It was too late to regret the situation. Probably the parents have never experienced such air conditioning. They may understand, in their heads, what I said, but they did not understand from the bottom of their hearts. Only people who experienced it would really understand what it is.

As a result, there were some students who became sick to the point of having a fever. I really do not understand why the hall is kept so cold. They say it is for the pipe organ...

American people don’t seem to mind the cold temperature. They have air conditioners at home, too. They have already become accustomed to living life with central air conditioning. There is no central air conditioning in Japan. People have not become used it, so we get sick easily when there is a large temperature difference between inside and outside.

It is the same story when I teach piano. Parents and students often do not really understand what I say. I explain what I want them to do and I think they understand, but a week later I find out that they actually did not understand what I said. Even though I am very careful about explaining, sometimes it just does not work. So, I sigh and try to explain again. I usually try to say the same thing about three times, but by fourth or fifth time, I get angry. I feel bad for the students and for myself. After all, it is entirely my fault. I do not have the ability to tell my students what I want them to do. There are certain things like “Relax your body,” or “Concentrate on your lower back,” that I seem to have to say over and over. Students will not understand if you say something just once or twice. If you really want your students to understand, you need patience. You need time. Old people say, “Practice the same thing one million times.” People who teach understand this saying and routinely tell students the same thing over and over until they get it.

The other teachers and I had a meeting when we came back from our trip, and one of the teachers said, “Our meeting was useless. Even though we asked them so many times to bring warm clothes, they did not.”

I said, “The meeting was not useless. We just do not have the ability to tell them what we want them to do yet.” So we all learned a lesson.

It is so difficult to tell people, with words, what you really mean.

I now understand why students return to participate even after their high school years are behind them. I believe my students when they tell me they “have to go back.”

As a teacher, I was keenly aware that students can easily accomplish things that I have to work hard to do. They probably took little or no time to memorize the notes, for example, and I cannot even say how long it took me. They come to the piano with the habit of using their bodies correctly, while I battle the bad habits of my past. They were taught to listen to their sound from the beginning, while I struggle to hear myself. They can play with a quiet mind, while I’m trying to hush the teacher within that will not let me rest when things are not perfect.

What an amazing experience for my students who played. I am excited for them because I know they are going to be happy that they made the effort to do this. I was interested to see what they could learn in an environment so different from home. They learn to practice better. We both learn how to better prepare their pieces as we take to heart the assignments given by the fine teachers who conduct the rehearsals. What a gift they are given when they hear a demonstration from Keiko Kawamura! They must keep the memory of this sound forever so that they may accomplish a more beautiful tone!

A 10-Piano Concert would be mere fun if it was just about getting together and playing some pieces. Because we all came together for our students in order to improve their musical skills and to give them an experience of a lifetime, it was a source of great joy for me. Thank you everyone.

What in the world was I thinking?! How did I end up here? These were some of the thoughts going through my mind on Wednesday, August 10 as our group was rehearsing for the 10-piano concert in Sacramento, just three days before the big event.

challenging piece in the 10-piano concert, I feel better prepared to assist my students with their performances. I have learned more about breathing, focusing my mind when practicing and performing, how to handle nervousness and excitement.

As I observed rehearsals, I tried to absorb the amazing tone of the teachers from Japan. I need to keep that sound in my ear, in my imagination, in my tone. I have come away with a new resolve to sing with my students and to encourage the parents to sing also. I now have new ideas.

Participating in the 10-piano concert has taken me one step closer to this goal.

A 10-Piano Concert is a massive undertaking. Ask Linda Nakagawa about that! So many students must be prepared to play well at a given time. So many logistics must be worked out about the housing of visiting teachers and students. The program must be written, designed and printed. Advertising must be sold. Rehearsal space must be secured. So many things.

Most important, and perhaps the most problematic, is the difficulty of getting ten pianos in one place and having them tuned together. This is an extremely cumbersome and costly procedure. Moving just a single piano is quite a project, as we all know. And having a single piano tuned is expensive enough, and takes time.

We all need to know the truth about this matter. Increasingly, we have had parents call and ask why they need a real acoustic instrument, as they too have been proselytized by the sales people. We teachers need to be good at answering this question when people ask us.

Dr. Kataoka always promoted the value of genuine reality. Yes, technology has spawned new forms of art and music, but there is value in acoustic sound, the same way that there is value in the flavor of an organic apple. The music that we study, when played on an acoustic instrument by a human being, is capable of producing sound that literally can lift us up toward heaven. Artificial sound is nothing like that, and it is a tragedy that some people have become deaf to the difference after hearing fake sounds and noise from morning to night in our technological environment. It is a tragedy that there are some people who can walk into a church and not know whether the organ is electronic or not, who can attend a Broadway show and not hear that the “orchestra” is no longer real, and who can hear a singer and not be able to tell whether or not the voice is coming through a microphone.

We can be sure that every student, even the youngest one, appreciates the quality and uniqueness of ten grand pianos on one stage. The children know that we adults have gone to great lengths to provide them with such wonderful instruments. They know that we did not settle for the cheap, virtual version of the real thing. They know this is the real thing.

We teachers have a responsibility to stand up for what we know is true and genuine. The people who sell digital pianos have no such responsibility, and we need to stand our ground against their persuasive sales pitch. It is our responsibility to educate children.