My influences?
When I started piano and violin I knew of course absolutely nothing about VGM and anime or Japanese music. So it was just the normal stuff:
Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy and especially Ravel (I know every work of Ravel)
In the higher piano classes I studied: Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Poulenc and Ravel.
At a later age I listened to many violin, piano concerto's of: Bartok, Rachmaninov, Shostakovitch, Chopin, Szymanovsky, Rautavaara, Ravel, Prokofiev, Bernstein, Poulenc, Chausson, Ginastera, Gershwin. I also played the Ravel concerto and Chopin's first with a student orchestra.
One moment in my life I had an addiction for Shostakovitch symphonies/string quartets and Bartok orchestral works.
I wanted to be a pianist, but thought maybe I would fail... so I did the easy thing and studied engineering. Music as a hobby is much more interesting than doing it the whole time, it gives you something to look forward to. When I stopped studying piano: I learned about final fantasy music and suddenly the LIGHT came out of nowhere, I found the beautiful world of VGM and anime music. Which is still growing, now I despise everything that is going on in the classical world.
And just recently, I explore Jazz and especially anime and VGM music. I have let go of my past as a classical musician (maybe because I don't follow any piano lessons anymore) and I put all my time into Hamauzu, Sakimoto, Oshima, Kanno, Nakano, Uematsu. The usual stuff...
I know absolutely nothing about pop music and a little bit about movie music.
I don't know why I suddenly started composing mid 2006. I really have no clue... Maybe Franck who gave me the instructions to use VST. (thank god Franck was there
) I also learned by myself about notation, arrangement of scores and stumbled upon FLStudio. All coincidence.
I'm really thankful I didn't become a pianist or violinist, otherwise I would never start exploring VGM and would not start composing. I'm glad I studied piano because that really helps for composing stuff. => Kanno, Hamauzu, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev...