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I was saddened to learn of the passing of my former teacher Kazuo Tokito on
Dec 28, 2024. A very sweet, quiet and unassuming man, he didn’t bring
attention to himself as a person but he did as a player. He was a very
commanding presence onstage with the Philadelphia orchestra until his
retirement in 2016; playing forcefully when called upon, and soft, serene
and beautifully ethereal at other times. He can be heard on recordings with
the Philadelphia orchestra and on a solo piccolo album titled Piccolo
Virtuoso, released in 2010.

Kazuo Tokito was born in Sapporo, Japan. He studied at the Interlochen Arts
Academy, with Robert Willoughby at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music,
and with James Pellerite at Indiana University School of Music. After
serving as the Assistant Principal Flute/Piccolo of the Vancouver Symphony
Orchestra and the Principal Flute of the CBC Chamber Orchestra of Vancouver
he joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1981 as Solo Piccolo.

I started lessons with Mr. Tokito because one of my teachers from my
college, David Cramer, suggested that he could help me further after I had
graduated from the New School of Music, Philadelphia and was a finalist for
piccolo orchestral auditions.

He was an extremely wise and effective teacher. We worked together for
three years. His focus was precision and control. Kazuo Tokito was unique
in the way that he revolutionized and personalized his instruction tailored
to the individual.

Kazuo Tokito was focused on using the body to the best of its capabilities.
This methodology had Alexander technique as the basis. He taught
counterbalanced muscle groups for inhalation and exhalation in a unique way
that slowed the speed of wind. This drew quite a few local flutists to take
lessons with him. In the upper register he called playing forte with slow
air speed “cooling your head”.

I spent my four years during college focusing intently on the control of
tone, color, dynamics and phrasing with Deborah Carter Smith and then with
her former teacher, the former Philadelphia orchestra piccoloist John Krell
and David Cramer. Neither David nor Kaz felt the necessity to modernize my
embouchure after this solid groundwork. Instead of trying to change me,
Kazuo Tokito tailored his instruction to my personal framework. To enlarge
my volume to triple forte without change of pitch or loss of tone he
contrived a method of specific angles and distances of the flute and
piccolo to my lips which helped me increase my volume in all ranges while
still being able to revert back, playing pianissimo with control. Then we
worked on turning on a dime between the extremes in volume, which he called
being a “schizophrenic player”. This use of angling without rolling the
instrument was created specifically for me and the Philadelphia Sound/
style of playing from the Ormandy years and is a concept I continue to
employ and pass on to my students.