Thank you for a wonderful interview and story. It’s so interesting how Aiko finally connected with the classical guitar–and then made such excellent progress.
Hello Aiko,
Loved getting to know you. Hey, a DC Destination! Awesome. There are many CGC friends in the DC area and I would love to meet you in person. Keep the dream alive.
Happy trails in G2!
Great interview Roger. Aiko, I loved getting to know you better and it was great hearing about your hometown in Nagano. Nagano is one of my favorite places to go here in Japan. I have spent tons of time there snowboarding in Hakuba, Nozawa hot springs, and many other places. The snow is fantastic in Nagano. I’ve also spent many summers camping in Nagano. If you watch my Ukulele video with my daughter in the Student Showcase you’ll see that it was filmed beside Lake Kizaki last summer. Anyway, Mi casa es tu casa!! We should definitely meet up before you go back to Belgium. That would be great! We could BBQ in my yard and play guitar together.
Thanks for the interview, Roger and Aiko-san. Aiko, all I can say is you bring so much to us—and to your job! Japan is an amazing country and I was lucky to be able to go multiple times for work—I really wish there were more opportunities for everyone to visit and understand it better. Our sister city (Houston) is Chiba and Austin, Texas’s is Oita in Kyushu. Before Covid, we had a lot of “Japan-events”, organized by various cultural groups. Hope to hear you more and maybe in person!
Thank you, Roger and Aiko! I was entranced listening to this wonderful podcast unfold and wished it had been much longer. Aiko, it would be wonderful to meet up sometime in Europe or New Mexico. I just ordered a cherry blossom tea bowl from Kyoto in your honor and hope to one day serve you tea in it. Speaking of guitar acquisition syndrome, the same applies to tea bowls! Thank you for sharing your fascinating world of experience working with the EU, the Mike Mansfield Foundation and so much more.
Best wishes,
Joseph
Thanks Roger for another wonderful podcast! I’m so glad that all is well in your world. You have inspired me to look for opportunities to play at senior homes when the covid is over. :)
Aiko, it was wonderful to hear your gentle voice, and to hear about your life. I am impressed with your patience to learn the classical guitar, that is something that I have been trying to instill in my practice this past year too.
You are so kind and enthusiastic, your bring a smile whenever I come across your comments.
I hope to meet you in person some day.
Best wishes,
~ShannonAnn
Hi Aiko, thank you for sharing your story with the podcast community. It was great getting to know more about you and your journey. I also spent some time in Albuquerque NM — from 1995 to 2000 — and found it to be a glorious, enchanted land filled with kind and generous people. True story… when I moved back to the East Coast of the US, I had to get out of the habit of saying “good morning” to people because everyone is so friendly in the Southwest. As I’m fond of saying, it’s where God goes to vacation.
All the best as you continue onward with the guitar,
Robert
That is the first pod cast I have listened to, been missing out. Great job Roger and Aiko. Like Aiko, I also started with CGC somewhat due to the pandemic. Begs the question, how much did CGC enrollment increase due to Covid? Anyway, again, great job guys.
I really enjoyed listening to your story. I had no idea that so much snow falls in Niigata prefecture! I have not been to Tokamachi, but have been to Kashiwazaki, Nagaoka, and Niigata city. I have studied earthquake-induced damage to levees along the Shinano River in Tokamachi based on reports by the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Tourism. It is a small world indeed. I found Niigata Prefecture to be really beautiful, and I have enjoyed my time in Japan very much. I am inspired by your dedication to guitar, and have enjoyed watching you learn.
Roger, your interview skills have become formidable. I know you’re good with computers and everything, but some form of inteview media may be a viable career path.
Edit on my above comment. Sorry Aiko, for some reason I got into my mind that you are from Nagano. After reading Scott’s comment I realized I was mistaken. At least Niigata and Nagano are neighboring prefectures, they both start with ‘N’, and they are both equally beautiful. I’m not a complete fool!
Thank you Aiko and Roger, it felt like I was listening in on two friends catching up with each other’s lives.
Roger, you have developed a knack for coaxing the best stories out of this community.
Aiko, congratulations on moving up to the next level and I believe your singing voice is wonderful even though it may be a bit on the pianissimo side.
