Conducting became one of my most favorite parts of my career in the past decade. Although conducting contemporary ensembles is quite different from conducting classical ensembles, there are many similar fundamentals. And I’m grateful that I learned conducting from my dear friend and amazing conductor @julianpellicano 15 years ago. Here are some of my favorite snapshots from the show that I co-directed a bit over two weeks ago. Thanks @kdstudio , as always, for your amazing photos! (Yes, I’m conducting right next to the Hip Hop legend @qtiptheabstract on the 7th photo. 😉)
3月28日に日本で発売予定の拙著「ポピュラー音楽編曲大全」(YAMAHA)が、海を超えて遂に届きました！全365ページの、渾身の書き下ろしです。音楽を学ぶ人はもちろんのこと、音楽を専門にされていない方も是非手に取ってみてください。詳しい情報はプロフィールのリンクから！
My 365 page-long book “Arranging for Contemporary Music,” which is to be published through YAMAHA in Japan on March 28, has finally arrived to my house in Boston!! Yay! Pls follow the link in the bio for more details. #arranging #arrangingmusic #yamaha #berklee #berkleecollegeofmusic #ヤマハ #音楽 #編曲 #作曲 #本 #japan
Excited to share the “George Martin Reimagined” show @berkleebpc tomorrow. George Martin is the producer for the Beatles, but he produced so many other amazing artists. I’m co-directing the show, and have contributed one arrangement (my first ever Funk/Reggaeton/Cumbia hybrid work, definitely the reimagined George Martin production. Haha). Come see the amazing cast! #georgemartin #beatles #berklee #boston
BPC SHOW NEXT THURSDAY!!!
@berkleecwp_georgemartin
lo sapevo che tutti i tormentoni estivi sarebbero tornati utili un giorno 💃
Arranged by @crazyharmonymusic@berkleecwp
#drummer #berkleecollegeofmusic #reggaeton #georgemartin #arranging
It’s been 4 weeks since this show @berkleecoldplay happened. Having worked on this amazing production team for years, this was probably one of the best shows, if not the best, that we’ve ever done. I’m proud of this team always working hard to evolve, not just staying safe. I’m also proud of all the student arrangers who I was honored to supervise. They worked SO hard and never gave up despite my high demands. I’m sad to see @piotr_magierski graduate, after seeing him on so many shows with us. Best of luck, Piotr! Now we are up for @pink tribute show’s preproduction. Bye to the incredible 2025, and cheers for the exciting 2026! #berklee #coldplay #boston @berkleebpc
🎛️✨ Next Monday, I’m producing a show that no one has ever seen before. Join us at The Red Room at Café 939 for The Musical Director: Nine Songs Written with AI, Arranged & Produced by Humans. These amazing student Musical Directors have utilized various AI Tools to create the initial ideas for the song, but totally deconstructed, humanized, and personalized them for live performance.
This is NOT to promote or deny AI, but rather, it is a curious exploration of how the AI and Humans could interact in musical making, in the eyes of the Musical Directors. I’d love you to witness their achievements in person on Monday, Nov 17 • 7pm • Free at @berkleecollege , Boston. 🎶💥
#ai #berklee @redroom939
Can’t believe it’s already been 10 weeks since I resumed teaching, after not teaching for 8 months, thanks to my sabbatical leave. It’s been a crazy semester here at @berkleecollege , currently being a central part of 4 upcoming shows. But I’m definitely more energized with fresh air, surrounded by amazing colleagues and students. This semester, I’m teaching the class calls “The Musical Director,” for the first time, which teaches how to work as an MD. Several weeks ago, I organized the backstage tours to @redroom939 and @berkleebpc for the class which were a blast, thanks to the amazing staff in both venues. Life is good, and I’ll try to post more stuff in the coming months, now that I’m totally out of sabbatical. 😝 #berklee #shows #backstage #musicdirector #musicaldirector
It’s been a minute since I last posted here. This week and the next, I am spending a lot of time @cobblestonepubdublin in Dublin, Ireland. If you know me and what kind of music I do normally, this may sound pretty random. So, let me explain a bit.
