Personal Statement: Nanao Yamada

Decent Essays
Personal Statement

Nanao Yamada Growing up, I never had a doubt in my mind of a life as a musician. I started to learn the violin at the age of 9, and ever since then, with the support of my mother, I have always thought I was going to be a musician. And I have seen many children like myself around me that thought the same, and lived a similar lifestyle. However, it was not until 2009 when I moved back to Japan with my mother and started to study with Chihiro Kudo, that I saw another option in my life. I loved my lessons with him, thought he was the teacher I needed then to grow, and to improve. But in 2010, he passed away with cancer. Until then, I did not have anyone close to me pass away. After such a tragic loss, I could not pick
…show more content…
I enrolled in a state university in Oregon, only to soon realize how much I missed music. I withdrew from that university, started working at a music studio close to home. From there, I began studying music at a local university, reconnecting to the lifestyle that I very much missed. With the help of my teachers and friends, I decided to transfer to a conservatory, for more improvement and challenge. The transfer process was not easy, and made me realize how much of a fool I had been to think that these conservatories would accept me. Without a very successful outcome, the one place that has accepted me was Eastman School of Music, in the studio of Oleh Krysa. I was very scared to go to an environment with more skilled, more determined people. But going to Eastman was the best decision I have ever made. I truly grew immensely as a musician, but as a person. Eastman has the best combination of challenge and feeling at home with the most supportive …show more content…
The school divided us into small groups of 4 or 5 to ask each of us questions concerning arts. I recall one of the questions being, “these days, some people say, that the arts is dying. How does that fact affect you as an aspiring musician?” And I strongly remember answering with the utmost confidence, “I suppose that the arts is dying. You go to a classical music concert, and all you see are elderly people. However, that does not concern me one bit about my future as a musician. I love playing the violin and that’s all I need to know. In a sense I am naive but if music moved a person like me, I don’t see why it can’t move other people too.” I quoted that around 3 years ago, but I still stand true about what I said. Coming to Eastman, I definitely saw how grand the music world, and how I’m merely a tiny fish in an ocean of amazing musicians. To this day, I have my doubts and insecurities about my future. But as Steven Isserlis said in an interview, “it is so vitally important constantly to nurture our connection with music in a sincere way; one can feel let down by many aspects of life – but Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven et all will NEVER let us down.” (Steven Isserlis, interview conducted in Tokyo) There is no doubt that at this point in my life, music is a part of me. Especially because I have lived a life with and without, I can say that I much prefer this

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    As students rush into class, Shannon Anderson, the White Bear South Campus Band Director, sits patiently in her office, wearing her casual band jacket with her last name on it. As students come into her office to ask her questions, she remains calm and is very friendly. “To me, caring for the students is more important than caring about the music”, says Mrs. Anderson while answering questions that range from counting music all the way to relationship advice. Mrs. Anderson’s drive for music became present while she was in band in the 6th grade. Her passion for teaching she says was different, she always loved to play school with her brother, and always wanted to become a teacher from the time she was little.…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wes Moore Analysis

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Both Wes Moores grew up with life not necessary in their favor. Both men were faced with serious choices of right and wrong and one chose the path in his favor, while the other chose destruction. The author Wes moore decided to get an education to benefit his future, rather than dropping out of school. On the other hand, the other Wes Moore decided to drop out of school and continued to stay involved with drugs and crime. The opportunity to get an education is the driving factor in the difference between these two mens’ fate.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hiroyuki Minamino chose a combination of descriptive and narrative writing when writing his article Village Noise and Bruegel’s Parables. Minamino utilizes a descriptive technique in order to set the scene of the article, giving almost two pages of description in order to set the scene and mood. Also, Minamino’s use of artwork based on Bruegel’s paintings provides further description of the village scene. Minamino’s descriptive style plays well into his/her use of a narrative style. Using the description previously set, Minamino uses said description to weave a story in which a group of traveling musicians comes to a village and provides their services, for a time.…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Trombone Qualities

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages

    If I have not challenged myself to practice and to confront challenges, I could not have become the principal player in our school’s jazz band and wind ensemble. After several breakthroughs, I decided to share my inspirations to the younger generation. This year, I am one of the coordinators of the Molding Musicians program supported by the Cypress Boys and Girls Club, teaching the fifth and sixth graders how to play an instrument. I appreciate the fact that my achievements did not come from an easy work, but rather a persistent standing against…

