The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it will demonstrate how Japanese women who have graduated from girls’ high schools live with music. Second, it will present the case of musical prac-tice in the living space.
I surveyed materials (the family newspaper
“Danran” and many scores collected in Japan and abroad) on
Komai Shizue. She graduated from a girl’s school in Matsuyama and attended Kobe College. Music education at those schools was different from both universal music education in Ja-pan (
Shoka) and special education to become a musician or music teacher at Tokyo Academy of Music.
After graduation
Shizue gained considerable experience in the world of music. She taught Eng-lish and music at several girls’ high schools. She took piano lessons in New York twice a week, en-joyed listening to numerous concerts, and collected many scores covering baroque, classical, roman-tic, and modern music.
After returning from America, Mr. and Mrs. Komai lived in an American home, which was planned by W. M. Vories (1880-1964), who came from America as an English teacher. They fur-nished the living room with a piano and a bench, which made it possible to have four-hand perfor-mances. While she led an active life, for example, she travelled to Tokyo and abroad, served at
Kyofukai (Japan Christian Women’s Organization, 1886-), which included musical programs at regular meetings and congresses, she still enjoyed playing the piano.
In Japan, the existence of pianos at home was often considered a status symbol of the middle class. The case of
Shizue suggests the self-disciplined musical experiences by alumni of girls’ high schools. In this framework I intend to bring further depth and add to existing research about the lifelong learning of western music in Japan.
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