This whole journey started at a session in my neighborhood music school in Massachusetts, USA, back in mid-February, a bit randomly, when I saw an ad about their monthly Irish Jam session. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play Traditional Irish Music and have always wanted to attend trad sessions. My life had been a bit too hectic, and it was tricky to find the time, energy, and probably more importantly, the courage to step out of my comfort zone.
But thanks to the time that I got from my sabbatical, this random ad worked well as a trigger. I drove to a session without knowing what to do. I embarrassed myself by not being able to do anything for the first session or two, not knowing any tunes, not knowing the unwritten rules, no nothing. It was a bit eye-opening moment as a full-time musician. 😅
Just recently, I started to get the hang of it, although I still have a lot of OMG 😱 moments and feel embarrassed (as recently as two days ago). But I’ve been loving this challenge. It’s been just 4 plus months, but I feel like I am now re-learning how to be a good musician, thanks to these new challenges. And not to be too cheesy, I’m witnessing how music connects people beautifully, which is exactly why and how I wanted to become a full-time musician back in the day when I started.
This journey became my unofficial sabbatical project, which turned out to be way more “work” than my official sabbatical project. 😅 But it never feels like work. It’s been a joy, and I know it will stay that way for the rest of my life.
Cheers, everyone. Life is pretty craic at the moment.
#irishmusic #dublin #irishtraditionalmusic #irishsession #tinwhistle
娘達が通うボストン日本語学校様のご依頼により、3月に行われる卒業式で歌われる「蛍の光」の編曲をさせていただきました。生徒さん達が歌ったり伴奏したりしやすいように、シンプルだけど奥行きのあるアレンジに仕上げる作業は、なかなかのチャレンジでしたが、書いていて楽しかったです。
生徒さんたちの練習用にビデオを作成したので、シェアしますね。フルバージョンはYouTube でご覧になってください。（リンクはプロフィールをご参照ください）
March is a graduation season for Japanese schools, as the academic calendar starts with cherry blossoms in April and ends in March there. About a month ago, the Japanese Language School of Greater Boston, where my daughters go every weekend, asked me to arrange the Japanese version of “Auld Lang Syne,” a song commonly sung at graduation ceremonies nationwide.
Arranging for the level that 6th graders can easily handle while maintaining the musical depth was a good challenge that I really enjoyed. I created the video for them to practice, and I thought I’d share the short version here. Hope you like it! (Check out my official YouTube Channel (crazyharmony) for the full version. Link in the bio.)
#AuldLangSyne, #蛍の光 #卒業式 #ほたるのひかり #ピアノ伴奏 #児童合唱 #childrenschoir #ボストン #JapaneseGraduation
That’s a wrap! Last public performance of 2024. 💪🏼 Always fun to sing jazzy carols with these great and creative cats. And it’s such an honor to collaborate with these insanely talented WBUR broadcasters. Can’t believe I’ve been doing this for 22 years now. Many of my students weren’t even born when I first sang for this event 😅 Happy Holidays, everyone! #wbur #npr #christmascarol #charlesdickens #cityspace #carol #rosiesplace
Each semester, for almost all classes, there is a line of students at the end of the final class, sharing their appreciation, extremely kind words about my teaching, excitement about their growth and shaking hands before they leave. This has been the case ever since I started teaching at Berklee in 2010, which I am very thankful.
I’d be honest. Things are getting more challenging and trickier in higher-ed in the past several years, and it’s increasingly becoming difficult to provide challenging materials, provide honest feedback that they would need to become better music professionals, and ask them to follow the deadlines so that they get used to the real world that is full of deadlines and hardships.
I’d be honest. It’s much easier to go with “easy Professor” approach and let it flow that way (although I have become much softer over the years. lol). But I just can’t lie to my students and pretend like they can make a career in music that way. Naturally, I seem to be one of the few remaining professors who are “strict” in their eyes (though I don’t think I am strict. I’m just being real 😅).
Despite that, I’m very touched that there are just so many students who wait in the line, even though they could have left immediately, genuinely wanting to say thank you to me, face to face. This is the kind of moment that gets me going, and I can’t thank you all enough for your talents, hard work and kind words.
I’ll be on sabbatical next semester, and won’t be back to teaching until September 2025. During my sabbatical, I’ll be working on my own compositions, focus on practicing, studying, reading and listening (and chilling, too!). I’ll be back stronger, and refreshed. Ciao! #sabbatical #professor
