Today we’d like to introduce you to Ko Tanaka
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started music when I was 16 years old, which is much later than the other folks who learned musical instruments at a young age. I started percussion in a wind orchestra, and then the next year my interest shifted to the tonal instrument rather than non-tonal drums. And finally, I started “making something” by using the toy piano. Then I knew I loved composing, so I shifted my way to become a professional composer. Then, I become the one.
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?
I think becoming a professional writer itself didn’t feel challenging. It’s much more challenging to be staying on that. You need to think about many things, not only music. Some social skills, and business knowledge, and you need to study many other things to be able to connect the audiences. I was lucky enough to be a musician for more than 10 years. Meanwhile, I’m still struggling to keep that for the long term.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
There’s a very unique and tough field that is universally called “musical theater”, and that’s my expertise. This is the industry where music can not exist by themselves but with stories, characters, actors, and many theater professionals who make magic happen. It requires more re-writing than personal songwriting. It requires more processes than the pre-recorded medium such as films or video games. Live performance has a great power to reach out to the people. But it’s not easy to make it.
How do you define success?
It’s not a financial thing at all. What the success means for the songwriters is to be remembered by people. After years of watching the show or listening to the music, the audience might remember what they saw on the day in the past. That’s what I call “success”.
