Vol. 24.4 July/August 2019

T o f a c i l i t a t e , p r o m o t e , a n d e d u c a t e t h e p u b l i c o n t h e w a y o f t e a c h i n g a n d p l a y i n g t h e p i a n o t a u g h t a t t h e T a l e n t E d u c a t i o n R e s e a r c h I n s t i t u t e i n M a t s u m o t o , J a p a n b y D r . H a r u k o K a t a o k a

Ingredients: the Ability to Select the Best

By Haruko Kataoka

From the Matsumoto Suzuki Piano Newsletter Vol.8 No.3, August 3, 1998 Translated by Chisa Aoki

Teri Paradero Edited by Karen Hagberg

Whenwethinkaboutpreparingdeliciousfood,thefirstmostimportantthingishavingthebestingredients. Itis commonknowledge. Wehearabout this importantrequirement even on television cooking shows.Ingredients must be the best, the freshest. Old,bruised,ordriedupingredientscannotbetransformedintoawonderfulmealevenbythemostskilledmasterchef. Whyisit,then,thatwedonotchoosethemostnatural,fresh, and delicious tonewhen playing a piece on thepiano? Tone is the basic ingredient when playing apiece, and yet everyone ignores the quality of theiringredients and seems to focus only on the tasks oflearningnotesandmemorizing.

Letusresearchthemostimportantingredient:tone.Inthe case of food, we use our sense of taste to judgequality.Withpianomusic,weuseoursenseofhearingtodeterminewhetherornotatoneisgood(natural)orbad (unnatural). Every single day we must use oursense of hearing to develop the habit of listening totonewith concentration. Always listen, savoringwithgreat care the tone that youmake and the tone thatothersmake. In doing this, we develop the ability todifferentiatebetweentheheartfelt,wonderfulsoundofmusicandthesoundofacollision(inotherwords,badtone).

Piano Basics Foundation News

Editor Karen Hagberg

Layout

Teri Paradero

Translators Chisa Aoki

Teri Paradero

Production and Distribution Linda Nakagawa

Send Articles to: Piano Basics Foundation

67 Shepard St. Rochester NY 14620 kh@hagbergsuzuki.com

585-244-0490

Memberships / Subscriptions Linda Nakagawa

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916-422-2952 g.nakagawa@comcast.net

Next Deadline: August 31, 2019

A little advice at this point: tobecome proficient at playing thepiano, we must nurture the habit oflisteningwithgreatcare. Inorder todevelop our sense of taste for food,dowe not eat delicious cuisine frommany different sources? It is thesamewiththesenseofhearing.Firstof all, listen to recordings ofperformances of the great masters.Search out really the bestperformances, in the same way youwouldsearchout finerestaurants, soyou can become a person with theability to choose really good,musicaltone.Humansarebornwithmanypotentialabilities,butwemustput ineffort inorder to develop them, otherwisetheyareuselesstous. Oursenseofhearing is one of these physicalabilities. Practice listening withconcentration every day, with youreyesclosedandwithacalmheartandmind, so that you will develop anability that you can count on whenyouneedit.Without being able to listen, wecannot understand the quality ofmusical ingredients (the sound ofmusic;musicaltone),norcanwe

understand a performer’s interpretation of a piece ortheirskillfultechnique.(Someonewithoutadevelopedsense of taste cannot judge the skill of a chef.) Thepractice of listeningmust be developed very carefullyand from the time one is a beginner or it cannot belearned.Aftertheearsthemselvesaretrainedtolistensomethingmorehappens:youbeginlisteningintuitivelywithyourheartandsoul. Asaresult,youbegintobeable to add feeling and power to your natural, goodsound.Itisthesamewithcooking.The chef creates a wonderful meal by using the bestingredients along with the heartfelt desire to givepeople a wonderful experience with food they cansavor. It is the same with music. Just as a chefexerciseshisorherculinaryskill,wemustgathergoodsoundtobeabletoperformapieceexpressively,fromthebottomofourheart,sonomatterwhois listening(or eating) they come away being revived and lucid,able to face the next day with new vitality.Furthermore, children, who are living the mostwonderful, impressionable time of their lives, carrytheirexperienceswiththemuntiltheydie.Theythriveonthebestnourishment.People inevitably tend to be impressedmerely by thesizeandscopeofa joband losesightof thequalityofingredients or the way things are put together. Weneglecttoputthoughtandresearchonthefirststagesofanendeavor.Wehavethejoyofexperiencingwonderfulmusic.Withgratitude,letusthinkaboutgoodtone.