    • 343 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When I entered the education landscape, I was foreign to the ideas and the nature of those that saw themselves as something more than just a student. I never thought that those students that sat behind the deteriorating desks could educate themselves. Ergo, as I transferred from middle school to high school, I began to discover those students that were seen as insignificant if I wanted to succeed within what was previously taught to me as the “real world”. Yet, it was through those encounters with those strange and unique individuals where I was exposed to something pure. I remember the first time I was ever exposed to music as an educational structure for me to discover myself in.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I found James Madison University while matching universities that had both my personal preferences and the best programs for my desired career in education. Education has played an active role in my entire life and I hope to make the same important impact wherever my direction and motivation takes me. James Madison University (JMU) is the right university for me: my special interests, and my career and academic plans. I aim to be involved in music and theatre because they are my outlet of expression and creative talent, and the shows created are memorable two-hour escapes for the audience. A creative person tends to have a venturesome personality, so it’s suitable that I also enjoy mission trips and traveling for fun.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In order to explain the reason of why I want to attend the Musicians Institute’s Bachelor Program, I would need explain a bit about myself first. You see, when I was young, I've never really had friends or anyone to really talk to, and because of this, I spent most of my childhood alone. Due to the position I was at, I tried to fill in the missing void by wandering inside my imagination, so naturally for most of my time I would be day dreaming. One day I was driving with my parents to school and a certain song came on, and while that song was playing, my imagination went out of control involuntary to the music and started to create a story based off of the song I was listening to, not only that, it also made me feel some type of emotion, if I recall correctly, the emotion that I felt was, happiness. After that moment, I began hearing more songs from a variety of different bands and artists, and the more songs that I began to hear and like, the more my imagination…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”, citizens live without individuality, intelligence, and emotions, all of which can be connected to the absence of playable music. In the real world, everyone is affected by music that they listen to or create themselves, but it is truly underestimated. People have the distinguished ability to express their individuality through the varying types of music in the world and how they react to it. Being a musician can challenge someone’s mental and physical abilities and, if they accept the challenge, can make them more intelligent and capable members of society. Music can also cater to one’s differing emotions and help them to understand their feelings and coping methods.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rebel Music In Daniel Felsenfeld’s narrative, he describes himself as a rebel, when it comes to the taste of music during his time. In the beginning of his narrative, Felsenfeld feels he is missing out on different aspects of culture, particularly music. At seventeen, he was a traveling, amateur, pianist. He was getting tired of playing the same music and started drifting from his passion.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Role Of Music In Literacy

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Whenever people think about music, they may think of their favorite song or a band they used to listen too. Most, I believe, don’t think of music as a form of literacy. There are few, however, that can see why it is related to literacy and also why it is important. The literacy practices involved in it can help us get a better understanding of music’s role in our lives.…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Whether it was my young self having the desire to play the violin or simply me being obstinate in not listening to adults, it’s a wonder to realize that what defines me today is all due to my younger self refusing to give up. Despite my determination, it became clear to me that my passion for the violin was not matched by the effort that I was putting into the instrument. As part of my instruction on the violin, I participated annually in ASTACAP-American String Teachers Association Certificate Advancement Program. Until…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I remember watching the 2004 Powerade Slam Dunk Contest in my basement like it was yesterday. But before I get too far into this story, let me give you some background on my life up to this point. Now I was only in the first grade when the 2004 Power Slam Dunk Contest occurred, but I do indeed remember watching the contest. At this time in my life, I had already faced some obstacles.…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    People and music are inseparable as Macdonald (2008, 39) argues that ‘We are all musical. Every human being has a biological, social and cultural guarantee of musicianship.’ It is hardly possible to live without hearing music in daily life, and people has been building musical identity since they are born by negotiating through it. Thus, music is a significant matter in personal identity and analysis of one’s life can reveal one’s musical identity. This essay will demonstrate the analysis of my musical identity based on my life.…

    • 1875 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Music is a more pontet instrument than any other for education, because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward places of the soul. ”-Plato. As a student who started music at just the age of 4, I followed the aesthetic thought to music. My love for music began with the magnificence and gratitude I had for music.…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What is Music? When words fail, music speaks. Music is an unavoidable part in everyone’s life. Whether its music you play by personal choice or music you hear in supermarkets or on the radio in the car.…

    • 784 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics