For Yuko Honda, a Suzuki violin prodigy who has devoted her life to teaching that method, music has been her pacifier, stabilizer and lifesaver.

Honda, now 60, will give a rare concert Sunday with a Honolulu pianist she befriended more than 40 years ago, when both were University of Washington music students. The college chum is Carl Crosier, someone she had not seen for four decades because of challenges — emotional and medical — in her life.

"I met Carl 41 years ago," said Honda in a phone interview from Seattle, where both musicians performed last weekend. "My violin teacher asked the piano teacher if there was a piano student who could play with me. One day, when I went in with my violin, there was Carl sitting at the piano. That's how we met."

And became fast friends.

"Based on the weekend concert, I have to admit that Yuko rises to the occasion," said Crosier, who hadn't communicated with Honda for 20 years until he connected with her last April in Honolulu when she was in town for a Suzuki Association of Hawai'i visit.

"We had dinner together, and it wasn't till we e-mailed each other, about six or seven weeks later, that I discovered she had cancer. But she has great determination; she told me, 'I'm not dead yet, so get practicing.' "

He spoke from a San Francisco stopover, en route home, on Monday.

"It's such a pleasure for me to play with her," Crosier said. "I have done a lot of work with a lot of musicians over the years and there's a certain kind of affinity we have shared ever since we started working together."

Honda was 4 when she enrolled in the highly regarded Suzuki method of developing a musical technique based on the "mother tongue" belief — that it's possible to learn to play the violin if the proper environment is established — in Japan. Those skills enabled her to become a lifelong musician and educator, and she treasures the training.

A Japanese native, Honda was sent to the Eastman School of Music in 1968 to teach the Suzuki method. She since has taught at Drake University, the University of Southern California and the University of Memphis, and has maintained an active schedule of recitals and concerts throughout Japan and the United States. She now lives in Bellevue, Wash., where she runs a violin studio.

But a discordant note — two, really — clouded and complicated her life.

One was an ex-husband, still in Japan, who took their two sons, then 6 and 3, and disappeared for years.

Only recently has she seen Yorinobu "Roland" Takahashi, now 34, and Michinobu "William" Takahashi, now 31. They finally reunited in "someplace neutral," on Maui. She learned that the older son has a daughter, now 3, and the younger son is expecting a baby this year, so a bit of stability has emerged in her family life.

The other challenge was lung cancer, which she detected in May during her Honolulu visit. Suffering from a bad cough she assumed was the flu, Honda discovered she had developed cancer in her left lung and was told the condition was terminal.

The cancer had affected her lungs, liver, brain and bones. Her doctor told her without treatment, she would be lucky to live for two months; with treatment, she could extend her life by two years.

"I really wanted to die; everything up to last year was against my will," said Honda. "For years, I had hopes of being a famous musician. But after seeing doctors and taking medication, oral chemotherapy, I really feel great. My radiation treatment has worked beautifully, and I have decided it's not my time to go. I also learned that those silly feelings about fame were nothing when you have (health) issues."

Until she reconnected with her sons and made up a personal things-to-do list, Honda had felt there was no purpose in living.

"I was more scared than depressed," she said of her health problems. "I was somewhat glad my life was limited; but inside, I could feel a smiling face. The doctors told me to move fast, to meet my goals."

One was to take an Alaska cruise, which she did last year. The other was to present a Hono-lulu recital with Crosier, which she's doing Sunday.

"Now, I have a different idea about life," she said. "When my concert is over, I want to spend two weeks on Kaua'i, thinking new ideas, new goals. I have decided it is not my time to go. I have ideas to help others with the same (cancer) problems. I want to help give them hope, encourage them to set goals. If I can use my life this way, I would be happy."

Honda still has 28 students in Bellevue, down from her peak of 50, and she teaches daily except Sundays.

"Teaching has helped me move on," she said. "And music has sustained my life."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.