Yukiko Takedai was born in Hokkaido, which is the northernmost prefecture of Japan. She lived there with her parents and her brother until she was a teenager. Hokkaido was rich in natural beauty, and as a child, she and her family enjoyed skiing in winter and camping both at the beach and in the mountains during the summer. At age 13, her family moved from Hokkaido to Tokyo, where they enjoyed the culture and experiences that city offered. Though her parents did not play any musical instruments, they loved listening to classical music, so Yukiko and her brother (who played the clarinet) attended many concerts by great classical pianists, such as Martha Argerich, Maurizio Pollini, and Krystian Zimerman.
Yukiko began playing the piano at age 6 when her parents bought her a large set of piano music records that she loved. She would listen to them over and over, and she would even invite her friends to her house to listen and dance together. Every Sunday after breakfast, her parents played records of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Fingal’s Cave, and Italian Symphony. They would sit, talk, and enjoy coffee and sweets while listening. To this day whenever she hears Mendelssohn’s music, she is transported back to her childhood that was full of dreams and hope for the future.
Yukiko was very shy in elementary school, but because her teachers knew she played the piano, she was often asked to accompany the class and the assembly chorus. That experience built her confidence, and she discovered that playing the piano was the best way to express herself. In middle and high school, she was a member of the student chorus. She attended an excellent public high school in Tokyo where she was the accompanist for one year and they rehearsed every day after school. She then went to college where she studied American and English Literature. At college she joined a piano club for students who weren’t music majors that was similar to the AMSF. They held many recitals throughout the year, and the club still exists today. In fact, she recently discovered that the renowned Japanese pianist and composer, Hayato Sumino (b.1995), was once a member of that club.
After graduating college, Yukiko met and married her husband who was a semi-conductor engineer. He also loved classical music and played the violin in an orchestra. She was 27 when they moved from Tokyo to the US because he was assigned to work in New York State. They often enjoyed wonderful concerts at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in Manhattan. They did not mind the 4-hour round-trip drive to Manhattan at all. Eventually, because of her husband’s job, they relocated to Virginia. Although in Japan Yukiko had worked in the international marketing department of a financial institution, she did not work in the US. However, she was often asked by Japanese friends to teach piano to their children. They hoped that by learning piano from her, their children would develop their Japanese language skills through conversation. The children enjoyed learning, and some of them improved enough to play pieces like Chopin’s Fantasie Impromptu, Waltz in C# minor, and Nocturne in Eb major. Though teaching required patience and could sometimes be frustrating, Yukiko enjoyed teaching the children and considered it a valuable experience.
Yukiko joined the AMSF in 2009 on the recommendation of a Japanese friend. Because of the demands of her family (she has two sons who are now 27 and 21), she was active on and off for several years when they were younger. However, after her second son started high school, she tried to practice piano every day and participate in recitals more regularly. She has performed in several AMSF recitals including Cadenza, Encore, Intermezzo, Sonata, Community Outreach, and the Annual Party. She considers the AMSF a rare and precious community. It motivates her to see that the members truly love and enjoy music and are enthusiastic about becoming better performers and deepening their appreciation of music. She also notes that the AMSF is very well organized and she is particularly grateful for the dedication of the board members and coordinators.
Yukiko studied piano with several influential teachers. In Japan she was taught by Mrs. Ishoda from age 16 to 27. Mrs. Ishoda worked on correcting her posture and easing tension in her elbows and was also a reliable source of advice about things beyond music. In New York, Yukiko studied briefly with a French piano teacher at Vassar College in 1996 and was deeply moved by the lightness and beauty of her sound. Since the summer of 2024 she has been with her current teacher, Mrs. Shishido, who studied music in Vienna and was in the same class as the great Hungarian pianist, Andras Schiff. Yukiko has tremendous respect for Mrs. Shishido and makes every effort to follow her advice and incorporate her suggestions. However, she is particularly grateful to her parents for introducing her to classical music and encouraging her to play the piano, and to her husband who has always supported her. She says, “I feel a deep emotional connection with music. It resonates with me more than anything else.” Not surprisingly, her favorite composers are Frederic Chopin (1810–1849) and Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) from the Romantic period.
Although both her sons eventually studied computer science, Yukiko had encouraged them to get involved in music. Her older son played the violin and was a member of a youth orchestra which performed at Carnegie Hall. That was one of her most cherished memories. As he matured however, his attention shifted from classical music to EDM (Electronic Dance Music). Her younger son played the piano and because he was quite talented and had a good teacher, he made excellent progress. Though he stopped lessons at 17, he still plays the music of Claude Debussy when he is home from college. He also loves hip-hop, R&B (rhythm and blues), and alternative pop.
Now that her sons are grown, Yukiko has found more time to nurture her love for the piano and thinks that she has made the greatest progress since she turned fifty. Apart from the piano, her hobbies include playing tennis, hiking, appreciating art and paintings, and listening to classical music. To aspiring musicians she says, “I think practicing every day is very important even if it is a little bit on some days.”