We held our first parents' meeting.

The three people who suddenly took a commemorative photo with the conductor, Mr. Yanagisawa, looked like a family no matter how you look at them. They look so similar! This is Akane Hatakeyama (violinist), captain of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, and her parents. Despite it being the first day of a three-day weekend, the couple came all the way from Sendai to the practice venue in Fukushima City.
On the first day of the joint practice session in February, we held a parents' meeting, a first in our third year.

This is the family of Nishimaru So, the double bassist who joined us this season. He came all the way from Iwaki City.
And there was another group. Mana Ichikawa, a fifth grade elementary school student who also joined in the third session, and her parents. They came from Koriyama City.

It's similar to... Genes are honest, aren't they?

Now, in front of the parents' meeting, there was a panel display looking back on past activities, and my humble writing and photos were used, which made me feel rather embarrassed. This parents' meeting was made possible thanks to the efforts of JA Kyosai, which has been generously supporting us since the beginning, and Fukushima Minpo. JA Kyosai, which upholds "mutual aid" as its business philosophy, supports the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's activities for emotional recovery.
The meeting began with a greeting from Yuzo Tanabe, Director of Business Planning and Head of the Community Activities Support Office at JA Zenkyoren Fukushima.

Next, Araki Hideyuki, Director of Business Affairs at Fukushima Minpo, which is hosting the venue, and also a director of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, gave a speech.

Feeling intimidated by the atmosphere, which was even more unmistakably a "parent-teacher meeting" than I had imagined, I spoke for about 30 minutes on behalf of the secretariat.

I took this opportunity to talk about everything from the origins of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra to the difficulties and worries we face in running it.

They also made a panel to document the history of this activity. Next, Mr. Takeda from the Fukushima office gave a commentary on the music for this year's concert.

Mr. Takeda, who usually teaches at the local FTV Junior Orchestra, gave a commentary on Debussy's "La Mer" and Stravinsky's "The Firebird," starting with a historical story about how the Impressionist movement in painting also occurred in music, and moving on to an explanation of Debussy's diatonic scale. As an example, he kindly played the theme song of Astro Boy on his smartphone.

Following this, the audience was then shown a rehearsal of Debussy's "La Mer."

The Tohoku Youth Orchestra always welcomes parents and other related parties to watch the performance, but this was the first time we had parents sit on the stage and watch the performance. The audience was about 1/100 of the actual size, but it must have been a great inspiration for the members of the orchestra.
Thank you very much to all the parents who took the time to participate.

The two main pieces we will be performing this time require challenging performance techniques for the members. During the ensemble practice, the string players came out one after another, so I asked them, "What's going on?"

He said that Yanagisawa-san told him to "get the sound." In other words, he told him to get the pitch right and come back. The kind and gentle Yanagisawa-san would never say something like that.

You can see people trying to fine-tune the strings here and there.

It seems that he has repeatedly covered number 35, "The Sea."

As someone who can't play the violin, all I can say is, "Do your best!"

At lunchtime, we received lunch boxes for everyone.

And we received sweets from the parents. Thank you very much.

I thought I would choke if I received so much, but it was a needless worry. Just in time for the 3 o'clock snack, another drink arrived from JA Kyosairen Fukushima,

During the break, everyone seems to be munching on something.

Mizuho Momiyama (clarinet), who came to watch the performance, was taking a break this term to take university entrance exams and hopes to return to the school in April as a university student, and she looked on with shining eyes.

Apparently it's a specialty Fukushima sweet called "Shimiten."

Mari Otsuka from the Fukushima office was extremely excited, asking "Does it have red bean paste inside?", and Yoshida, a sales representative from Fukushima Minpo, was also quick to line them up, saying "They're famous in Fukushima. They're delicious when they're hot."

This is "Shimiten."

"Shimiten" is written as "Kouten" (frozen tempura) , and is a sweet made by wrapping mochi in doughnut dough and deep-frying it. This is a special version with red bean paste inside. This sweet, which is expected to be as high in calories as melon bread, is bound to be delicious, isn't it? Now everyone has been hit directly by the hot deliciousness of the kouten.

