Piano Playing As Family

The holidays are family time. Coming home. Enjoying each other’s campny. Remembering the joint memories. Tomoko contents: “Piano playing is like a family.” Here is why.

A family is a long term commitment. It has its ups and downs, but relationships are deep and impactful. This long-term dedication can apply to can piano playing.

Think about raising a child. It requires regular attention. It needs to learn the basic steps. Its communication is limited, and it can be hard to express itself. It can be frustrated, and needs calming. So too the beginning piano student needs to acquire the habits of regular practice. She needs to learn the basic hand positions and touch, the scales, the musical notation. The first pieces need to be easy in order to experience early success, motivating the student to continue those basic skills. Even so, the student may be frustrated because fingering is not natural yet; the sound produced is not what is in the mind of the student.

Families grow and change week by week. You cannot leave the members alone. They continue to have needs, though those needs may change, and the way to address those members may also need to change. So too do piano students constantly need to be challenged and supported. As they grow in confidence and expertise, piano students need to be handled differently. As the pieces become more complex and sophisticated, new skills are added. The piano teacher knows the likely obstacles, and can advise ways to overcome those obstacles.

With growth, family members gain more responsibility. Likewise, the piano student takes more responsibility in analyzing a composition, marking those sections that need more attention and care, for instance.

“Interaction with each other makes the family closer,” says Tomoko. “So too as the piano player gets to know the piece, he becomes more comfortable with it.”

And lastly, families build memories together, and look back on those memories that continue to knit them together. The piano player’s growing repertoire also elicits memories of the music, the composer, and the experience of performance.

No wonder that pianists, such as Tomoko, build lifelong meaningful musical relationships.

Sailing Through Life's Experiences

“Life is a ship you drop into the middle of the ocean,” muses Tomoko. “It is a step-by-step experience, and you have to stand up for yourself.” And each stage of life has its characteristics.

“When you are young, you don’t know,” says Tomoko. “You can’t calculate to the same degree.” That may be why Tomoko contends that “the young are courageous. They have no fear.”

Tomoko states: “The family establishes a philosophy that guides you in solving problems. They help you know what is right and what is wrong.” As a teacher, Tomoko also helps her young students build up power. “Sometimes students choose a complex piece because of its status, to show off, but it isn’t appropriate at their state, and they become miserable.” Tomoko wisely then tells them: “Try it. Then they recognize the difficulty themselves.” Tomoko prepares pieces for her students, and goes through the piece explaining its challenges and how to address them. “Some challenge is good, but 90% challenge is not. You want to keep students’ confidence.”

As one grows up, one experiences how the unexpected happens. “One moment can bring disappointment. You suffer. You have pressure. You have to sacrifice,” Tomoko knows. So she advises: “If you don’t love what you do, then don’t do it.”

With age comes wisdom. “You know not to miscalculate. Experience helps. You know how to push.”

And Tomoko knows that learning is possible at any age. “I planned two years ago that I wanted to go back to performing publicly,” Tomoko remarks. “I have to concentrate and practice to memorize the composition so that at the performance the music comes out spontaneously.”

The Benefits of Challenge

Sometimes success comes too easy or too soon. There’s a price to pay, in fact several. “Some people become instantly popular. That is not good.” That is not Tomoko’s way.

For instance, Tomoko doesn’t believe in proteges. “They may have technique but they do not have the heart of life experience.” She mentions several proteges who peaked too soon or burned out early. “Think about the champion chess player Bobby Fischer,” she is reminded.

On the other hand, it isn’t necessary to start learning how to play the piano as a child. One of her students started when he was in his 40s; in eight years he was playing Messian. Tomoko adds, “There is a big trend for international competitions among people over 35 years old. These performers are professions, real musicians, even though their day jobs are different.”

Nor is it always good to have an easy time in learning. Tomoko recalls, “I am not gifted . I was the last student in a big class when I was 12. I had to start from the ground up.” She feels, “ It is better to be in a big school and be the worst because it challenges you to do better and learn more.”

Tomoko asserts that one of the best aspects of her teaching is challenging her students to stretch themselves in playing. “Development is important, especially when you are young.” She continues, “It’s better to try a hard piece and do a B+ performance than to go for the easy A.”

Tomoko concludes: “The piano is a lifetime pursuit. It is an idea and a mind set.