bamboo stick is replaced by a candle wick. These candle are part of Buddhist ceremonies; red candles are used for celebratory events such as births, marriages, and graduations.

Another Japanese candle-making technique uses rice. When rice is milled, rice bran wax can be extracted. This kind of wax is harder than paraffin so it burns longer. As with warosuku candles, the wax is painstakingly hand-coated layer by layer.

Candles also add a warm glow to musical performances. Nowadays candlelight concerts of classical music are held in churches in several countries, including Japan.

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Max Egger

 

As a music major at the Tokyo University of the Arts, Tomoko had the opportunity to study with several famous musicians, including Max Egger. He performed, composed, and taught piano. His most famous recording was his memorial album, released in 2018, ten years after he died.

Tomoko was not the only Japanese pianist to study with him.

Pianist Kiyoko Takeuti was born in Tokyo, and Max Egger was one of her early teachers; she later joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as its pianist.

Japanese pianist Yuko Ninomiya studied with Max Egger at the High School Division of Toho School of Music. A few years she received a Fulbright scholarship to study at Juilliard, where she won several competitions. After touring in Europe and the US, she returned to Japan to perform and teach, including at the Toho School of Music where her studies began.

Still another Japanese pianist,, Kiroko Miyake Dutton, studied with Max Egger at Kobe College. She performed in the major Northeastern US cities, German, and Japan. At this point, she has more then 45 years of experience in piano instruction.

Swiss pianist Margrit Weber studied piano under Max Egger at the Zurich Conservatory. As a professional piano performer, she toured Europe, Canada, and the US. IN 1960 she performed Stravinsky’s Movements for piano and orchestra under the composer’s direction.

Another student of Max Egger’s at the Zurich Conservatory was Swiss musician Jean-Jacques Hauser. After successfully competing in several piano competitions, he taught at the Bellinzona City Piano School.

Another pianist who studied with Max Egger in Zurich was the American Warren Thew, who also taught a solo class at the Zurich Music Academy at the same time. He enjoyed giving concerts on old music played on original instruments of the time. Besides recording a number of works, Thew was a composer, arts, and poet.

German musician Peter Feuchtwanger studied piano with Max Egger, and later transitioned from performance to composing and teaching.

Like Max Egger, Tomoko has a long career of performing and teaching, and has several classical album recordings.

Keying into Keyboards

 

Sometimes the piano keyboard seems a bit arbitrary. For instance, why are the keys black and white – and why are there 88 keys?

The white keys represent the “natural” octave, and the black keys indicate the half tones within the octave to constitute the Western scale. As for the color, the easy answer is that keys were originally made with ivory (white) and ebony (black). Centuries ago, the harpsichord keyboard had the opposite color scheme: CDE… were black and the half tones were white.  Since there are fewer half tones, the result was that the keyboard was largely black, and it was sometimes harder to see the line between the keys. With the current white arrangement, the key edges are easier to see, so the player doesn’t have to pay as much attention to striking the right key.

Even the width of the keys have varied over the years; an octave could span as little as 4.9 inches to as much as 6.7 inches. The standard now is 6.7 inches, but some smaller sizes have been created and sold in recent years. You can imagine, though, getter used to one span width and then having to adjust to a different width; that change could really challenge your muscle memory when performing.

The number of keys also has an historical back story. The same harpsichord mentioned above had about 60 keys, but piano composers wanted to broaden the range of notes to approach other musical instruments such as woodwinds. Seven octaves seems to be a good range because notes that are even higher can be hard for some people to hear, and  very low notes can be hard to distinguish between each other. That would result in 85 keys, which was common in the 19^th century. The Steinway pianos of the late 19^th century added three lower keys to create more resonance—and set themselves apart from their competitors;  the 88 keys ended up setting the standard for the industry, which has been followed ever since. However, 97-key pianos are also sold (again, to produce a more resonant sound because of the lower strings), and in 2018, a nine-octave piano (108 key) was built more as an experiment. It should also be noted that digital pianos sometime have 76, which makes them more portable.

 Each of these features impacts the composition and performance of the piano; each has an evidence-based purpose. So piano keyboards are not arbitrary after all.

Falling For The Piano

 

Musicians are often inspired by nature. For instance, Tomoko likes to garden, and she sees the garden as a metaphor for musicians; both take much work and much patience. “Labor is labor,” says Tomoko. Both require connections, and both offer ways for self-expression. The rewards can be immediate, as when planting or weeding – such as working through a particular section of a composition – and sometimes it takes years to see the results.  Autumn is one example of inspiration for composers.

One of the most known compositions is Vivaldi’s Four Seasons’ “Autumn,” which has been arranged for piano.

Tchaikovsky’s composition The Seasons is comprised of 12 movements, one for each month. Autumn months paint musical scenes of a harvest and a hunt, and his October movement “Autumn Song” reflects a mournful fall.

