Ryōko Kihara


Ryoko Kihara is a Japanese composer, pianist, music educator, and author.
𝕏 liokokihara

Biography

She was born in Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture and later pursued musical studies at the Musashino Academia Musicae. She is best known for her Piano Land series of instructional books for the piano. First published in 1991, the series has had a major influence on music pedagogy in Japan and is regarded as one of the most standard textbooks in piano education in the country.
Kihara is also a composer; she composes classical music and music for video games. Her works for piano are popular among Japanese pianists and students. Japanese pianists such as Izumi Tateno have incorporated her works into their repertoire. Almost all of her music is published by Ongaku No Tomo Corporation.
Kihara's son Konosuke Kihara is also a composer and also composes music for video games.

Major works

Piano instruction books

Piano Land series

Source:
"Piano Land "
"Piano Land; Techniques for Fun "
"Piano Land; For Concert "
"Preparatory; Piano Land "
"Piano Land; Scale, Mode, and Arpeggio "
"Piano Land; Scale Practice Book for Children "

Other

Source:
"Opening Your Ears; How to Hear Chords "
"12 Doors for Improvisation "

Music

Piano music

Source:
"A Small Box in My Heart "
"Rhapsody No. 1 "
"A Dream in a Dream "
"A Gentle Look "
"Wind in the Sky "
"The Trilogy of Seasons "
"Rhapsody No. 2 "

Vocal & choral music

Source:
"Ballade for Children "
"Flower "
"My Wish ~On the Day of Christmas~ "
"My Wish ~Getting Over the Great Earthquake~ "

Game music

Source:
Momotaro Densetsu
Momotaro Dentetsu
Linda Cube
''Ore no Shikabane wo Koete Yuke''

Writing

"Want to Play the Piano? " ISBN: 978-4062815857
"Raising Children in the Kiharas ~Days of Piano Land & Smiling " ISBN: 978-4048850704