I totally agree with going back and playing pieces from earlier levels, it is always surprising how much they stay in our fingers. Eventually I no longer play these pieces, I “express” them. (I hope that makes sense.)
Hello Aiko, I really enjoyed hearing your story and getting to know you a bit. I’m looking forward to meeting you in person some day as well, maybe Summer School 2022!
Roger and Aiko, what a wonderful and easygoing conversation! As others have said, it’s like two old friends catching up. I think the journey of how Aiko came to the classical guitar is extremely captivating. I love that this has carved out such a special place for you. Looking forward to growing with you through CGC!
Wonderful podcast, Roger and Aiko! So enjoyable listening to this interview and hearing Aiko’s stories. It’s great that here at CGC, there are no boundaries between people who are at different grade levels! :-)
I enjoyed so much the interview with Aiko. What a wonderful person. For anyone who has not watched her Grade 1 exam video, I highly recommend it; she truly has a talent for guitar and does an amazing job for Grade 1.
Roger: I wanted to comment also that I have gotten in the habit of listening to your podcasts while doing yard work, usually mowing the lawn now that spring is here. What always was a chore is now something to look forward to; oh boy, lawn-mowing, I get to hear Roger’s latest podcast!
Brilliant, Aiko – your interview of Roger drew him out, and we learned many things about you along the way. Aiko, I love your focus and quiet passion. And, it sounds like your job is very similar to Yoko’s (at least her job two years ago). It is wonderful to follow your development – you are a sponge, soaking up experiences and knowledge, gaining many supporters and friends along the way.
I listen to these podcast whilst at the gym. The fact that I haven’t commented for a while means I haven’t been going to the gym as frequently as my conscience expects (its easy to find excuses). But I have now caught up, and just want to note:
Matt: Although we have chatted sometimes during the Australasian/Asia Virtual Salons, it was great to hear more about your steel guitar background. It was also great to get a solid dose of that Australian accent.
Craig: Also great to hear about you through the mellifluous tones of the Scottish accent. Have a look for a recent video by James Erickson playing “Birds Flew Over the Spire”. I think he has your old electric guitar on his wall now.
Gyathri: I loved hearing your story, family background, and connection to music. You have such a spiritual insight into life.
Crystal: You are such an optimist and enthusiast in everything you do. And, with your professional background, you must have a finely tuned ear. I doubt that playing the saw is as low entry as you suggest – hearing the nuances of intonation is a real skill.
Roger: Sorry, I didn’t recognize your imitation of a kangaroo, and I have meet a few. I would like to suggest you try the Kookaburra next! Intermittent as it is, listening to your podcasts is a great pleasure whist pounding away on the cross-trainer.
Like Richard – I’ve also gotten out of the habit of commenting on the podcasts – though I’ve listened to every episode and enjoyed them all. Embarrassing confession – part of this has been due to feeling a bit self-conscious about hearing my scatter-brained thoughts being read out loud… ;-) but I guess I need to get over it…
A quick aside for Craig and Roger – do you have a chart detailing the number of CGC experience points required for each grade? And how many XP would it be reasonable to plan on receiving for a podcast comment? Asking for a friend…
Aiko – thanks for sharing your fascinating story with us. I agree with Robert that Albuquerque is one of the hidden gems of the U.S. and am glad you were able to study there. And I’m jealous of the snow where you live. We have almost none where I now live.
Roger – glad you are working on El Sueno de la Munequita – its a great piece! If you want a real reference performance – give this a listen (even thought its almost unlistenable by today’s standards) – its a recording of Barrios himself playing this piece
Hi Aiko-san ! I enjoyed listening to your story. It was imagining a scene where your Italian friends while you were in U.K. were singing a song on the guitar. What fun it sounds ! My first experience with the guitar started in a similar way. It would be wonderful if we can have CGC meetup in Tokyo or Chiba? before your go back to Belgium.
Thank you so much to all the kind members for such generous comments and messages. Thank you also to everyone who took time to listen to my little stories. I feel very fortunate to meet you all. It is such a wonderful feeling, this togetherness, of people from different parts of the world. Please remember, mi casa es su casa (both in Japan and in Brussels), and I look forward to having a lot of good times with you learning and playing music and guitar.
Roger, thank you once again for giving me such a precious opportunity. Domo Arigato.
