Highlighting Women Composers – Volume 3 – Tomoko Omura
A Violin Recital Series in Yokohama - Volume 3
Welcome back to my recital series at Okurayama Memorial Hall in Yokohama. Each recital will feature one or more women composers from the past and present alongside favorite classics. I hope to bring new interest in these strong women as well as excitement and appreciation to their works. This year’s recital will be on November 16, 2023 at 19:00. For more information click here.
Photo by: Greta DiGiorgio
Volume 3: Tomoko Omura [大村朋子]
Introduction:
In preparation for my annual recital highlighting works of Japanese and American composers from the lens of Western Music, I had the honor to sit down and interview Japanese-American composer, Tomoko Omura, who’s works from her solo violin album “For Mothers” will be performed.
I have always been interested in women’s issues have progressed alongside my personal and professional life. As a new mother myself, I have found a new relationship with womanhood and the joys and struggles that come with it. My perspectives have been broadened by moving to Japan.
Last year while browsing contemporary Japanese music on Spotify, I came across a new album from Jazz Violinist and Composer, Tomoko Omura. The title of the album “For Mothers” caught my attention as I lost myself in a 30-minute journey through the first year of motherhood. I wanted to know more about Ms. Omura so I reached out. Coincidentally, she planned to travel to Japan the summer of 2023 and I had the opportunity to interview her in her hometown of Shizuoka, Japan.
Who is Tomoko Omura?
Tomoko Omura, originally from Shizuoka, Japan, received her early musical training from her violinist mother at an early age. While attending Yokohama National University, she began to teach herself jazz violin. In 2004, Omura moved to Boston, MA, USA on scholarship at the prestigious Berklee School of Music. She quickly made a name for herself in the United States, performing and touring at world class venues with some of the most renowned jazz musicians in the world. She has recorded six critically acclaimed albums, the most recent entitled “For Mothers” released in 2022.
About Her Works:
Christina Knudson (CK): This is my first time sitting down for a formal interview, and I am so excited to be here with you today! I am so taken by your work, and am grateful for your time today. Let’s talk about your music. How do you describe your compositional style?
Tomoko Omura (TO): I can say that For Mothers, these compositions were all very based on improvisation. I would just pick up my violin, think about what I was feeling and play something to get a fragment. From there, sometimes I could just compose in my mind, then write it down [on paper] or just keep on going on my instrument.
Sometimes I like composing more than performing. I always have these ideas I want to express but doing it through performing can be challenging. It takes time to master something and I felt that [my performance of “For Mothers”] was not as polished as I would have liked--but I did it anyway. The date was booked at the recording studio. It’s okay. It’s a journal.
CK: Can you talk to us about your sources of inspiration and how they have influenced your approach?
TO: Solo violin probably makes these works more approachable [to the non-jazz fan] because it is a private conversation between the listener and the player. It is so personal. Jazz is often times based on a conversation between the performers. It can be harder to feel like you are one of us as the listener. The compositional style of “For Mothers” doesn’t limit to the jazz language. One of the songs has Brazilian influence like “Here and There” and “Tiny Steps” which is capturing the cuteness of the toddler’s foot steps. I tried to capture a visual image without adhering to a genre-based composing technique.
Jazz has, to put it simply, a main theme that moves into improvisation sections and ends with the main theme. The improvisation sections are based on the jazz language between the performers. The themes are usually simple and singable. On the contrary, “Mischief” [on the album “For Mothers”] for example, feels very classical compositional style to me.
I already had the ideas for the melody of “Holy You” in my while pregnant with my son. It was not meant to be played as a solo originally. After I got the opportunity to write and perform this album, I decided to write this as a solo version.
CK: Who are some composers or performers who have influenced your style?
TO: My hero is Wayne Shorter. I am also inspired by Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown, and of course Miles Davis. I also like fusion, Frank Zappa, Michael Brecker (sax player), Keith Jarrett, and Chick Corea (pianist). For classical, I like Ravel, Bach and Debussy. I like story telling music and also visual music like Tchaikovsky.
CK: This collection of music was originally written for 5-string violin. I am very thankful to you for arranging it for 4-string violin as I am excited to play three of the movements on my recital. Many folks in the classical community may not be very familiar with the 5-string violin. Can you tell me a little more about why you decided to write for this instrument.
