When Misato Weber learned from her friend Anne Lee, Santa Clara Youth Services Librarian, that the Mission Branch needed a pianist for a holiday singalong on Dec. 12, she immediately volunteered.
“It’s something I can do to make people happy,” said Weber, a professional pianist living in Santa Clara since 2008. “I wanted to spread the joy of the holiday season for everyone.”
“It was nice to see different people here, from little kids to retired people,” she continued. “We are all different, but we have common things—we want to be happy, live a healthy life, and connect with each other, especially during the holidays.”
Weber became interested in the piano as a kindergartener in Japan when a young friend started playing. But her family had no money for toys, much less a piano.
“Growing up, I played with pots and pans, not many toys,” said Weber. “I was really surprised when my family got a loan and bought a piano for me.”
When Weber came to California years later, she spoke no English. She took free ESL (English as a Second Language) classes at an adult school. A kind, retired neighbor visited her once a week to teach her English.
She enrolled at Contra Costa College in San Pablo, then Cal State East Bay in Hayward, where she earned a Master of Arts in Music with a concentration in piano performance.
Weber toted a heavy shopping bag filled with books of holiday songs—Christian, Jewish and secular—to the Mission Branch Library singalong.
From 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., about 30 people dropped in. They called out their song requests. Then Weber would play the song from memory or search through her books for the music. Lyrics were projected onto a screen and included in an audience handout. A girl in a princess dress danced next to the piano.
Weber teaches piano to children and adults. She is the pianist at a Christian church and a Jewish synagogue and plays for private engagements. She has volunteered at senior centers and Kaiser Permanente Medical Center.
“When I play, I don’t focus on playing well,” said Weber. “I play from my heart. I focus on touching people’s hearts.”
“My volunteer work is only a little thing I can do for this wonderful place I call home now,” she added.
“We don’t have to be rich or dance and sing and be pretty like Taylor Swift to serve people and make a friendly world.”
