Congratulations to Rebecca Willet for winning the Richmond Symphony Concerto competition! Rebecca is 14 years old. She began Suzuki piano lessons when she was very young. She studied with Melody Diehl for many years. She also traveled to Louisville to study with Dr. Kataoka and participate in the Institutes. She also performed in the 10 Piano Concerts in Sacramento and in Japan. I first met Rebecca in Louisville and enjoyed teaching her in masterclass lessons.
She is performing the Mendelssohn Concerto in g minor.
There are two videos- I think the first one was the preliminary and the second one is the finals.
Rebecca if you read this please feel free to comment.
All the best to Rebecca when she plays with the Richmond symphony on April 1.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009
One moment, one day, one year, one life
Greetings on the first day of 2009!
I am reading the book Remix by Lawrence Lessig who is a professor at Stanford. He writes about the evolving RW (read/write) culture made possible by new technologies which enable people to contribute/comment/create/edit/quote/analyize/sythesize/ and thus "remix" information of all types including words/sounds/photo/visual-video into multiple mediums.
It is an exciting time for people who research learning.
Also as I was sorting through my mail I found my letter asking for a contribution to the International campaign for Tibet which each year comes from Richard Gere.
These two things led me to a short article that Dr. Kataoka wrote:
"One Day is a Lifetime!
Sometime ago while out of town, I turned on the television in my hotel room. The actor Richard Gere was on a talk show. He seemed like a very affable and natural sort of person.
He is a follower of Tibetan Buddhism. He explained in a simple, very understandable way that people in this religion are reborn every day. In other words, they believe that one is born each morning and dies every night. If this is so, he explained, then each and every day is very precious. He said that, to a procrastinator like himself, there can be no such thing as thinking, "I will do it tomorrow." Moreover each day being an entire cycle of birth and death, it happens as the blink of an eye or a single breadth. Richard Gere is also fond of Zen Buddhism from Japan and meditates faithfully for 30 minutes daily.
While we in the East, have been sitting idly by, it seems that Westerners from distant lands have been learning about Eastern Culture to the point of deep understanding. I was astonished. As I mentioned in the previous article, having taught children how to play piano for many years, I am truly aware that no matter how you look at it, each day is a unit when it comes to the human body. To think that one is born in the morning and dies at night is a wonderful perception. It makes one contemplate seriously how to face each and every day and decide how you will spend the next 24 hours.
When performing a piece on the piano, each and every note is very important. If the performer does not play every single sound in a heartfelt way with his or her soul, it is not possible to create a truly musical tone. Whether we are talking about each and every day or each and every note, the fact that every single unit is precious and important is the same. When you live each day and every day with your heart and soul in the best natural way, there is a continuum which results in a wonderful lifetime.
So therefore, is it not also true that when each and every note is felt from the heart, originates from the soul, and is played with a musical sound, that a continuum is created which results in a wonderful performance?"
Well, I can't write a better New Years message than that.
Blessings, and
Happy Continuum!
I am reading the book Remix by Lawrence Lessig who is a professor at Stanford. He writes about the evolving RW (read/write) culture made possible by new technologies which enable people to contribute/comment/create/edit/quote/analyize/sythesize/ and thus "remix" information of all types including words/sounds/photo/visual-video into multiple mediums.
It is an exciting time for people who research learning.
Also as I was sorting through my mail I found my letter asking for a contribution to the International campaign for Tibet which each year comes from Richard Gere.
These two things led me to a short article that Dr. Kataoka wrote:
"One Day is a Lifetime!
Sometime ago while out of town, I turned on the television in my hotel room. The actor Richard Gere was on a talk show. He seemed like a very affable and natural sort of person.
He is a follower of Tibetan Buddhism. He explained in a simple, very understandable way that people in this religion are reborn every day. In other words, they believe that one is born each morning and dies every night. If this is so, he explained, then each and every day is very precious. He said that, to a procrastinator like himself, there can be no such thing as thinking, "I will do it tomorrow." Moreover each day being an entire cycle of birth and death, it happens as the blink of an eye or a single breadth. Richard Gere is also fond of Zen Buddhism from Japan and meditates faithfully for 30 minutes daily.
While we in the East, have been sitting idly by, it seems that Westerners from distant lands have been learning about Eastern Culture to the point of deep understanding. I was astonished. As I mentioned in the previous article, having taught children how to play piano for many years, I am truly aware that no matter how you look at it, each day is a unit when it comes to the human body. To think that one is born in the morning and dies at night is a wonderful perception. It makes one contemplate seriously how to face each and every day and decide how you will spend the next 24 hours.
When performing a piece on the piano, each and every note is very important. If the performer does not play every single sound in a heartfelt way with his or her soul, it is not possible to create a truly musical tone. Whether we are talking about each and every day or each and every note, the fact that every single unit is precious and important is the same. When you live each day and every day with your heart and soul in the best natural way, there is a continuum which results in a wonderful lifetime.
So therefore, is it not also true that when each and every note is felt from the heart, originates from the soul, and is played with a musical sound, that a continuum is created which results in a wonderful performance?"
Well, I can't write a better New Years message than that.
Blessings, and
Happy Continuum!
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