My mom made masks for us in March, and sent it, and 4 months later, it’s finally here. We had no idea that it will take this long. My son’s mask has his favorite bullet train to ride, Shinkansen. 母が私達ようにマスクを3月に作り送ってくれました。4か月たってやっと届きました。こんなにかかるとは思ってもみなかったです。息子は新幹線に乗るのが大好きなので新幹線のマスクを作ってもらいました。
Author Archives: tagawatoru
Record, レコード
I was able to listen to my recording of Humoresque on record from when I was 8 years old accompanied by my father on the piano. I am thankful for my parents for saving this for all these years after so many moves. It was really neat to listen to it with my son, 8Continue reading “Record, レコード”
1st Recital, 初リサイタル
My first recital when I was 6 years old, my brother was 4 years old. My first task was to introduce my brother Kaoru to the audience, however, I made a small mistake. I said “This is my brother, Toru Tagawa”. If I had leave it at that, only my family, my teacher and fewContinue reading “1st Recital, 初リサイタル”
American Flag, アメリカの国旗
I just learned that my mother in law is the 6th generation from the person who invented the first American flag and one of the signers for the Decoration of Independence in 1776. His name is Francis Hopkinson. For his design, we was give a quarter cask of public wine (45-50 Litters of wine). YouContinue reading “American Flag, アメリカの国旗”
July 4th, 7月4日
Happy 4th of July! For many years, American Orchestras perform the 1812 Overture by Tchaikovsky with fireworks to celebrate the 4th. This year, I don’t think we can see this happen anywhere. What does 1812 Overture have to with America? It is because of the use of the Canon in the piece. When I hearContinue reading “July 4th, 7月4日”
18
My wife, Laura and I celebrated our 18th Wedding Anniversary. We were both Orchestra Violinist with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra at the time, and she thought she was marrying a violinist. Many years later, she became a wife of a conductor, and I am married to a Doctor of Music. We lived in three differentContinue reading “18”
Picture, 写真
Pictures capture memories. I am thankful that during my youth, my mom always took pictures wherever I was doing anything, concerts, recitals, sports day, arts day, etc. She sent me many of the pictures from the past last week which must have taken her a while to do. Here is one of them, since IContinue reading “Picture, 写真”
My Name, 名前
My father named me, Toru, after a famous Japanese composer, Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996) who composed November Steps which features Shakuhachi and Biwa with Orchestra. My father, Kokichi, is really interested in Jazz, and you might think that there is no connection between a classical composer and jazz, but Toru Takemitsu wrote about Jazz theory inContinue reading “My Name, 名前”
Famous Cellist, 有名なチェロ奏者
I met Mstislav Rostropovich at my first Orchestra rehearsal of the Kurashiki Junior Philharmony Orchestra when I was 9 years old. I had no idea how famous he was at the time (not until College when I became music performance major). I was a talkative child, so I was talking to my friend, and heContinue reading “Famous Cellist, 有名なチェロ奏者”
Happy Father’s Day, 父の日おめでとうございます。
Happy Father’s Day. I thought to talk about my father today for Father’s Day post. My father, Kokichi, loves Jazz. He loves to play Jazz, and think about music theory and anything about Jazz. Jazz is the reason why my family came to USA. He wanted to study Jazz at the world’s best Jazz School,Continue reading “Happy Father’s Day, 父の日おめでとうございます。”
Toru Tagawa 