Spring into Competition

 

When Tomoko was performing competitively in the 1960s, spring seemed to be a favored time.

In late March of 1985, the Philharmonic Orchestra and the Junior League of Fresno held a Young Artists competition, at which Tomoko won as the best pianist, garnering a $500 prize. At the winners’ concert in the town’s Roosevelt High School auditorium, Tomoko played her  praiseworthy Mozart concerto. The other performing winners were baritone David Tenbrook, who later sang in west coast operas, and violinist Varoujan Kodjian, who became a conductor in the states and in Europe.  

Later that spring Tomoko had her Peninsula debut at Foothill College in its Appreciation Hall. At this evening event, sponsored by the Santa Clara Japanese Speaking Society of America, she again performed a full program, which would largely overlap her post-graduation recital: a mix of Mozart, Brahms, Chopin and Schumann. A year later, in 1966, Tomoko again played under the sponsorship of the Santa Clara Japanese Speaking Society of America, this time at Mountain View High School in a piano and violin duo with Jack Ullom. The composers were again Mozart and Brahms, with Bartók added, but the pieces were naturally composed for two. And Tomoko wowwed the audience with her Mozart rondo encore. The press agreed: “The delicacy and precision of her runs and trills made this a particlar delight. A beautiful figure in yellow silk, she played with the greatest composure.” 

Even though Tomoko enjoyed performing in California live and in broadcasts, she yearned to perform in Europe. Tomoko had the chance to fly to Europe  in spring of 1967 for the Long-Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris, which promoted classical music. This biennial contest was created in 1943, in the midst of World War II. Just a year before Tomoko participated in the competition, founder pianist Marguerite Long passed away. “I feel a little guilty having such a good time here, even though the contest has an undertone of sadness,” Tomoko recalls.

Tomoko ended up flying to the Continent the next spring for her most memorable international competition: the 1968 Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition. Tomoko had to spend months ahead of time learning the required composition written for the competition and another piece by a Belgian composer as well as practice her own technique. As with other contestants, Tomoko had to pay her own expenses, but was housed by local arts enthusiasts. Even during the competition, the pianists practiced and conversed with each other; they were in it together, especially as they had to perform with the same orchestra and conductor. The competition was a city-wide event for Brussels, with journalists and photographers avidly following the musicians throughout the three rounds of competition, with the final round being broadcast on radio and television. When asked why she did such competitions, Tomoko replied, “Humans need competition. Pressure transforms to energy.” She continued, “Enjoy life with its challenges – then succeed.” 

European Influence on Japanese Music

Tomoko’s favorite piano music continues to be European classical compositions. That taste was started early in her life as she heard European classical music on the radio and the organ pieces that her brother played. These habits reflected the earlier Japanese interests in Western   (generally European) music.

Traditional Japanese musical tonality differed from its Western counterparts; it uses a Phyrgian scale of E-F-A-B-C-E instead of C-D-F-G-A. The Phyrgian scale is also used in modern blues minor keys. The oldest forms of Japanese music include Buddhist chant and orchestral court music. Traditional folk music included religious songs and songs for gatherings, work songs, and children’s songs. Typical instruments were stringed instruments, drums, flutes, bells. The first piano wasn’t heard until the opening of Japan, but by 1875 the Japanese were manufacturing their own pianos and other Western musical instruments.

Emperor Mutsuhito, who adopted the title Meiji – or Enlightened Rule – in 1867, pushed for modernization with an eye to the West to avoid becoming dominated by other countries. In 1868, the government issued the Charter Oath: a five-article document outlining the principles of the Meiji administration. It declared that “knowledge shall be sought throughout the world.” Meiji curiosity about Western culture included absorbing foreign classical and religious music. On the bureaucratic side, the Meiji government created the Music Study Committee, which encouraged Western music. They wanted Japanese composers to write in the Western style, and the committee required the German model of music instruction for all students. The committee also led to the founding of the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, which Tomoko attended. 

