tonebase in Tokyo: Competition, Guitar, and Sushi (ft. Gian Marco Ciampa)

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tonebase Guitar

9 min readDec 28, 2018

New tonebase Artist and Italian Ambassador Gian Marco Ciampa traveled to Japan last month to compete in the Tokyo International Competition (and to eat some sushi! 🍣) Afterwards, he took the time to tell us about his experience and share a few photos from his trip. Enjoy this look into the life of a competitor on the road!

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If I have to choose one of the places that I like most in the world, surely among these there is Tokyo! Japan is a fascinating place under many points of view: ancient traditions, modernity of the highest level, a very important culture for food (like us Italians!) and magnificent example of human civilization.

This is the second time I come to Tokyo, last year I won second prize at the “Tokyo International Competition,” so this year I decided to try again.

Shibuya

After 15 hours of travel (and obviously having fought at check-in as usual to be able to bring the guitar on board the plane…) I arrive in Japan a week before the competition: I have a couple of concerts to give and so I can get used to it at the Japanese time zone.

My apartment is in Shibuya, one of the most famous and transgressive districts of the city, and also one of the most popular: Shibuya Crossing is the busiest intersection in the world and is very famous as a tourist attraction.

In general, Shibuya is a “crazy” place. There are huge advertising screens everywhere, loud music in every corner and especially thousands of people around the street: it’s really an amazing place and every time I go back I need two or three days to get used to it.

Food

When I travel for concerts or competitions I like to immerse myself in the culture of the country where I am, visit the city, discover the traditions of the place and try new things.

Obviously as a true Italian, food is very important to me and I love to try local foods.

In the case of Japan I am very lucky, because it is a country with a great gastronomic tradition that I adore: sushi, ramen, tonkatsu, okonomiyaki and much more … In short, surely I will not go hungry!

Competition: First Round

On November 30th there is the first meeting for the competition and the announcement of the performance order. 18 of us have advanced to the second round (the first round was done by recording) and I have to say that compared to last year there are many more Europeans and very few Japanese.

I know almost all the competitors, many of them are famous winners of important international competitions and I think is going to be a wonderful competition. I was selected to play fourth, so after the meeting I head home to practice a bit and concentrate.

Each one faces the days of the competition in a different way: I know people who close-up at home without going out for days, people who study at night and during the day sleep, some who study for 10 hours a day and others who try to relax and fight the tension trying to get distracted around the city.

I usually can be quite calm. What I try to do is not get too tired and not practice too much so as to get to the day of trial with maximum strength.

I will usually study a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the afternoon, with long breaks in the middle where I try to distract myself in so many ways.

On December 1st we start: for this test we have 8 minutes of free program and two compulsory pieces “Prelude & Muneira” from the Compostelana Suite of Mompou.

The hall where the competition takes place is Hakajuku Hall and is a 10-minute walk from where I live. It’s a very modern room with perfect acoustic for the guitar: despite being a fairly large hall there’s a gorgeous reverb and the sound comes perfectly up to the last row.

I choose to play as a free program the “Passacaille” by Tansman, one of the favorite pieces of my repertoire and which was also obligatory piece in the last edition of the competition.

At the end of the day the competitors are announced who will play in the final the day after. I hate the moment of the announcements of those who pass the rounds: it is a feeling that all competitors know well and which we never get used to.

The seconds seem hours, every slight movement of the announcer’s mouth becomes very important and while you hope that your name will be mentioned among those who have gone on to the next round, you start to age for a few years…

Competition: Final Round

We are six: in addition to me there is another Italian the young Carlotta Dalia, the French Armen Doneyan, Jihyung Park from South Korea, the Swiss Damiano Pisanello and the Norwegian Kristina Varlid.

Also at this time, the order of performance for the final is selected and I will be the fifth to play … I like this number!

The day before the final is never easy: I try not to practice so much because I think it is not very productive and so I start watching videos on YouTube, TV series and wasting time with Facebook … every way to try and get distracted is good!

Finally it is December 2nd, the day of the final. I have to play at 4.30 in the afternoon, so I try to sleep as much as possible in the morning. I wake up at 10, do a little stretching and practice for around an hour.

When I have to play I’m not very hungry, but I’m in Japan and of course I can not give up a good sushi at lunch on the day of the final!

I arrive in the hall an hour before my performance, at that moment the Korean Jihyung is playing: I listen to his playing in the corridors and I think “Wow he is very good, it will be hard to do better!”

I go into my dressing room — I’m not a very neat guy and I start pulling all my things out of my bag and spreading them around the room … I still do not know what they’re for!

I believe that each of us before playing has its own rituals, the things that make us feel comfortable, the gestures that give us serenity.

Before going on stage I do not like to play so much, I try more just to relax, I polish my nails, I listen to music … and I eat a banana! 🍌

In the final we have about 30 minutes of free program, but with mandatory historical periods: the only obligatory piece is “Into the Woods” by Toru Takemitsu. I am very happy to have studied this piece, and I had never had the chance to play Takemitsu’s music … I find it wonderful and I think it is music suitable for my way of playing!

When I’m five minutes away from my performance, I’m called to go to the backstage. Maybe that’s the worst moment of a contest: check the tuning, there’s always a fingernail that’s longer or shorter than you’d like, suddenly thousands of thoughts assail you and you’re no longer sure you’ll remember everything…

Then you hear the applause, look at the audience from the stage and everything passes thanks to the magic of the stage.

Performance

I always like playing a final in such a beautiful hall and so full of people. Suddenly I do not feel nervous because it seems to be at a concert and is not in a competition.

I start my program with Fantasia No.7 by Dowland, certainly the less virtuous piece of the program, but at the same time I think it is very difficult, because there are few notes but we must take care of every little detail.

I continue with the obligatory piece by Takemitsu: it’s the first time I play it live and I have a little anxiety before starting it, but apart from the tuning that sometimes did not hold very well, at the end I feel satisfied enough.

I go on with “Introduction et Caprice” by Giulio Regondi, a piece that I love to play and in which I feel totally free to express myself. This also went well, and I end with the Brouwer Sonata, a piece that I have in the repertoire for many years and that I love so much.

Finally, I hear the last applause and I get up from the chair, bow, and think to myself “Come on, this is gone!”

Results

After playing I always feel free, emptied and all the adrenaline finally comes down. We await the end of the competition and within an hour comes one of the other worst moments of a competition: the announcement of the final results.

We all sit close to the finalists, in the end it is true that we are competing, but it is also true that we are all in the same situation and with the years that pass we become friends.

On stage, the great Maestro Fukuda, a true guitar legend, announces the results: they are moments of tension and in the there is an incredible silence.

Here we are.

“First Prize … not awarded!”

These words create a moment of surprise among those present. We look at each other, a little disappointed because when a first prize is not assigned, it is always a great pity.

The ceremony continues, a very special ceremony in Japanese style, and these are the final results:

2. Gian Marco Ciampa,

3. Carlotta Dalia,

4. Ji Hyung Park,

5. Armen Doneyan,

6. Damiano Pisanello

7. Kristina Varlid

In the end, then I come home with another second prize, happy to have done my best and to have reached the highest place this year … even if it was not enough to win the first prize!

But those who do competitions know that anything can happen, so you never have to fall down and continue on your own way … NEVER GIVE UP!

After the final we go to dinner all together, the party at the end of the competition are certainly one of the most beautiful parts, finally we can relax and leave behind all the tension!

We eat, have fun and above all drink a lot of Sake! this experience in Japan ends and I’m really happy to have been in this wonderful place again.

SEE YOU SOON JAPAN! 🙏🏻