12/16/2020
We sure love Taka Shimojima! Make sure you check out all the cool things musica intima is doing this season.
"So when I was 5, I would play my parents’ Christmas records, and I just started imitating what I heard. I continued singing throughout my adolescence - I sang a lot of J-pop back then. And once I got to high school, I started playing the bassoon in the junior band.
But at the end of grade 10, my school was having auditions for the chamber choir. And one of my friends was like, ‘oh bro, you should audition!’ And I was like, ‘nah, I don’t want to put myself out there.’ But she wrote my name on the sheet! So I auditioned and got in.
By grade 12, I had the idea that I wanted to go into music. But the real question was, do I go for voice, or do I study bassoon? I was given the notion that it was really competitive if I wanted to study voice, but I’d have a slightly better chance with the bassoon. So I took 2 months of private lessons right before my audition, and they offered me the spot.
Then after my degree, I got to a point where I just realized, ‘why am I playing bassoon if I enjoy singing more, and it’s easier for me?’ So I still hold onto the skills that I’ve developed as an instrumental player, but I’m glad that I shifted my focus into singing. I was a singer living in an instrumentalist’s world.
For the most part, a singer’s life isn’t that glamorous. We get by, but we’re not living an easy life, right? We go into it because we like it. When we’re doing our own private study, we’re developing our skills to satisfy our own personal desires. But when we start performing, we realize we can satisfy the audience’s desires also. I think intima is special in a way where we’re not a group that gets together because we’re trying to feed our egos, but it’s more-so that we have a very special connection with the audience and the listeners, and we do well in serving them.
Some might see me as a very technical musician, and yeah, I’m always thinking about the micro, but at the same time I do listen for the soul or spirit of the singer - something that is hard to put into words. That's what I really like about singing with others. It’s less-so of a musical thing, and more-so of a spiritual thing. Singing with intima again is providing me with that nourishment."