Hello Aiko from Lancaster Pennsylvania, our sister city in Japan is Sano City. Here in the city of Lancaster our middle schools have a week long student exchange program that my daughter was fortunate enough to get chosen for and in exchange her Sano City student host stayed in our home for a week. It’s quite a unique program because our city schools are predominantly black and hispanic and the Japanese students really loved coming to our schools for a week as much as all our city kids loved going there. Willow ( my daughter) was really excited to share her experience of being in marching band and her sister student couldn’t wait to see how they play and March in intricate formations with a very active drum line because her band which was very very good musically had to sit on chairs to play. Willow couldn’t stop talking about how great her experience in Japan was. That was in 2006. Three summers ago my son Sky finally got his chance to spend almost a month in Japan with fellow members of the German ballet company he is a dancer with, visiting the homes of several of the Japanese ballerinas in his company. Again he bubbled over with stories of interesting and joyful experiences he had in Japan.
I really enjoyed you’re podcast and I can’t believe you got ten feet of snow!!!! Wow! You’re grade one submission was very nice! I imagine your piano music is very beautiful and lyrical as well. Congratulations on a fine exam you’re diligent focused practice really paid off and resulted in an amazing performance.
Peace,
Heidi Beth
This was a very fun episode. By the way Richard I have been listening to your podcast for probably two years -long before I joined CGCA last January. I remember thinking….who are all these interesting people and who is this Roger who’s doing all this work? Richard I really appreciate all your work and thank you, I also thank your many interesting participants. Listening to these has been many things to me: Fun, inspiring, relaxing, comforting and has helped me get through my exercise sessions too.
Hello Aiko and Roger,
Thank you for the delightful interview. Aiko, it is a pleasure getting to know you. Your gentle warmth is an inspiration. I love the stories.
All the best,
Drew
Hi Aiko and Roger,
Thank you for a wonderful interview and story. It’s so interesting how Aiko finally connected with the classical guitar–and then made such excellent progress.
Best to you both,
-Jeff
Hello Aiko,
Loved getting to know you. Hey, a DC Destination! Awesome. There are many CGC friends in the DC area and I would love to meet you in person. Keep the dream alive.
Happy trails in G2!
Great interview Roger. Aiko, I loved getting to know you better and it was great hearing about your hometown in Nagano. Nagano is one of my favorite places to go here in Japan. I have spent tons of time there snowboarding in Hakuba, Nozawa hot springs, and many other places. The snow is fantastic in Nagano. I’ve also spent many summers camping in Nagano. If you watch my Ukulele video with my daughter in the Student Showcase you’ll see that it was filmed beside Lake Kizaki last summer. Anyway, Mi casa es tu casa!! We should definitely meet up before you go back to Belgium. That would be great! We could BBQ in my yard and play guitar together.
Cheers, Dave
Thanks for the interview, Roger and Aiko-san. Aiko, all I can say is you bring so much to us—and to your job! Japan is an amazing country and I was lucky to be able to go multiple times for work—I really wish there were more opportunities for everyone to visit and understand it better. Our sister city (Houston) is Chiba and Austin, Texas’s is Oita in Kyushu. Before Covid, we had a lot of “Japan-events”, organized by various cultural groups. Hope to hear you more and maybe in person!
Jim
Thank you, Roger and Aiko! I was entranced listening to this wonderful podcast unfold and wished it had been much longer. Aiko, it would be wonderful to meet up sometime in Europe or New Mexico. I just ordered a cherry blossom tea bowl from Kyoto in your honor and hope to one day serve you tea in it. Speaking of guitar acquisition syndrome, the same applies to tea bowls! Thank you for sharing your fascinating world of experience working with the EU, the Mike Mansfield Foundation and so much more.
Best wishes,
Joseph
Nice to get to know Aiko, and i want to encourage you, Aiko, to play something for an open mic someday, challenge yourself, its fun.
Thanks Roger for another wonderful podcast! I’m so glad that all is well in your world. You have inspired me to look for opportunities to play at senior homes when the covid is over. :)
Aiko, it was wonderful to hear your gentle voice, and to hear about your life. I am impressed with your patience to learn the classical guitar, that is something that I have been trying to instill in my practice this past year too.
You are so kind and enthusiastic, your bring a smile whenever I come across your comments.
I hope to meet you in person some day.