Australian in Matsumoto

By Hanna Silver

I foundmyself inMatsumoto inAprilby some good fortune. I'm a Suzukipiano teacher from Melbourne,Australia, and I won the NehamaPatkin Fellowship for Teachers'ProfessionalDevelopment.Theawardcame in the formofagrant allowingme to pursue Suzuki professionaldevelopment anywhere in theworld,outsideofmystateofVictoria.I just recently learned about SuzukiPianoBasicsthroughBruceAndersonwhen he visited us in Melbourne in2018.Myinternetsearchesledmetofind the 10-Piano Concert inMatsumoto, and I decided this waswhereIneededtobe.Iwas(am?Younever stopbeing)aSuzukikidmyselffromage3,anditwasmyfirsttimeinMatsumoto.I had absolutely no idea what toexpect fromrehearsals,andmymindwas blown. I knew that "you don'tknowwhatyoudon'tknow,”andboy,didIdiscoverthingsIdidnotknow!Ilearned a lot from sitting throughhours of rehearsals, listening to theteachers relentlessly work towardsbringing the students closer andcloser to perfection. Even in dressrehearsal the day before the concertthey worked and continued toimprove, and even from the firstconcert to the second. The grandfinale, Liszt's La Campanella(translation from Italian is "The LittleBell") in the 2nd concert waselectrifying! Itwaswonderful tobea

part of the audience, for us collectively to feel theexhilarationfromthemusicinthatmoment.I was totally humbled by the Japanese teachers'relationship with each other: one of complete trust,support and sharing, devoid of ego. One day, all theinternational teachers joined with the Japaneseteachers to do "teachers research.” We practicedTwinkles A and D together on the 10 pianos, and ranrehearsalsonbook1and2piecesforeachother.Icantellyou,itwasoneofthescariestthingsI'veeverdoneinmy life. But I appreciated the experience somuch,andgotsomuchoutofit.WehadanoutingtoDrSuzuki'sgraveandtohishouse.Being able to play on Dr Suzuki's piano was a veryspecialmoment. It is times like thesewhere I think inwonder about the abilities that I have due to havinglearned via Suzuki method, and I feel emotional and am eternally grateful to him and to all my teachers.

TheoutingtoSuwacitywaswonderful.Gettingtomakeour own signature stamps was a unique experience.Andthosestrawberries!Icanstilltastethem,sojuicy.

Hanna Silver playing the piano in Dr. Suzuki’s home, now a museum in Matsumoto. April, 2019.

I stayed with a host family inMatsumotowhowere incredible andsomuchfun.TheywereabigpartofmyMatsumoto experience, and I amsogratefultothemforwelcomingmeso warmly and givingme a home tostayin.ItwaswonderfultomakenewSuzukifriendswiththeotherinternational

teachers and students. Everyone was so open andsharing,whichisoneofthethingsI loveaboutSuzuki.The Fellowship I won was in Nehama Patkin's name,one of my teaching mentors who loved to travel theworld attending Suzuki events and making Suzukifriends.Aftermyexperience,Iunderstandhowshegotthatbug,andnowmaybeIhaveittoo...Massivethankstoallinvolved,Iamgratefulmorethanyou know. It was a life changing experience for thisAustralian,andIwillneverforgetit.

Making It HappenBy Jacqueline Graham, Augusta, Georgia

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” –Nelson Mandela

Many years ago, I learned from Dr.Kataoka that if you truly wantsomething bad enough you’ll find awaytomakeithappen.Ihavelivedbythat principle, and have discoveredthat,ifyoudeclareit,beitmentallyorverbally, and work in harmony with

thedeclaration,itcanindeedbecomeyourreality.Thethoughts and writings of Dr. Kataoka have a way ofgoingstraighttomyheart.

