Read on Twitter
Ahhhh Yoko Kanno panel is already so good. I couldn't totally livetweet since I was washing dishes but I'll try to do some highlights because this is really good! @otaquest #otaquestconnect
She talks about how her interest in music and songwriting started by trying out the piano at a relative's place at age 2.5, and just making sing-song songs as a child, as children do, about random things--a rabbit she saw, singing "stupid, stupid," etc
She loved piano so much that her parents bought her one. Then she started taking class at Yamaha but hated it! Even to this day she plays by ear. She wanted to do things that she enjoys. Her parents were strict though (they worked in a newspapre company).
She finds arranging music for natural than words, almost as communication. You get the sense from how casually she discusses this of how she is truly a genius.
Oh, also in her religious school, as a kid, SHE played the accompaniment bc her instructor wasn't great at the organ.
Oh, also in her religious school, as a kid, SHE played the accompaniment bc her instructor wasn't great at the organ.
She talks asbout actually ebbing and flowing in her interest in music! In middle and high school she actually wasn't super into music! Taku mentions like "huh, usually that's when people are the MOST interested in music."
She talks about how there wasn't music she wanted to play then in school so she would just arrange it herself, cuz school brass band music is dull and boring. But because she was good, not because she wanted to! For the brass band.
And she would just play the unpopular instruments like piccolo and oboe and just learned them lol
She talks about how the music wasn't great so she just wrote it. Geez, this is so high level. Like Lupin III was popular so she just wrote a score arrangement for it, like you hear
She talks about how the music wasn't great so she just wrote it. Geez, this is so high level. Like Lupin III was popular so she just wrote a score arrangement for it, like you hear
A so she just writes A.
And sometimes she's do something like write the scoring for sax and then realized that it wasn't a sax lol.
This is not your average schoolchild!
And sometimes she's do something like write the scoring for sax and then realized that it wasn't a sax lol.
This is not your average schoolchild!
She was kind of just a jack of all trades for music for the school festival and would be in all these bands as a result--if they need someone to play this instrument, she'd just do it. If the Beatles were popular, she'd just write the sheet music.
Since most people couldn't copy music by ear, she just did it. If there was a guitar solo, she'd write it, even though it was super annoying (lol)
Geniuses are really on a totally different level. I'm so struck by how this is the kind of genius that a parent can't "manufacture."
Geniuses are really on a totally different level. I'm so struck by how this is the kind of genius that a parent can't "manufacture."
Lupin was popular and everyone heard it, but Kanno-san watched NO anime. They didn't listen to music, not even classical, in her home. And remember, at the time, she was just NOT into music, she just did this stuff because she was good at it.
She went to school for literature, like her parents in the newspaper business. But she saw a really cool cover band--didn't even know it was a cover band--playing wildly, and joined it without knowing anything about it!
And of course they asked her to write down music for them!
And of course they asked her to write down music for them!
I don't know if all this backstory is somewhere and published--I'm sure it is--but wow, she already had amazing talent and experience before she did any professional work!
She got work doing music for Nobunaga's Ambition solely because she was referred for being cheap. She was in college at the time!
I sort of have the impression (personally) that she did not have a feeling she was a genius, just that she can do something others haven't learned.
I sort of have the impression (personally) that she did not have a feeling she was a genius, just that she can do something others haven't learned.
Taku Takahashi talks about dropping out of college to pursue music. Kanno lasted a week. lol. She joined a band instead.
And as she met more people, before she knew it, she was a pro musician.
And as she met more people, before she knew it, she was a pro musician.
Taku: "Hearing you say this makes me think you're a strange person."
Kanno-san laughs.
Taku: "You got into this because people asked you to, not because you wanted to for yourself..."
Kanno-san laughs.
Taku: "You got into this because people asked you to, not because you wanted to for yourself..."
(Ah I'm sorry, I should probably use honorific for both. I'm just so used to hearing Takahashi-san speaking in English so the name is different in my head.)
(BTW Kanno-san is not on camera but is just shown by a drawing.
I think it was back in college that she did a fun, delightful piano-only concert at Otakon. I'm really feeling again now how wonderful and rare an opportunity that was for the US.)
I think it was back in college that she did a fun, delightful piano-only concert at Otakon. I'm really feeling again now how wonderful and rare an opportunity that was for the US.)
Kanno-san's going through the anime she started getting work for and it really just feels like a very natural cascade haha.
On Macross Plus, she was really fascinated by the virtual idols thing. She and some other staff went to watch planes take off to get...the feeling of Mars?
On Macross Plus, she was really fascinated by the virtual idols thing. She and some other staff went to watch planes take off to get...the feeling of Mars?
Lol another discussion about Kamiyama-san being strange. Because he left Kanno-san to her own devices.
Kanno-san talking about how a cyborg would contemplate God, and imagining hymns entering as data (a hymn being perceived as data) as she imagined she was experiencing God, for Ghost in the Shell.
That's a lot for writing music, isn't it?
That's a lot for writing music, isn't it?
Talking Bebop now. Hehe, Takahashi-san asks if she had done jazz before that. Nope! Watanabe told her to do jazz, and she immediately was like "it'll never sell!" She didn't know any top-selling jazz records or heard of anime fans like jazz. She thought it was a dangerous choice!
So she just wrote some jazz songs and ad-libbed some funk.
And of course despite all that, Tank! did so well. But Kanno-san is like "but that's not really jazz! Maybe brass-funk?" but she also says she doesn't know much about genres.
And of course despite all that, Tank! did so well. But Kanno-san is like "but that's not really jazz! Maybe brass-funk?" but she also says she doesn't know much about genres.
Tank! wasn't even originally going to be the OP, but a song in the middle of the series! It just kept moving earlier.
Takahashi-san talks about being shocked that Tank! was the OP since it had not been done before like that.
Takahashi-san talks about being shocked that Tank! was the OP since it had not been done before like that.
(Honestly there are so many people out there who know way more about music than I do, so I think you could understand and appreciate this panel more directly, so please watch it if you aren't already at http://twitch.tv/otaquest !)
(I normally don't livetweet panels this much and only tweet the things I find interesting, but everything so far is interesting.)
Takahashi-san brings up Aquarion. Kanno-san is like "you kown a lot!" lol well he is a musician and otaku, so!
He talks about how soooo many of these series have totally different genres. What is her concept of these genres?
He talks about how soooo many of these series have totally different genres. What is her concept of these genres?
She basically doesn't really think in genres? She imagines herself more in the story (example, going to Iceland for ZanTero to get this feeling of the vast loneliness to express). It has nothing to do with the genre from the start.
She tries to put herself in the shoes of someone living in that world.
The concept of music as a weapon in Macross Plus made Kanno-san feel... sick, even, although she can't express so much why. The soundtrack is "dangerous."
Ahhhh apparently Kanno invited several musicians including Takahashi Taku to cover Tank!, so interesting! I didn't know.
She actually is not super interested in performing but did a recent show as producer. But she didn't super see herself tahat way.
She actually is not super interested in performing but did a recent show as producer. But she didn't super see herself tahat way.
Takahashi asks if she was always thinking about Japan audience only, or global. Kanno-san basically didn't really about the audience in that sense; like if she worked on a commercial it was more about what age the consumer is. But she's really happy about the overseas audiences!
