ブログスレッド
- POWERFUL WOMEN
POWERFUL WOMEN
5月
1日
Michi Hirata North Made her debut at age eight with NHK Orchestra in Tokyo. Japan
Every other Tuesday, my friend Michi and I have lunch and then go to our chiropractic appointments. Lunch is often at Mr. Sato’s Tengu restaurant. As we swoon over his special cut of Yellow Tail and Tuna Toro over his special sushi rice, we search for good Japanese heritage values like the “quality” of Mr. Sato’s rice and his “artistic discipline”. He also teaches history at the Japanese Saturday school. “He is more than a sushi chef,” Michi and I concur. As he gives us another cut of fatty Tuna, he shares with Michi, his love for Chopin and Rachmoninoff.
Michi is age 86 and the most powerful woman I know. She was a prodigy piano icon in Japan at the early age of eight. She went to school with the current Empress Michiko of Japan, where Michi’s grandmother was the principal. She played for General MacArthur and did hundreds of concerts around Japan to help in the war recovery during the US occupation of Japan after WWII. She currently mentors piano students here in the Seattle area, Japan and Taiwan. One of her students recently played in New York City’s Carnegie Hall.
She came to the US in 1951 and studied at Julliard School of Music with Rosina Lhevinne, with whom Van Cliburn, nationally known for winning the Tschaikovski competition in Russia; who also studied a few years later. Michi was being groomed to continue concertizing on the world stage.
Our discussions are about what kind of values are important like honesty, consistency, balance, responsibility. Skills that, “bringing out the best tone the piano can produce”, Michi explains.
“How can we pass our ideals on to your five boys, thirteen grandchildren, five great grandchildren and my own two daughters and five grandchildren?” I ask. “Michi, I’m also curious, what is it that you look for when you agree to take a child as your student?”
“Well, the first thing I do is to decide if the parents are correctly involved.” she responds.
“What is important in being a parent.” I continue. I don’t need to wait for her words, because Michi sets the example in her own family.
Before her studies with Lhevinne, Michi had met her future husband in Chicago where she beat him in a piano competition.
The story is that Michi was scheduled to go to Aspen Colorado for a summer workshop with Lhevinne. Michi consulted Madam Lhevinne, “What should I do. Murray is asking me to get married?” Madam Lhevinne had already met Dr. Murray North and approved. Therefore, she wished Michi well and suggested being a wife and mother were important roles.
Michi continued to concertize after their marriage but she also raised five boys and ran the household as well. My comment to her as we share stories is, “You’re so lucky, you are experiencing the best of all your worlds.”
“Maybe so but it’s because of Murray.” she emphasizes. Dr. North passed in 2011, but seven years later, he is highlighted in many of our conversations. Now that Sam has also passed, I have her example to follow.
I counter, “We both married strong men, who knew how to bring out the best in their women. Or is it the other way around?” We both smile, that’s what we call good parenting - bringing out the best in each other and holding our kids accountable to doing the same.
Being powerful is not just knowing how to make a lot of money, run big companies or become famous. Michi and most successful families I know, have “powerful women”.