As a previously single parent mother of 3 sons (1 bymarriage and adopted twins) there were timesthroughoutmyteachingcareerthatIwondered:1)howIcouldfinanciallymaneuverattendingmasterclassesinthe various locations each year, 2) how I could affordhaving a Suzuki Studiowith two grand pianos, and 3)howonEARTHcould I attenda10-PianoConcertwithmystudentsinJapan.Despitethoseconcerns,mybeliefinthemessagesofDr.SuzukiandDr.Kataokaandlovefortheirwayofteachinghelpedtopushmeforwardtoaccomplish everything necessary to have a healthyand nurturing Suzuki studio. Eventually, “wonderinghow” transformed to sheer will and determinationthat my students and I receive the totality of the

education extended to us from the Piano BasicsFoundation Masterclasses and that we have theequipment needed to be a bona fide Suzuki PianoStudio.

Just recently I faced my biggest challenges. Althoughplansofattendingthe10-Pianorehearsalsandconcert

Dr. Kataoka, Jacqueline Graham, and her son Josiah at Louisville Suzuki Piano Basics Institute, 1999.

inJapancamewithgreatexcitement,they also came with their share ofworries.Financialsacrificeshadtobemade. Ihadhadplenty of training inthat category through years of singleparenting.Next,Ihadalwaystraveledwith family. My biggest fear for thisevent was that I would be going italone in a country that I have neverbeentobefore,andlackedknowledgeon how to speak their language. If Iweretoget lost,howwould Iaskforhelp?Idevelopedarealphobiaaboutgetting lost from the experience ofhaving gotten lost on a hikingadventure with my children afterstartingoutearly in themorningandnot findingourway back until itwasnearly dark. Here I am, years later,reliving the fear of getting lost whilein unknown territory with my“musicalchild”Robert.Ididnotwantmy fear to let him down. Dr.Kataoka’sencouragementwasalwaysthere behind the fear, creating alonging in my heart that my studentwould not miss out on this fineopportunity as a result of mymisgivings.

Inaddition,Imadethedecisionnottoaccept the generous offer by theJapanese teachers to stay with aJapanesefamily.Duetoserioushealthissuesthatruninmyfamily,Ilivebyaverystrictdietanddidnotwanttobeaworryor inconveniencetoothers. Idecided tomakeplansto stayonmyownatahotel.HowwouldIshopforfoodororder inarestaurant?Adearfriend lovingly advised me to workbeyondmyfearsandencouragedmewiththeassurancethatIwouldcome

backadifferentpersonasaresultoftheexperience.

IamdelightedtosaythatRobertandIhadthetimeofour lives! A great understanding came to me amid asense of calm. The fact iswewere never aloneeitherbeforeourjourneyorduringit.Firstandforemost,ourHeavenlyFatherwaswithusevery stepoftheway. Inaddition to that, Robert and I werewith awarm andloving musical family. It reminds me of the sense ofcommunityandtogethernessthatinitiallyintriguedmewhen I began learning Suzuki piano and attendingmasterclasses.

Robert was with the best homestay ever! They tookcareofhim inways that I couldn’thave. I learned thevaluable lessonof lettinggo,sothatmy studentcouldgrow and be totally immersed in his musical studieswhile in Japan, as well as embracing the beautifulculture.RoberthadtheopportunitytoattendJapaneseschools,livedlikeakingeatingthefinestoffoods,andwent on wonderful adventures with his homestayfamily!Thisrelaxingandlettinggoalsoallowedmetheopportunity to fully focus and learn during therehearsals. There were loving and caring teachers bymy side, making sure each day that I had no troublegetting to and from rehearsals, and that I wasotherwisefine.TheyhelpedmevisitplacesIwantedtosee suchastheTalentEducation InstituteandShinichiSuzuki’sMemorialHall.

Myfriendwasright.Ididcomebackadifferentperson.Ihavealwaysworkedhardatteaching,yet,nowIfeeladeeper sense of responsibility to keep this uniqueeducation healthy and alive, both within and beyondmypiano studio. Seeing themaster teachers tirelesslyatworkduringthe10-PianorehearsalsandConcerthasputmeonawholenewlevel.IknowwhatIneedtodotoraisethebarformyselfandformystudents.Here’sto my new journey, going forward with unbridledconfidence, anticipating my next 10-Piano Concertadventure.

