Happy Easter! Spring is here, a time of new beginnings. In keeping up with events in the news and culture at large, this spring it seems that many are especially hungry for newness of thought and action. I’ve been especially moved by those in the #MeToo movement and the March for Our Lives protests held widely last month. Perhaps some of you in our chapter were involved. For me it was wonderful to see young people who don’t even have the right to vote be engaged and raising their voices in the hope of protecting the lives of children in our time. I feel that we can see a better future through their actions.

All of this seems far afield from music, but it is not. When I was 19, I moved to Boston, where I spent my first seven years of life in the United States. Even though I am foreign (my English was much worse than now) and female, the community I found in Boston was made up of people with creative minds—artists, writers, musicians, philosophers—and in my time amongst them, I never experienced any kind of segregation. Of course, I might have been too young and naive to notice anything yet, but I was truly impressed with peoples’ aim in communicating through art and music, removed from barriers, preconceptions, and prejudice. When I played music, there was an air that music was all that was needed to communicate.

As a student, I had a number of strong female instructors, who served as wonderful role models. Through their teaching, I learned of the the predominance of the patriarchy in the history of Western music. It is unavoidable; however, I was fortunate to be studying at a time when scholarship was reexamining the role of women in music. Today we have not only a much better picture of the contributions of women in the past but also a more open environment for female performers and composers. A simple Wikipedia search on “women in music” is revealing. Yet, the playing field is still not entirely even. As I meet female colleagues in conversation, both in person and through social media, issues of inequality in hiring, and salaries, and unfair treatment of pregnant women and mothers of young children continue to remain a challenge. Likewise, revelations of sexual abuse of both men and women in the world of classical music show that we are not immune from trends in the culture at large. In the years since my time as a student in Boston, I too have experienced bias, prejudice, and inequality in my life as a musician, and thus I feel strongly that it is important for each of us to raise our voices, to demand a higher ethical standard. Ultimately, music is about communication, and when barriers are removed and we can truly hear one another honestly, great art can flourish.

On April 29 at 3 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, I am playing a concert with two fabulous female musicians, Houston Symphony cellist Shino Hayashi and Noel Burns, principal oboist with our Symphony Tacoma. Together we will present a program of music composed by female composers. We were students at one point, but now we are all mother-musicians, and we decided that we would like to do this at this moment. Just like today’s youth marching with the wonderful message that we should protect them and future generations, we would like to do something for women now and for women in the future. In preparing this concert, each of us is finding great depth and beauty in the repertoire, and we are eager to learn more of these and other women composers. It is a repertoire we are discovering together and are looking forward to sharing. Just last week I played a number of pieces for church services at St. Andrew’s, and many people commented how much they enjoyed the music. I hope you can make it, and even bring a friend or two to our concert.

Happy Easter everyone! See you at our next meeting! Until then, enjoy the beauty of Tacoma in bloom. Spring is all around!

