Kurabaka's Articles

Profile

I started playing the piano at the age of 7. Under the guidance—just barely short of abusive—of a so-called “terrifying piano teacher” of the old days, I graduated from a music university and have since been working as a piano instructor.

What kind of “terrifying piano teacher” was it, you ask? Practicing a piece 100 times a day (per piece, of course) was just the norm. And there would be 5–10 pieces assigned every week. If it became apparent during a lesson that I hadn’t practiced properly, I could be dismissed after playing just one measure with the words, “Your playing is rotting my ears!!” Mistakes were met with a *whack!* so frequently that I eventually mastered the art of dodging the teacher’s hand as it flew toward me.


Despite all that, I didn’t dislike either the piano or the teacher. In fact, I skipped school sometimes but never missed a lesson. Thanks to that dedication—and some detours into jazz and rock along the way—I managed to grow into a respectable classical music geek. How fortunate I am, how fortunate indeed.

Some of my favorite pianists include Mikhail Pletnev, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Daniel Barenboim, Kemal Gekic, and Hiromi Uehara, among others. I also happen to be quite knowledgeable about Japanese rock music. I’m from the visual kei generation.

My hobbies include watching movies and traveling abroad.
In my younger days, I used to frequent rental video stores (back when DVDs weren’t a thing yet—yes, that gives away my age), challenging myself to watch one movie every day.
Whenever I went on a date, it was always to see a movie. I was the kind of odd girl who could be utterly charmed (regardless of looks) by a man knowledgeable about films.
Now that I have kids, movie dates are down to about twice a year. These days, I laugh out loud with my children watching Crayon Shin-chan movies on DVD.
I’ve always loved animated films, too.
Of course, I adore Studio Ghibli works, as well as Disney, the Lupin III series, and titles like Akira and Galaxy Express 999. More recently, I’ve been a fan of Attack on Titan.

I try to attend concerts as often as possible because I want to experience great music every day.
When it comes to concerts, I prefer chamber music and orchestras over solo piano performances.
When I’m alone at home, I sometimes play orchestral DVDs and pretend to conduct along with the music.

I’m living a laid-back, *No Music, No Life* kind of existence.