iU President's Gachon. Mrs. Mutsumi Tsuzaki

■ iU President's Gachon. Mrs.Mutsumi Tsuzaki

A world-famous xylophone player. Her book "Tenshi Tokinuke Memo" is very interesting. Tenshi Tokinuke is a place name in Kyoto, a few blocks down from my house in Kyoto. And Michizaki is also an antique kimono collector, and I also wear only old clothes, so although I'm from a different world than iU , I'll go out of my way to visit him.

◆ Xylophone and Marimba

It is surprisingly little known that the xylophone and marimba are different. The xylophone is called a xylophone and is a European tool. The marimba came to Japan via Africa, Central and South America, and the United States. The way the bottom of the keys are carved is different, which changes the tone. Both marimbas and xylophones are made from a type of wood called rosewood from Honduras, which is the highest quality. The xylophone is light, bright, and gorgeous. The marimba has a slightly lower range and a softer, sweeter tone.

I've been playing the marimba since I was 5 years old. In 2005, I came across an old American xylophone made in 1935 that had been used by a xylophone player named Yoichi Hiraoka, born in the Meiji era, and it had a really nice sound. It had little reverberation and a clear sound. I thought that it was better.

I still give marimba lessons and will play if asked, but I've now moved on to the xylophone.

Even beginners can make sounds with the xylophone as soon as they pick up the drumsticks, so it doesn't take long for them to be able to play songs. It's easy to get used to it. If you dig deeper, you can delve deeper into it, and it has a wide range of possibilities.

The other day I held a xylophone concert for children (Mrs.Mutsumi Tsuzaki Concert: Xylophone Days for Children, Saturday, July 23, 2022). It was a concert that adults were welcome to attend too. Even elderly people came because they felt nostalgic. They wrote in the questionnaire that they had heard me perform there when I was in kindergarten (30 years ago), and that for a while they had dreamed of becoming a marimba player, and when they found out there was a performance coming up, they came for the first time in a long time. I was very touched.

◆Antique kimono

I saw the marimba when I was 5 years old and thought it was cool, so I started playing it. I also had a secondhand kimono that my aunt (my father's older sister, born in the Taisho era) had worn when she was young, and when I saw it, I thought it was cute and cool, and I wanted to wear it. I learned how to wear it and started wearing it. I started going to antique markets such as Toji Temple to buy obi that go with old kimonos and kimonos that go with old obi, because they are more lively than the beautiful komon that my parents had prepared for my dowry. That was the beginning. It wasn't so much that I was attracted to secondhand clothes, but rather that I started wearing old things that I had at home because I wanted to wear them, and as I bought more, I started to buy more, and so I created the world of antique kimono collection.

The starting point for anything is to try anything that seems cool or interesting. From there, you can learn about that field.

Interest in pre-war items

Kyoto was not burned down during the war, so there are many old things left. Not only old clothes, but even houses. It's an interesting place.

In the past, there was only a xylophone in Japan. After the war, in the 1950s, an American Christian missionary, Mr. Lacoure, came to Japan to spread the word about Christ through music. The Lacoures were marimba players. They are said to have brought the marimba to Japan.

Instead of the fun and light xylophone, the Americans brought the rich sound of the marimba, and when they played hymns and other songs with a resonant sound, the Japanese people during the period of high economic growth were touched by the idea that they were richer than the xylophone. People who played the xylophone became marimba players, and the xylophone was forgotten. I took over the instrument that had not been played for a long time and now I play it. I call myself a xylophone player because I like old xylophones and not marimbas.

During the postwar period of rapid economic growth, kimonos were replaced by Western clothing for active wear, and kimonos from beloved eras were forced to be abandoned.

The old tenement house is being used as a warehouse. With the advent of the age of reinforced concrete, wooden houses are being demolished. Since I bought this warehouse, I have come to understand the appeal of wooden houses.

I'm interested in pre-war things. My work and hobbies are all from the 1920s and 1930s, before the war. Not intentionally.

◆Spread

It's difficult to spread something as an individual. I'll do what I love and do my best, and I'll be happy if people become interested and spread the word.

It is quite difficult to have the ability to look inward and the ability to communicate with the outside world at the same time. However, it is possible to have people listen to what you have done.

◆School

I'm a teacher at school. I've always lived in Kyoto.

Just like temples, there are many things to protect and show, but it is not the statues or buildings that say it, but the presentation of the people who are protecting the place. Should they write "Don't throw away trash" in large letters, or create a clean space where people won't throw away trash without writing it, and if they do write it, what font and size should they put on the sign? It is the sense of the people who are protecting the temple.

It's the same in school. The teachers make it. When you go to a school performance, the way the teacher responds when they first come out tells you 90% of how the students will listen to that performance. Getting along with people is a big part of it.

◆ Pursue the path you believe in

I've thought since kindergarten that it's not always right. I always have a rebellious spirit. I wonder if what the teacher says is right. I find what is right for myself.

Just because someone tells you it's beautiful doesn't mean it's beautiful, but rather find something that you think is beautiful yourself.

I liked beautiful sounds. Since I was young, I was told for a long time that I was just beautiful, but nothing else. I thought that beautiful things were good. I wanted to polish a beautiful tone. When you polish it, something other than just beautiful will naturally come out.

It's important to listen to other people's opinions, incorporate them, and make an effort, but it's also important to forge ahead on the path you believe in.

◆ Unique

Your individuality will come out whether you like it or not.

I tell my students to play exactly as the score says. Play exactly as the score says, and what emerges from that is individuality. If you can't play exactly as the score says, then it's not individuality, so stick to the basics and do exactly what's written.

What is a school?

There is also resentment.

When I was in elementary school, I wrote a diary about morning glories. It was excellent and I was asked to rewrite it to enter a contest. My teacher came to my house to give me advice. While I was rewriting it, it got late and my mother served dinner. It came with white asparagus, which I hate. When I didn't eat it, my teacher told me, "Eat the asparagus."

I thought that the teacher could give guidance on school lunches, but whether or not the student would come to my house and eat what my mother gave me was not within the realm of school. When I was in the first grade of elementary school, I really wondered what school was.

I wondered if the observation of morning glories was just my observation or something the teacher was planning to present. There were many times when I wondered what it was all about.

There is an opportunity to think about anything.

◆Message for you guys

I think it's good to value your own feelings. I value what you like and dislike. I think it's good to go down that path. It's no good to be self-centered, so I also look around me.