Having music as our life-long friend/音楽を一生の友として持つ事

Last week, one of my friend from my church came to my house. We had wonderful time together talking about life, faith, dreams and ~ ~more,, When we came to the topic of families, she mentioned that she used to play piano when she was a girl. She was born in China during the China’s one-child policy and obviously her parents loved her lavishly. Not to mention, she( is and) was a smart girl, she was sent to take piano lessons every week, given by a music college professor which was not so common in CHINA at that time. She is a lovely person now and I am sure then too. She told me about the day her daddy had surprised her with a big shiny brown piano as a present ,waiting for her at home, a real piano!! She also said how much her parents loved her and how much she appreciate their love and care, also how much she loves them now. Hearing all of her accounts, I was truly filled with warmth and appreciation for her and her parents.

Then she asked me to play some piano pieces, such as Fantasy impromptu by Chopin. I tried my best. She seemed like she was enough entertained and motivated by my live piano to come trying to touch a piano again. She now has been working at international firms and had not touched piano for 15 years. I left her by herself for about 30 minutes to practice. To her much surprise, she did recall her memory and in the end, she could play complete “ Fur Elise.” for me. She was so happy to discover her finger started to move again and she could recall her memory on how to read music,,, etc.. And, what we did after this was: I recorded her playing and sent the video right away to her daddy. Thanks to technology!!

So, what was Daddy's reaction? According to her, he said “ Oh, so nice,, very nice but you need more practice!!” Awww, Dad!!

She told me later also now, music came back more as like an outlet for her emotion while when she was a girl, she was rather instructed to practice because it was a part of high-end education package. She told me though that her dad was somebody who loved classical music and she was always listening symphonies and operas at home through her Dad’s record collection.

It was just so lovely to hear her story and how she reencountered now with piano ,her appreciation for how properly she was trained in her childhood so that now, even after 15 years of not playing , she did regain her musical/ piano brain synapses rewired.

Practicing is never pure fun but if one had good basic training , routined & structured practicing, what we learned would stay for a longer time and easy to get back .I am talking here only about Music. I am sure other training do the same.

"Practice makes progress, "and the fruits of good practice & hours of training will stay for long in one’s life. I could see through her too, that it is nice to have music as our life-long friend in our life.

先週私の教会の友人が泊りがけで家に遊びに来ました。人生について、将来について、信仰について、家族についてなどの話を彼女とたっぷりしました。特に彼女は彼女の両親がどんなに彼女を愛して、色々な物や教育を与えてくれたかという事を話してくれました。現在は国際企業に勤務する彼女は１５年以上ピアノから遠ざかっていましたが、大学二年生ぐらいまでは、ピアノをかなり真剣にやっていたそうなのです。お父さんがクラッシック音楽が大好きでうちにはいつもクラッシック音楽が流れていたこと、当時中国ではまだ珍しかった音大の先生について（かなり高いお月謝で）レッスンに通っていた事、聞いてみると、なかなか厳しく結構高いレヴェルまで学んでいたらしいです。ある日、彼女が学校から帰る途中、彼女の伯父さんが

お父さんが　一生懸命貯金をして彼女にプレゼントを用意したんだよと伝えられ、帰宅すると、家に茶色い美しいピアノが待っていたのだそうです。本当に私の両親は私のことを愛してくれて今も、愛してくれているんですよ〜と、中国の一人っ子政策時代に生まれた、よく聞くワガママチャイニーズ一人っ子若者とは違った、愛に満ちた家族の様子が伝わってきました。

彼女がピアノを止める前に、この曲が弾きたいと思っていたと言う、ショパンの幻想即興曲を弾いて、と頼まれ、弾いた。ピアノの周りでの音楽の話や鑑賞がひと段落した頃、彼女自身ピアノを触ってみる気が起こったらしく、エリーゼのためにを弾きだしたので、楽譜を出してあげ、ちょっと手助けした後、どうぞ一人で練習したら？と彼女をピアノの前に置いてきた。

３０分ぐらい一人で練習した後に、私の為に弾いてくれたので、録画して、その動画を彼女のお父さんに送ろうという事になった。お父さん、なんていうかな？

少し練習したら、１５年間ピアノに触っていなかったにも関わらず、エリーゼの為には弾けるようになった。譜読みの感覚も戻ってきて、指も戻ってきた、何よりも、若い頃は英才教育の一部として、義務的にやっていたところがあったが、今度は、音楽（ピアノ）が心の慰めの様な別な存在となって寄り添う様に戻ってきたと。それと同時に両親の愛の想いが蘇ってきたと。

なんて素敵なお話を聞かせてもらった事でしょう。中国のお父さんは動画をとても喜ばれて、感想はというと、”とっても嬉しかったよ。送ってくれてありがとう。でももうちょっと練習しなくちゃね！” ですって。やっぱり最後の部分が、、、、お父さん！、

多分彼女は　きちんとした音楽教育を受け、きっちり勉強したので、１５年のブランクにもかかわらず、すぐに感覚が戻って、ピアノ脳、ピアノ指も失われていなかったのでしょう。

音楽を一生の友達に保つためには、厳しい練習、毎日の習慣、積み重ねは必須です。そうしたからこそ、音楽は一生の友達となって私たちの中から消えずに、いつでも喜びや慰めを与えてくれるのだと思いました。