Best wishes,
~ShannonAnn
Hi Aiko, thank you for sharing your story with the podcast community. It was great getting to know more about you and your journey. I also spent some time in Albuquerque NM — from 1995 to 2000 — and found it to be a glorious, enchanted land filled with kind and generous people. True story… when I moved back to the East Coast of the US, I had to get out of the habit of saying “good morning” to people because everyone is so friendly in the Southwest. As I’m fond of saying, it’s where God goes to vacation.
All the best as you continue onward with the guitar,
Robert
Thank you both for a great podcast. I am fascinated how we are spread all over the world yet we are so connected.
CGC is one special place.
Best wishes
Gabriel
That is the first pod cast I have listened to, been missing out. Great job Roger and Aiko. Like Aiko, I also started with CGC somewhat due to the pandemic. Begs the question, how much did CGC enrollment increase due to Covid? Anyway, again, great job guys.
Aiko,
I really enjoyed listening to your story. I had no idea that so much snow falls in Niigata prefecture! I have not been to Tokamachi, but have been to Kashiwazaki, Nagaoka, and Niigata city. I have studied earthquake-induced damage to levees along the Shinano River in Tokamachi based on reports by the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Tourism. It is a small world indeed. I found Niigata Prefecture to be really beautiful, and I have enjoyed my time in Japan very much. I am inspired by your dedication to guitar, and have enjoyed watching you learn.
Roger, your interview skills have become formidable. I know you’re good with computers and everything, but some form of inteview media may be a viable career path.
Peace,
Scott
Edit on my above comment. Sorry Aiko, for some reason I got into my mind that you are from Nagano. After reading Scott’s comment I realized I was mistaken. At least Niigata and Nagano are neighboring prefectures, they both start with ‘N’, and they are both equally beautiful. I’m not a complete fool!
Cheers, Dave
Thank you Aiko and Roger, it felt like I was listening in on two friends catching up with each other’s lives.
Roger, you have developed a knack for coaxing the best stories out of this community.
Aiko, congratulations on moving up to the next level and I believe your singing voice is wonderful even though it may be a bit on the pianissimo side.
I totally agree with going back and playing pieces from earlier levels, it is always surprising how much they stay in our fingers. Eventually I no longer play these pieces, I “express” them. (I hope that makes sense.)
Looking forward to the next edition….
Peace!
Chad
Hello Aiko, I really enjoyed hearing your story and getting to know you a bit. I’m looking forward to meeting you in person some day as well, maybe Summer School 2022!
Roger, thanks for another great interview!
Judy
Roger and Aiko, what a wonderful and easygoing conversation! As others have said, it’s like two old friends catching up. I think the journey of how Aiko came to the classical guitar is extremely captivating. I love that this has carved out such a special place for you. Looking forward to growing with you through CGC!
Tim Burch
Wonderful podcast, Roger and Aiko! So enjoyable listening to this interview and hearing Aiko’s stories. It’s great that here at CGC, there are no boundaries between people who are at different grade levels! :-)
– Ruth
I really enjoyed listening to this podcast. Thank you!
Martha Kreipke
I enjoyed so much the interview with Aiko. What a wonderful person. For anyone who has not watched her Grade 1 exam video, I highly recommend it; she truly has a talent for guitar and does an amazing job for Grade 1.
Roger: I wanted to comment also that I have gotten in the habit of listening to your podcasts while doing yard work, usually mowing the lawn now that spring is here. What always was a chore is now something to look forward to; oh boy, lawn-mowing, I get to hear Roger’s latest podcast!
Brilliant, Aiko – your interview of Roger drew him out, and we learned many things about you along the way. Aiko, I love your focus and quiet passion. And, it sounds like your job is very similar to Yoko’s (at least her job two years ago). It is wonderful to follow your development – you are a sponge, soaking up experiences and knowledge, gaining many supporters and friends along the way.
I listen to these podcast whilst at the gym. The fact that I haven’t commented for a while means I haven’t been going to the gym as frequently as my conscience expects (its easy to find excuses). But I have now caught up, and just want to note:
Matt: Although we have chatted sometimes during the Australasian/Asia Virtual Salons, it was great to hear more about your steel guitar background. It was also great to get a solid dose of that Australian accent.