TO: I wanted to write something specific to the 5-string violin because I couldn’t find any solo violin music [written] for the 5-string violin. I can play violin music or viola music but somehow, each instrument alone was not enough to express what a 5-string can do. For example, the resonance of the low C string while you have the E string on top just has a different sound. I just wanted to create something that was unique.
About Motherhood and Music:
CK: Becoming a mother during the Covid pandemic was quite traumatic for many, especially new mothers. Can you tell me a little about your experience with early motherhood and how that impacted you and your music.
TO: I wrote the music for myself. It’s filled with my personal experiences that I put into music [on the page], like a therapeutic journal, to help cope with all the emotions [of early motherhood]. I wanted to keep it in some sort of form that I could remember somehow. Instead of writing words in a private journal, I wanted to score [my feelings]. After publishing the music, it meant a lot to hear from other mothers that listening to my music and my experiences [resonated with them.]
Writing for the solo instrument represents the feelings of loneliness in early motherhood. And quite literally, solo was the only opportunity for a music project during the lockdown in 2020.
CK: Balancing a career and living aboard are shared experiences that make me feel connected to you. Can you share how these struggles have created opportunity for you?
TO: The most challenging thing is that I have this big excuse for myself: I am a Japanese person living in the States. I didn’t grow up here therefore I don’t know as many people compared to people who did grow up here. It’s easy to think that I don’t have many connections and that is why my career is not moving forward. This is the biggest excuse that I can come up with for myself. My challenge is to not get into that mindset. It can be difficult for anyone to make a living doing something you love--especially in the creative world. It’s all up to you. If you are a composer, you have to create your own opportunity to get the work or project for yourself. It is challenging but if you get into the mindset of, “I’ve had a more difficult time that you,” then it creates a big block. We need to move past that and create something interesting that can actually help society. I think it’s important to stay strong and do the thing only I can do and not compare myself to others and others’ success.
CK: How do you inspire yourself to stay focused and keep that positive mindset?
TO: Staying busy with my own things and staying creative. Instead of being upset if someone gets the gig [I wanted], I celebrate that person and stay focused on my own project.
CK: Since completing the album, what has changed the most for you?
TO: The first year of motherhood was very challenging but the process of creating this album was cathartic--like journaling or writing an early motherhood memoire. I had an idea for a piece about Insomnia but it didn’t make the deadline. Insomnia was a problem for a while. Even when my son started sleeping through the night, it was still difficult. Sometimes I would hear a baby crying in my head and I wanted to capture that musically. There are so many unique emotions and experiences that I went through [that first year]. It happens so quickly. There are a range of emotions, both positive and negative, but the negative ones tend to not be accepted by society. It is hard to include everything in one album but I don’t think it is necessary to write more on the subject now. It’s time to just move forward with life.
About Tomoko Omura:
CK: Can you tell us about the moment you knew you wanted to be a composer?
TO: I was a music education major in university in Japan but I took a composition class then. I needed to pick one extracurricular class and they did not offer violin. It was either piano, voice or composition so I took composition because that sounded interesting. I started composing in the classical style then. For the graduation project, I wrote a recorder quartet and performed along with three other recorder players. I was pretty serious about Baroque recorder when I was in high school so I think in a way those old composers may still influence some of the compositions that I write now. But during my university era, I did not plan to become a composer. It was just great fun. I loved it and could do it for hours. When I arrived at Berklee, I just practiced hours and hours of jazz concepts—the different modes, diminished scales and permeations. These were all new concepts to me so I just wanted to be fluent in that. I composed during the Berklee era for school assignments like in Harmony class. But after I graduated, I released my first album “Visions.” Those were all original compositions and that’s when I felt like I really became a jazz composer. Now when I compose, I feel like I can truly be myself.
CK: How does your identity as a Japanese-American woman influence the way you compose? Does your identity as a woman influence your approach?
TO: Somehow my album “Roots” [based on traditional Japanese songs] ended up more successful in the States rather than in Japan. Maybe Japanese people don’t want to hear Japanese nursery songs in jazz style. Whenever I come back to Japan, I feel it’s hard to act properly. I don’t remember how I am supposed to behave and sometimes it makes me paralyzed to be myself. I grew up here and absorbed a lot from people’s reactions or even facial expressions—little nuisances. I feel really free in the States. There are not so many restrictions. And I don’t feel like a minority in New York. There are not a lot of Japanese necessarily but there are Asians, Latinos and a Black community. It’s so diverse that I feel adjusted.
