Juri Panda Jones

"I wonder how many people honestly feel like they are completely living when they make an effort to look at themselves in the mirror each day. And this makes me think that the meaning of a genuine smile is that the real smile can only come from the person who really knows what kind of person they are, and what is the most important thing in their life, and what their aim in life is.

"We need to face ourselves and also endeavor to have a genuine smile. That is why the genuine smile is so worthwhile and beautiful. Our smile shouldn't depend on our emotion or mood for that day. It only comes from the person who really knows their existence and feels like they're completely living."

Anyone who knows Juri can honestly say she definitely follows her own philosophy — she does know the meaning of her life and she does have a genuine smile.

The fall of 1998, she enrolled in Berklee College of Music in Boston. "I was extremely nervous. I didn't know anybody and I didn't know how to live in a different country by myself. Plus, I didn't know even an F7 chord or what a diminished chord was," she said.

Juri's background had been in classical music. She said, "I didn't know even how to jam or play with other musicians."

Juri has had a very interesting life. She began her musical career at the age of 3, learning to play classical music. At the age of 4 she was playing keyboard in her mother's rock band, and by the age of 11 she had won the Yamanashi Composition competition in Japan.

During her teens, she modeled hairstyles and fashions and makeup for several leading Japanese fashion magazines.

When she turned 18, her parents decided it was time for her to live on her own. She sadly found this out the day she returned to Japan from America where she had been an exchange student for several months. No one was waiting to meet her at the airport when she arrived. After calling home to see if there was a problem, she learned the news.

The first night she sat in a restaurant all night. One night she even slept on a park bench. "I had no place to live. I worked and worked so hard," she said. Because of working so hard, she became very sick and was hospitalized.

Being hospitalized and unable to work, she says, "I realized what my desire and enthusiasm were and where they were trying to go — simply, that was to music."

Since discovering her goals, she says "I realize that people are trying to express themselves in their own ways. And that there is a pipe that is intermediary between me and you." That revelation set her in the direction to what she has accomplished over the last several years.

The pipe, she says, "can be anything — the arts, acting, writing, and so on. Since I say this pipe can be music, I realized this pipe was too thin to express a 100% of my emotions and feelings. I wanted to expand this pipe, which meant learning musical knowledge, skills, and vocabulary. So I decided to come to Berklee."

Now an experienced musician, she has been in high demand by local and international recording artists as a backup musician at home and on the road. And she has released two CD's of her own compositions titled "Jury's out #1 Pop" and "Jury's out #2 Jam in the Bush," and Jury's out #3 "Panda Hug."

Always looking to inspire the musical talents of young people, she has formed her own non-profit organization. It's appropriately called Genuine Voices. Just a year old, her company has already created music programs for a Boys & Girls Club, a YMCA teen center, and an incarcerated facility for adolescents. In addition to music lessons — keyboard, guitar, and vocals - the main focus of the musical training is on using computers to teach music sequencing.

www.juripop.com

* Reprinted from Positive Teens Magazine Volume 4 Issue 6, Nov/Dec 2002

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