Michi Fuji
RACE
Michi Fuji is a Japanese woman who grew up in Japan playing the violin. When she was asked why she moved to the United States she said, “I wanted to learn Jazz.” Michi claims that coming from Japan, there are no opportunities to learn “original jazz.” She says, “Jazz is original in America, in New York and in New Orleans. Not Japan.”1 Michi’s parents are both Japanese and still live in Japan. When Michi was being interviewed by Monk Rowe from Hamilton College, he asked her if there was high pressure from their parents for Japanese children to excel at music. Michi claimed that this was very common and that some parents think that their children have to be talented from a small age. Because of this, there is very strict training that occurs throughout Japan.2INFLUENCE
Michi was influenced to come to the United States to learn jazz. She started off her musical career by learning how to play and read music with a teacher in Japan. During her childhood, Michi mostly played classical music.3 It was not until she was 14 or 15 years old that she first heard jazz music. The first CD she ever bought was Coltrane but she claims that she really did not understand the music and at that age; just mostly bought the CD and other jazz CD’s because jazz is “cool.”4 As she got older, Fuji started listening to more violin players within jazz. However, the first jazz artists that truly influenced her was Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Stephane Grapelli.5 Michi went to school in both Japan and in the United States. In the United States she attended St. Elizabeth’s in New Jersey for a year to learn English. Then, after the year was over she transferred to the New School in New York City and received a degree in Jazz.6 Currently, Michi is teaching students how to play the violin. She has not started teaching jazz yet but she gives violin lessons often.7 Michi learns most of her music just through listening. The first time she heard blues music she learned the song just through listening to it. She claims that she transcribes an artists’ piece only sometimes, but mostly can learn just through listening. In order to make a violin swing, Michi says that it is very difficult. She claims that she still does not truly know how to make a violin swing and that she is going to have to keep learning new techniques in order to truly master it.8 One thing that Michi does a lot is improvise. She often plays free form and plays with the rhythm. She claims that a violin is hard to feel and play with a rhythm feel. She has also started to watch the left hand of pianists to know what to play and how to play it while the song is going on. This means that other people’s music truly influences how she has to play and is going to play each time she performs.9FAMILY LIFE
When talking about her family, Michi’s parents were not surprised when she told them she wanted to move to New York. Michi grew up being the middle child, with an older brother and younger sister. Her bother has a “regular, stable life” and lives close to their parents. He has always been somewhat conservative and is a boy, like a son, so he always has responsibility. Because Michi is the second child, she has always “opened the door.” She is not innovative, but surviving. For her parents, it was almost a normal, expected thing that Michi was moving to New York. It made sense to them.10GENDER
Michi claims that she feels different sometimes that she is a woman in jazz. She is not sure why this is but also feels as though it is even different to play with a woman. Sometimes with women she feels a different attitude than with men, and that the women musicians are just different. She doesn’t have the opportunity to play with women often but just feels as though that it is different and a bit harder to do.11INDEPENDENCE
As a kid, Michi was very self motivated. When she had the free time, she would play her violin, just because she wanted to.12 Michi moved to the United States alone so she could go to school and learn how to play real jazz. She left her family and life in Japan so she could do this all on her own. In her music, Michi is independent when it comes to the way that she plays. She does not typically follow sheet music, but instead improvises and plays through the rhythm of the music and what she feels. She also watches the hands of the people who she is playing with to know how to play herself.13 She has some goals when it comes to thinking about the future. Nothing too big, but she truly wants to learn more tunes and continuously play the violin. She does not necessarily want this so that she can expand her career, instead she is more focused on bettering herself as a player.14Sample performance:
For full interview transcript, read the following:
1 For more details see, Michi Fuji, interview by Monk Rowe, Hamilton College Jazz Archive, April 3, 2014, lines 14-19, transcript.
2 Interview, lines 44-48.
3 Interview, lines 28-32.
4 Interview, lines 59-64.
5 Interview, lines 72-73.
6 Interview, lines 84-92.
7 Interview, lines 109-110.
8 Interview, lines 175-188.
9 Interview, lines 208-216; 284-295.
10 Interview, lines 76-82.
11 Interview, lines 137-148.
12 Interview, lines 38-40.
13 Interview, lines 208-212; 284-288.
14 Interview, lines 248-252.
