YO TAKAHASHI (Yothin Chantarakka)

A Japanese-Thai who wants to be a great composer, arranger and something like that. :D

" I love to expand my musical horizons "

สวัสดีครับ
よろしくお願いします。

I began my first music study at the age of six, because my aunt asked my parents to let me accompany her son to music lessons. But also because my father wanted me to acquire some skills. So I started with basic keyboard training through group organ lessons at Pinsiri music school with my cousin and switched to private piano lessons gradually. I kept on going for and taking lessons although I didn’t like it. I loved and enjoyed music but I was not really interested in playing instruments. To me, practice was just part of my life’s routine.

Later, as a junior high school student, my father advised me to start playing the guitar. He said playing the piano is cooler than the guitar actually. But a guitar was more flexible and I could take it anywhere with me. He said if I could play the guitar, I would be popular and a lot of girls would be interested in me. It was interesting. I wanted to be cool. I wanted to be popular. My father has played a guitar before so he taught me some simple chords first and bought me guitar learning books. I learnt and practiced through books and used some knowledge and skills from my piano lessons for playing by myself. At that point, I had actually come to like music more and wanted the attention it brought me,despite me having been a shy boy in the past.

The next story is a bit of background to my musical life experience.

I was very shy during my elementary school days but at the age of 7, I was cast in a children’s advertisement for a kiddies drink. My mother sent my profile to this specific casting agency and I was one of 20 kids chosen. I said cast but it was not really cast, I mean it was not a formal casting with scripts or lines to practice. It was more like a camping. We did activities with other children and It was actually more spontaneous. We were playing games etc. and the film crew just recorded us doing that. However, after that, through this casting advertisement, a TV kid’s program contacted me to guest star in one of their programs. My parents took me to the studio, but I flaked out on the program as soon as they started recording because I was too shy. This was a pity. My parents were insulted by my inability to perform in this program…

One day, in around my 2nd year of junior high school, I changed… I had a crush on one of my classmates. And one day, my friends incited me to sing her a song she liked. I don’t know why or how. I can’t remember why, but I got onto the desk among almost all my classmates and sang! I embarrassed her, and everyone around me laughed. They looked happy. Happy with my funny performance. And that made me realized that I am happy when I see someone’s smiling face. So, from that day, I wanted to make people happy, make them laugh and smile and have fun. I knew only after my performance that the song I sang for her was wrong… unfortunately, and of course, I was not in a relationship with her…

Now, back to the main story. So yes, I had come to like music more and wanted more attention. The above mentioned story is what made me realize how much I loved getting attention and making others happy.

One day, I put on a rock band album and listened to it. It was a good album. I felt an instant connection with the songs. And the thing that greatly surprised me was all of songs, all of the lyrics on this album was written and produced by one guy. Just one guy. What a cool guy! This album, this guy, inspired me start writing my own music. I wanted to have my own song, wanted to have my own album. So, I started to write a song even though I could not play the guitar very well and I could play just 3 or 4 chords. My first song was written by 3 chords. Now, the thing I really love and enjoy about music is being able to write songs.

Approximately 4 years later, I studied at the faculty of humanities of Kasetsart University in Japanese program. My first year, I entered a singing contest of KU band, a music club of Kasetsart University to be a vocal member of the band, but I failed in the 1st round of auditions. But in hindsight, I was lucky because I was able to do many other things and this year was one of the most wonderful years of my life. I entered the contest again in my second year and this time, everything worked out well and I passed the 1st round of the contest. I was able to be a member of KU Band. Through KU Band, I was able to expand my musical horizons. I had become interested in Jazz and I was motivated to study music further.

After I graduated, I worked as a Thai-Japanese Interpreter at one company but I never gave up on my dream. I still did something which was related to music. I made some songs and uploaded it to YouTube. I learned Jazz piano with Arjan Nu through an introduction by my senior at KU Band.

I decided to go to Japan to further my music study. I chose Japan because I am half Japanese and I wanted to try to live in Japan at least once and the most important reason was I was familiar with the language. I didn’t have the confidence to study in English.

After 4 years again, I finally got money to go to Japan.I studied music theory and jazz piano at music college MESAR HAUS for 2 years.And I worked part time as well, because I needed money to live. The money I got from my interpreter work was just enough to cover school expenses.

I gained a lot of experience in Japan. I knew more music theory, I played music live with friends, I learned how to live in Japan, I made new friends and I got new motivation, etc. I think it was one of the greatest parts of my life but I also consider it one of the hardest. But I was able to overcome that through the support of everyone around me. Today I am still very thankful to them and would like to say thank you for their friendship and support.

I have returned to Thailand to work as an interpreter again after I graduated and I have started music projects seriously until now.

To be frank, my music skill is still not that good and I still have to practice a lot. I continue to improve myself and I still enjoy it too!

Although now I’m an amateur, I have Big dreams which I shall achieve!

So there you have the story of my musical life and aspirations.
I thank you for taking the time to read my story and I really hope you enjoyed it.
I also hope you will enjoy my upcoming projects. :)

,YO