午夜剧场

One day about 27 years ago in the music room of the 午夜剧场 Futsubu School, my music teacher, Mr. K, said, "Hayashi-kun, play that song you were playing during the break." I remember playing the piano with a flushed face and receiving a round of applause from my friends. This moment was the formative experience that led me, someone who gets more nervous than most, to become a pianist. During my time at Juku High School, I began to aspire to become a jazz pianist, thinking how happy I would be if what I loved became my job. Fortunately, I started performing with professionals while still a student in the Faculty of Law, and more than 20 years have already passed since then.

Through live performances, concerts, and recordings with many artists, I have come into contact with a wide variety of musical genres. I have walked this path with single-minded devotion, constantly wondering what kind of performance would please my fellow musicians, how I could play like so-and-so, or what kind of songs would make the audience happy.

In the midst of this, about 10 years ago, I began to feel that my ears were becoming hypersensitive to loud sounds. While I struggled with this abnormality in my hearing, it became a major turning point that led me to face the timbre of my instrument with delicacy for the first time. I feel that my musicality has gradually taken shape by pursuing the piano tones that I find beautiful and pleasant, or by having the sense that music is created by playing only the minimum necessary sounds out of silence.

When performing with any artist, I have come to ask myself first whether I am personally fulfilled, rather than trying to meet the demands of others. Having passed the age of forty, I feel that I have finally gained the confidence to believe that it is okay not to be the same as others—in fact, it is better to be different.

Having performed in about 20 countries around the world, I have realized that music sometimes possesses an amazing power to easily transcend borders. From now on, I want to connect with the hearts of many more people around the world through music. To do that, I must become a pianist who can put my own convictions into every single note whenever I play. I am still far from a level that satisfies me, but today I face the piano again with the joy of being able to immerse myself and compete in this world of music, which I never tire of even after touching it every day for 20 years.