Music in the Home: an 80 year organ tells a story of my grandparents, life in Europe in the 20's and concrete research.

A musical instrument as personal as my grandmother's organ is a rare phenomenon. But I am blessed to know other musical instruments as personal as my own family. My Muramatsu flute has its own story to tell. So does our upright piano I acquired almost 14 years ago eating beans and rice to pay for it....for three months, so I don't have to pay any interest!!! Music has a high priority in my life even though I am far from a gifted musician. Music fills my soul with precious "something" that tangible objects can not fill. Music transcends time to connect family members who never met.

This organ photographed here was purchased by my grandfather, my mother's father,whom I never had the opportunity to meet. He passed away when my mother was only 21,,,. Heigaku Tanabe bought this organ for his wife Shigeko...in 1930,,,, the year the major economic depression hit the US. The Japanese constitution during the pre war era did not support equality to women. Husbands never walked side by side to their wives, meaning that wives were walking a few steps behind their husbands if they were in public. My grandfather had an extremely different idea for his marriage to my grandmother. He adored her, admired her, respected her and treated her with such awe which was viewed as atypical in the society and even my mother remembers how unusual it was to see a man treat his wife with such out pouring of kindness and affection. My mother does not remember ever hearing her father put her mother down. During the 1930-1940's, this sort of relationship was rare. Women were servant-like existence in Japan back then. This is true, unfortunately.

My grandfather expressed to his family and friends after meeting my grandmother for the first time that he met someone that he believed would help him to change the ability of women in Japan for the future. He was pleased that my grandmother had a college education (her college was of the first three colleges that opened door to wemen early in the Japanese higher education history and I believe she began her college career in the specialty of law only the second year after women were allowed in) and she enjoyed hearing about his research interest. This sounds like a joke but he was also quite intrigued by my grandmother's height. She was slightly taller than my grandfather, I think and he thought that his daughters would stand tall!

My grandmother was an unusual lady who could read, write and converse in English, read music, ,,, etc. But one thing, ,,,,she was not a good cook! Thank goodness that my grandfather saw her value in spite of her lack of domestic artistry...

My grandfather, Heigaku was not wealthy at all but he was extremely sacrifical when he was determined to give meaningful gifts to his wife or children. An extremely rare phenomenon again,,, especially in Japan in the 1930's. My grandfather asked a musician and a composer friend (quite well known in Japan) who lived near him to go along when he went to look for an organ for his wife. Although, he was quite an expert player of harmonica, he did not feel confident that he discerned the SOUND of an organ. He was concerned about the quality of sound and I am benefitting from that.

I played detective tonight after learning where to find a serial number and a stamp that indicates the manufacturing date of this organ. May of 1930 was the date I found.

So, it is 80 years old. My mother remembers my grandmother playing hymns and singing in the corner of the living room at their home in Tokyo. Musical instruments of this kind was usually not owned by individuals. They were mostly found in Churches or schools. My grandfather was an architect engineer who spent years in Germany, hours in his lab at the university,,,, he was concerned that his wife would be lonely in his absence. He bought this organ hoping that it would serve as a companion...

I never met my grandfather since he passed away more than 10 years before I was born.

It gives me chilles to think that my grandfather personally selected this organ and that he enjoyed the sound this instrument produced. It is even more amazing to see that this organ survived the bombing in Tokyo during the war when some neighbors' homes have caught fire and burnt to the ground. The organ was there when my mother was born. The organ quietly watched as she and her siblings grew up. The family had to sell many items to purchase food during and after the war. Also they had to use books and other items to burn to stay warm in the winter. What made them not sell this organ? I am convinced that it was their love this organ symbolized and also their love they shared to enjoy music. My grandparents had to give up their original wedding bands to the government when they collected every metal item for war purpose. But the organ survived. My grandparents loved music very much,,, My mother describes how her father was an excellent harmonica player and he would often entertain at large gatherings. She also recollects many evenings when kids gathering around the organ to sing.

In the journal my grandfather left, he mentions quite a few times about his love for classical music or how enjoyed the exposure to music in Germany. My mother's older brother and sister were able to take organ lessons until the war began. My mother missed out of that due to the war. My thoughts traveled back to the 1930's. Music entertained my grandparents more than anything. They did not have TV or digital entertainment we are used to having.

Reading my grandfather's journal that tells the story about the days he spent in Germany conducting research, his experience of teaching and interactions with students at the university, last day he spend at his lab/office writing his will for each of his child and his wife anticipating his death, all give me chills. He feels so real to me. I need to re-read his journal again,, I may find something else interesting to pass on to my son.

The organ traveled across the ocean and it brought me something very special. I never met my grandfather, but I am seeing what he personally selected for his wife. An extraordinary man who believed in loving his wife openly against the norm of the society. My grandmother's younger sister was not so fortunate in her marriage and she became insane because of the incredible cruelty she endured. She was married to a physician who experimented on her. My grandmother was a major advocate during the immediate post war era to elevate the status of woman as a simple human right in the society or more like simple equality. She believed that if a man throws out (I mean the literal dumping of a human on to a street) a first wife for a second younger mistress, the first one should be guaranteed some type of compensation. She and her colleagues won that for women later among other things which pretty much overhauled the family law. But, her sister did not benefit from that,, it was too late for her. My grandmother's words are interestingly mentioned in the 1954 Time Magazine article below.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,860639,00.html

I am not into women's rights...so much... perhaps because I married someone who respects my mind, my need, my intellectual desire,,, that sounds so much like my grandfather. But at that time, my grandfather probably did not know any other colleagues of his who respected their wives the way he did. He was an extraordinary husband and father. I would have loved to meet him. I have no doubt that my grandfather would have enjoyed meeting Sven and Erik. By the way, he was fluent in German and English,,, He was in Germany twice, first for more than two years and another few years before the beginning of WWll.

He also spent some time in England and US after his first stay in Germany. I found a brief mention of a train trip from Chicago to San Francisco in 1924。

He described in his journal about the room he rented from a German family while in Berlin. He mentions the extreme inflation and economic difficulty during the immediate post WWl era that German people were under. It was during this time, he wrote about how he enjoyed his landlord's daughter's piano performance every evening. He names one in particular that was his favorite, ”Traumerei" by Schumann. His description of the "music" is quite touching and I can tell that he heard music through his soul.. so to speak. He wrote that this daughter played several pieces each evening and she always played Traumerei. He said in his journal that after all day of concrete research in the lab, the musical treat in the evening was a breath of fresh air. Did I say concrete? Yes, my grandfather developed certain type of concrete as a building material in Japan and introduced it in the 30's to drastically change the meaning of building, I hear. 80 years later, concrete research still continues !!! (remember the concrete conference Sven went to in Italy last year? or the Monroe paper article about the concrete research at Tech several months ago? )

Something makes me think that my grandfather would have been very comfortable in our home. Sven can talk to him about Concrete as they listen to Erik play the piano. It is just not Berlin but Ruston.