We recently connected with Mike Penny and have shared our conversation below.
Mike, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
One of the luckiest aspects of my career as a musician, and especially as a shamisen player, is that I’ve been able to explore a few different paths simultaneously which has led to all kinds of experiences that I feel so fortunate to have had. For instance, introducing and teaching shamisen to all kinds of people over the years has been extremely rewarding. Many people who have taken shamisen lessons from me in the past have come with little or no prior musical experience, and it has been very rewarding to see these students gain their sense of rhythm, improve their hearing, and develop their musicality over time. As a performer, I have had so many amazing opportunities playing throughout the U.S. and in Japan. My first real steady gig as a performer was in a six-person folk group that specialized in fast-tempo Romani folk music, and we toured the Western U.S. nearly non-stop for the two years or so that I was in the group. I think I turned 21 on my first tour out with them, and everyone else in the group was about a decade older than I was, so I learned a lot about music and a lot about the touring musician lifestyle in my time with them. Then, there are the awesome scores for TV/film/video game projects I’ve had the honor of recording on such as Ghost of Tsushima, shows like Netflix’s Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles, Blue Eye Samurai, and others. But I think the most rewarding projects I’ve ever worked on are my own compositions that I’ve written and recorded under the banner of Mike Penny Orchestra (MPO). I’ve been deeply interested in ALL styles and traditions of music, from classical to modern, for as long as I can remember, and I think that is clearly heard in my original material. For me, achieving self-expression through a craft I love is the highest peak I can fathom, so I think I’ll always consider composition to be the most rewarding aspect of what I do.
Mike, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I play an instrument called the shamisen, which is a three-stringed, fretless lute played with a large plectrum which gives it a highly percussive quality. The style of shamisen I play most is known as Tsugaru shamisen – Tsugaru being the region of Japan it comes from – and it is known for its high energy and power. I first began studying shamisen in California in late 2004 with a virtuosic player and musician named Kevin Kmetz, and later I received a fellowship from the Japan Foundation, Los Angeles which allowed me to go study in Tokyo with a highly respected veteran performer and instructor named Toyoaki Fukushi. Before shamisen, I played several instruments including guitar, drums/percussion, and trombone, and I studied Western music theory on my own and with my guitar teacher Jim Paschall. But shamisen changed everything for me when I saw it being performed by Kmetz. Shamisen (music) and Japanese language basically became my two areas of hyperfocus, a perhaps somewhat unbalanced, obsessive approach which I had to recalibrate as I got older in order to not totally lose the ability to function in society, haha. I continue to teach shamisen, both privately as well as online and in workshop settings, perform both solo and in various groups, record as a studio musician on all kinds of projects, and write original music.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
One of my earlier responses touched on this, but I think self-expression is really everything for me. One of the reasons creativity is such a powerful tool for artists is because it can be a vehicle through which we process the world and our lives, and what we wind up with are these pieces that each represent something authentic or unique about us, or are a catharsis of some kind. As I get older and stress and concerns grow, so grows the value and necessity of making art. “Keeps me sane” would be the short answer!
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
While it may sound repetitive of me, I’ve really been lucky in that I’ve had a lot of support for what I do despite it being very much off the beaten path for a quirky redhead from the ‘burbs of northern L.A. County like me! It can be very frustrating to be or feel misunderstood by others as a creative person, but I’ve (very) slowly come to the realization that I should always stay true to my inner compass and try not to think about how others perceive what I do, because I can’t and wouldn’t want to control anyone else’s thoughts. It’s enough of a reward to me now to simply know that I am being authentic to myself, and that not everyone has to “get it”. With that said, I think it can be very helpful for artists to think long and hard about communicating to their audiences what it is they are all about in ways that are clear, effective, and feel authentic. Playing a traditional instrument which belongs to a culture other than that which I was raised in, I am sometimes put by others into one of a few small boxes that aren’t always flattering or even accurate, but I think it’s enough for me that I have a small, but supportive group of people out there who appreciate what I do and who do “get it”. There are so many truly original, amazing artists here in Los Angeles, and it is validating to talk with some who I know about these kinds of struggles such as others’ ideas about us, how we want to be perceived vs. how we perceive ourselves, etc. Being an artist is not easy and it can even be an alienating experience sometimes, but the reward of self-expression and charting our own authentic course through life makes it all worthwhile, I think!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mikepennymusic.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/mikepenny01
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/MikePennyOrchestra
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/mikepenny01
Image Credits
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