022: An unfortunate break

Stand Partners for Life

If it seems like we've been silent the last couple of months, that's because Akiko's life has been pretty different since early March! One moment she was working out at the gym like she did five times a week, and the next she was flat on her back with paramedics on the way. Suffice it to say that she hasn't been playing with the LA Phil since then, but we can see the way back at least! Midway through her recovery, we talk about her time in the hospital and back at home. We also take the opportunity to answer some fantastic questions that you emailed during our time away, including what audition recordings are all about, whether we'd fake Prokofiev's Cinderella suite, and how we deal with audience distractions! Transcript Nathan Cole: Hi, and welcome back to Stand Partners for Life. Nathan Cole: And this time, after a bit of a long break… we took a long break last summer. This one was a little different. Akiko, do you want to tell us why? Akiko Tarumoto: I have been recuperating from an unfortunate incident at the gym. I took a bad step, fell on my bottom, and spent the next eight weeks recovering. Nathan Cole: Eight weeks and counting. Akiko Tarumoto: Seven weeks and counting. Nathan Cole: Oh, okay. And not working, not playing in the Philharmonic. Akiko Tarumoto: Not playing. I'm playing but not playing at work. Nathan Cole: Take us back to the incident a little bit. Akiko Tarumoto: People keep kind of guessing what it was, and they'll be like, "Oh, were you…?" I don't know why it bothered me at the hospital. The doctors kept talking about how I was doing step aerobics, and I was like- Nathan Cole: That makes you sound like a- Akiko Tarumoto: I didn't take a time machine back to the '80s and don skintight, shiny spandex… Nathan Cole: "And one, and two…" Akiko Tarumoto: Yeah, no. So I was not doing step aerobics. It did involve a box, one of those foam boxes. They come in various heights, and this one was the lowest one. It was a 12-inch box, and I was just trying to do something to keep my heart rate up between weight lifting rounds. And yeah, just, it was one of those weird things that just, I guess I was kind of tired, and my foot didn't come cleanly down from the box. My other foot was already on the way up. So the box slid toward me, and I landed. I had nowhere to go but on my bottom. Nathan Cole: And I've had other people ask me, people who don't know you very well -- But just to make it clear, I mean, you were probably at the gym or were, at that time, five times a week, doing these kinds of classes. Akiko Tarumoto: Yeah, yeah. In fact, I was joking that I should probably spend as much time playing the violin as I did at the gym. Because at that point, just working out, and running… if you added up all the time I spent exercise-wise, it, yeah, dwarfed my actual time practicing on my instrument. So yeah, it was a little bit sobering. So now, finally, my practicing found a way to reverse that proportion. Nathan Cole: Against your will. And yeah, I think just the day before you had run 10 miles. Akiko Tarumoto: Yeah, that was disappointing, because it's been a while since I ran that far, as you know. And so it felt like a milestone to get back there, and it was. Won't be seen again for a while. Nathan Cole: Well, I'm looking forward to you getting back to it, because you will. I know they didn't like the look of the fall and all that. So they called some paramedics who… Akiko Tarumoto: They talked to me as if I were probably about 60 years old or older. Nathan Cole: Wait. Did they ask you who was president and expect you to say it was Ronald Reagan? Akiko Tarumoto: No. (I do remember that, by the way.) No, they asked me if I was on any medications, and when I said no, they looked really encouraging, and they said, "Ooh, very healthy.