Craig: Also great to hear about you through the mellifluous tones of the Scottish accent. Have a look for a recent video by James Erickson playing “Birds Flew Over the Spire”. I think he has your old electric guitar on his wall now.
Gyathri: I loved hearing your story, family background, and connection to music. You have such a spiritual insight into life.
Crystal: You are such an optimist and enthusiast in everything you do. And, with your professional background, you must have a finely tuned ear. I doubt that playing the saw is as low entry as you suggest – hearing the nuances of intonation is a real skill.
Roger: Sorry, I didn’t recognize your imitation of a kangaroo, and I have meet a few. I would like to suggest you try the Kookaburra next! Intermittent as it is, listening to your podcasts is a great pleasure whist pounding away on the cross-trainer.
Cheers… Richard
Like Richard – I’ve also gotten out of the habit of commenting on the podcasts – though I’ve listened to every episode and enjoyed them all. Embarrassing confession – part of this has been due to feeling a bit self-conscious about hearing my scatter-brained thoughts being read out loud… ;-) but I guess I need to get over it…
A quick aside for Craig and Roger – do you have a chart detailing the number of CGC experience points required for each grade? And how many XP would it be reasonable to plan on receiving for a podcast comment? Asking for a friend…
Aiko – thanks for sharing your fascinating story with us. I agree with Robert that Albuquerque is one of the hidden gems of the U.S. and am glad you were able to study there. And I’m jealous of the snow where you live. We have almost none where I now live.
Roger – glad you are working on El Sueno de la Munequita – its a great piece! If you want a real reference performance – give this a listen (even thought its almost unlistenable by today’s standards) – its a recording of Barrios himself playing this piece
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZA58zoOQjk
Thanks also for your kind words about my grade submission. I’m very flattered! :-)
Nels
So wonderful getting to know you Aiko! Many thanks to you and Roger for another awesome podcast!
Hi Aiko-san ! I enjoyed listening to your story. It was imagining a scene where your Italian friends while you were in U.K. were singing a song on the guitar. What fun it sounds ! My first experience with the guitar started in a similar way. It would be wonderful if we can have CGC meetup in Tokyo or Chiba? before your go back to Belgium.
Kaoru
Hello everyone,
Thank you so much to all the kind members for such generous comments and messages. Thank you also to everyone who took time to listen to my little stories. I feel very fortunate to meet you all. It is such a wonderful feeling, this togetherness, of people from different parts of the world. Please remember, mi casa es su casa (both in Japan and in Brussels), and I look forward to having a lot of good times with you learning and playing music and guitar.
Roger, thank you once again for giving me such a precious opportunity. Domo Arigato.
Aiko 愛子
Hello Aiko from Lancaster Pennsylvania, our sister city in Japan is Sano City. Here in the city of Lancaster our middle schools have a week long student exchange program that my daughter was fortunate enough to get chosen for and in exchange her Sano City student host stayed in our home for a week. It’s quite a unique program because our city schools are predominantly black and hispanic and the Japanese students really loved coming to our schools for a week as much as all our city kids loved going there. Willow ( my daughter) was really excited to share her experience of being in marching band and her sister student couldn’t wait to see how they play and March in intricate formations with a very active drum line because her band which was very very good musically had to sit on chairs to play. Willow couldn’t stop talking about how great her experience in Japan was. That was in 2006. Three summers ago my son Sky finally got his chance to spend almost a month in Japan with fellow members of the German ballet company he is a dancer with, visiting the homes of several of the Japanese ballerinas in his company. Again he bubbled over with stories of interesting and joyful experiences he had in Japan.
I really enjoyed you’re podcast and I can’t believe you got ten feet of snow!!!! Wow! You’re grade one submission was very nice! I imagine your piano music is very beautiful and lyrical as well. Congratulations on a fine exam you’re diligent focused practice really paid off and resulted in an amazing performance.
Peace,
Heidi Beth
Hello Roger and Aiko,
This was a very fun episode. By the way Richard I have been listening to your podcast for probably two years -long before I joined CGCA last January. I remember thinking….who are all these interesting people and who is this Roger who’s doing all this work? Richard I really appreciate all your work and thank you, I also thank your many interesting participants. Listening to these has been many things to me: Fun, inspiring, relaxing, comforting and has helped me get through my exercise sessions too.