 Hello everyone, I'm your host, Guy Perry, and this is Let's Talk Hawaii, live from Honolulu. This is a program about English pronunciation, communication, and interesting things in people in Hawaii. You can see me here every other Tuesday at 3 p.m. Today's topic is how singing can help improve your pronunciation. But today, I have a special guest live from Los Angeles, California. Her name is Ms. Maki Manami. Maki is a singer, voice trainer, composer, and a new mom, and former excellent student of mine. Maki uses her English skills for her work today and her daily life. And today we're going to find out how singing can actually help improve your pronunciation. It's an interesting concept, but it's very difficult to understand. But it's very true. I do many level checks, Japanese pronunciation checks, 10 to 1, 1 to 1 is the best. Last week, I did 130 level checks, and it was quite a lot last week. The taking score is 7.1, as 1 is the best and 10 is the lowest level. Over the years, I've done nearly 5,000 level checks. And of these, singers and musical music have a better average score. Average for most people is about 7 to 7.5 lately, but singers have an average score of about 4 to 5. And they improve much faster on average. I think it's because they're very focused and tuned to their hearing ability, so today we will talk with a former student of mine and find out how singing can improve your pronunciation. So, before we go any further, I'd like to bring on Ms. Maki Manami and introduce her. Hi Maki, how are you? Hi, very good. How are you? Thanks so much for having me. You're a long time no see. How's everything in California? Everything is good. I've been teaching local students here in Los Angeles. I have piano and vocal students here in Los Angeles. I've been teaching American kids and American adults and including other people too. So I've been really happy doing that and thank you so much for Scott because you gave me this method and then if I didn't take your lesson, I would never be able to teach American people, so I'm really thankful. Well, thank you very much and yes, you are one of my top students and I'm very happy to see your success. I understand you've done work with some pretty big companies. I have a list here. I think, you know, Sony, Honda, Google, Fuji World, I mean the FIFA World Cup. I'm not a real soccer fan but Panasonic and let's see, Soundtracks and Orchestra Soundtracks. So that's pretty impressive. I've got a couple of questions for you. I want to ask you some things and then I want to basically show how singing in English are connected. So let me get to find out some information about you. When did you first become interested in English? In English. Well, actually... No, no, no. Sorry, sorry. When did you first become interested in singing? Okay, so well, I always loved singing since I was a little kid. I was always into karaoke. My parents and my relatives had this karaoke machine at home and so I always loved singing, like I always, you know, sang cartoons, songs in front of everyone. But when I was 17, I was into kind of old films, old American films and especially I loved MGM musical films. So I wanted to be a musical actress so I started taking vocal lessons with this opera singer in Japan and that's when I started singing seriously and properly. Okay, so basically you had an interest since you were very young and at 17 you started taking steps. Is that correct? Right. Right. What was your first singing experience actually when you were like action and singing actually? So you mean professionally singing experience? Well, like no, maybe the first time on stage or when you were a little kid, first time you got up and said, I'm now singing. Okay, so I have actually a kind of interesting experience at singing and also performing. So my grandparents took me to this hot spring onsen hotel and then we stayed there and while we were staying there, they had this karaoke event at the hotel. So they had this professional band and everyone who was staying at the hotel, if they want to sing, they can go up on the stage and sing. So MC said, so who wants to sing next? So I was like probably five or six years old and then I said, me, you know, I want to sing on the stage. So I went up on the stage and I started singing this cartoon song, all Japanese people should know it's Tensai Bakobon. And then I started singing with a band and so this cartoon is actually theme song has the one phrase, kind of famous phrase goes like, and then it repeats like four times and cartoon, you know, and then I knew that it repeats four times when they play that song on TV, but I knew that I have heard the full version, maybe when I was in shopping mall or somewhere like that. And it actually repeats eight times in complete version. So I was singing on the stage and I knew that the band will go on to the next phrase after four times, but then I turned back and I was just like, you know, gave them the sign, you know, like, I want to go on more. And then I sang that phrase like eight times, the quality, you know, that quality, you know, and the band was like, you know, like how many times is she going to sing this phrase. And then at eighth time, I gave them sign again, like, I'm going to stop right there and then move on to the next. Right. Five years old. Five or six. Yeah. So that was my first singing experience on the stage and also performing with a band like kind of, you know, doing session. So that was the experience. Let's speak a little bit more in Japanese. So how would you, how would you categorize your singing style now? Okay. So, um, I was in New York and I started taking jazz vocal lesson with this gospel, black gospel singer, actually. Yes. I can listen to jazz very often. Yeah. Now