While Felix Mendelssohn is very famous, his sister Fanny is not as celebrated. Indeed, some of her compositions were written under her brother’s name. Her excursions into nature inspired her cycle of piano pieces titled Das Jahr (The Year), which include autumn months.

Born soon after Fanny died, Cecile Chaminade was a French composer and pianist – and the first female composer to be award the prestigious Legion of Honor. Her most famous piano composition is Automne, Etudes de Concert, Opus 35, which contrasts seasonal peace and melancholy with a dramatic storm scene.

In his second book of preludes for piano, Debussy’s piece Brouillards (Fog/Mist) leverages the black keys to create a hazy sound, more pronounced than the faint left hand chords.

A more upbeat impression of fall is captured in Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag.“

An even more recent piece is American composer Joseph Schwantner’s piano miniature “Veiled Autumn,” which mirrors the changeability of fall weather.

So if autumn feels like the darkening end of the year, music lovers can feel uplifted by this autumn-inspired piano works.

 

Composing in the Autumn Years

 Tomoko asserts: “Piano playing is good when you are 60 years old; you can even start after 70.  As long as you can move your hands, you can continue to play the piano. Tomoko remarks, “Playing also stimulates the brain, and keeps it younger.” Playing at an older age has other benefits too. “When you get older, you may find yourself repeating pieces,” says Tomoko. “They can be so beautiful, and give you warm memories as well as console you.” 

Likewise, Tomoko knows musical performers and teachers who are in their nineties. Tomoko recalls Pablo Casals performing publicly at the age of 96. At that time, in 1972, one of Tomoko’s college friends was inspired by Casals, and flew to Arizona State University where he was playing a benefit concert to raise money for an International Cello Library. Tomoko went along with her friend, and met Casals at the airport. They spent a meal with him and his young wife, who was the same age at Tomoko at the time. 

In that vein, some composers started late in life.

Austrian composer Anton Bruckner starting playing the organ as a child, and gave organ lessons as an adult. He didn’t start composing seriously until almost in his 40s, and was not widely recognized until his 60s. Most of his piano works were written for teaching purposes. 

French composer Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier played the piano mainly as a hobby because his family did not approve of a musical career for him. Instead, he would as a civil servant. As did Bruckner, Chabrier started full-time composing as he reached 40. He is sometimes associated with Debussy with his tender emotional piano pieces. Some of those worked served as the core inspiration for his later orchestral versions. He also created duet piano works.

Considered a major modernist composer, American Elliott Carter Jr. most the most productive after the age of 80. 

In that vein, while some piano composers died earlier in live, such as Mozart, others led long and productive lives. As with Chabrier, Carter’s family did not encourage music, although they let him take piano lessons. Amazingly, the man who sold insurance to Carter’s family was Charles Ives, later to become a renown composer. Ives encouraged Carter’s love of music, which led to Carter earning a doctorate in music. In his 40s, Carter edited Ives’ music and only then started composing, which he then did daily until his death in 2012. Most of his piano works were concertos.  

Several other composers lived to their mid eighties and nineties: Randall Thompson, Richard Strauss, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles-Camille Saint-Saens, Cecile Chaminade, Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copland, and Jean Sibelius.

As the autumn days grow shorter, it is comforting to know creating, playing and listening to piano music certainly is a lifelong joy, and can even keep one younger in spirit. Just ask Tomoko.

The Measure of Music

 

There is a long connection between music and mathematics, asserts Tomoko. Both require precision and order. Both deal with proportion and harmony. Both use pattern creatively. Music is very measured, and mathematics has its own kind of rhythm.

Every measurement has a unit of measure: one second, one inch, one pound. And for music it is literally one measure: one bar of music. That measure is the basis for the rhythm, the meter, of the piece, particularly when accented. Without measures, the music could become, in a way, unmusical, just meandering notes.

Nevertheless, the use of barlines, indicating a measure, is a relatively recent invention. The first use of barlines, in the 15^th and 16^th century, sometimes marked off a section and other times marked individual beats. Todays’ use of barlines, a consistent measure unit, dates back to the 17^th century.

Even with this measured scoring, music is ultimately measured in its performance – and the experience of the listener can sometimes be measureless, transcending any mathematical unit.

 

 

 

School librarian value study

 Research shows that certified librarians and greater investment in school libraries are tied to improved academic outcomes for students. Fort Worth Independent School District conducted a study to "determine if there was a significant difference between the schools flagged by the state for chronically low academic achievement and the schools with high achievement despite a greater than 70% economically disadvantaged population."

“Our findings were that students at the higher performing schools checked out twice as many books as students at IR (Improvement Required) schools and the circulation of Spanish language books was 40% higher,” Cook said. “The higher performing schools allocated an average of $2.30 more per student for library books than the IR schools and had 15% more books in their library collections.”