As organists, we all learned to play by taking lessons. In this way, the art and craft of making music on the organ is passed down from one generation to the next. I was fortunate in my student years to study with one of the great organ teachers of the last part of the twentieth century, Yuko Hayashi. Renowned as an international concert artist and professor of organ at New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Yuko died on January 7. She was 88. Born in Yokohama, Japan, Yuko went to Tokyo University of the Arts in 1948 and for five years was organist for the NHK (the Japanese national broadcasting company) Symphony Orchestra. She came to the U.S. in 1953 on a PEO scholarship and studied for one year at Cottey College in Nevada, MO before transferring to the New England Conservatory. Famously, she said she went to Boston to be close to the ocean and good fish. After completing her studies at NEC, she received the highest degree of Artist Diploma in 1969 by then president Gunther Schuller, who hired her as an organ teacher at the conservatory. During her career she traveled frequently to Europe and Japan for concerts and masterclasses, including giving academies at International Christian University in Tokyo with Anton Heiller, Marie Claire Alain, and Luigi Tagliavini. In the 1990’s she took a leave of absence from NEC to accept a position as professor of organ at Ferris University, Yokohama, where she was instrumental in commissioning a new three manual North German style organ built by Taylor and Boody. It was during this time that I met Yuko and had my first experience on a historical style organ. Without meeting her and T&B organ at Ferris, I am certain I would not have pursued a life as an organist. It was eye opening for me to study with her in every way. She taught me how to be humble, to be under music and not over it. It was through studying with her that I truly learned how to be a musician. She taught me how to find myself in music and in real life. She was my teacher, sister and mother, and most importantly, a friend. Last November, I saw her for the last time. We talked about music, Bach and life. We asked the priest at Christ Church, Andover to come to her room, and we had communion together before my flight home. I asked her if she was scared; she said she was ready. I told her I could live my life until the end with the memory of my organ study with her, and I promised her that I would make music until the end of my own life with gratitude, saying thank you through music at all the times. I cried like a baby that day as she touched my head and face, and my son, Izumi. We prayed, and she said goodbye until we see one another again in heaven. And so her last lesson to me was teaching me how to say goodbye. Memorial services for Yuko will be held in Tokyo in March, and in Andover, MA in April. She was one of the last great organists of her generation to depart this world. But through her many students, including a number of us here in the Tacoma chapter, her ideas, insights, and incomparable musicianship continues. This is the great gift of music, that as one era ends and another begins, the music remains, and for that we can give thanks in our study, our listening, and our performing.

Happy New Year! In this season of resolutions, new beginnings, and hope for the future, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to each member for your participation in Tacoma AGO programs in the last year. Our mission to celebrate, promote, and learn about the organ and its repertoire happens because of your dedication and involvement. This season, we still have five events remaining, and I am looking forward to meeting each of you there. Our next program will be a joint meeting with the Seattle Chapter, where you can catch up with people from near and afar! The featured instrument is one of the historic gems of the Pacific Northwest, the Hook & Hastings at St. Matthew Episcopal, Auburn. Cheryl and Tim Drewes, experts in American antique organs will introduce the instrument, showing it to its full potential. Please be there!! The program is a morning event starting at 10:30 a.m. and ending around noon. See you there!

On Thanksgiving weekend everyone in our neighborhood decided to decorate their houses at the same time, and with all the lights it looks quite festive around our house. And so it is that time of year again and time to celebrate together! Our annual Christmas Party will be at the Tietjen’s this year, when we will gather to enjoy music of the season next Monday. I hope to see all of you there. It is a time of year when music is all around and a great chance to share the wonders of the organ with the community. With a generous offer from the Seattle chapter, this year we are hosting “Organ in the Mall” on Dec. 15, 5-8 p.m.  It will be a great opportunity to introduce the organ to Christmas shoppers who might have never seen an organ up close. For this to happen though, we still need some volunteers to play. The suggestion of the Seattle chapter, which has held similar events in the past, is to play something light, such as improvising on well-known Christmas repertoire. If you don’t improvise at all, you might purchase a book of holiday music, or just bring your organ book and sightread, or you can play what you might be planning for Christmas at your church. There are so many ways to show off our instrument, but doing so in a secular setting like this is an especially unique opportunity. Just do what you think is most effective! Be creative! Have fun!! And sign up on the Tacoma Chapter website to make this happen. Thank you for your support and participation, and an early Merry Christmas!

All Saints’ Sunday, Thanksgiving, Advent, then Christmas—WOW! For organists, this is certainly a hectic time of the year. It goes by so rapidly.  Even in these busy, busy days, we are greatly blessed by the wonderful music to be made and enjoyed.  In the midst of it all, be sure to make time for our next meeting, where we will study “hands-on conducting” with Don Dunscomb assisted by Curt Sather. In conversation at our last gathering, some of you mentioned to me that because you are not conducting a church choir, the next meeting won’t be for you. I said, “No, no, no! Please, come! Please do come!!!”   Organists are normally good at sight-singing and are generally good singers.  When I was a student, I always liked attending the conducting class that had many organists participating. This should be a fun event for singing and making music with friends, and it will offer a constructive learning opportunity for many of us, if not all. Bring a friend, and I’ll see you all there — Kilworth Memorial Chapel at University of Puget Sound. Parking is always available at night on the same street as the chapel.