Today marked the final session of my Finale course at Yamaha Music Avenue Ikebukuro, which will officially come to a close at the end of this fiscal year. With the development and support of Finale now discontinued, it’s natural that the course is ending too. We can’t keep running a class for software that’s no longer available for purchase!
I’ve been in charge of this course for 23 years, ever since taking it over in April 2002. Over the years, the location changed from Yamaha Music Square Shibuya Dogenzaka to Yamaha Music Avenue Shibuya Koendori, and finally to Yamaha Music Avenue Ikebukuro. The operating company also went through a few changes: Yamaha Music Tokyo, then Yamaha Music Retailing, and now Yamaha Music Japan. With this, I’ll also be stepping away from the role of “instructor.”
Some students from the course became professional music engravers, while others self-published their own collections, specialised in braille music, or worked in early childhood education. There were also Electone and vocal teachers—people from many different fields. Thanks to them, I was able to broaden my perspective a lot. Now, I’m a little worried I might end up focusing too much on the wind band world.
In fact, in my first year of teaching this course, I was still a university student—there was even the rather unusual situation where I, an undergraduate non-music-major, was teaching a composition professor from a music conservatory.🙃
On the other hand, the original textbook used in the course has remained largely unchanged for 23 years, which perhaps shows how little the core of Finale has changed during that time.
From next fiscal year, I’ll be spending less time in central Tokyo, which should make scheduling rehearsals and business trips a bit easier.📅 I need to update my profile as well!
To everyone who supported the course over the years, thank you so much—I truly appreciate it.