Fort Worth Independent School District. (2021). Kids are not reading at grade level. Why don't all Fort Worth schools invest in books? Forth Worth Star-Telegram.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/crossroads-lab/article253693598.html

Sculpting Musicians

 

About travel, Tomoko says: "Open the door. Visit the country. A passport is your teacher." Tomoko has done her fair amount of traveling, especially in Europe, where she has seen famous museums and statues. While statues usually evoke religion or politics, they can also pay tribute to musicians.

In her visit to Vienna, Tomoko likely saw the most famous statue of Beethoven, which stands near concerts halls where his music is performed. Vienna’s Stadtpark also features several statues of great Austro-Hungarian composers: Franz Schubert, Franz Lehar, Anton Bruckner, and Johann Strauss, Jr.

You can take a visual work through history by viewing – and reading the back stories of -- thi collection of composers represented in bust sculptures: https://artuk.org/discover/stories/sculptures-of-note-busts-of-composers-in-the-nations-collection

If you ever visit London, you can take a cycle tour of the city’s composer statues: https://corymbus.co.uk/londons-composer-statues-a-cycle-tour/

Class fm has a fascinating article on 16 striking musical sculptures that adorn the world’s streets and parks: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/striking-classical-music-sculptures/

Or you can simply see Wikipedia’s linked list of monuments to composers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Monuments_to_composers

Statues memorialize significant figures in history. These statues reminds viewers of the cultural heritage and importance of music. Tomoko would applaud this gesture.

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Animal Music

 

               Tomoko appreciates the sound of animals: birds chirping at dawn in her garden and even donkeys braying in a Rumanian field. “He had a special way of braying,” Tomoko remembers. “I felt sorry for the little fellow because he was separated from his mother.”  

               Piano composers have also been inspired by animals as evidenced in the pieces they have written. Such allusions date back to the 18^th century with Luis-Claude Daquin’s 1735 harpsichord suite, which includes “The Cuckoo.”

               Several of Tomoko’s favorite composers captured the essence of animals in their compositions. For instance, Chopin’s famous “Minute Waltz” was originally titled “Waltz of the Little Dog,” a piece that aimed to musically describe George Sand’s dog.  

               Another Tomoko favorite, Edvard Grieg, musically painted an assortment of animals. Lyric Pieces, Book 3, Op. 43, No. 4 is “Little Bird.” In his collection 25 Norwegian Folksongs and Dances, Op. 17, Grieg features a cow, a pig, a snake, a fly, and a horsefly.

               Continuing in the 20^th century, Tomoko favorite Oliver Messiaen was not only a composer but also an ornithologist. Messiaen transformed 13 bird songs into his piano collection Catalog of the Birds, each piece reflecting each unique bird and the French region in which it lived.

               Francis Poulenc, another 20^th century composer favorite of Tomoko, wrote The History of Babar, the Little Elephant for piano and narrator.

               At the other end of the animal spectrum, at least in size, is Aaron Copland’s piano composition The Cat and the Mouse. Even though the piece is atonal, the overall sound reminds the listener of animated cartoons. Another 20^th century composer who featured cats in his piano works is Bohuslay Martinu’s composition “Procession of the Cats on Solstice Night.”

               All of these animal piano works enables the pianist to perform more eloquently than kittens on the keyboard.

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Artificial Intelligence and Future Classical Music

 

Tomoko hears and feels the humanity expressed in the piano compositions she plays. But now artificial intelligence can play and compose music, even symphonies. What, if anything, is lost in the process? Could there be a future classic?

As one example, overseen by the Director of the Karajan institute in Salzburg, an international team fed a speech recognition program Beethoven’s nine symphonies and preliminary work on Beethoven’s 10^th  as well as other pieces by his contemporaneous composers. Excerpts can be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAgnSr5t1VI.

As the video demonstrates, Google was able to use algorithms to enable Google users to input a few notes that could be manipulated by an algorithm to “compose” a piece in Bach’s style. Chi Cao’s senior theses consisted of a software program he developed called “AI Classical Music Composer.” This program drew upon music theory and knowledge, which Chi Cao transformed into hundreds of lines of code. In this way, more people could have the opportunity to experience the joy of composing music.

On a commercial basis, Aiva Technologies created the software program called Aiva: Artificial Intelligence Virtual Artist. The inventors used deep learning techniques to “teach” the computer to compose music. The generated pieces have been used for film, ads and gaming soundtracks. The company released a album “Genesis,” and Aiva has been given the official legal status of Composer, including copyright status. As such, Aiva is the first AI to gain this recognition.

The question remains: where is the heart of AI-generated music? Maybe it rests in the ears of the beholder. The Turing test states that if one cannot tell if a person or a computer is responding, then it may be considered artificial intelligence. That process can easily be applied to discerning the difference between human-generated and AI-generated music. Of course, such a test probably says more about the listener than the composition. Tomoko would know the difference….

