Today we’d like to introduce you to Makoto Ishizaka.
Makoto, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
First of all, I want to mention that I am still in the middle of the path for sure. But there were some moments that changed my life into a music career. Recently, I have been working at a cruise ship as a musician (bassist) and am trying to work on practicing and writing music for my own big band jazz project in my free time between cruise gigs.
Let me briefly explain how I have reached it.
Now I am 28, I started playing bass guitar when I was 13. I remember I was really into Red Hot Chili Peppers at the moment. (Of course, I still love them) Yes, I was a rock kid! After that, I realized that I am interested in culture abroad and jazz music which were influenced by my best friends and families.
I have tried to be a professional musician after I graduated high school. But it’s finished by unsuccessful at the time. Because I just could not make a balance between work and musical activities. I think I was almost sick.
Then at 21, I quitted my job as a power plant engineer and decided to aim to be a musician with another way again. I studied harmony, a variety of rhythms and bass and experienced many types of ensembles in Koyo Conservatory of Music in Japan for two years. (2016-2018) After that, I enrolled to Berklee College of Music in Boston as a scholarship recipient. (2018-2020) I studied jazz composition and upright bass there. I think my new goal has settled around this point. The goal is ” become a musician who can play also composed and direct own band”. I knew it is not an easy path to realize that, but I just thought I could at least try.
Now I am here. After I graduated, I released my first big band piece “Volcanic Eruption” in 2021. Currently, I am working on writing and planning to advance next steps for the next project, new album on the ship. I know IT IS a long path but I will try to make it possible…
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There were mostly two struggles along the way. First one is communication in English as a second language.
Secondly, survive in a different culture. Those two struggles seem the same but I just do not want to mix them. I was born in Nagasaki Japan and grew up in Kagoshima Japan. Japan is an island located in the region called Northeast Asia or East Asia. For living in Japan we do not need to speak another language, we only use the Japanese language. Maybe you can not imagine how difficult it is to get English-speaking skills for Japanese people. We have opposite grammar between the two of them and there is almost no relation between those pronunciations.
I have started with studying English sentences that I need in real life. I have repeatedly written, speak, write… speak…and use in real life and try to dive into conversations.
I have spoken and used them over and over and finally internalized my brain. Of course, I am still struggling so much to communicate in English but now I have become a person who can work abroad because of my efforts.
Next, regarding how I am trying to fit into the other cultures is to know each culture and respect them. It is cliche but I thought it was true.
“When in Rome do as the Romans do”
In the practice of that, I just realized we should not force a value of ourselves on someone else. And I thought comparing a value between people is also meaningless. Of course, I am not saying this is a right thought, but at least I think we need to try to understand the other without prejudice.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am passionate about writing music which are a direct response to the surrounding environment and they are based on the artist’s personal experiences. For example, my latest big band jazz piece called “Volcanic Eruption -SAKURAJIMA-” is inspired by the situation of the pandemic and an active volcano in my hometown. I really like to express natural phenomena in my musical composition. Process-wise, it is a little complex to write music for an 18-person jazz orchestra but the fundamental idea is really simple melody, which most of the time comes from nature when I walk around a beautiful lake or see a pretty sunset. Before I took a music lesson, I didn’t have the skill to express and develop this idea. But now I can write a music score and share an idea of my head to musicians through the music sheet. I have always tried to resolve a task one by one and I think now I have a better skills to express my music than before.
After graduating Berklee College of Music in spring of 2020, the world was surrounded by the virus. Because of that, there was no choice to survive as a musician in the U.S. I decided to record an 18-people big band remotely and it was finally released. My band Makoto Ishizaka Jazz Orchestra won an award by a submission of the piece “Volcanic Eruption -SAKURAJIMA-” from DownBeat magazine which is famous as a jazz magazine in the U.S. This achievement was only the beginning of my music career but I certainly felt some progress from six years ago when I was an office worker.
Recently, I am working on creating new works, performing in all of Japan and also getting a new visa to work in the U.S. again. I am excited to connect with music and share thoughts in English with people from different cultures/backgrounds. I hope to collaborate with someone who is reading this article sometime.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I have never forgotten the day of Christmas Eve when I was around the age of six.
I was pure.
Me and my brothers found a letter above my pillows. We were really surprised and happy because it was from Santa Claus. I opened the letter. It was written with beautiful handwriting.
”I am really Sorry. The gifts cannot be delivered because the sleigh is not slipping due to the lack of snow.” – Santa
My brothers and I have written our order to the list in advance and were looking forward to them so much. So what happened was shocking and sad for the kids…
A few years later, I finally noticed the contradiction in how Santa had reached out and delivered the letter to our house in the lack of snow. And I realized that my mother was a calligraphy teacher at the time.
Yes, I was pure.
22 years have passed since that happened and I am 28 now, which is the age many people have a chance to be blessed with children. Now, I suppose I kinda understand how Santa feels on that day.
I believe I will not forget the day forever. Haha, It has become a good memory now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://makotoishizaka.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makotobass/?hl=en
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmhbLEuauxQ-u8gGMl3BuOQ
Image Credits
Diana Troper, visualatmosphere, Pooneh Nik, Nobuhiro Umeno, Junnosuke Nishi, Morgan Faw, Veronica Leahy, Emiri Sato, Solomon Alber, Gabriel Nekrutman, Yuta Yamaguchi, Will Mallard, Eliza Block, Richard Stanmeyer, Sam Rowley, Jeremy Duke, Nick Rosario, Ben Romanow, Roy Ben Bashat, Harold Charon, Samuel Bolduc, LAGARTO, Sebastián Soto, Juan Manuel Fernandez, Leon Troper, Nicolás Tejerizo
