Misa Nakata has called Australia home for the past 30years.She was one of the very first recipients of Business Migrant visa to Australia from Japan.
After setting up her real estate business in Australia, and helping many Japanese people into Australia, her passion for music was reawakened.
Ms. Nakata was a graduate of Osaka College of Music and Berklee College of Music, studying composition, jazz piano, music composition for Film and TV, just to name a few.
Ms. Nakata is now a pianist, a composer, and an educator based in Sydney.
"I wanted to create a music that reflected my various experience in Australia, both the good and difficult"
One of her recent release was "Together We are One", with the hope to overcome this uncertain period of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The song is about the yin and yang of our hearts. It begins with the peacefulness and freedom of 2019 and progresses to the long awaited 2021, like from a night to the dawn of the day"
Ms. Nakata used the pan flute instrument to show the sadness and fragility of life. "It's a song that reaches deep into your soul"
Like many, Ms. Nakata was pushed to the online world of teaching during the pandemic. There were challenges on the way, some just logistical like the internet connection, or setting the camera to the right angle. However, for some shy students, online was a place that they flourished. From the comfort of his or her own home, students were able to express themselves better and speak more naturally.
In Japan, Ms. Nakata was a music teacher in senior high school. Although she was at the forefront of education in Japan, she wanted her daughters to receive education that would allow them to remain curious and develop the ability to make their own way in life. Hence the big move to Australia.
Unlike most string, woodwind and wind instruments which are "melodic instruments", piano is an instrument that can be "played by a single person in an ensemble".
Misa Nakata's Sydney studio Source: Misa Nakata
Source: Misa Nakata
"It means you have to think and play several voices by yourself, and I really enjoy it" says Ms.Nakata.
"I also love the trial and error process of composing, and playing a piece over and over again, developing it until it is as good as I want it to be"