 

Japan, the Olympics and the Paralympics: Family Affairs

 

The world is watching the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, thanks to the media. Especially with the pandemic, few people get to set foot at the actual venue, but billions can watch – even on a cell phone!

For Tomoko and her family, this event has special meaning. The Olympic Games are being played in their native country, and she attended the university in Tokyo. For Tomoko’s whole family, the Olympic Games have special meaning because Tomoko’s daughter Beata and her husband Charles competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics as ice dancers. Of course, Tomoko and her husband Desi watched Beata and Charles ringside. The family was particularly lucky because the 2002 Olympics were held in Salt Lake City: as close to their homes as possible.

But the connections don’t stop there.

In 1948 the Paralympic Games was launched, mainly to benefit injured war veterans. By 1960 23 countries were represented in the Paralympic Games. Since 1992 both the winter and summer Paralympic Games take place a fortnight after the Olympic Games, in the same arenas and other competition venues.

Since the 2002 Olympics, Handra and Charles have had the opportunity to skate in the Opening Ceremonies for the Paralympic Games. “We felt very lucky to have been able to return to Salt Lake City again and see the Paralympians experience the same exhilaration we did in our Opening Ceremonies,” said Charles.

Beata and Charles returned from the Olympian and Paralympian trip to Washington D.C. feeling refreshed. “For three fun days we hung out with fellow U.S. Olympians and made new Paralympian friends, said Beata. “We all attended two black tie dinners, a lunch hosted by the Speaker of the House, and visited the White House where the President gave a speech to the athletes on the South Lawn.”

Tomoko’s family demonstrates their own great achievements through talent, discipline and perseverance – and they applaud other’s determination and passion as well. It is truly the Olympic/Paralympic spirit!

For Freedom and Independence

 

In July several countries celebrate the spirit of freedom and independence: National Canada Day on July 1, the U.S. Independence Day on July 4, France’s Bastille Day on July 14, to name a few. Such patriotic fervor has long time roots. And it reverberates today as much as ever in our hearts.

 Tomoko places a high value on freedom and independence. She was a very brave young woman seeking opportunity when she left Japan for the United States, and she was worked hard as an independent woman, breaking ground as the first Asian woman teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, for instance.

Composers have also revered freedom and independence through their piano music.

One of Tomoko’s favorite composers, Frederic Chopin, was one of the first composers to incorporate nationalistic elements into his compositions: mainly through the folk idiom of his mazurkas and polonaises.

Another Polish composer, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, was also inspirited by Polish folk music such as his Polish Fantasy for piano and orchestra. Paderewski became a diplomat and spokesman for Polish independence.

The founder of the Russian national school of composition, Mikhail Glinka highlighted Russian culture in his subjects and melodies, as exemplified in his Capriccio on Russian themes for piano duet.

Czech composer Antonin Dvorak also drew on his native Slavic folk dance forms in his piano duet piece Slavonic Dances. Moravian and other Eastern European traditional music forms also inspired him.

Another one of Tomoko’s favorite composers, Franz Liszt, was known as a Hungarian nationalist. In that vein, he based his Hungarian Rhapsodies for piano  on traditional  art songs performed by Romani band.

Following Liszt’s model, Hungarian Bela Bartok, was inspired by Magyar folk melodies, which were well times with his society’s interested in traditional nature culture. An interesting example are 80 folk tunes collected in the two-volume set For Children.

Edvard Grieg helped create a national identity through his compositions, which were inspired by Norwegian folk music. Grieg recorded many of his own piano works.  

Finlandia is the ultimate patriotic song, composed by Jean Sibelius.

Tomoko enjoys the freedom and independence that are expressed in these European piano composers. In that respect, their value of traditional musical form expresses a sense of communal  culture and independence that transcends any nationalism.

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Bringing in Summer on a Tune

 

Summer is a great time to travel, and Tomoko has enjoyed traveling since she was a young woman. Now with the pandemic, it is harder to travel, but Tomoko can enjoy summer travel through the piano pieces she enjoys performing. Many composers of those pieces were inspired by their own travels and sense of place. Here is a sampling to explore.

Probably one of the first thematic piano pieces that might come to mind is George Gershwin’s “Summertime,” which was written for his opera Porgy and Bess. Its tone and pacing reflect a lazy, jazzy afternoon in the South.

Benjamin Britten’s four-part suite of piano pieces, “Ravel’s “Mirrors” (Op. 5), reflects his boyhood pre-war memories of the British seaside where he lived. The lively melody captures summer holiday life with a celebratory movement, stormy sailing, and nighttime peacefulness.  

Claude Debussy’s prelude “Voiles (Veils or Sails)” reminds one of summer breezes, either on land or sea. Its tonality ranges from veiled mystery to bright open sails.

