I made up my mind to become a professional musician when I was eighteen
living in Japan. I had imagined that the hardest thing to be one was to
keep up better works by strengthening talent, which proved wrong. The
hardest thing is money. Scraping up funds for activities as a musician
without losing time and energy for music is most difficult. It’s equally
the case for either an artist who has made a smash hit or the one who
has been unsuccessful like me. And it has remained to be the case today
after decades passed.
At the very beginning of my music career, I
regularly rehearsed in a studio as a member of the band that strongly
intended to become professional. It was the first serious band I had
joined. I somehow managed to play well enough compared to other skillful
members and didn’t get fired at the first session as I had feared. The
band was based in Osaka that is a 45-minute ride by train from Kyoto
where I lived. The studios the band used were all in Osaka, which meant I
needed to pay the studio rental fee and the train fare each time. I was
a college student back then, but barely went to class. Instead, I
worked at the restaurant as a cashier and spent everything on the band.
My time was dedicated to music and I came home just to sleep.
The
studio was equipped with a synthesizer but I didn’t have my own although
I constantly appealed my passion to become professional. It had
gradually seemed odd that I used a rental synthesizer in every session
while I tried to motivate other members to be professional as soon as
possible. A thought that other members questioned my seriousness began
to cross my mind as I continued to play with temporary sounds. Since we
played our original songs, original sounds were necessary. On top of
that, when I practiced back at home, I used the piano for a synthesizer
that was quite ineffective as practice. I finally decided to get my own
synthesizer. I chose the latest model at that time called Yamaha DX7
that was featured in almost all the pop songs and albums in the music
business of 80s. It cost about 2500 dollars.
Before I joined the
band, I had saved money out of my years’ allowances and was going to use
that money to study English in England. The amount of my savings was
about the same as the price of a DX7. I had put it in time deposit at
the credit union bank for higher interest and for my friend just a few
months before. That friend of mine had worked at the bank by giving up
going to college because she needed to support her handicapped mother
and two younger siblings when her father suddenly abandoned them. I
wanted to help her in some way and set a time deposit through her with
hope that it might raise her performance evaluation at the bank. Sadly,
my rare good deed couldn’t last any longer. I went to the bank,
apologized her a million times, and cancelled a time deposit. While she
kept telling me with a smile “Don’t worry, don’t bother,” I was bathed
in guilt, and yet I withdrew my savings and went on to get a DX7. I
chose a DX7 over staying in England and being her friend.
After all,
it was just the beginning of the long way that I have walked on until
today. Since I decided to become a professional musician, I had lost my
friends and my family not to mention a college degree as a dropout. What
I gained instead are thousands of sleepless nights for worry about
money. Even while I stay awake in the night yet again, I still believe
that the happiest thing for a human is to fulfill one’s calling.
Thursday, January 13, 2022
The Money Pit hr650
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