Hitting the Right Note

The Club’s music tutors and facilities help Members pursue their passion for what American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow described as “the universal language of mankind.”

Three years ago, pianist Kyra Chavali regaled the camera-wielding audience at the Club’s annual concert for music students with a rendition of the children’s song, “Brave Little Indian.”

“I was nervous I was going to make a mistake,” says Chavali, now 7, who will play Beethoven at this year’s Club Recital on May 14. “Then I was excited actually playing the piece.”

While most music students quit lessons within the first two years (“I did six months,” says Member Peter Knight), according to the Journal of Research in Music Education, performing for family and friends produces a sense of achievement, and youngsters are apt to continue their studies.

More than 30 Members receive piano, violin and vocal instruction from the Club’s highly qualified music teachers, and a majority of the students will display their talents at this year’s recital.
Three Members, each with more than three years’ experience playing their respective instrument, explain how the Club helped them advance their musical aspirations.

Kyra Chavali
Piano

When Kyra Chavali was a precocious 3-year-old, her parents, Club Members Cram and Anya Chavali, noticed her adeptly tapping away at the digital keys of an iPad piano app. Their subsequent search for an English-language piano instructor to encourage their daughter’s burgeoning talent ended at the Club.

“The [Club’s] community of music-student families provides a great support for Kyra to have a great learning experience,” says Anya Chavali. “And the yearly recital pushes Kyra to learn challenging pieces.”

Kyra’s teacher, Mana Totsuka, says Kyra’s technique is advanced for her age, because of her music acuity, willingness to learn and determination to practice.

“She does more than I expect, which is the definition of a good student,” says Totsuka. “If she continues her passion like this, she will achieve whatever she wants.”

Kyra heard a classmate play “Für Elise,” Ludwig van Beethoven’s whimsical 1810 composition dedicated to an unknown paramour, and chose to play the piece at this year’s recital, describing the piece as “really nice to listen to and play.”

“It is well-known, which is one of the reasons why it is difficult to play in front of other people. …Everyone expects you to play it as it should sound,” says Totsuka. “It will be a good opportunity. You never know what happens on stage in front of people. That is part of the learning process as well.”

Kyra, who says she hopes to one day play in an orchestra or compose her own music, practices daily in the weeks leading up to the recital.

“I’m not so nervous this time. Sometimes I just go up and I’m in my own world when I’m playing,” she says. “[Totsuka] gives me hard pieces and she gives me confidence in playing those hard pieces.”

Koyo Odagiri
Violin

Koyo Odagiri’s fingers search the piano keys until they find the right note. He plucks the corresponding string on his quarter-sized violin.

“This is my favorite song,” says the 7-year-old Club Member as he tucks the instrument under his chin and draws out the familiar opening bars to Johan Sebastian Bach’s Bourrée in E Minor.

Koyo was captivated by the violin at the age of 2 when he watched his cousin perform. He pestered his parents, Akita and Kai Odagiri, for two years until his mother finally agreed to lessons with a private teacher. For the last four months, Koyo has learned how to read music in English and Japanese under the tutelage of Club instructor Motoko Hatakenaka.

“[Koyo] has lots of potential,” says Hatakenaka. “He is really enthusiastic about learning, so I think he can go further quite quickly.”

Koyo commends his teacher for helping to improve his posture and technique through encouragement and advice on holding the violin straight, as if “there were little people on the violin, [and] if they fall off, they get hurt.”

“[Playing violin] is hard because you have to do, like, 10 things at the same time,” says Koyo, who practices up to 20 minutes every day. “I like it because when you are playing you use your fingers to control the music. ...It is like you are the boss of the violin.”

Koyo has performed at four recitals and for a kindergarten homework assignment he played Mozart’s serenade “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” in front of his class with his teacher on cello and a viola accompanist.
“I really liked that,” says Koyo, who will play a duet with Hatakenaka at the Club Recital. “I want to make other people happy with my music.”

Club Recital
May 14 | 10am–12pm

Peter Knight
Saxophone

Two or three times a week, Peter Knight sets up his scuffed alto saxophone in one of the Club’s two soundproof Music Rooms and practices solos along to jazz ballads like “Cry Me a River.” On other occasions, he takes lessons from his teacher in Australia via Skype.

“One of the main reasons why I joined the Club was I saw the music facilities. It’s almost like a professional studio,” says the 49-year-old Canberra native. “What I like to do is bring along my iPad. I can put on the backing tracks. I can run them through the amp. I can play my music, record it and then play it back. You can do it all while just sitting up there.”

Besides a less-than-memorable attempt at blues harmonica during his college days, Knight didn’t pick up an instrument until the age of 31. Inspired by bebop-era saxophonists like Stan Getz and John Coltrane, the fervent jazz fan decided to take up the wind instrument while transitioning between careers.

After nearly 15 years of jamming on bossa nova tunes at a friend’s house and practicing in karaoke lounges, Knight mustered the courage to join an open mic session he discovered in a “B2, seedy” Roppongi jazz club.

“What I like about jazz is you have general guidelines on how to play improv, then within that you basically compose as you go,” says Knight, who now jams regularly at a number of clubs around Tokyo. “I wouldn’t say I am completely comfortable. You still get these little butterflies.”

Knight says he is looking for a playing partner who shares his affinity for Latin jazz, and hopes to pass on his love for music to his daughter.

“Even if you are just playing for your own pleasure, it’s great if you can play an instrument,” he says. “It kind of rounds you out. It’s so easy to just get focused only on work, and you need to have those outside pursuits.”

Music Rooms
One-hour sessions at the Club’s Music Rooms can be booked free of charge online or at the Recreation Desk.

Words: Nick Narigon
Images: Yuuki Ide