28 Dr. Haruko Kataoka in Europe 1980-1994 Stephen Power I t’s now 20 years since Dr. Kataoka passed away, and thirty since teachers from Europe last had the opportunity to witness her teaching. I thought it timely to write a chronology of her visits to Europe, quote from sources of the time, and write from some of my own personal recollections, as most teachers today will not know anything about this foundational history of the Suzuki Piano School. Dr. Kataoka was one of the experienced teachers, along with Mrs. Suzuki (Dr. Suzuki’s sister-in-law), Mrs Aoki, Mrs Sato, and Dr. Suzuki himself, who decided upon the content and order of the original Suzuki Piano repertoire. This was first published in 7 books by Zen-ON in Japan, in 1970. Haruko Kataoka joined Dr. Suzuki in 1955 as his accompanist, and later started her own studio at his school in Matsumoto. She was the piano teacher whom, when piano teachers travelled to see Dr. Suzuki, they observed. After 1970, it was Mrs. Kataoka who, among her older distinguished Japanese colleagues, was the one who travelled to America and Australia to give workshops. It was, therefore, her research into piano technique and intertwined pedagogical approach that spread beyond the borders of Japan, in some form or other. Mrs. Kataoka was very close to Dr. Suzuki in her teaching, while very much remaining her own person. She researched how to play in a most natural way, and how to effectively teach very young children. Like Suzuki she was an original thinker. The many articles and books she wrote contain a wealth of knowledge gained through her life experiences. One of her characteristics that I most admired was her constant wonder at the abilities of children. Despite all those years of experience her delight in, surprise, and respect for children never faded. Mrs. Kataoka first came to Europe as a result of Anne Turner travelling to Japan in 1979 to spend some time observing Mrs. Kataoka. She would later return for a longer stay, helped by a Winston Churchill Scholarship. It was Anne, and the Californian Ruth Miura, who Anne had met in Japan, that facilitated Mrs. Kataoka’s four visits to the UK at the time Anne was very much taken with Mrs. Kataoka’s teaching and her results. Mrs. Kataoka and Anne Turner The first, two-year long, Piano Teacher Training course, under the umbrella of the ESA, started in January 1982 in Hitchin, directed by Ruth and Anne. Because, at the time, this was the only training course in Europe, a number of Europeans attended the course, and more would come for Mrs. Kataoka’s annual visits. 15 - 18 July 1980 UK Anne Turner, the British Suzuki Institute’s Director of Piano, studied with Mrs. Kataoka in Japan and invited her to England in order to demonstrate the method to teachers. Below are excerpts from the BSI Newsletter: ’of course, her insistence on listening pervaded every aspect of her teaching like a fugue subject or leitmotif.’ ‘I have to admit I have never expected to hear Rondo Alla Turca played by a six year old’. Peter Crump BSI Newsletter Number 6, November 1980. ’She has completely absorbed the Suzuki philosophy, particularly with regard to the parent-child relationship in teaching, and her approach to the little three and four year olds and their mothers is quite delightful but also firm’. Gillian Shelby-Smith BSI Newsletter No. 6 ’Mrs Kataoka brought with her four of her pupils from Japan. These pupils gave two recitals and a member of the audience at one of these concerts has sent his impressions.’ ‘I have heard so much about the Suzuki method but being of a cynical disposition treated these enthusiastic stories with some reserve. When, therefore, I was invited to the piano recital at the ‘Royal College of Music’ in July I accepted with alacrity largely out of interest rather than in the expectation of a musical experience. How wrong I was, as the evening was indeed a musical experience and the prodigious skill of the children amply demonstrated that all I have heard is true.’ ‘The audience’s interest did, of course, concentrate on Miss Matsuyama aged four who, with the other three children aged six, ten and sixteen, had only that morning arrived in London by air from Japan. At first I was intrigued by the ingenuous apparatus by which little Miss Matsuyama was able to work the piano pedals but it was not long before I found myself more and more absorbed in her musicmaking and ceased to wonder how her tiny hands could produce such a result. Such idle thoughts were quickly swept away after her first few bars when she not merely played but “made music”. It seems to me that for piano playing to be meaningful the executing must be confident, calm, accurate, and thoroughly in command of her subject. Miss Matsuyama was all of what I personally attach the greatest importance to - rhythm. Her beat never faltered and the audience’s concentration was never let off the (pleasant) hook. Frankly how a child of this age can be taught to play with such emotion and sensibility is still a mystery to me.’ John Cope-Smyth From ‘Mrs. Kataoka's visit to England - 1980’. European Workshop with Haruko Kataoka, Wall Hall, UK. 17 - 21 August 1981 Mrs. Kataoka's student, Suguru Ito, came from Japan and besides playing music by Liszt, played his own compositions. Hertfordshire College of Higher Education 1982. Attending this were the first intake of teachers on the BSI course, as well as teachers from Europe.
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