Nurturing a Prodigy

For Yoshie Akimoto, a master piano teacher and veteran concert performer, nurturing a musical prodigy runs in her blood.

At ten-years-old, she herself was a prodigy in her native country of Japan, where she performed as a pianist and won prestigious competitions before moving to the United States to train at Julliard.  

She began training her own daughter, Allison Eldredge, in piano when she was just three. Eldredge soon thereafter discovered the cello when she was nine and as her career emerged, she and Akimoto collaborated in concert as a unique mother-daughter duo. Today, Eldredge is a world-renowned cellist.

Akimoto currently lives in Wilton, but from 1984 to 1996 she lived in New Canaan, where her three children attended   and .  

Akimoto said the high school accommodated  her daughter's travel and performance schedule, allowing her to be dismissed early on some days and make-up other days she missed.  

"They made it possible for her to develop her career," Akimoto told About Town, "and not have to be home schooled."

Akimoto runs the Akimoto Piano School, which has studios in Wilton, CT, New York City and Orange County, CA. Over the years she has discovered and nurtured the talent of many talented young pianists.  It was during one of her monthly trips to the Orange County studio, run by her sister, that Akimoto discovered a seven-year-old Umi Garrett.

"I could see the spark in her playing and I had an immediate interest to develop her," Akimoto said.

She introduced Garrett to competitions that the youngster won, competing against players as old as 18-years-old. Akimoto traveled more frequently to the west coast to train Garrett. Last summer, Umi's mother Yuriko Garrett moved her daughter to New Canaan to be closer to her teacher.

"Many of my New Canaan friends helped out," said Akimoto. Her friend, real estate agent, Lyn Leonard found the mother and daughter an apartment located on a quiet in-town street, where Garrett's Steinway grand piano takes up most of the living room.

"She is doing fabulously. People love her," Akimoto said of the fifth grader who practices three hours a day. Before the bus arrives at 7:45 a.m. to take her to Saxe Garrett has already practiced for a full hour.

Profiled as Patch's first  , Garrett's extraordinary talent is undeniable to anyone who hears her play, yet her teacher stresses that the finest young artists must be humble and modest.

"How sweet she is is very important and I emphasize that with my students."  Akimoto continued, "You cannot be fake. You have to be true inside your heart and soul."

"We please the audience with a true heart. Then we touch the heart of the audience with our real expression of ourselves," the teacher said.

Akimoto does not feel the word "prodigy" is a positive label to put upon a young person, although she said Garrett hears that word a lot.  

"If she is a person with humility, then the music will be beautiful too," Akimoto stressed. "I know as an artist myself, our playing is a mirror of our personality and what we have in our heart."

Yuriko Garrett said, "It's been a big change to move here, but to be close to Ms. Akimoto and see Umi enjoy the lessons with her is wonderful."  

Steve Garrett remained in Orange County where he holds two jobs to help support his daughter's rising career. He can't move with them to Connecticut, Umi Garrett said because he works in his family's  business and also raises and sells coral which grows in the ocean.

Her mother said the geographic separation has actually brought their family closer. "My husband and I are more bonded through supporting Umi." Garrett said.

Akimoto said many prodigies have great opportunities at a young age but when the demands of business are involved, things can change. She said she has seen great players destroyed rather than nurtured.

"I have been through this myself and with my daughter and now, my students. I do my best to guide them and protect them. I look at Umi and I look back on my own life with renewed determination that this will grow into a wonderful future for her," she said.

Along with the student-teacher relationship, the mother's role is important, Akimoto said. The mother needs to be supportive in the right way.

"Some go beyond the boundaries and the world does not like stage mothers," said Akimoto. "Yuriko is just right. She is there when she is needed,"

"And not there when she's not!" Umi Garrett said.

Before Umi performs she stays alone with no one except her teacher.

"I prefer to have her -- to make her feel secure, loved and strong," Akimoto said.