Life In Japan: Excellence Begins Young

Every modern country is struggling to deal with the pressures of new technology, pressures which are accelerating exponentially as new technologies accelerate in number, sophistication, and appeal. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, games, smartphones, tablets are all in the mix, offering on the plus side unparalled opportunities for learning and communication, quick and easy ways of getting things done, but on the negative side pulling our focus, scattering our energies, wasting our time, and attenuating our capacity for deep, extended concentration.

We deal with this as adults. Similarly kids are more distracted and tempted with the fun, ease and convenience of technology than ever before. With each passing day, there are more and more technical shortcuts for just about any task.

Now with AI, we apparently have at our fingertips a tool to get just about anything done . . . EFFORTLESSLY! Type, hit enter, BINGO! A new song, a new poem, a novel, an article on just about any topic, a plan to conquer the world!

Maybe I’m too stuck in a legacy paradigm — after all, I am a product of celebratory mating prompted by victories over Germany and Japan . . . a Baby Boomer! — or maybe there are truisms which simply are timeless.

Here’s one I believe makes sense: Human satisfaction and personal reward is not necessarily in getting something done, but in doing that something, i. e. the effort to do it.

You can buy a computer program that plays an incredible game of chess. But the real reward comes from playing an incredible game of chess.

Same with music. I know I could buy some AI software which writes on command whatever kind of song I might want to hear. Is that supposed to somehow compare with the incredible child-like joy, the exhilaration I get from writing — however good or bad it turns out — a song myself?

That concept is not lost on teachers here in Japan. My wife, Masumi, teaches music in a nearby school system. She competes with computer games, the internet, iPhones, yes the entire array of distractions which her elementary students carry around with them — and the increasingly pervasive levels of ADHD which the foregoing produce — still manages to teach her kids how to play and how to appreciate music. She deserves a medal!

Masumi loves to show me success stories she comes across, examples of how the educational system in Japan serves the real needs of students and doesn’t abandon its core mission by pandering to the latest technological fads.

Here are two such examples. These are not Masumi’s students, because she teaches grades 2 through 6, elementary level. These examples are — are you ready for this? — nursery school kids! That means 5 and under! Try to process that as you watch the Yayoi Nursery School orchestra play a piece from Phantom of the Opera.

Here is a performance at the Toddler Music Festival, playing excerpts from Camina Burana.

Are you impressed?

I know I am!

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Life In Japan: Excellence Begins Young | John Rachel

Don’t mess with woke!

I’ve always considered myself out on the fringe, cutting edge, pushing the envelope. Life is more interesting that way. But this time I pushed things too far.

A few months ago I jumped feet first into a new music project. Bunny Yō is a Q-pop star, unlike any I’ve ever worked with before, unlike anything out there these days. I won’t try to describe her. Just go to the website and try to figure it out for yourselves.

It has not been going smoothly at all. I love the music. I especially love the attitude, because it’s so weird and irreverent. But apparently no one else gets it, at least so far. Bunny’s first single, Orphan Sex Club, has been banned on TikTok. Most of the song’s YouTube videos have been age restricted, which is ridiculous. There’s nothing obscene about any of it. The censors fail to appreciate that it’s a joke. Orphan Sex Club? Come on! Get a sense of humor!

But that was just for starters.

Let me explain something. Bunny is in no position to do any of the technical stuff, none of the promotion, nothing but what she does. So yours truly has been handling everything. I put together the website, designed all the Bunny Yō accessories — t-shirts, truckers caps, coffee mugs — building everything around the Bunny Yō persona, lyrics, music, imagery, doing my best to capture and be faithful to her vision.

Well . . . this t-shirt was where the real trouble began.

Apparently, it caught the attention of some woke bloke and his indignation and gut rage spread through the woke community like monkeypox. They looked at the entire Bunny Yō project and for some reason thought I was making fun of them.

Let me tell you something. As J. K. Rowling will attest, you don’t want to mess with these people. There’s no reasoning with them. They’re like a mob of rabid witch hunters!

Anyway, here I am. In a jail cell of my own creation, waiting for the verdict.

Things don’t look good. My attorney (pictured on the right) apparently studied law at an auto mechanics trade school in Moldova. She raised no objections when a motion was entered — and approved by the court — to skip the trial and just let the jury decide on my guilt or innocence. I still don’t know what I am charged with. No matter who I ask, they just roll their eyes and sneer at me like I’m a big festering sore on the butt of humanity.

It gets worse.

How is that possible, you ask?

Here’s my jury.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Don’t mess with woke! | John Rachel

Make Beautiful Music, Earn Big Bucks!

There’s so much negativity out there these days. Pessimism is a poison pill.

