May 2024 be a wonderful year with mindfulness for everyone!
I cannot offer any congratulations "Akemashite Omedetou" as I am in the year of mourning, but I would like to thank everyone for your help last year.
The biggest event for me last year was the cataract surgery I underwent in the summer.
Having good eyesight is imperative for reading music in playing chamber music or piano accompaniment,
I scheduled the surgery right after a concert in July. I had another concert on November 11th, I was planning to have both eyes finished within 2 weeks in July and start preparing for November concert with ample time.
Later, I decided to put different kinds of lenses in each eye. Because of this, I had to reschedule my second surgery. The surgery on my left eye was completed at the end of August.
Post-surgery eye condition was uncomfortable; reading and practicing many new musical pieces for the November concert was tough. Fortunately, things have finally settled down recently, and the November concert was a great success,
November concert was a great success, and the December 17th concert was also successfully completed.
The concert with vocalist Tamao-san on December 17th was truly wonderful, but due to a last-minute change in the program and perhaps also the shock of my father-in-law's sudden departure on December 6th, and the disparity between my left six right eye sight?, I was feeling tired.
On Dec.12th, four days before the concert. I got a severe headache that had never occurred to me before. After the rehearsal with Tamao, I decided to walk 4.5km from Tamagawa to home, thinking fresh air might help reduce the migraine, but I got exhausted halfway, so I decided to take a break at an acquaintance's cafe.
The cafe was a special place run by a lady who studied batch flower remedies. She was also an herbalist and a consultant to deliver natural remedies. There was a tuning fork set at her place, and I was drawn to it. I tried it for about 15 minutes while reading the Hz effectiveness of each. ,,,,
To my surprise, the severe headaches and fatigue, so bad, which I had never experienced before, disappeared as if they had been peeled off from my body.
I had some tea, and the walk from the cafe to my house was so light that I wanted to skip.
I could not believe it.
Since then, I have been fascinated to discover why these sound therapies by tuning forks healed my headache. What is sound? How does sound travel? Especially the part of healing and sound has always been my prime interest in my piano playing. During this new year holiday, I listen to (read) YouTube videos about sound, frequency, vibrational frequency and pitches, Musical Intervals, and how they affect human psychology. I I tapped into the unending mystery of the quantum physics world, I guess. Very interesting!! https://youtu.be/1w0_kazbb_U?si=hgx-
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I purchased some tuning forks and shared my experiences, surprises, and findings with my students to learn about the mechanism of sound.
First, let's talk about Hz and pitch. I explained that it is not that hitting somewhere on the piano keyboard, then Do Re Mi sound would come out—structure of piano, mechanism of pitches; high and low of pitches.
I could also explain that sound quality will differ according to the materials of mallets= which area of fingertips we use to attach our fingers to the surfaces of piano keyboard) in what shapes, speeds, or angles to align our fingers into the keyboard
It also helps improve posture and breathing. We take long, slow breaths while listening to the long resonance emitted in the air by the tuning fork and being conscious of our ears listening to the distant echoes. ( Focused listening)
I feel that it was my fate to encounter the tuning forks and experience the healing power of sound. It has always been my interest to produce beautiful sounds from the piano that are good for the body.
When we explore what sound is, we come into the world of energy waves, frequency, atoms, and quantum physics
Everything is made of energy and sound, too. The words we utter also have energy. It is our choice whether we utter words and voices that emit good energy or bad energy.
I am determined to use words (pronunciation, sounds) that give off good energy, both when teaching and in everyday life.
Thank you for your continued support this year!
Madoka Yoshida