From L to R: Fionnuala Witteman, student from the Netherlands, and teachers Hanna Silver, and Jacqueline Graham displaying the signature seals they made at a shop in Suwa City, Japan during their field trip, April, 2019.

Studying Tone

By Karen Hagberg From Matsumoto News

Volume 2, number 2, September 1989

Before coming toMatsumoto, Imustadmit that, despite my extensiveconservatory education, I knewvirtuallynothingabouttone.NordidIknow thedifferencebetweena goodand a poor piano, or between goodand bad pianists. Whenever I heardKataoka Sensei demonstrate varioustypes of tone, I usually could notdistinguishamongthem.At that time, I knew a teacher wholamented, “Kataoka Sensei is alwaystalking about tone, whatever that is.Whenever she begins to talk abouttone, she loses me.” This teacherstoppedstudyingwithKataokaSenseibecause she could not grasp aconcept as “elusive” as tone.Fortunately, I felt fascinated by thismysterious thing called tone, and Iwondered why I knew next-to-nothingabout itafterallmyyearsofstudyingmusic.Itallseemsincrediblelookingbackonmy previous music education. Howcan a student learn music withoutstudying tone? Just as form is theessence of architecture, shape ofsculpture, line of drawing, color ofpainting,movementofdance:toneisthe essence of music. And yet I wastaught by conservatory professorsthat a note on a piano sounds thesame no matter how it is produced,andthatitispossibleforsomeoneto

practiceonaterribleinstrumentandthentoproduceafine performance simply by playing the recital on agoodpiano.Inthesameconservatorycontext,Iwastaughttojudgeperformances on everything but tone production:interpretation, performance practice, technical skill,etc.DuringthoseyearsIwasfortunateenoughtohearrecitals by Horowitz and Rubinstein, which wereobviouslywonderful,but Inever reallyknewwhy theysoundedbetterthanothers,letalonehadanyideahowthey played that way. I hope the situation in musiceducation is better for other instruments. But wherethe piano is concerned, most of us have been taughtthat we are at the mercy of the limitations of thespecificinstrumentandofthepianotechnicianfortoneproduction—that we pianists have little or noresponsibility for our own sound. In retrospect, thisseemstrulyunbelievable.InMatsumoto, both Suzuki Sensei andKataoka Senseiareteachingmehowtolistenfortonebeforeanythingelse.EverymorningSuzukiSenseiteachesagroupclassto 20-30 trainees. Frequently, he asks individualstudents to play a note or a short phrase on theirinstrument and then he plays the same thing on thestudent’sviolin.Histoneisalwaysnoticeablybetter.Hethen observes as he hands back the instrument,“Nothingwrongwiththeviolin!”Kataoka Sensei make a similar point in our groupconcerts. We may play anything we choose, and sothere is usually a great variety of pieces and a widerange of performance ability and experience. Mytraditional training encourages me to focus on thedifficulty of the pieces, who can execute the morechallenging pieces well, who makes mistakes, who

seemsnervous,etc.ButoftenKataokaSensei’s only comment at theconclusion of such a concert is,“Pleasenotice thateverybodyplayedthesamepiano.”Of course we all played the samepiano! What is so interesting aboutthat?AtfirstIwonderedwhyshedidnotpointoutotherthings.Performingis difficult for me, and I was lookingfor some advice, some clue whichwould help me learn how Sensei’sstudents perform sowell. But clearlythis was the clue—I just did notunderstand at first. Now I alwaysmarvel at how the same piano cansound so different when played bydifferentpeople.AndIhavebeguntounderstandthattheabilitytoperformeasilybeginswith theability to listenverycarefullytoone’sowntone.Kataoka Sensei also encourages herstudents to listen to lots of recordedmusic.WhileingraduateschoolIhadat my disposal the best recordinglibrary inthecountrybut Iwasneverencouragedtolistentoperformancescomparatively. Incredibly, there wassomebelief that students should notlistentorecordingsofpieceswewerepracticing for fear of copyingsomeone else’s playing. (I no longer“fear” sounding exactly like deLarrochaorHorowitz!)Howmanyofushavetakenthetimeto listen to apieceplayedby severaldifferent performers? When I begandoing this, they all sounded good.After all, professional recordingsusually feature nearly flawlessperformances. I may have preferred