Combining Western and Japanese music could be challenging though. For instance, Christian religious tended to be Western based, which was sometimes hard for Japanese to intonate. And when missionaries tried to translate their hymns into Japanese, they found it hard to match the rhythm to Japanese text. 

The tension between Western and Japanese music and their currents continued to flow through Tomoko’s families. During World War II at school Tomoko’s class sang nationalistic music with Japanese lyrics set to European music. Tomoko’s mother played and sang Christian songs, and Tomoko’s brother became a composer in the more Japanese mode. 

Nevertheless, Tomoko brings her Japanese sensibility as she performs music from around the world.

Gleaning Glinka

On her CD Touria, Tomoko plays a mazurka composed by Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka. Not as well known as other Russian composers, Glinka significantly influenced the famous Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov, and later Tchaikovsky.

Mikhail Glinka was born in 1804 to a noble family who lived near Belarus. He grew up listening to local folk songs, church choirs, and serf orchestras. While at boarding school in St. Petersburg, Glink studied piano and violin, and he networked with orchestral musicians. Glinka entered civil service, but due to an illness, his doctor recommended spending time in Italy. That time extended to three years as Glinka became more acquainted with Italian opera and began composing operatic airs. From there he traveled to Berlin and Vienna, discovering his need to write in his own Russian musical vernacular. Thereafter, Glinka returned to Russia, where he was commissioned to write a Russian opera, which featured peasant folk song motifs. The opera’s success led to his appointment at the Court Chapel Choir, during which time he composed church music, a set of twelve songs, incidental music, and piano pieces. In 1842 he composed his second opera Ruslan and Lyudmila, which had a magical theme and tone that became an evocative mainstay up to Stravinsky’s Firebird. Later, Glinka would travel to Paris where he worked with Berlioz and then to Spain where he was influenced by that country’s folk music.  He continued to travel in Europe, dying in 1857.

Glinka’s musical legacy consists of laying the groundwork for Russian musical nationalism. He soaked up a variety of European techniques and assimilated them into a Russian idiom. 

Glinka’s “Mazurka in C minor” was influenced by Chopin, one of Tomoko’s favorite composers. This piece, written in 1843, is more refined and intimate than his earlier mazurkas, with its sinuous sensibility. His lifelong thread of songs and music for solo piano plays well to Tomoko’s own predilections.

Mapping the Musical Journey

Tomoko loves to travel and broaden her musical horizons. She also guides her students’ musical journey.

As a young girl, Tomoko began her musical path by following her brother’s trail. They would take the train to have piano and organ lessons. 

When the family moved from Tokyo to Yokohama, Tomoko enrolled in the prestigious Ferris Academy, where she expanded her performance skill. From the school’s hilltop, Tomoko would view the harbor with its sailing ships. “There’s a ship waiting for me,” she thought. “I will play the piano in America some day.”

After graduating from the University of Tokyo, known for its music program, Tomoko mapped her emigration to the United States, both in terms of flying and in pursuing her musical education.

And her journeys did not end there. Tomoko traveled to Europe, not only to compete internationally but also to experience the continent’s musical history and scene. In the process, she met great musicians, played a Medici harpsichord, visited Chopin’s residence, and had other musical adventures.

For fifty years Tomoko has also helped her students map their musical journey. She encourages them to explore each composition for its musical paths, and to visit the lives of the composers. She challenges them to climb musically in order to view the landscape of the profession. Tomoko assserts, "We need to grow and develop."

Each trip and each student, unfolds, like a map. Tomoko enjoys opening a new map. What will be the goal? How will we get there? What sites are along the way? What challenges will we meet – and overcome? And at the end of each experience, Tomoko knows to let the map “fold itself.” She does not try to reshape the experience or the student. Instead, she enables her students to reshape themselves and to make their own musical journeys. 

Tomoko knows her way – and applauds her students’ own musical explorations.