Haruko Kataoka
1927-2004

Haruko Kataoka passed away early in January 2004, in Matsumoto, Japan, at the age of 75.

She was the co-founder along with Dr. Suzuki and his sister-in-law, Shizuko Suzuki of the Suzuki Piano Method.

Born in Tokyo in 1927, Dr. Kataoka began the study of piano at the age of six, studying with the late Yoshime Hirata from the age of eight. In 1945, she graduated from Sacred Heart Girl's High School in Tokyo and continued her piano studies with Haruko Fujita.

Beginning in the mid-1950s when she became the accompanist for Dr. Suzuki's violin classes at the Talent Education Research Institute, and there she began to research piano pedagogy according to Dr. Suzuki's method of teaching the violin. From that time onward, she traveled extensively training teachers and teaching students. She was director of eleven 10-Piano Concerts in Matsumoto, Japan. For the past ten years these concerts have featured students from other countries and become international exchange experiences for the performers and their teacher. The past several concerts have raised tens of thousands of dollars for UNICEF.

For many years Dr. Kataoka was the Director of the Piano Program at the Talent Education Institute in Matsumoto, and until the past few years, she was the teacher trainer of all the piano trainees in Matsumoto. She was awarded the Matsumoto City Arts and Culture Award in 1986 and an honorary doctorate from the University of Louisville m 1990.

Dr Haruko Kataoka is the founder of Suzuki Piano Basics. She dedicated her career to research into the Suzuki approach to piano teaching and performance. A non-profit organization called the Piano Basics Foundation was formed years ago to disseminate her teaching ideas and plans to continue its efforts to support her contributions to teaching.

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