Ryōko Kihara

Ryoko Kihara (Often spelled as “Lioko Kihara” in her published works, 樹原涼子, Kihara Ryōko) is a Japanese composer, pianist, music educator, and author. 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 (ピアノランド)” (In 5 Volumes, 199192) “Piano Land; Techniques for Fun (ピアノランド たのしいテクニック)” (In 3 Volumes, 199394) “Piano Land; For Concert (ピアノランド コンサート)” (In 3 Volumes, 2000) “Preparatory;