Nikkan San‘s column “Los Angeles’ Face” featured me for its 77th interview on Sat, Jan 19, 2019. Usually a one-page column, the editor allotted two pages for me: Page 1 on my general background in promoting music as a healing agent, and page 2 about my book regarding stage fright.
MAKIKO HIRATA, pianist/writer: “The Healing Power of Music Encourages Empathy.”Â
â—† What started you on your mission to promote the healing power of music?
The most direct catalyst for me to start promoting music as a healing agent was the appointment as a consultant to Houston Methodist Hospital’s Center for Performing Arts Medicine. Its director, Todd Frazier is a prominent composer. I performed his solo piano piece, and became close to him. He told me about researches by neuroscientists to quantify the benefit of music.
For example, we now know that musician’s brains are a bit different from non-musician’s brains. Corpus callosum (the fibers that connect that right and the left hemispheres of your cerebrum) is more developed in musicians, we have more mirror neurons (the cells that fire both when we act and when we see someone else making the same action), etc. etc.
Initially, I just offered my brain to be scanned in fMRI to compare to non-musicians’. Now, I teach the researchers about music, and co-author their papers: the parts regarding music. Through these kinds of work, I started to understand the benefit of music as science and data.
Music is truly amazing. It stimulates more parts of our brains with more effects than any other activities we know of. People run on treadmills because it’s good for their bodies. I am convinced that more and more people will start to engage in musical activities regularly because it’s good for their brains. The “power of music” is not poetic, or idealistic, but scientific.
â—† What musical activities incorporate these new findings?
Music is more effective when you are engaged with the music: just passively exposing yourself to music won’t do as much.
Some of the things you can do is to actively use your imagination about the music you are listening to, or to physically engage by moving your body, clapping and/or singing with the music. To practice an instrument, or to regularly attend a choir practice is really great.
There are many people who don’t know these things yet. So I give lectures. I have been lecturing at educational institutions like schools and lifetime learning centers, and on YouTube videos, and at public library lecture series. I write as well! I am very excited because I just started a column “The Way of the Pianist” for Nikkan San.
My concerts break the mold of traditional, ritualized concert format; they are more fun, engaging and interactive.
　Even when I introduce my pieces I make it more conversational, asking questions to the audience, asking them for a show of hands, and taking questions, for example.
The biggest power of music is that it calls us to be more empathetic. Music reminds us that what we share is greater than our differences. It helps us realize how we share our time and space, and that regardless of our worldviews or opinions, many of what we feel as humans transcend cultural, or lingual barriers.
The power of music becomes most healing to people facing challenging circumstances. I also take my music outside of concert halls, and play at hospitals, retirement centers, homeless shelters, temporary housings after disasters, etc.
My dream is to start a business delivering interactive musical experience to people who would have a hard time going to concert halls for various reasons.
Overcoming Stage Fright.Â
â—† Your website states that you are writing a book on stage fright. Why did you decide to write on this topic?
There are two reasons. First of all, stage fright, like sexual harassment or racism, is a difficult topic to address. Secondly, I’ve come to realize how many people, musicians or not, suffer from this condition. I hope to help others by sharing my own experience.
â—† What is stage fright in general, and what was it for you?
In general, young children don’t suffer from stage fright. It doesn’t matter to them whether they are alone or standing in front of a crowd.
Stage fright usually develop as one becomes more self-conscious in her social context. Simply put, stage fright is your body mistaking the given situation for a life-threatening one.
Your body increases blood flow to organs vital for your survival, and shuts the rest of your functions down. That’s why the extremities of your body, like your hands and feet, get cold, your heart races, and your mouth gets dry.
So why do our bodies irrationally misjudge performing as life-threatening. One of the theories I read is that our primal instinct as a social animal tells us that we are less likely to survive if we are ostracized, the possibility of discrediting ourselves in front of others feels fatal. There are various degrees to any kind of phobia, but it can literally feel like you are about to die.
The peak of my stage fright was in 2001. I was playing my debut as the featured soloist with a Hungarian orchestra. I stood up mid-piece, and told the conductor that I could not play anymore. He pushed me to go back to the piano, and I somehow managed to play to the end. I was overcome by these strange sensations all over my body, like it didn’t belong to me. I remember feeling like my teeth would fall off. I was terrified.
Quitting the piano was not an option – I thought if I quit then, I would have to live the rest of my life scared of everything. I had diarrhea before every performance. I was so scared everything. Backstage, waiting to go on, I often thought it would be so much easier to be shot dead right then and there.
I thought perhaps comprehensive studies of music may help me with my fear. So I went back to school and entered the Colburn Conservatory of Music in 2006. By then, my stage fright had gotten better a bit, but I was still scared every time.
I graduated from Colburn in 2010, and entered the doctoral program at Rice University. I really studied like mad there. I didn’t really have a clear plan, but in retrospect, my studies, the fact that I kept on performing, and just generally living and maturing all helped. I realized along the way that music was to be shared; that it was not about me, or up to me. I love performing now. It feels liberating to share yourself freely.
Everything I learned in this process is what I will be sharing in my book.
â—† Tell us about your upcoming activities in the LA area.
One of the roles of musicians, I believe, is to bridge the distance between various communities, by offering the space and time to put yourselves in the shoes of others.
I have been a Japanese resident of the U.S. for the last thirty years. The two obvious communities I can reach out to as a bridge is the U.S. and Japan, and between Americans and Japanese.  As a part of my effort, I will be presenting a program “Oriental Expression from the Keyboard.” at the Little Tokyo Library on Saturday, February 9th. It will be a bilingual presentation: 11:00-11:45 will be in English, and from 11:45-12:30 I will give the same presentation in Japanese. Those who are studying either languages can stay for 90 minutes, and listen to the same lecture twice in English and in Japanese.
To become a bridge between science and the arts, and between artists and academics is another one of my ambitions. On Sunday, March 24th at 2PM, I will appear at Taper Auditorium in Los Angeles Public Library’s Central Library. Entitled “Melody as a Universal Language” I talk about the power of music to transcend our differences, referring to neuroscience, ethnomusicology, and other sciences.
I will also be performing in Santa Monica, San Diego and other parts of Southern California! Please refer to my website for my upcoming appearances. I am very grateful for all of the opportunities to share my music with everyone, and always hope to do more!
About Makiko
Pianist/Doctor of Musical Arts/Writer. Breaking the mold of traditional concert format and performance practices, Makiko offers enjoyable interactive concert experience, as well as lectures and media appearances all over the world. She promotes music and musicians as healing agents that can make us happier, healthier and more productive. A US-Japan Leadership Program Fellow. A Shigeru Kawai Artist.