There should be trumpets. On May 8 at 10 a.m., Music for Youth will celebrate its 60th anniversary. The program with the New Japan Philharmonic will repeat MFY's first concert in 1939, which was designed to help young people enjoy and appreciate classical music. In this program, Schubert's "March Militaire" is used to introduce through demonstrations the "musical families" that make up an orchestra. Organizer of the memorial concert is the founder of MFY, Eloise Cunningham.
Eloise, whose father was a missionary in Japan, grew up with music, and when it was time to attend school abroad, she elected to make music her career. I asked if there were cultural barriers to cross when she went to the United States after so many years here. She could recall only one -- washing dishes at the boarding house where she stayed. She had never had to do such chores when she lived in Japan.
She soon realized she could never be a concert performer (she plays piano and organ) because of her small hands, which can't span an octave, so she decided to teach. She returned to Japan and the American School, then located in Meguro. When she discovered students had little knowledge of classical music, she found her first contributor. With 1,000 yen, she hired a symphony orchestra -- it later became the NHK orchestra -- rented Hibiya Hall and gave the first educational concert for both foreign and Japanese youngsters from schools all over the city. At first, orchestra members hadn't wanted to play for children. After the concert, they became enthusiastic supporters of her work.