Franz Liszt’s  three-suite set “Années de Pelerinage (Pilgrimage Years)” was inspired by his visits to the Swiss Alps. The piece paints a Romantic picture of flora and fauna as well as still and running water.

Ernest Moeran’s pastoral “Summer Valley” refers to British and Irish landscapes. While he himself lived a creative and lively existence at that time, this composition reflects a more peaceful mood.

Maurice Ravel’s “Mirrors” evokes the impressionistic sound of the ocean, especially movement #3 “A boat on the Ocean.” It is considered one of his three water-themed masterpieces.

Francis Poulenc’s three-movement suite “Napoli” was written during his visit to Italy. The piece certainly plays an homage to Italian barcarolle and caprice. The music’s color mirrors summer streets and shores of Naples.

Whatever the summer mood, there's likely to be a summer piano piece to celebrate summer, no matter where one is. 

Hearing the Music

 

A significant number of people experience hearing loss over the years, and that can affect how you hear and play the piano – and consider how Beethoven composed music when he became deaf!

Performing music can lead to hearing loss, depending on the piano size, brightness and whether it is opened or closed. Probably more important is the size of the room, the acoustics, and amplification equipment (and direction). Playing with several other instruments can also affect hearing over time.

Hearing aids then may be needed, but they can be problematic for the music performer – and music listener. Hearing aids are usually set to optimize vocal sounds, which have a smaller range of frequencies and volume. In contrast, the piano has about a forty percent bigger range than a female voice. It may seem logical to turn up the volume in order to hear music better, but that can actually make hearing loss worse. It’s actually better to turn down the music volume and turn up the hearing aid volume. In addition, some hearing aids can have different settings, depending on the type of sound and the environment. Noise-cancelling headphones are another good solution; they can be worn over hearing aids to make it easier to listen to music at home. Some public venues such as churches and theaters can provide a hearing loop, which emits a wireless signal that can be picked up on a T (Telecoil) setting of a mobile phone.

Hearing aids alter the sound of the piano for the pianist: an effect called occlusion. Sometimes using just one hearing aid helps. It is also possible to have a more open ear piece or a hollow earmold, both of which lower low frequency amplifications.  The audiologist can also make adjustments to the hearing aid to align with the instrument’s sound characteristics.

As for Beethoven, he could “hear” the music in his mind.

Music in Memory of Past Military

 

As a child, Tomoko experienced World War II in Japan. Her father and brother were conscripted to help the war effort as civilians, and the entire nation suffered hardship because of the war. After the war, Japan was occupied by U.S. military personnel, and Japan had to agree to never re-establish an offensive  military force.

Tomoko’s husband Desy also suffered from military action as his country, Hungary, was under the policies imposed by the Soviets. He was able to escape during the Hungarian Revolution, safely arriving in the United States -- poor but hopeful.

Composers have often expressed their feelings about war in their music, as the following examples of Ravel’s work demonstrate.

In World War I Maurice Ravel wanted to join the war effort, and so he drove a supply truck to support French troops. His piano suite Le tombeau de Couperin memorialized his friends who were killed in the war, a couple of whom were shot dead their first day at the front.  

In 1914 pianist Paul Wittgenstein a war bullet pierced his right elbow, resulting in amputating his arm. In his honor, several composers wrote pieces that could be performed solely by the left hand, including Ravel.  His left-hand piano concerto became Wittgenstein’s favorite composition to play.

Ravel’s compositions Frontispice (1919) and La Valse (2020) captured his own war-based psychological trauma and grief. Similarly, his Sonata for Violin and Violoncello (1922) and Sonata for Violin and Piano (1927) enabled his musician colleagues to share their mutual grief through duet performances.  

Music can be a powerful cathartic experience, both for a performance and for a listener, to address and remember times of war and suffering: to bear the grief and hope for peace.

Piano Music for Gardening

 

The adage “April showers bring May flowers” signals the time for gardening, a favorite pastime of Tomoko. She considers it as a way to wake up, to recharge her psychic batteries. “It’s a fresh feeling.”

Refresh yourself with these ten piano pieces inspired by gardens, with a little information about each piece.

In the 1930s Hungarian Bela Bartok wrote a collection of 85 short pieces entitled For Children. One of those compositions is "Rose Garden." These pieces attest to his belief in the importance to educating youngsters in contemporary musical styles.

Amy Beach was the first major American female composer of large-scale art music. Her 1922 Opus 97, Grandmother’s Garden, consists of five parts, each capturing a different flower.

Aaron Copland’s Down a Country Lane was commissioned by Life magazine to be featured in a 1962 issue, which includes photographs and an article explaining that this piano piece was one of the few compositions written express for young students by a major composer.

