Pasta, Piano and Playtime (May 2, 2025)

Today, as usual, I practiced my keyboard from morning until before noon, then had lunch. My mother cooked spaghettoni, a fresh pasta recommended by Professor Cosmo. It is a long pasta thicker than spaghetti, with a diameter of more than 2mm. It has a great elasticity and texture, and the surface was a little rough, so the sauce mixed with it thoroughly and was very delicious.

This pasta was chewy like Japanese handmade udon. I think my mother must have missed the taste of Japan, as she said, "I wonder if I should try making udon from flour?" I love pasta, so I always want it for lunch whether in Japan or New York. I find more types of pasta in New York than in Tokyo, so I would like to continue to enjoy discovering new shapes and flavors.

After finishing our spaghettoni we headed to Professor Cosmo's apartment. However, Graziella and Tamino were a little different today. Graziella did not try to press the piano pedals as usual, and Tamino played with the ribbons on my dress. I couldn't ignore all the attention so I picked up Graziella and went to the kitchen to watch her eat lunch. Then, when Tamino was exhausted from playing with toys, I resumed practicing the piano.

A few days ago I watched a coaching session with Mr. Alexander, bass Dr. Philip Phillips, and his collaborative pianist Dr. Casey Robards. I wanted to see and learn from a live performance of an opera singer with piano accompaniment. Also, Mr. Alexander wanted me to learn how Dr. Robards works with singers, and she helped me a great deal by showing me how to take a score written for orchestra and make it effective using just a piano.

Just after the session I looked to see what was going on at Carnegie Hall, and found out that there was a concert featuring soprano Nina Stemme and pianist Roland Pöntine with tickets still available! Don't you think this kind of smooth flow often happens when you do something that is good for you? I was really looking forward to this concert.

The concert started at eight o'clock, so I decided to go back to my apartment and change into a dress, shoes, and bag suitable for Carnegie Hall. 

I will write about the concert in my next blog post.