I’ve decided to use the downtime in Japan to get serious about some academic studies around the science and history of music. I haven’t gone so far as to actually join a course, but I found a great series of books in the Japanese amazon store that I decided to dive into, and so far its paying off. Have you done any music theory studies or are you mostly self taught? Are the ears really the best path to musical understanding or is a solid theoretical foundation a necessity to truly grasp musical concepts and become proficient in song writing and composition? What are your thoughts?