oneperformer’stempooranotherpianist’sornaments,butbeforelisteningfortoneIdidnotreallyunderstandwhy and how aworld-class performer is distinguishedfromsomeonewhocansimplyplayallthenotes.Iusedtobelievethat lotsofpeoplecouldplay likeHorowitz,but that Horowitz had something extra-musical in hisfavor. Maybe he had the best manager and publicityagent;maybehehadspecialstagepresence;maybehechose the right repertoire for his given audience;maybehewasjustlucky.ButwhatHorowitzandothertruly great performers can do is to create beautifultone. If I listen to a recording of Horowitz and lesserperformersmany times over and over, I can begin tohearthistoneclearerandclearer.Finally, after hearing tone in the playing of others(which is alwayseasier), I couldbegin to listen formyowntone,whichstartedoutbeingverybadindeed.ItisnowonderIhadnotwantedtolistentoit.KataokaSensei teaches tone inevery lesson.At first, Icould not hear what she was pointing out to me.GraduallyitbecameclearthatIwasbeingtaughtnottopractice the pieces I was assigned, but I was beingtaught to use the pieces to practice tone.This is howand why the trainees inMatsumoto can spend up totwoyearsonBooks1&2,themostelementarypiecesintheSuzukiMethod.Oneneedslotsofroominwhichtopracticetone. Inthebeginning itcannotbedone inpiecescontainingtoomanynotes.Having learned basic lessons about tone, everythingelsethenseemspossible.ThisexplainshowwetraineesgenerallymovefromtheendofBook2toBach’sItalianConcerto, skipping over Books 3-7 altogether. If apersoncanproduce tone ina simplepiece, thisabilitycan be employed to play a more difficult piece. Thetechniqueused toproduce tone in the simplepiece isallthetechniqueoneneedstoplayanything.Tonemayseemelusiveasaconcept.Itcannotbeseenor easily described, and so it must be learned andtaught innon-conceptualways. Thoseof uswhohavelearned only in a highly logical context have skipped

over, or ignored altogether, the veryessenceofmusic,whichistone.WhatI have learned so far in Japan is thatplayingmusicissomucheasierformeif I start with its essence and buildfrom there, rather than trying toattain tone after hours of work oneverythingbuttone(whichisactuallyimpossible).Toneistheessenceofmusic.Tonemustbethebasic,fundamentalbeginningstep—theveryfirstconsideration—inourownlearningandinallourteaching.

Matsumoto News Republication: From September 1988 through January 1992, Karen Hagberg lived and studied in Matsumoto with Dr. Haruko Kataoka, the co-Founder of the Suzuki Piano Method and the founder of the Suzuki Piano Basics Method. During that time she published a newsletter with nine issues annually that was distributed to Suzuki North America and Europe. In addition to news of upcoming workshops and multi-piano concerts, each issue contained an article intended to share what it was like as a foreigner to live in Japan and to study with Dr. Kataoka and Dr. Suzuki.

Nearly twenty years have elapsed since the first issue of Matsumoto News: an entire generation. By popular demand we are re-publishing the articles here. They have been edited from the original, but they remain under copyright and may not be reproduced without written permission from the author.

Piano Basics Foundation

Upcoming Workshops/Events

The events listed above are for the information of Suzuki Piano Basics Foundation members and others. Suzuki Piano Basics Foundation does not endorse, sanction, or sponsor events.

To add or change items on this list and on the Suzuki Piano Basics website, contact

Karen Hagberg (khagberg1943@gmail.com, 585-978-0600).

Suzuki Piano Basics Web Site and discussion group:

http://core.ecu.edu/hist/wilburnk/SuzukiPianoBasics

July 22 - 26, 2019 St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis Suzuki Piano Basics Workshop With Rae Kate Shen & Bruce Anderson Contact Patty Eversole 314-837-1881

paeversole@yahoo.com http://stlsuzukipiano.tripod.com/

August 2-6, 2019

Sacramento, California Suzuki Piano Basics Teacher Research Workshop

With Keiko Ogiwara and Keiko Kawamura Contact Linda Nakagawa, 916-422-2952

g.nakagawa@comcast.net

NOTICE: There will be no August workshops with the Japanese teachers in the U.S. in August 2020, due to travel issues caused by Tokyo Olympics.