I entered preschool.
A stereo system arrived at home.
My mother listened to classical music every day.
When I was 6 years old,
I started to take classical piano lessons.
We had a cassette tape recorder/player at home when I was 9 years old.
My sister and my brother borrowed albums from their friends for taping.
Every day the stereo played music; classical, rock, funk, pops, etc.
I listened and danced to the music of Isao Tomita.
I was moved by the songs of Carpenters.
I was too excited to fall asleep after I listened to Earth, Wind and Fire.
Finally I had my own cassette tape recorder/player when I was 12.
I accumulated my own music collection,
by having my brother tape his collection for me,
by taping my friends’ albums,
by taping some music from the radio,
by buying albums with my small pocket money.
(1st album I bought was Don’t Look Back by Boston)
Listening to Genesis, I improvised my own bed time story.
Listening to piano concerts of Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff, I traveled to an imaginative sentimental world.
Listening to Earth, Wind and Fire, I still had sleepless nights.
Unfortunately, I gave up piano lessons because I could not catch up with tough lessons.
By the time I was 15, my tape collection became enormous.
My brother started to collect albums with maniac taste, as his disposable income increased,
which I benefitted most.
In my daydream (I guess, teenagers often have daydreams),
I was playing piano in front of the audience, but I could not bring myself to make up my mind to become a musician.
I lost my appetite by listening to Trace or Focus.(Maybe I was in love?)
I was impressed with the advanced performance of the stereo system by listening to Vangelis.
Mahler made me think like a quasi philosopher. I wondered “why people exist.”
Earth, Wind and Fire still made me excited in the middle of the night.
I failed the college entrance exam at the age of 18.
I spent lots of time at the imported record shop.
I bought myself a keyboard.
I should have studied, but I played with the keyboard instead.
I was about to be disappointed because I could not find the impressive album,
but finally I discovered The Enid.
I realized that what I wanted to do most was to study composition.
Keith Jarrett brought me back to piano playing.
David Sanborn and Michael Brecker made me insomniac.
I wanted to go to music school, but I entered a regular college.
I joined the school band, and formed a keyboard Trio (Keyboard, Bass, Drums).
We started to play progressive rock, then fusion.
There was a time when we played funk oriented pops, but in the end we aquired our own originality.
We were wild in the live house.
I started to take jazz piano lessons.
I should have studied as a college student, but I practiced piano instead.
I was mesmerized by Level 42’s erotic rhythm which beat to my heart.
I was shocked by Pat Metheny Group.
Refreshing sound of Yellow Jackets satisfied my thirst.
John Scofield made me help realize how to mature myself.
J.S. Bach’s Fugue dug deep into my heart.
Faure’s Requiem strengthened my longing for metaphysical world.
I wanted to study music properly. I decided to go to U.S. to study music in college.