Daisuke Asakura's Break Time

Digital vs Analog

When I'm thinking about something — whether it's music, or something else altogether — I'm able to conceptualise it in terms of digital and analog. Although there are established theoretical definitions for these concepts, I personally think of the digital as divisible things, and analog as indivisible things.

Divisible things

Divisible things can be easily expressed with numbers. They can be converted into large amounts of data and manipulated mathematically. For example, in music, there are three elements of sound: pitch, intensity, and duration. If you covert these three elements into numerical values, you can use them to program a sequencer. You only need to input the values once, and then the sequencer will handle the data for you.

Indivisible things

It's a bit tricky to describe clearly, but indivisible things are abstract concepts like artistic inspiration, expression, being suddenly struck by an idea, brainstorming ideas, seeing something progress and evolve, the application of knowledge, and creativity... These are all things that can't be represented numerically, nor are they described by scientific laws. These things belong solely to the domain of humans.

When divisible things become indivisible

I mentioned earlier that music contains three divisible elements (pitch, intensity, and duration). But once you combine those elements — in a musical phrase, for example — you create something indivisible, because it involves human creativity.

Ravel's Boléro

This is a pretty well-known piece. It's about 16 minutes long, and its mechanical pattern might seem repetitive, but there are still interesting qualities to be found. Looking at the score alone, it's easy to think of this piece as an example of something divisible. But when it's performed for the entire 16 minutes, indivisible elements start to emerge, because a human naturally introduces subtle variations in tempo when playing this piece. If a sequencer were to play Boléro precisely as it's written, I'm sure the listener would start to feel uncomfortable after only five minutes or so...

My computer

A tool that's a vital part of my life. My computer does it all: it's my phone book and calendar, a word processor, and a means of communication. Without my computer helping me stay on top of everything, I'd probably be completely overwhelmed.

Man and machine

Alright, let's see if I can summarise all my thoughts about this... A machine uses its electronic “brain” to execute a given process. On the other hand, “intellect” is a way of reasoning that's unique to humans. I use both of these for different purposes: it makes sense to use my own intellect for indivisible things, and have a machine's “brain” handle the divisible things. Basically, if I let machines take care of anything their own “brains” can create, then I can use my intellect for things that require a human touch.

Musical instruments

I think of instruments as tools that allow me to translate the music in my mind into a concrete form. For example, when a painter wants to depict a particuar subject, they use their paints and palette to express that idea.

In the same way, musical instruments are tools that let me express my musical ideas. Or to look at it from another angle, musical instruments don't create the music and sounds on my behalf — the only one who can create those things is me.

Mastery

When people talk about “mastering” an instrument, they're usually referring to the ability to play it. But in my opinion, there's a bit more to it.

Once I have a handle on how to play an instrument, I start to focus more on how and why it works. If you can understand, for example, the mechanism that produces a particular sound, then you start to gain an insight into the pros and cons of using that tool. And then you'll naturally develop a sense for the most effective way to use that tool in your music.

Sounds

It's common to think of sounds in relation to the instrument that produces them — for example, "the sound of a piano". I tend to categorise sounds in a different way, such as sounds that make you feel something, acoustic sounds, sounds that seem to speak directly to you, or sounds that have never been heard before...

At any rate, I'm quite attuned to all the different sounds I hear around me. Whenever I come across an interesting sound in an unexpected place, I always end up noticing that same sound again.

Music

It's hard to come up with a concise definition for “music”. If I think about what music is to me, it might be something that makes me smile, something that has me nodding along, something that deeply moves me, or something that encourages me... all these things generally ring true for me.

There are songs that cheer me up when I'm down, songs where I nod along and appreciate a wonderful performance, songs that move me to tears, and songs that are so cute that I can't help but smile!

Shinkansen melody

I quite like the music box-style jingle that plays on the Tokaido Shinkansen when the train arrives and departs from Tokyo. It's just a simple four-bar melody, but when I listen closely I find myself getting a bit emotional... It's probably because I have so many memories and experiences associated with the shinkansen.

I first took the shinkansen when I went to Osaka for Expo '70 as a little kid, and we would also travel by shinkansen on school trips. These days I typically take the shinkansen 3–4 times a week, since I'm travelling all over the country for work. So I've heard the same melody many times. I've heard it on days where I was absolutely exhausted, or feeling kinda down, but I've also heard it when I had something to be happy about. This one melody is linked to all these different times in my life, so whenever I hear it in passing, it brings back so many memories...

Walt Disney

I've been a Disney fan for a while, and I'm still obsessed! That's the magic of the world of Walt Disney. The music, the films — I love it all.

I also like how Disney stories tend to treat unusual things as normal, and you sometimes find yourself taking away lessons you can apply to your own life. My favourite Disney film is Alice in Wonderland. Things that would be seen as curious in the real world are considered perfectly normal in Alice in Wonderland — like a rabbit hurrying past carrying a pocketwatch, a mushroom that makes Alice grow taller or shorter, and a group that parties all year round, singing “A very merry unbirthday to us, to us!”

There's many other things the world of Disney has shown me, like Peter Pan, the boy who can fly. And in the world of Pinocchio, your nose will grow if you tell lies, you'll turn into a donkey if you have too much fun, and wooden puppets can turn into real boys!

By the way, did you know that Mickey Mouse won an Academy Award just four years after his silver screen debut? Or, as Disney would put it, Mickey Mouse won an Academy Award at the age of four.

The future

What do I see in my future? Achieving my dreams. There's so many things I want to try, like using all the different sounds I've created so far to make my own music...

I'm sure I'll find a way to make my dreams come true through music.