Japan Section Special Award "Music" Yuuki Chiyoya (13, male, Japan) |
I was four years old when I first encountered music. I'm not sure what it was that impressed me so much about the song "Mirai-e" by Kiroro, but I tried desperately to remember the lyrics, even though I had no idea what they meant. I was really happy to be able to memorize it in two days, and sang the song over and over again. Ever since then, I've loved to sing. At kindergarten I sang several songs by Miyuki Nakajima, which I memorized on my own. People would come and gather around me and listen to what I was singing.In my first year of elementary school, I sang a little at first, but eventually gave up. The reason I stopped was that there were fewer people than in the kindergarten and nobody wanted to listen to my singing. I admit that was a rather selfish reason. For the following three years, I didn't spend a lot of time on music. Then three new pupils came from Mutsu, Hachinohe and Sannohe. Their names are Oishi-kun, who loves to play guitar and has written some lyrics of his own; Sawada-kun, who really likes folk songs and Kobukuro(a duet); and Kudo-kun, who never gets bored listening to "Ichigo hakusho wo mou ichido."When I heard these boys talking about music every day, I felt frustrated and envious, and at the same time I wanted to be like them. So I practiced the song "Kanda-gawa," which the three boys often sang, so that I would be able to follow Oishi-kun's guitar playing. After three days of memorizing the song, I let them listen to me sing it.This time, I was able to sing accompanied by a guitar, rather than a capella. As I was singing, and really enjoying myself, Oishi-kun told me that I was a good singer. As soon as I heard that, my enthusiasm for music, which had been lying dormant for a long time, was reawakened. I started remembering a number of the folk songs that the boys were singing, such as "Niju-ni sai no wakare" and "Nagori yuki." I also started learning to play the piano. But I preferred to accompany myself playing what I remembered from my CDs, rather than playing classical music. I tried several instruments apart from the piano. I also listened to Japanese pop and tried to play and sing a variety of songs, such as those by Yuzu, Kobukuro, EXILE, Remioromen, Spitz and Mr. Children. When I was in my sixth year of elementary school, my teacher asked me to write a song for the festival being held at our school for the blind in Aomori prefecture. At that time, I had already devoted myself to songwriting, so I accepted the offer straight away. But then I realised that I'd never composed an upbeat song before for this kind of event, so I asked my teacher if I could just write some lyrics instead. I wrote some lyrics to replace the main chorus of "Tomodachi no uta"(A song for friends) by Yuzu. "Keep trying to pick yourself up. Keep trying to gather your courage. You are having a hard time today, but surely tomorrow will be better." I changed the title from "A song for friends" to "A song for courage." I felt relieved after finishing the lyrics, but soon had to start practicing the piano. Once the practice started, there were lots of problems: I was told that my tempo was too fast, for example, or that I was too tense. That really annoyed me. But after listening to some music when I got home, I could feel my irritation melt away. Thanks partly to my hard work, the festival was a big success. I was so happy and I realized that if I worked hard, I would be rewarded for it. I thought this was something special. One of the music-related things I really want to do is to make a CD with my own songs on it, so lots of people can hear it. At the moment, I'm not able to write good songs, but I'd be delighted if this dream came true one day. My secret idol is Kazuyuki Itabashi. I want to be like him: a hard worker who never gave up his dream to become a musician even though he was blind. Music is a very important thing for me. If there was no music in the world, I don't think I would have the energy to do anything or feel happy. If I were to compare music to an object, it would be food. Food gives your body energy. Music also gives you energy naturally, and makes you feel better. Music is my best friend. I would like to try doing a variety of things with this friend. I also want to do a job related to music. |
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