I said that I don’t feel like a minority in Brooklyn but I definitely felt like a minority in other places in the States. I used to travel as a folk musician in a few groups and sometimes I would be the only Asian person in the concert hall or entire music festival. I looked different and also, I didn’t speak English as well [back then]. Through music though, they accepted me. I definitely felt a difference before and after the concert.
Being a minority is a strange feeling. This feeling affected my compositions on the album “Roots”. This was the first album that I put this “Japanese-ness” into. I was definitely looking for something that I could contribute to the jazz community there in New York. I wanted to bring out some of the things I care about as well as new sounds.
I actually have a song that’s influenced by Ainu [First Nations peoples of Japan] music. One of my best friends during my university days was researching Ainu culture and that’s how I learned about this ethnic group. The piece is called “Ku-rimuse” in the Ainu language. The English translation is “Bow’s Dance” and in Japanese, “Yumi no Odori.” I recorded it on my album “Branches Vol.2” which is jazz but it is actually an Ainu melody that I adapted.
CK: What would you like to see change or improve in the music industry both in America and in Japan?
TO: First of all, I don’t know so much about the music scene in Japan. In the States, I have a few different feelings. There are a lot of movements happening and different voices are getting heard more which is a great thing. In general I like the fact that women musicians and conductors are getting more attention in the United States.
Women have to stand up and speak up. That is one thing that I struggled with the most—speaking out. Growing up in Japan, it was hard for me to learn how to stand up and speak up for myself. I’m here [in Japan] for two weeks and I am reminded of my childhood here. Even on some playgrounds that I went o in Japan, I see how people act compared to playgrounds I go to in Brooklyn with my son. People are so selfless, considerate and polite and it’s beautiful. But something about standing up for yourself [in Japan] is not looked as a beautiful thing here. I think specifically women in Japan can struggle with that. I think that the gender thing in Japan…. they have a lot to catch up to other countries. It’s one of the biggest issues.
Current Interests:
CK: What are you listening to these days?
TO: Right now, I’m listening to Billy Childs, jazz pianist and composer. I’m a big fan of his music already but I’m checking out his other albums that I haven’t listened to.
CK: If you are able to speak about your next project, what would you like folks to know, and how can they support you?
TO: I have an opportunity to work with Billy Childs through my colleague, Aubrey Johnson’s band. I’ve been friends with Aubrey since my Berklee days. Aubrey is a jazz vocalist. In the past, I have written a composition for Aubrey Johnson’s band and we recorded it. So, I’ve been working on a new composition for her band, which is inspired by a children’s book called “Love in the Library” by Maggie Tokuda-Hall.
Another concert I’m really excited about is this coming March. I’ll be playing at Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall) on March 27th, 2024. It’ll be duo with my husband, Glenn Zaleski on piano and it’s a part of The Sophia Rosoff Concert Series, presented by The Abby Whiteside Foundation.
CK: That’s wonderful! Readers on the East Coast of the USA, if you have a chance, please go out and support this amazing artist at her Carnegie Hall concert! For more information about this concert and to purchase tickets, please click HERE.
Thank you so much Tomoko, for spending your precious time with me today on this short trip to Japan. It has been really fun talking with you. I am really excited to perform your works in November. If anyone would like to know more about Tomoko Omura and her future concerts, you can find out more on her website, Instagram and Facebook.
Updated: October 1, 2023
Did you enjoy this article? Are you interested in learning more about Tomoko Omura and following her career? Leave a comment below and check out her website here for more listening, streaming and purchasing her albums. Subscribe to my blog here to get my future articles directly to your inbox!
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If you didn’t read Women Composers: Volume Two, featuring Nobu Koda, you can read it here. Koda’s Violin Sonata No. 1 will be featured on my recital on November 16, 2023 along with works by Tomoko Omura and others. Click here for more information about my recital and to reserve your tickets!
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Resources for this article came from my interview with Tomoko Omura on July 7, 2023 in Shizuoka, Japan as well as other details found on her website, articles and reviews posted there.