January 2026

Music: A Universal Language

By Bridget Brewster
Posted: 05/30/2025

Imagine for a moment you’re in a room of the Shakespeare Club in Pasadena with a group of people you barely know (some not at all), and you think you’re there simply to hear classical music. Within minutes, the musician asks all of you to place your hand on your chest and make a single sound in unison. 

In that instant, musician and neuroscientist Dr. Makiko Hirata demonstrated the power of music.

She explained that when we listen to music together, our heartbeats and our breath begin to sync. From that moment on, Hirata had a rapt audience. As she played on the beautiful grand piano, she showed that various composers create music that elicits nature or the various experiences our lives... joyful, melancholic, tragic, hopeful, whimsical moments.

Hirata masterfully blended various cultural pieces. She introduced us to the wonderful compositions of Kosaku Yamada (“Sutra at Dawn”) and Chopin’s “Aeolian Harp” as well as Brahms and Ujyou Noguchi, Federico Mompou and Ravel. Villager Betty Ann Jansson commented, “This afternoon far exceeded my expectations.  This was simply wonderful and so calming.” The unity, peacefulness and joy in the room was palpable.

As Hirata states in one of her many YouTube videos, “My job is to be unabashedly idealistic and optimistic!” And that she is. In fact, she shares her concern for the climate through her music.  From an LA Times interview (March 2023), “What would help us,” she said, “is to reframe climate change as a symptom to … a bigger underlying problem of apathy and disconnect — and music reminds us that this individualism is what has led us here.”  Hirata is part of Tempo: Music for Climate Change.

In concluding the afternoon program, Hirata paid homage to founding Villager Fritzie Kulick who recently passed away. By way of introduction to “Scriabin Nocturne for the Left Hand Op. 9-2”, she explained that there are relatively few pieces composed especially to be played with only the left hand.  Tears flowed as did Fritzie’s spirit while the peace of the notes filled our souls. 

These words from Makiko Hirata rang true for this incredible afternoon respite,” What we share is greater than our differences – and we share our home, our planet earth, and our future on it. We are all interconnected. My happiness is yours. Your hardship is mine.”

See more at:       

https://musicalmakiko.com/en                         

https://www.youtube.com/c/MakikoHirata

Podcast: Can music inspire more people to care about climate change?