Feel The Key

Episode 34 starts backwards, detours through dumplings and Walter’s music recommendation, then lands where it matters: celebrating our teacher Phillip Kawin.

We’re joined by Renée Guerrero and Riko Higuma, two former students and assistants, for stories that are funny, tender, and very Kawin. His lessons ran on “PK time,” his schedules drove his assistants crazy, and his studio somehow collected turtles everywhere. But he also knew his students as people, chose music that brought out who they were, and went out of his way to help them long after a lesson ended.

Renée finds Kawin’s markings in a score she hasn’t opened in decades. Riko returns to a Debussy piece she studied with him. As they prepare for the Phillip Kawin Legacy Concert at Manhattan School of Music, both discover that his words are still there when they sit down to play.

That’s the heart of this episode: a teacher’s legacy lives in the music, the friendships, and the little things his students carry forward.

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