This is an English translation of an article published in Nikkan San on Nov. 22 2020, as a part of my column, “The Way of the Pianist.”
In the States, you would not know how cold winters are without the central heating system. For example, let me tell you about my childhood winters in Japan.
Underneath the cover on the bed, it’s so warm and cozy. The closest thing you can imagine is the inside of a womb. But what gets left exposed, like the tip of your nose, become so super cold it tingles. You wait until you can’t: to go to the bathroom, or get up. You dread the chill that sucks your body heat away from your skin as soon as you leave the bed. The moment you’ve summoned your willpower to get up, you run. You’ve mapped out and simulated the quickest way to get to your next source of heat, either back in the bed after your bathroom run, or in front of the stove in the den or the kitchen.
If that was how I grew up in Japan in the 80’s, it makes me shiver to imagine what the frontiers must have endured in the Wild West, or in Hokkaido. At the same time, however, I envy them for the comfort they must have found in a bowl of soup, or a piece of music in contrast to the murderous winter. Music, singing and dancing must have been essential to surviving the long, deadly winter, in front of the fireplace. How a song must have lifted their spirits!
Before the invention of phonograph, I imagine the piano to have been as crucial to home as a fire place or a kitchen. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year… Holidays brighten our spirits when the nights are long and the winter eternal. The Schuberts and the Chopins at these gatherings would become as important as the roasted turkeys and the decorated cakes, in people’s memories decades later.
While the news of the vaccines have been promising these days, it’ll be months before they are distributed widely. In the meantime, the second wave of COVID-19 has been affecting too many families. I imagine this year’s holidays to be without the traditional gatherings for many. I encourage you to rely on the power of music, to keep you company, to bring back good memories and to keep your hearts warm. I will keep on doing my part to making music available.