This was an introduction to the Toten and TYO scene, which was more than enough. This Fukushima soul food was originally produced at its headquarters in Minamisoma, but was forced to close after the disaster, and is now being produced again at a factory in Natori, Miyagi Prefecture. As a company that advocates for a "restoration of the heart," we would like to support Kinohata , the producer of Toten, who has achieved a "restoration of the taste."

The influenza that is raging all over Japan is apparently also spreading in Fukushima City, and several people were suddenly absent on this day. Although physical strength and resistance are important, we can't just eat sweets. We have a concert coming up next month.

This year, we asked Rikako Nagashima, an art teacher at Tohoku Youth Orchestra, to design a cool flyer. Thanks to her, the tickets for the Tokyo performance were sold out immediately after the general release last Saturday, but the Sendai performance on the 31st is still not sold out. The guest will be Sayuri Yoshinaga. Please come along.

Mr. Toshio Yanagisawa was interviewed by Fukushima Minpo at the practice venue. We also interviewed three local members who joined the band this season.

From the right, in a three-shot that looks strikingly similar to their parents, are violinist Ichikawa, cellist Honda Kenmaru (a first-year high school student), and clarinetist Kurosu Natsuki (a first-year university student).

I was interested in Yanagisawa's sheet music for "Umi," so I took a photo of it.

It's an interesting cover that pays homage to Hokusai's ukiyo-e, which inspired Debussy to compose his music.

We spoke to members of the orchestra about their approach to the theme of "the sea" for this year's concert.

This is Taiga Ide (trumpet), a member from the third term. He is currently a first-year student at a music college in Tokyo, but he is originally from Yabuki Town, Fukushima Prefecture. He was a sixth-grader at elementary school when 3/11 happened, and was just practicing for his graduation ceremony. On the bus to our lodgings, he told us that the "bad experience" he had during the disaster was a valuable one for him.

I'm currently working part-time as an event staff member in Kabukicho, Shinjuku, and the other day while I was working, I was able to respond calmly even when an emergency earthquake alert was issued, putting customers at ease.
Even in rooms where I live alone, I naturally plan and prepare the rooms with evacuation in mind, for example by not leaving things in front of the door.

How is the Tohoku Youth Orchestra doing?

I've been playing the trumpet for 10 years since I was in the fourth grade of elementary school, and there's something interesting about it that you can't learn at a music university. It's not just about good players, but it's interesting to create music with both good and bad players. There's a lot of fun in playing as a team, not just individually. In fact, when I entered junior high school in Sukagawa and participated in the school's first national competition with the brass band, the free piece I played was the third movement of Debussy's "La Mer." I want people to listen to "La Mer," which I can express because I experienced the earthquake and know how scary it is. I'm also happy to be able to play "La Mer" with string instruments after joining the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, and the third movement is just as the title suggests, "Dialogue between the Sea and the Wind," and it gives a completely different impression from the previous two movements. When I was in junior high school, some parents said that I should stop playing "La Mer" after the earthquake, and that it was inappropriate, but I'm glad I did it in the end. I think I can express the beauty of the sea that only Tohoku can have.
In the Tohoku Youth Orchestra, I want to perform as a way of giving back to the people who helped me during my junior high and high school years. I would also like to go to Fukushima Prefecture to perform in small ensembles.

According to Ide-kun, he thinks that Stravinsky's "Firebird" can be played "in a way that only young people can." He said that he would like us to listen to the famous finale. Thank you very much.

The accommodation for the two-day practice was at a ryokan in Iizaka Onsen, also arranged and run by JA Kyosai Ren Fukushima.

About 60 members of our group who were unable to make the day trip were able to spend the night in a magnificent facility that was more than enough for them (and even had a hot spring).

On the first day of our joint practice in February, I said many times, "The Tohoku Youth Orchestra exists thanks to your support." Thank you very much. (Continued on Day 2)