So I’m here to offer some positivity! Here is the heartwarming and entirely true story of my launch into the stratospheric heights of fame and fortune.

Hot and sexy, oh yeah!

For sure, there are a lot of naysayers who think that success in the music business is impossible now, except for a handful of well-connected — usually hot and sexy — young artists. Granted, 70,000 new tunes are uploaded at Spotify every day. It’s reasonable to expect that in this tsunami of songs, a guy like me would get lost, made invisible by the blinding glare of millions of other songwriters, some using all sorts of fancy AI computer programs to write sixteen songs a day. These keyboard commandoes have been accused of riding roughshod over the creative playing field like a stampeding herd of buffaloes in a ballet class. Whatever.

The competition is stiff!

I refuse to buy into to such cynicism. Surrender is a sure guarantee of failure. I know in my heart that the world is just and kind and fair and takes care of all God’s children — as long as you have faith and brush your teeth three times a day. And lo! My faith has paid off in spades!

The big break just came this past week with a song I wrote way back in 2006, called Give Me Your Love.

There’s quite a story behind this particular tune.

“I wrote 26 songs today on my iPhone!”

I was living in Uganda at the time, becoming increasingly enamored with the pop music there. Yes, there’s a thriving pop scene in Africa. Very catchy, danceable songs, the kind you want to sing along with after hearing them a couple times. Most have reggae or reggaeton rhythms, great singers, excellent musicianship, highly-polished music tracks, incredible productions.

I was inspired! I started to get some fresh song ideas.

“I dedicated my last 406 albums to Paris Hilton. She’s so hot and sexy!”

One slight problem. I didn’t have access to any music instruments. None! All I had was a small laptop, a Macbook. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me, and I went to work.

This means, everything you hear (except for the singing) in this song was literally typed in. None of it was played. Note by note, I inserted the instruments, the entire musical track done with a computer keyboard and mouse, entered into a music program called Logic Express. I listened on earbuds.

“I am music and I write the songs … eat your heart out, Barry Manilow.”

Once the music track was done, I wrote the lyrics, came up with the melodies, the harmonies and background vocals, as I continued my travels to Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, China and Japan.

Eventually, after a year of backpacking and working on organic farms, I returned to the U.S. with Give Me Your Love and several other songs complete.

“I write Christian rock anthems. All 24,837 of my songs are in the key of C and at 82 BPM.
Praise the Lord!“

Back in Portland, Oregon, I started looking around and found a studio singer with the right attitude and voice, hired her, and recorded the song into my MacBook using a single mic and pre-amp. I told her exactly what to sing, how I wanted it sung, gave her each and every part, then blended it all together in a final audio mix. I still genuinely love this young lady’s performance.

So now let’s get to my newfound success, directly related to this particular song! Hang onto your hats … or wigs … or hair weaves!

“Music is like life. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

About a year ago, I joined a indie musician site called Reverbnation. Then just recently, I signed up for DistroKid, a music distribution site which thousands of musicians have been flocking to the past couple years.

What this means for me as an artist is that my music is now available at Spotify, Apple, Shazam, Boomplay, Deezer, Pandora, Yandex, YouTube, iHeartRadio, Joox, and every other digital music distribution site across the planet!

Now get this! Three days ago, I got notified of my first earnings. If you dare, take a look at this, and if you’re an aspiring musician/singer/songwriter, burn with envy and awe.

(Click to enlarge)

Mind you, this money is available anytime I want it. I just hit the ‘Withdraw Money’ button and it’ll pop right into my PayPal account!

“John Rachel, you are so hot and sexy! Your nipples are pierced, right?”

I know as sure as my name is Heironymous Merkin that this is just the beginning. That the floodgates are now open. The sky is the limit! I’m even thinking I might offer an online series — like those Masterclass courses — on how to achieve success in the music business.

For sure, this has been a very exciting week!

Finally … because I consider everyone reading this a dear personal friend and honorary sister or brother, I would never expect anyone to have to spring the $.99 to listen to this song. Therefore, good people, here it is for you to listen to, download, pirate, or sync up with a video of you doing skateboard tricks dressed as an Oscar Meyer’s veggie dog, taking your toy Rottweiler to meet the macaque living next door, or leading a flash mob performing the macarena at the funeral of a skydiving champion whose chute didn’t open during the graduation ceremonies of your local high school. It’s a very versatile song!

Give Me Your Love – Written and produced by John Rachel

That’s the MacBook I traveled with, and this is where I recorded the vocal for “Give Me Your Love”.
Believe it or not, I still have that Roland keyboard and acoustic. Some things don’t change.

[This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Make Beautiful Music, Earn Big Bucks! | John Rachel