If MST had a resident shaman, it would be sound artist Tom Soloveitzik. A Maple and Willow parent, Tom is a gentle and thoughtful presence in our community. You can almost hear him listening to everything around him at a deep level, which he expresses through his saxophone and percussion in his experimental collaborations. Recently returned from a tour in China, he reflects on his time in Tokyo and the world around him.
Origins
Where are you from and how would you describe it?
I am from Haifa, the third biggest city in Israel. It is a port city, situated on the Mediterranean Sea and going up the northern slope of Mount Carmel. I remember growing up there, climbing or descending staircases. It’s a feature of the city that its topography dictates.
Haifa is quite beautiful with still a lot of the mountain’s vegetation and different kinds of trees. In recent years many wild boars appeared in the city after there was an overbuilding in the city’s green valleys. It has a long history going back to the Hellenistic period and before. It’s a multicultural city as well. And it’s quite normal, which is not something that is taken for granted in Israel. The British built a train line from Haifa to Beirut in the 1940s. I hope it will connect people in the region again someday.
What did you want to be when you were a kid?
I wanted to be an archaeologist and at a later point an architect. I have never pursued these directions but I still appreciate them very much.
What were your favorite games as a kid?
During my school days I was mostly interested in sports. I played table tennis in a team for a couple of years and then basketball until I finished high school. We used to practice and play in an open court all year round. A few years later the court was converted into a supermarket parking lot. Concrete memories.
What’s your secret superpower?
Listening. Of course, what exactly is listening? It could be so many things. Sound is omnipresent and relational; we experience it in so many ways in our daily life. For me it is something active, purposeful. It can act as a connective tissue to the world and let the listener be part of it. It is free and anybody can participate and enjoy it.
Tokyo
What brought you to Tokyo?
Tali, my partner, got a scholarship to study peace. Thank you, Tali!
What do you most miss about your home country?
I think I miss a certain warmth and energy between people and between friends and family. It is something that I’m lacking here. It hasn’t bothered me most of the time but it has started to build up little by little.
These are very difficult times in the region.
What do you enjoy the most about living in Japan?
I enjoy many things in our daily life, and I think they all connect to a greater general feeling that I have from living here. It is the collective care for the public space, the personal security, nature, quietude to name a few.
What’s your favorite place in Tokyo and why?
There’s many places in Tokyo that could go in my list but I find it difficult these days to think about them, considering what is going on in my country and in Gaza. Therefore I choose the MST Forest campus as my favorite place. It gives me hope to stand there, day in and day out and witness a joyful present with great hopes for a better future.
Montessori
Why did you choose a Montessori education for your children?
I chose Montessori education for my children because of its holistic characteristics: viewing each child in their own right and letting them learn and develop at their own pace.
What do you most enjoy about the MST community?
I mostly enjoy its diversity, which enables us as a family (and of course my children) to meet and befriend people we would have no chance to meet otherwise.
Recommendations
What are you reading right now?
I’m currently reading Apeirogon by Colum McCann. This is a gripping book about loss and hope and about the endless grieving of two fathers, one Israeli and the other Palestinian, who lost their daughters to acts of terror and violence that evolved from the never ending cycle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
McCann’s presentation is very unique. The book is written in short paragraphs, some written in a semi-documentary manner, some as monologues, giving its readers the feeling of an infinite number of angels (like the title suggests) that can describe what in essence is very difficult to grasp and come to terms with.
Another book I read recently is Fabienne Verdier’s The Dragon's Brush: A Journey to China in Search of a True Master (it sounds better in French: passagère du silence). It tells the story of a young French art student who went to Communist China to study calligraphy and her journey to find a teacher in post cultural revolution China. Very brave and inspiring woman indeed!
What’s a movie you recommend?
Perfect Days by Wim Wenders. This project started when the Shibuya ward asked Wenders to make a documentary on their public toilet project. He declined and came up with this beautiful movie starring Koji Yakusho.
Wenders is a master director in his ability to create magic from almost nothing, and Yakusho’s performance is second to none. It made us go back and watch Shall We Dance from 1996, starring Yakusho. Marvelous.
How do you spend your weekends?
When we have time we usually try to travel in Japan and to take advantage of our limited time here. We visited many beautiful places during the last year and a half. When we spend the weekend in the city we go to parks, museums or meet with friends.
Music
When did you start playing the saxophone?
I started playing the saxophone at a relatively ‘old’ age. I was around 22, just after I finished my military service.
How did you first get into music?
I got into music late; I went to New York for a couple of weeks just after graduating from high school. I started listening to jazz there, bought some CDs and continued to listen during my military service as much as I could. Studying the history and the development of the music from records and some books and then when I had the time I started to take lessons on the instrument.
How would you describe your music?
I am interested in the materiality of sound, its physicality and its tactility. Another main concern is the practice of listening within the context of playing with others: humans, environments, spaces.
While thinking about sound or music I would like to exist next to others instead of determining a center. You can find similar approaches for example on how landscape is viewed and represented in China versus the west. I mainly play improvised music which means that some of the outcomes are not determined in advance.
How did you meet other like-minded musicians in Tokyo?
Tokyo has a very interesting scene with its own history. It is known in the circles I’m interested in. I knew some of the musicians here from a while back as a listener to their recordings. It was exciting for me to have a chance to meet them and play with them here.
I met other musicians in venues or through mutual friends and one thing led to another. It was a blessing to have the opportunity to connect with locals through music. It added another dimension to my stay here that wouldn’t be possible otherwise.
What did you observe when you toured China? How were audiences different?
First of all, the energy was so different. I felt it straight away on my way to Beijing. Much warmer and hectic in a good way. I could relate to it even though it was unfamiliar. People were very welcoming and showed me around; I was invited to people’s apartments a couple of times and could sense their personal lives. It almost never happened to me here beforehand. I felt that people were very keen to listen and interact. Maybe because not a lot of foreigners are visiting at the moment. It was a great experience for me.
What do you say to aspiring musicians?
I think that being knowledgeable and open to other fields deepens one's understanding of one's practice, and affects it in many subtle and diverse manners.