For Band Journal readers, Akihisa Kato’s long-running column was a familiar feature. When the series began in 1993, I was just starting junior high school. From around my second year, I often borrowed back issues of the Band Journal from my band teacher’s desk in the staff room, and I still remember the very first “free-style” one-point lessons that marked the start of this column.
Back in the narrowband era—when the Internet was not yet common and videos were still a distant dream—the musical media that an ordinary school band member could access were very limited. Among them, NHK Educational TV’s The NHK Symphony Hour was an especially precious resource. Reading the words of a “person from television” in the magazine allowed me to imagine the world behind the TV screen; in a sense, this column connected school life and the living room with the professional music world.
This book brings together more than 30 years of those columns. Thanks to the author’s lively style, I read it straight through. To my surprise, I remembered most of the episodes, even though some were only partly. At the same time, I found myself sensing the atmosphere of the times through the style of writing and topics, or responding differently thanks to my own experiences since then. The result was a far richer reading experience than I had expected.
That is precisely the value of having three decades’ worth of writing condensed into one volume. Without this collection, I would never have revisited each column. The skilful arrangement of the texts also adds to its appeal.
And of course, younger readers today will enjoy it just as much! It is an invaluable book—accessible, engaging, and offering a wide range of perspectives from a professional clarinettist.