I have a few people in Germany. I wanted to live in New York so much. Berlin. Berlin. Berlin. Okay. So that's interesting. And did you speak any German? Yeah. I was going to, I was going to learn the German is like so long. One word is already so long. And the one sentence is like so long, you know, like they don't use German and then just go all over and period at some point. So I got kind of confused. Okay. So how has English benefited you so far? How has English helped your, yeah, benefited you so far? In my life in California or in your life in general? It changed my life. Actually, you changed my life because I lived in New York when I was 19 years old. So at that time, my English was okay already because I took English conversation lessons a lot while I was in Japan. But pronunciation wasn't that great. And of course, you know, like my English wasn't that great either. But first of all, pronunciation. So I'm not gonna put it in American, but since I came to California, so that's after I took your lesson, you know, and after you fixed my pronunciation, I feel that they I actually started treating me like, you know, like real people in America. What kind of people? A lot of my friends came here. And I didn't feel like I was talking to them as foreigners, but as friends, as a business partner, I felt a lot of respect for them. In that sense, my life has really changed. Especially when it comes to teaching songs, like teaching American kids and American adults, it's a really big thing for me. There are lyrics to the songs, right? There are lyrics to the lyrics, so if you're a very strong foreigner, I don't think Americans can say, let's sing this song a little bit more. But the reason I was able to do that is because I was taught by Mr. Scott. I remember we worked on a CD of yours called Pilot. Is that the name of it? That's right, yes. We spent a lot of time on that, but I think it was actually the first Japanese-born Japanese-born Japanese CD. Every word was actually perfect. That was really interesting. Thank you so much. And we're going to be coming up on a break. When we get back, I wanted to ask you a couple questions about a little bit more about singing, and then we're going to go into some teaching. How does that sound? Yeah, that sounds great. Okay, well, we're going to take a break right now, and we'll be back shortly. Aloha. I'm Stan Osterman, a host here on Think Tech Hawaii, a digital media company serving the people of Hawaii. We provide a video platform for citizen journalists to raise public awareness here on the island. We are a Hawaiian non-profit that depends on the generosity of its supporters to keep on going. We'd be grateful if you go to thinktechawaii.com and make a donation to support us now. Mahalo. Hello, I'm Dave Stevens, host of the Cyber Underground. This is where we discuss everything that relates to computers that just kind of scare you out of your mind. So come join us every week here on thinktechawaii.com, 1 p.m. on Friday afternoons, and then you can go see all our episodes on YouTube. Just look up the Cyber Underground on YouTube. All our shows will show up, and please follow us. We're always giving you current, relevant information to protect you. Keepin' you safe. Aloha. Hi, welcome back. I'm your host, Dave Perry, and this is Think Tech Hawaii. And this show is Let's Talk Hawaii. I'm here with Makimanami, singer, songwriter, and producer amongst other things. And we are going to continue our questions about singing and how it can help your English. So Makimanami, I have another couple of questions for you, and then I want to start some teaching with you. I need your assistance for that. So does anything make you nervous when you're singing? Well, actually, I never really get nervous. You don't get nervous? Yeah, because that's something I have been doing since I was a little kid. I started taking piano lessons at the age of three. So I had a lot of opportunities to perform in front of everyone. But if I didn't have time to practice that much, I usually practice well and prepare for every performance. But sometimes, for example, I get a quiet job or whatever, and they sent me like 15 songs. And then I have to remember all of the songs in two weeks or something. And if I don't have enough time to prepare, especially... Oh, that's the only thing that makes you nervous. Yeah. At that time, if you're nervous or worried, what if you make a mistake? I understand. If preparation is done properly, there's no problem. So you help Japanese people sing. I know you do several different things, but for your students, you're helping them to sing. And I remember that many people were interested in improving their karaoke skills, karaoke skills, to help them at parties or events or just gives them more confidence when they have more confidence. So, could you tell me a little bit about that? What are most of the people interested in? I mean, what are the most important things? Well, in between Japanese people, karaoke is a very important communication tool. Everybody loves it. Everybody loves it, and they need it because they invite their clients to carry a party. And that's where they build up the bond between clients. And that's where they build up their bond and work better. And that's where they build up their bond and work better. That's why it's a business tool. So if you're good at singing in English or good at singing, if you show them your skills, it's really good for your job. It's simply fun. It's simply fun. But it's really useful for your job. A good impression when you can make a good song, I think, too. So if a person wanted to become a singer or something like wanted to sing or do something, what would be the first step with you? What would they do? So first