SOP Podcast #107 - Kae Hannah Matsuda on Developing Hands And Feet Coordination, Getting on the Organ Bench Every Day And Dreaming Big

Welcome to Secrets of Organ Playing Podcast #107!

Today's guest is an American organist ​and pianist Kae Hannah Matsuda. She began piano lessons at age 9. In junior high school she accompanied her youth group's weekly hymn sing,

and at 13 began her ongoing involvement in church music.

She's a performer at heart, and church music offered a challenging but forgiving way to develop this skill! So throughout her years at Covenant High School in Tacoma, she accompanied weekly chapel and school choir concerts. At the prodding of her piano teachers at the time, Paul Twedt and later Chris Rogers, she also competed and placed as a soloist in local MTNA competitions.

In 2013 she began attending Seattle Pacific University, where she collaborated with SPU choir and solo vocal performances and recorded several student-led ensembles, while continuing private lessons with Dr. Wayne Johnson. He retired in 2014, and she joined the studio of Dr. Dainius Vaičekonis.

Kae lives in Lake City, Seattle, and teaches in-home lessons. She's currently employed as pianist/organist at Haller Lake United Methodist Church, seasonally accompanies the Norwegian Ladies’ Chorus of Seattle, and have been occasionally teaching elementary piano students since 2012.
She graduated from SPU in June 2017, one of just two students with a BA in piano performance.

In this conversation Kae shares her insights about overcoming her 3 main challenges - developing hands and feet coordination, getting on the organ bench every day and dreaming big.

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Listen to the conversation

Related Links:
Kae Hannah Matsuda on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIjPtoQ1_bxt38oGTCLOJiw and Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/hannah.matsuda.39