Music and I | Shohei Onishi (Dean, Graduate School of Health Management)
2006.06.29
I remember being bullied in kindergarten for playing the piano, something boys weren't supposed to do. I started not of my own volition but at my mother's direction, and although I continued with a sense of frustration, it wasn't enjoyable because the textbooks were old-fashioned ones like Czerny and Burgmüller. Perhaps that was the trigger, but in my first year of junior high school, I became captivated by the guitar after watching a guitar class on NHK Educational TV that started with Mr. Yasuo Abe's "Jeux Interdits" (Forbidden Games). I think quite a few middle-aged people have had a similar experience. This was in 1964. Although I was self-taught, in high school I formed a mandolin and classical guitar club and enjoyed giving solo performances at the cultural festival. I recall escaping into guitar practice even though I should have been busy with tests and entrance exams.
I was most fond of music from the era of the medieval cembalo and harpsichord, as well as Bach's unaccompanied cello suites. I continued playing for a while after entering university, but I developed inflammation in the tendon that moves the thumb of my left wrist, causing my wrist to become immobile. I had surgery in my fourth year of university, but I never fully recovered and had to give up playing the guitar. I also enjoy listening to music, but the joy of playing was truly wonderful, so it was a great disappointment.
There is a common saying, "Songs reflect the times, and the times reflect the songs," and what I find musically soothing now is listening to the songs that were popular when I was in my teens and twenties. It brings back the feeling of those bygone days. Remembering the times when I was recklessly pushing forward, I find myself these days setting new goals, even at this stage, and thinking about how to proceed to achieve them.
(Date of publication: 2006/06/29)