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U.S. Campus Life

A `farewell' party

By Masako Yamada


音楽仲間の「送別会」

雅子さんはあまりに多忙なため、半年前にピアノの個人レッスンをやめました。しかし、ピアノへの愛着は消えず、代わりに月1回の上級者向けのピアノゼミをとり始めました。先日、ゼミを去る友人のために開かれた送別会に参加し、ゼミ仲間たちの人生経験に触れ、感銘を受けました。

It has been about half a year since I quit taking private piano lessons, but I found that I missed playing the piano, so right away I decided to look around for some kind of musical activity — joining a chamber music group or taking lessons in music history or theory — that would enable me to enjoy music without taking too much of my time.

I found the perfect class at the New England Conservatory almost immediately after I quit taking private lessons. It was a piano performance seminar where advanced players meet once a month to play in front of each other. A faculty member offers comments and helps mediate the discussion.

In all honesty, I often wished during the seminar that the other students would provide sharper opinions and more concrete suggestions. Most of the students didn't seem to be too comfortable being critical. The teacher didn't really have time to focus on small points, either, since the class consisted of several people, and he couldn't spend too much time on any given student.

As the class progressed, however, I realized more and more what an impressive bunch of people I had around me. Indeed, it was only after the semester was over that I realized how close I had become to my classmates. This realization came when one of the class members held a farewell party in honor of another classmate who was moving to New York. Both of them had taken the same class together for almost 10 years and I noticed that many of the others had taken the same class for almost as long.

I learned a lot of things about my classmates during this party, so for me, it was more a "hello" party than a "farewell" party. Since the class was for advanced players, it had its share of music professionals. Four of my classmates taught piano as their profession, including one student who is a professor of jazz piano at the Berklee College of Music. But the classmates whom I found more "interesting" were those who were not professional musicians.

One of my classmates started the piano when she was 40. She told us about her difficult experiences of trying to find a good teacher capable of teaching an adult. We all sympathized when she told us that one of her teachers hit her during her first lesson. Another woman told me that she decided in her late 20s that she wanted to start piano lessons when she turned 30. She had simultaneously considered going to graduate school to get advanced training for her job, but she decided to forgo graduate school so that she could concentrate on the piano. I was struck by the love and dedication I felt from these women, but I was also impressed that they had improved so much given that they started relatively late.

I was fascinated by some of the twists and turns some of my classmates experienced in their personal lives, as well. I knew that one of the older men in my class — a 70-year-old semi-retired psychiatrist — was gay because I met his partner at our final recital, but I found out during the party that he had in fact once been married and that he "came out" rather late in life. Even more surprising was that before he went to medical school and became a doctor, he was a lawyer. Now that he's semi-retired, he's put additional effort into practicing the piano and he's even entering local competitions.

One classmate majored in music at the New England Conservatory, subsequently went to business school and has owned several businesses since, including a dating service. Another was a computer science major at MIT, but is now working as a tuner and restorer of pianos. Not too surprisingly, my classmates' significant others also proved to be very interesting people and I found myself lingering at the party long after the guest of honor had left.

Even though it's only recently that I've become a part of this group, I feel very much at home when I'm with them. Of course, we're all connected by music, but what makes me especially happy is that we have other things in common, as well.


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Shukan ST: July 6, 2001

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