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CC: I guess I kind of want to move, just, into music. So kind of touched on it throughout the interview already, but can you maybe just tie it all together again, like how you started, when you started, how you chose the violin?

MM: Okay. So, well, first of all, in Seattle, when you're in fourth grade, they go around and give you what they call a "seashore test" to test how well you do in hearing, distinguishing sounds and everything. So they come around, the music teachers come around, show you the different instruments and if you've been chosen as one who actually passed the test -- and I was afraid I wouldn't pass because you had to fill those bubbles in, and I wasn't sure I understood how to do that -- but I guess I passed. And so I remember Mr. Kaiyala coming in and giving all the, showing all the instruments. And there's this one really shiny instrument, saxophone. So I went home and I told my mom, "I think I want to play the saxophone." She says, "No, you don't want to play the saxophone, you've always wanted to play the violin." I used to call it ping-ping when I was in... I didn't know what it was called, so I called it ping-ping when I was in the camp. Okay, "So you should just take violin." In those days, the families had to pay ten dollars for the year for a lesson, you had to get your own instrument, which is really different from now because everybody's given anything they want, practically. But so my parents, they had to sacrifice a lot in order for me to have ten dollars, to give ten dollars for the entire year, had to buy my violin. And so I started taking lessons from Mr. Kaiyala one year in school, and then one year private -- not one year -- one summer of private lessons, when he then took me to Mr. Sokol to be auditioned to see whether he felt I was worth it. Because he was going to have to, I'm sure -- they never talked about this -- but I know in my head that he's a real philanthropist, so I know that he probably gave my parents a really huge discount for private lessons. Because a university professor, they're not going to just charge a little bit, they're gonna charge the most they can. So I think he just did my parents a favor and got that going for me. And Mr. Sokol and, well, Mr. Kaiyala at first, he did everything he could to get me to where I could be with Mr. Sokol.

And the deal was that my mom and Mr. Sokol... my dad, he didn't really care. He said, "If you don't want to play, you don't have to," which was a real counter thing, because then I didn't feel all that much pressure. Because I always knew my dad would be on my side if I wanted to quit, but I never wanted to. And so one of the deals that Id' have to make with my mom was that, okay, I can have violin lessons or I can have clothes. "If you want lots of clothes like your friends at Hawthorne might want, you can't take violin lessons." Well, I always chose clothes, I mean, chose to play violin. And so my mom could always bring that up if I didn't practice. She says, "Well, you know, it's really costing us a lot of money, so if you don't want to play, and if you don't want to practice, you know what? You can just give it up." So I've always wanted to play. And so right away, it was pretty easy for me. Nowadays, I wouldn't stack up to any of the kids. I mean, pedagogy has gotten so good that little kids can play amazing things. And you know how I looked really young for my age, anyway, I probably looked like I was five when I was eleven.

<End Segment 25> - Copyright © 2024 Densho. All Rights Reserved.