Tanimura Shinji: Connecting Asia with Music

"My impression of Shanghai people when I first came in 1994 was that everyone was energetic and full of vitality. I have been fond of Shanghai people and have had close ties with Shanghai since then," said Tanimura, sharing his stories about Shanghai.

  

Tanimura giving a lesson at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music

In March 2004, Tanimura accepted an offer from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and became a professor with the Music Engineering Department and consultant with the Sino-Japanese music culture research center. From 2004 to 2008, Tanimura came to Shanghai once every month and stayed for a week each time. He gave a ninety-minute lecture each day from Monday to Friday. He communicated face to face with young Chinese and passed his music knowledge on to his Chinese students.

Tanimura said that he had been an active singer for many years but had never been a college teacher prior to that experience. He remembered that Mr. Yang, then principal of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, came and invited him and said to him, “Most Chinese music schools focus on classical music and our students excel in both technique and theory. But only you can teach them how to write songs and lyrics and then perform on the stage."

Tanimura had little experience of teaching at that time. There were 50 students in his first class. He asked his students in the first lesson if anyone had ever written lyrics for a song. It turned out only two raised their hands. So he asked the class to write down their mood and feelings first. That's how he started his teaching career in Shanghai. Tanimura believes that everyone has their own personality and strength and how to guide students to unleash their own personalities and potential is of utmost importance.