step, I would say, just love it. Love it and then be into it. And then in that way, you naturally practice. You don't even have to try to practice. If you like it, you're good at it. But if you like it, if you're good at it, if you're good at it, if you're good at it, if you're good at it, nowadays we have so many tools like YouTube or so many different schools and you can research online. I think there are a lot of people who can't decide what they want to learn from. But that's not the case. I really like it, so I practice a lot and make a lot of music. I think it's the fastest way to grow from experience. So as you know, I've been teaching for 31 years now. And I've seen on average a little improvement in general. The average has improved from 24 hours on the internet. When I first started, there was no YouTube, there was no internet. But recently, I've been getting stronger. What's the biggest problem in terms of Japanese English, speaking, communicating? What's the biggest problem in your opinion? Personally, I think it's a problem. I really want to do it. I really want to do it. For example, I've been to a 5th grade school in New York, but other Japanese people speak the wrong language. Even if the grammar is wrong or the language is weird. But English is, I think, physical training, like playing the instrument. Even if you want to learn it, don't play the instrument. If you're just reading a book, it won't be good to play the instrument. But if you don't speak it with English, it won't make sense. It's not good, so if you don't speak it with English, it won't make sense. So I think it's a big problem. I see. Okay, so this question then I want to open it up to slides that I have. How do you taught me something at one of my workshops one day when you made me aware that Japanese people breathe differently than American people? Which was very surprised me. I thought it was the same for everyone in the world. No. What is the difference how do Americans breathe taking technique and how do Japanese people breathe? Americans originally breathe in a negative way. American breathing means breathing in a positive way. Breathing in a positive way, using their stomachs. Japanese women use their chest to breathe. Men usually say they breathe in a negative way, but they only use their breath a little bit, so they don't have the chance to move their stomach a little bit. So let's actually breathe in a negative way and breathe in our chest. When we breathe in a negative way, it's only when we're sleeping. So when we're sleeping on the bed it's only when we're sleeping in a negative way. So it's a big difference between Americans. Yes. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. You had us. people will basically start talking without taking a deep breath. If you don't breathe, you just let it go. But if you listen to the native language, you have to listen to something. If you ask a question, you have to breathe and then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and you have to let it go until you're out of breath. We will speak until basically all the air is gone where Japanese people will breathe more frequently. And this illustrates basically what's going on. So in order to speak better, we need to have a big deep breath to connect our words. So if you don't have enough air, you can only speak a few English words. And another slide here, I'm going to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Japanese people's English is very hot. How are you doing today? It's word or sound, base, sound and space. The native one, the lower one, will hear a big sound and will hear it again. It's basically connected. And the bottom is how you want to make sure all of your words are connected. The one interesting thing was that I noticed when you sing, you basically have to connect your words. You're taking a deep breath, and you're using pressure to push the air out. Also, your words come out just like a song. And when they do that, you sound like you're singing. One of my friends, a long time ago in college, he said, when I listened to Americans, he said, he said, it sounds like everybody's la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la singing versus his main language, which was pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa. So the first time I heard that, I was in college at that time. I wasn't teaching so much pronunciation then. But it was interesting that they thought, we sound like we're singing all the time. Anything you can add to how singing is connected to speaking? Yes, well, that's exactly what you said. So singing, you have to really take a deep breath. Otherwise, if you don't take enough breath, then you won't be able to finish singing one phrase, and you will be run out of the breath. So I always tell my vocal student, every time you have an opportunity to take a breath, then you have to really take a deep breath. Otherwise, you won't be able to sing the phrase properly. Got it. OK, so I wanted to share some of your information. So we have information about you and how people could reach you. So you have a school called Higher Voice. And that's your language school in Los Angeles. I mean, your vocal school in Los Angeles. And how can we reach you? Yes, well, they can visit my website, so higher-voice.com. That's my vocal school. And then the next one is my full name, Machimanami.com. So that's the website of my music work. So you can reach me from those websites. Great. Well, thanks again for spending this time with me. Learned something about you, Germany, breathing, and so on. So thank you for having me. That's it for today's show. Catch me in two weeks. I will probably be live from Tokyo, Japan at that time. Looking forward to see you again. Have a nice day.