【Nic先生の英語ブログを読もう！】Hearing Japanese music directly from the source

Hi there!

This is Nic, and welcome to another blog post of mine. Where did the summer go?!

For the past few blogs, I’ve been chatting about music, and I’ve since had a chance to chat with a bunch of students who are musicians in Japan.

※前回の記事「【Nic先生の英語ブログを読もう！】I’m still looking for the music of Japan! Where is it?! Have I found it?」を見逃した方はこちらからどうぞ！

To my delight, they’ve been making music that’s a bit different from mainstream music. Not only that, but it was also very varied and creative. I would go so far as to say it was ‘innovative’, though the definition of that term is really personal. Say, do you know the term ‘innovative’?

‘Innovative’という言葉

‘Innovative’ describes something that introduces new ideas or methods in art. It’s usually used to refer to music, movies, books, etc., but it can also refer to people.

For example,

This movie is very innovative. It uses a lot of special effects and animation.

He is an innovative person. He likes to invent and experiment with new things.

This phrase also gives rise to the common one:

an innovative approach

‘Approach’ is a word meaning ‘the way of doing something’. In fact, it’s often used in this common phrase, as a way to describe how someone does something differently or better.

それぞれの‘Innovative’

For me, an ‘innovative’ song is something that has a fresh sound or style, or that uses new technologies or instruments. But, I’m not a professional (I wish), so as mentioned, everyone has their own opinion about innovative songs.

In addition, I definitely don’t subscribe to the notion of ‘innovative is good’, or ‘change for change’s sake’. I still love a good pop song!

But, the music my students showed me was what I would call ‘innovative’, and all made in the 21st century. It was mostly indie, electronic, and classical (incidentally, some of my favourite genres!), with a lot of Japanese words. Now, before you ask the question, yes, the ‘musicians’, or people who played the songs I was shown, could speak English, though they were not native speakers.

Thanks so much to those students for getting in touch. I still want to hear from all of you though. How do you choose what songs to play? I recently got a breakdown of my listening habits, and saw everything from folk, to classical, to electronic, to rock. Get in touch with me, because I love all music!

Thanks so much for reading, and I’ll pick this up next time! Bye for now!

フルーツフルイングリッシュで英語表現の楽しさ感じてください 。初めての方には英作文添削チケット2回分をプレゼント。
「無料英語テスト800問（解説付）」メルマガも大人気。今すぐチェック！

Nic

日本の小中学校で英語を教えるALT講師Nic先生は非常にユーモラスな先生です。台湾でも英語を教えていました。どこでも適応できるのがNic先生が自慢ができること。「肉先生」と読んで欲しいとたまに呼びかけられるかもしれません。こんなコミカルで愉快なNic先生から楽しく英語指導を受けませんか？
座右の名”The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love and something to hope for.”