Olympican Recitals

                Millions of people watch and read about the Olympics. This time is particularly special for Tomoko and her family because in 2002 her daughter Beata and husband Charles exhibited their ice dancing expertise at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

               In a way, piano recitals mirror that same kind of high-stakes public performance. To motivate students and give them opportunities to perform in public, Tomoko plans recitals twice a year to display her students’ efforts and encourage others to learn how to play the piano for their own enjoyment. As the impresario for her students’ recitals, Tomoko chooses pieces according to each student’s ability, wherever they were on the performance spectrum. She puts together the program with a clear path in mind, and then matches the details, preparing all the music. Tomoko says: “I see myself as a designer and fashioner of the musical program.” It takes up to four months to get ready for the recital. “Students need time to memorize well, but they can’t peak too early,” Tomoko knows by experience. By the time of the performance, everyone is be excited: the students, the parents, and Tomoko herself. The recitals are stimulating, like a good game; all the students try their best. Tomoko concludes: “Recitals are not the time to criticize but rather a time to celebrate, like the holidays.”

A day in a recital

Tomoko has planned another recital concert – this one is today: November 18. It’s very important for her, and she is giving a souvenir to remember the day along with the real-life, real-time unique experience.

What is recital day like?

Tomoko starts this day early, as she does every day, with a light breakfast before dawn. She takes special effort to dress professionally for the performance. She gathers last-minute supplies, and packs her car for her drive through Marin County, over the Golden Gate Bridge, into The City. Tomoko likes to drive at this hour on Sunday, with the highway largely free of traffic.

She holds her recitals and concerts at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, fittingly near the Opera House. Parking is free on Sunday, which the many attenders and performers appreciate, especially since parking can be found at a real premium.  

Hours ahead of concert time, tables are set up for the welcome and reception. Tomoko has a great group of volunteers who bring food and flowers, create the program, take photos, and greet people.

Tomoko spends her time behind the stage, giving advice to her performers, checking with technicians, and dealing with last-minute details. It can be a nerve-wracking time, especially as Tomoko wants the day to be as close to perfect as possible so everyone will experience the height of musical culture. Fortunately, everyone else has the same goal, and that spirit permeates the Conservatory as each  individual contributes to the day’s success.

Throughout the performances people are eager, expectant, delighted, appreciative. Performers receive heartfelt applause and flowers. Enthusiasm continues after the music stops as the audience discusses the music while feasting on homemade and commercial delectable and beverages.  The music truly unites and uplifts.

For Tomoko, it’s a long fulfilling day. She recalls details as she drives home. Tomoko has made this experience possible; it is her gift. 

Starting the New Year Right with Music

On a brisk Saturday, friends of Tomoko and music, gather at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in anticipation of a unique concert experience. Families, students, long-time friends all walk into the bas-relief auditorium, chatting quietly and checking their phones. Flower bouquets set in the front side seats, ready to be bestowed. As the lights dim, the audience holds their breath in anticipation. They stow away any distractions. The performance begins!

For the first piece, Schubert’s Piano Quintet in A Major (Opus 114, D. 607) Tomoko has gathered four experienced musicians who have never played all together. They have rehearsed together only three times, but the audience would never know. The quintet (violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano instruments) are simultaneously alert and relaxed. Their personalities shine as they use the entire bow length for a legato measure or sharply tap staccato notes. Especially when a section plays two musicians off each other, the feeling of a connected conversation is apparent.

No wonder intermission is a time for thanks, congratulations, joy. And it is a time to set up the logistics, the myriad details, to ensure a successful second half and parter thereafter. The time goes too fast.

Three sets of piano duets grace the audience after intermission: Chabrier’s Trois Valses Romantiques, Debussy’s En Blanc et Noir, and Rachmaninoff’s Suite No. 2, Opus 17. These pieces are generally romantic, but have depth and complexity  that showcase the piantists’mastery and sensitivity. Even though the duos are seated across from each other across the two grand pianos, they listen closely to synchronize their efforts seamlessly. Sometimes it sounds more like one very complex piano than two piano voices. The performances reflected the joy of Tomoko’s friendship with her pianist partners.

Joanne Ahn and her committee prepare a tasty reception to honor the performers, and to give them a chance to mingle with the appreciative audience. The food is varied in flavor as the conversation. Many of the audience are musicians themselves, certainly music lovers, and the camaraderie between them and the performers underscores the feeling of community and shared values.

More now than ever we need these times to focus on beauty, to have a shared esthetic experience. And this experience will linger in each person’s mind and heart. We have Tomoko to thank for creating and orchestrating this special time to start the new year.

Holiday time is performance time

It’s Christmas time, which is also performance time. The holidays are a time to celebrate, and they offer a wonderful opportunity to perform seasonal music.

Piano recitals at this time of year remain, at their heart, a high-stakes experience for both the music student as well as the teacher.

The ideal performance is memorized because it enables the performer to focus on interpretation; the basics of hitting the right notes have been internalized. Not that memorization is easy. When asked, “How do you memorize a piece of music?”, Tomoko replied , “It is like building a house, You build on the foundation. The hardest part is the starting stage. You have to persevere. You can’t be impatient. You must repeat, making sure that you play the right note so that your hand muscles will remember where to touch the keys. Don’t listen to the quality of the music at that point. If you continue with discipline, one day you will find that it’s done: you’ve memorized the piece.”

Next comes the process of analyzing the piece. Tomoko states that each piece has a number of elements that need to be considered: tone quality, articulation, rhythmic sense, phrasing, flow, and feeling. As Tomoko teaches her students she shows them these elements, typically giving them a good and a bad example, and asking them to choose. She trust her students to tell the difference, especially since she carefully selects the examples to scaffold critical analytical skills.

Just as she uses a building metaphor to describe memorizing, Tomoko applies that metaphor to developing the recital program. As the impresario for her students’ recitals, Tomoko loves the programming aspects, and chooses pieces to showcase each student’s ability, wherever they are on the performance spectrum. She puts together the program with a clear path in mind, and then matches the details, preparing all the music. Tomoko sees herself as a designer and fashioner of the musical program.

It takes up to four months to get ready for the recital. Students need time to memorize well, and they can’t peak too early. By the time of the performance, everyone is excited: the students, the parents, and Tomoko herself. The recital is stimulating, like a good game; all the students try their best. Recitals are not the time to criticize but rather a time to celebrate, like the holidays.

Tomoko has performed admirably for decades at recitals, and her recordings show her at recital level. Enjoy the season by choosing from her rich collection of CDs. Go to http://www.tomokohagiwara.com/recordings.html.
It’s a good way to start the year too.