I really like music, as you do. When I was a child, I learned the piano and played mainly classic piano songs. On the other hand, I also liked the theme songs of Japanese animation played on TV at that time.  I liked better to listen to the songs than to watch stories, sometimes I often stared at the screen of TV to get the subtitles of the lyrics. They moved so fast, and I was too young to get all of them, so I asked my mom earnestly to get them and write them down. I desired to know them anyway. I guess it was so bothersome for her to do it, because she looked like being in a bad mood coming from the kitchen. Mom, thank you so much! 🙂 

Maybe I was third or 4th grade student, when I practiced the piano songs at home, suddenly I had a kind of idea that maybe I could compose songs. Because the songs I practiced at that time were for beginners, so they were so simple and easy. I brought a piece of paper immediately, and tried to create the title of the song at first. It's so funny, I wonder why the title came first. 🙄 I thought I need it formally anyway...And next stage was to make the melodies. For a while I tried to make some bars, and soon gave up making. Closing the fallboad of the piano, I realized alone in the room that the songs needed to begin with intro melodies.

The time has passed and I have grown up, I started to learn the vocal lesson. I used to sing songs light‐heartedly like humming, but I thought that I was not someone who could sing well , and when I imagined I was singing, I felt I was not allowed to sing.  I had been a listener for long time, but still I had burning desire to sing various songs.So, I made up my mind to sing in earnest. My vocal coach said to me that I could choose the songs for my lessons. I chose some songs and took them to the lessons for about a year, but honestly I didn't feel strong passions to want to sing them. Yes, I realized that I had no songs I wanted to sing at that time though there were lots of songs in the world, around me ! Then I thought like this;

"OK, I will compose my original songs."

I didn't see that coming. It was totally unexpected by myself. Anyway, I started to learn composing lessons additionally. My coach was sax player and used lots of chords like magic. She told me from simple ones to complicated ones which had delicate nuances. I learned a lot of things from her how to compose songs basically.

It has passed a long time since I gave up making my original songs, I've become a singer-songwriter and now I produce SymLa-3000. If I could tell myself who was a elementary school student about this, what kind of expression would she show me ? I wish I could see it !

　思えば、音楽好きだったと思います。特にテレビアニメの主題歌。場合によってはアニメの内容よりも曲の方が気になって、テレビ画面を見つめて歌詞を覚えては、歌っていました。母によると、1歳半ごろには、テレビに出演していた演歌歌手の曲を覚えて、勝手に歌っていたそうです。どうやって覚えたのか私も不思議。小学生になるとクラシックピアノを習い始めました。

あるとき、いつもの練習曲を弾いた後にふと、「作曲してみよう」と思い立ちました。基本的な練習曲をやっていた頃で、シンプルな曲なら自分でも考えられそう、と。しばらく考えて音符をいくつか書いてみたものの、、、メロディが出てこない。そうか、曲にはまず始めのメロディがいるのか。いわゆるイントロというやつですが、何のメロディーも思いつかないまま、少し失望してピアノの蓋を閉じた子供の私。その蓋の重さを今でも覚えています。

大人になりボーカルレッスンに通うようになりまして、そこではたいてい、講師から曲を選んでくるように言われます。好きな曲を１年ほどいくつか歌いつつ、なんか違うなという気がするのです。好きな曲のはずなのに、です。ほかにもっと合う曲をと探し続けたけど、こんなにもたくさんの曲が身の回りにあるのに、自分が強く「歌いたい」と思える曲がなかなかない。選曲の試行錯誤を続けて、ようやく気付きました。

「自分が作ればいい」のだと。

まさかこんな結論が出るとは．．．。長い間、リスナー専門だった自分には、全く予想していなかった展開に驚きながらも、どこかで、こうなるのが当然というか必然だったようにも思え、私にとってはあるべき自然な流れにのった感じがありました。ソングライトのレッスンの担当は、プロのサックス奏者の先生でした。作曲の初歩から多様なコードまで、この方から学んだことは今でもとても役にたっています。

ソングライトをあきらめた小学生の私に、将来ソングライターをやることになっているよ、と告げたら、一体どんな顔をするのでしょう？すごく見てみたい気がします。