Claude Debussy’s “Jardins sur la pluie” (Gardens in the rain) is part of his 1903 composition Estampes (Prints). It captures the round of raindrops that storm a French garden. 

As a gift to his mother, Australian Percy Aldridge Grainger arranged an English folk tune into the 1918 piano piece “Country Gardens.” The piece was his greatest success financially, selling over 40,000 copies yearly in the United States. However, Grainger came to resent having to perform it constantly.

A visit to a monastic garden inspired English composer Albert Ketelbey to write “In a Monastery Garde.” In 1915. Ketelbey was known for light orchestral music, and wrote music for silent films.

Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu’s 1938 suite Window on the Garden consists of four lyrical movements. The piece reflects his short stay in Paris just before escaping from the forthcoming Nazi invasion.

Edward McDowell was America’s best known composer at the beginning of the 20^th century. His 1902 piano New England Idyls combines classical European harmonic elements and American textual imagery, as exemplified in the piece "An Old Garden."

Rachmaninoff became known for his lyrical inspiration, where the piano captures the sentiments of the text. Lilacs, Op 21, No. 5 “Lilacs, along with Daisies” was composed in 1902 as a song with accompaniment, but was later transcribed as a sensitive piano solo miniature.

In 1893 Tchaikowsky wrote his last solo piano work, 18 Pieces, one a day. Value-bluette, No. 11, was dedicated to the daughter of his lawyer and friend Nikolay Kondratyev.

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Piano Accompaniment to Friendship

 

Early in her piano performance career – and continuing later -- Tomoko served as a keyboard accompanist. She first accompanied her secondary school’s singers, and played the organ for Catholic masses when in college. As a student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, she also played for special community concerts. A few years after she started teaching at the Conservatory, the Peninsula Symphony told her about a violinist, Ernestine Riedel at the time, who needed an accompanist, and Tomoko performed with her at the DeYoung Museum. They continued to perform together for 30 years, and considered themselves as a duo rather than a performer-accompanist relationship.  Their repertoire included sonatas and duos by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Prokoviev, Copland, etc. Even in recent recitals, Tomoko has accompanied her musical friends on the piano.

As part of their training, Tomoko’s students learned how to accompany as well. This kind of performance requires additional skills. First, the accompanist has to learn both her own accompanying score and the other musician’s score thoroughly. The accompanying piece has to become so natural that it is memorized and internalized as memory muscle. This deep knowledge is needed because the accompanist must listen to the other performer very carefully and adjust the piano playing tempo and tone to the spotlighted performer.

Accomplished accompanists may be called upon to perform with little notice ahead of time. If the piece is familiar, then the event is not so stressful, although it is harder if the accompanist does not know the lead performers and style. Sometimes accompanists can listen to recordings of the anticipated piece to jumpstart the interpretation. In any event, accompanists need to keep their sight-reading skills sharp, know how to play harmonic and chord patterns, and be able to modulate from one key to another for singers in particular.

Accompanying can be challenging but also joyful. Tomoko explains how music brings people together. “It gives me friendship.” As an accompanist, Tomoko has made good musical friends, and continues to keep in touch with them. 

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Toshiko Akiyoshi: Another Fine Japanese Pianist

 Among the many people who have contributed to the musical scene in the United States are the Japanese. Tomoko is a wonderful example: she was the first Asian and only the second woman to be hired as a faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has taught there for over fifty years, which is another great achievement.

Here is another notable Japanese pianist who has achieved greatness.

Toshiko Akiyoshi, born in 1926, is a Japanese jazz pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger. Similarly to Tomoko, she began piano lessons early in life, focusing on Western classical music. After World War II, she played the piano for U.S. service members stationed in Japan, and then performed with visiting American jazz artists. With the Peterson jazz trio she recorded her first album Amazing Toshiko Akiyoshi, which had U.S. success. By 1955, Toshiko was considered Japan’s leading jazz pianist.

Also like Tomoko, Toshiko came to the United States to study music, and has remained in the States ever since, although she toured in Japan. Her jazz compositions incorporated Japanese instruments, themes and harmonies. A Buddhist priest asked her to compose a piece in remembrance of the Hiroshima bombing; her three-part suite Hiroshima: Rising from the Abyss premiered just weeks before the September 11, 2001 attack on the U.S.

Over the years Toshiko has been nominated for 14 Grammy awards, and was the first woman to win DownBeat magazine’s reader poll award as best composer and arranger. The U.S. National Endowment of the Arts also named her as an NEA jazz master. The 1984 documentary Jazz Is My Native Language featured this fine musician.

Both Japanese women demonstrate commitment to music, courage to pursue their dreams, high quality professional performance, and sustained long-term careers. And both have been honored by their peers. The United States is fortunate to benefit from their contributions.

