Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Marika Takeuchi, a Japanese pianist and composer based in Los Angeles. She started studying piano at age three and began composing original pieces at 18.¹ She moved to the U.S. and studied film scoring at Berklee School of Music, finding inspiration in composers classical (Debussy, Tchaikovsky) and contemporary (John Williams, Alexandre Desplat). Since 2013 she’s released eight LPs, of which we’re playing two today. First up is Wandering Notes, her latest record which came out in June, a collection of delicate and intriguing solo piano pieces. Second we’re playing Melding, her LP from 2018, which incorporates strings and percussion. A conversation with Marika follows the streaming links.

Wandering Notes - Marika Takeuchi (30m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

Melding - Marika Takeuchi (50m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music / Bandcamp / Tidal

What's your earliest memory of music?

I have vague memories of being in music lessons and dancing to all the music I heard when I was little. 

Who were the composers and musicians who inspired you most early on?

I was inspired by classical composers and film composers such as Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Thomas Newman, John Williams, and Alexandre Desplat.

Tell us about your relationship with piano and movies in high school (drawing on your comments on this interview). How did piano and movies help you get through depression and what movies in particular helped?

Piano was a really important part of my recovery. Although I stopped formally playing classical music in high school and was more into dance music, I always played piano by copying all kinds of songs I heard and liked. Playing piano calmed me down, and writing my songs on piano and being introduced to a DAW where I could produce music all by myself broadened my perspective.

I always loved how movies took my mind away to somewhere completely different from where I was. I especially remember the moment I watched a movie called Deep Blue, which is a film version of BBC’s Blue Planet. When I watched the big whale swimming so calmly in the ocean with the amazing film score, I realized how small my problems were compared to the world.

What piano do you have in your studio today?

I have a Yamaha G2. It has such a warm and deep sound and lovely resonance. The title track from my new album Wandering Notes is a bit jazzy and this piece is inspired by my piano’s sound.

How did your move to California affect your mindset and music? In general, how do your surroundings influence your work?

Moving to California has changed a lot of things in my life. The environment is very important for my creativity, and the beautiful scenery here has been inspiring me a lot. But the biggest change and inspiration I had since moving here was that I had my daughter in 2022.

Spending time with my husband and daughter is truly inspiring, and being a mother completely changed the way I work. With my daughter, the time I can spend on music each day is very limited, so I’ve learned to work very efficiently and accept a little bit of imperfections.

For example, I got the ideas for “Small Hands in Mind” from the new album Wandering Notes while my daughter was playing random notes along with me on the piano. The rest of the songs from the album are inspired by all the places we traveled to as a family last year. I wrote the pieces while our daughter was napping each day in the various hotel rooms, and recorded on my piano at home. So this is a documentation of our traveling and my motherhood.

What was it like scoring a video game?

Scoring a video game was so much fun. I was asked to write a wide variety of music as the main character of the game travels all over the world in the game. Also, most game music cues are looped, so it was a lot different from writing for films or commercials. I absolutely loved scoring a video game and I would love to do it more. I don’t play video games much personally, but I do appreciate all the wonderful video games and the music.

What are you working on next?

I’m thinking about working on an ambient album next.