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The Mathematical Harmony in Music

 

“Music is the mathematics of one who does not know that he is counting.” Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)

 Tomoko realizes the preciseness and patterns of music. Not surprisingly then, math helps in reading music. The simplest task such as counting the beats uses math. Each time signature codes the number of beats per measure, and the notes represent fractions of a measure and beat – such as whole notes, quarter notes, eighth notes and so on. In turn, reading these rhythmic notations can help one read and solve math equations. 

In fact, mathematics lies underneath much musical composition and reflects the very nature of music itself. Even the concept of octaves is mathematical. An octave is the distance between a given note with a set sound frequency (that is, the string’s vibration) with another note with double that frequency. A perfect fifth is 1.5 times the frequency of the octave’s base note. Ratios help make music harmonious.

Music compositions reflect patterns, just as math does: symmetry, repetition, transposition, inversion.  The process for perceiving and generating those patterns mirrors mathematical processes. Johann Sebastian Bach very consciously incorporated mathematical principles into his keyboard compositions. His work “Musical Offering” is comprised of ten canons, in which each canon is a mathematical transformation of the principal musical line. In fact, a mathematical breakthrough enabled Bach to write “The Well-Tempered Clavier.” Keyboard instruments used to be tuned using a just-toned scale, which made shifting to keys other than the tonic sounded “off.” The equal (even)-tempered scale, popularized by Bach, evened out the frequency ratios between all 12 notes of the chromic scale so that shifts of harmonies to other keys would sound the same.

Tomoko rightly asserts that reading and playing music require good discipline, improve listening and collaborative skills, and strengthens mental and muscle memory.  Those practices can also build math skills and recall of math details. A harmonious blend!

 

Japanese Catholicism and Its Saints

This week, Saint Patrick’s Day is being celebrated worldwide, including in Japan, where fifteen parades and Irish festivals occur this time every year. The paraders are all Japanese: step dancers, harp players, and céilidh bands. While Japan is typically associated with Shintoism, the Catholic Church has a long history in that country, including their own Catholic saints.

 Indeed, Nagasaki was founded in the mid 16h century by Portuguese Catholics with the hope that it the city would become a significant Christian center for the Far East. The Japanese government first supported the missionaries because the potential for trade with Spain and Portugal, but by the end of the century, that same government became threatened by foreign influence and possible colonialism. Part of the way that the government responded was to ban Christianity and persecute Catholics. As a result, in Catholic history, Nagasaki became known for the 26 Catholics martyrs crucified there in 1597. One of the martyrs was the Jesuit priest Paul Miki, who was sainted; the day of the crucifixion became his feast day: February 6. Since then Catholicism has faced challenges in Japan, and finally experienced acceptance with about half a million practitioners. Nevertheless, in some Japanese circles, Catholicism is still viewed as a foreign religion.

 As for Tomoko, she served as an organist for the nearby Catholic cathedral while in college, and she converted to Catholicism just before she graduated. Tomoko’s experience at the cathedral was deeply artistic and visceral. “Both the Dominicans there and the whole Catholic mindset reflected international values of care and service,” she recalled. Catholics are worldwide and have universal values – as does music.

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Mars in Music

 

The latest space probe has landed on Mars, continuing the centuries of interest in Mars. That interest includes music as composers have been inspired by outer space.

Probably the most well know classical piece about Mars is Holst’s ”Mars, the Bringer of War,” the first movement of his seven-part orchestral suite The Planets. This piece, begun in May 1914, seems to foreshadow World War I and forces of change. The brutal 5/4 time and tri-tonal harmonies underscore energy and ultimate revolution.  While set for a huge orchestra, Holst’s “Mars” is also arranged as a piano piece.

Probably the most popular tune about Mars is David Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” from his 1971 album Hunky Dory.  The song was inspired by Frank Sinatra, and Bowie called it a love song: “a sensitive young girl’s reading to the media.” Its vivid surreal imagery give it a mysterious sci-fi experiences. A 2012 poll voted ‘Life on Mars” as Bowie’s best song. This tune is also available as a piano score.

Mars also made its appearance in jazz music, most notably in Sun Ra’s “Blues on Planet Mars.” Sun Ra was known for his experimental music and his belief that he came from Saturn. Science fiction inspired his writing. Released in 1968, “Blues on Planet Mars” is unique because of its jazzy improvisation and electronic synthesizer background.

Another space-inspired music genre is space rock. Hawkwind was the earliest space rock group, which recorded “Uncle Sam’s on Mars” in 1979. The song describes America’s obsession with space exploration, focus on human’s invasion of untouched Mars. It’s the opposite perspective from Mars invading Earth.

Across musical trends and times, composers have expressed their personal and societal perspectives. Tomoko translates those perspectives brilliantly in her iano performances.

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Valentine’s Day in Japan

 

Japan has many holidays, as Tomoko knows because she grew up there. Several holidays are centuries old and others are more modern, sometimes imported from other cultures. Valentine’s Day is one of the latter types of celebrations; it became popular starting in the 1950s due to commercial campaigns targeted to women.

February 14 is mainly enjoyed by students, but chocolate is given between couples and even coworkers.  In fact, in Japan, it is usually the woman who gives gifts to men such as candy; girl friends might make brownies (‘honmei-chocos” homemade chocolates), for instance, for their boy friends. Women may also give chocolates to their women friends too (“tomo choco”), and one can treat oneself to chocolate too (“jibun choco”)/

However, there is equal opportunity for giving in Japan, a custom that started in the 1980s by the Japanese Confectionery Industry Association. White Day, which occurs on March 14, is the day where people chocolates and other gifts to the people who gave them gifts on Valentine’s day – so men will give gifts then, sometimes returning the favor three-fold. The day is named based on the idea that the color what is a symbol of purity: an innocent kind of love.

Some things -- such as chocolate, gifts, and love – are international, and Tomoko shares them all.

Appreciating John Field

 

Tomoko performed a variety of classic composers, and her repertoire included not only the big names such as Mozart and Chopin but also lesser known composers such as John Field.

John Field was born in Dublin in 1782, and started performing publicly on the piano at age nine, and composed his first piano sonatas at age sixteen. In his twenties he toured through Europe, and even impressed Beethoven. Impressed with the artistic culture of Saint Petersburg, Field decided to settle there, and started creating piano compositions based on Russian folk songs. He continued to perform and compose until his death in 1837.

Field was known especially as writing the first Romantic nocturnes, which evoked the nighttime – and were typically played a late evening parties. His nocturnes popularized solo pianos in this genre, which were structured with songlike melodies supported by broken chord accompaniment. Several composers were clearly inspired by him: Chopin, Fauré, Satie, and Bartók.  

Tomoko’s CD album Baroque – 20^th century includes Field’s “Nocturne in B flat major, No. 5”, alongside Scarlatti, Beethoven, and Chopin. He certainly belongs in such company.

 

Tomoko American

Tomoko decided to come to America by the time she was in college. “In Japan graduation is the end, in America it is just part of life,” Tomoko says. She wanted to continue to learn and grow professionally, and she has remained in the educational arena ever since.   

She also came to the United States because of its culture and attitude about music. She recounts her career journey. “I wanted to get out of Japan. Europe was the cultural center, but the US was very welcoming to musicians such as Paderewski. I got an exchange student status. I wanted a Fulbright but was too old for that particular program. I had to have a job to pay tuition. Fortunately, UCLA had a special opera workshop, and a Japanese composer was there, so I was an accompanist for the program.” She also played at Stanford. “In 1965 I had to get a green card, and in five years I became a US citizen.” 
 
Tomoko recalls her arrival in California. “When I came to California, I picked up a couple of California poppies, which they didn’t have in Japan, and put them in my book. I’ve never gone back to Japan.” 
 
I ask her what she liked about America. “I love the freedom. It is very comfortable, like a flowing painting. There is not tension and stress that I felt in Japan. It’s “high tech high touch.” People need a balance, and I feel that in the US you can maintain an equilibrium in life.”  
 
Tomoko goes on to compare Japan and the US in terms of music choices. “When I was in Japan, I wanted to play Chopin, but they said I was too young. ‘You have no experience. You are not ready until you are a Junior.’” Tomoko contrasts that attitude to her own teaching. “For a concert, I assigned a Beethoven piece that was heavy for a 14 year old. I think it is better to start students early with substantial music, and have the experience rather than not have that challenge. Students need to be curious and courageous. How much they understand, we don’t know, but it’s better than to protect the student. They can always return to the piece later on, and bring in more interpretation based on their own lives. The technique is always there.” 
 
Tomoko continues to compare music teaching methods, “Japanese music teachers focused on the rules of technique. There was a pattern to the teaching, which was a kind of military training because of the strong music competition; 80% was technique. The teachers also controlled more power, and pushed students down. Only after years of lessons would the teacher become more generous.” Tomoko compares her teaching in the US. “I love this country to teach – I can do anything.” Tomoko expands on her attitude. “In Japan, the results are more important than the process. However, the process is so complicated, and there are so many ways to reach your musical goal. And you cannot know the process of development for each child; you have to look long term. That is why  I think teaching should be custom-made to fit each student.” 
 
Tomoko also notes her professional opportunities in the US. “I was the first Asian teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The first non-white was a black woman who did jazz.” Tomoko mentions the diversity of the conservatory. “There are lots of Eurasian students now. It is good for them to connect with different cultures.” Tomoko concludes: “Without music you don’t see as much of the world, and you don’t see the challenge.” 
 
Tomoko Hagiwara is a wonderful example of America: a land of immigrants who have contributed to this nation, making it richer in culture.