This is a report on the 4th joint training session in September.

On Sunday, September 2nd, under the cloudy skies of Fukushima City, where autumn had suddenly arrived, the 4th joint practice session was held. Before starting the demonstration practice, Yuta Tomizawa (a fourth-year university student from Iwaki City who plays the tuba) explained the purpose and principles of the volunteer concert.

This slide shows the history of our activities so far and upcoming plans for our activities.

All members of the orchestra independently negotiate and coordinate with performance venues, manage budgets, and carry out the work themselves.

Next, Hashimoto Karin (from Iwaki City, double bass player, third-year university student) and Arakawa Yui (from Shirakawa City, cello player, third-year high school student), who were standing next to them, gave a short explanation about the crowdfunding used to make this activity possible, including some comedy.
Then, analog displays were put up in the hall where slides were practiced.

This year's crowdfunding will be a two-pronged campaign: one to help us achieve our goal of making the concert in March next year a success, and the other to ask the members' close relatives and associates for monthly support. We will be able to announce this soon, so please look forward to it.

Next, we split into each section and had a meeting for the participants of the summer training camp held in Kita Shiga Kogen, Nagano Prefecture, two weeks ago to share information with the members who did not participate. If the information we learned is not shared with everyone in the ensemble, the results will not be shared with the whole group.

Is this the cello part? Everyone is writing it down very carefully on the sheet music.

This is the second violin. There are many elementary and middle school students, so it looks like Akane Hatakeyama, a fourth-year university student, is studying.

When I looked closer,

Everyone is faithfully writing down the notes on the music score.

After about 40 minutes of looking back on the summer training camp, conductor Toshio Yanagisawa, who had been waiting for us, finally appeared.

However, he said that he wanted to first have Mr. Takeda Manabu from the Fukushima office lead the fourth movement of Brahms' Symphony No. 2, so that he could check how well everyone could play it.

A total of nine double bass players are participating.

Mr. Yanagisawa went close to check it out with his eyes and ears!

So, only the cello remained in the hall and practiced the second movement.

The other members are taking a break for now.

On the newspaper in front of the crowd's gaze...

It was director Ryuichi Sakamoto. I happened to be reading the Nikkei morning paper on the Tohoku Shinkansen train heading to Fukushima when I came across a two-page color feature article.

Next to her, Captain Isogai Hinako is striking a strange pose.

I thought that posing like a sculpture with a Greek myth motif was popular, but it turns out that she sends a photo of her thanks to Mizuki Sone, a former member of the group who gave her a gift. I like the way her mouth is open. Thank you, Sone-san.

Next to it, Akama Kanayoshi, a second-year junior high school student from Fukushima City, had placed a souvenir from Tokyo Disneyland.

Apparently, he took a bus with his friends and went to Tokyo Disneyland for a day trip. And he gave everyone treats with his pocket money. By the time he was in the second year of junior high school, he was already acting like an adult. Thank you!

On this day, we held lunch for the first time in a while, based on the birth month, so that everyone could chat together, regardless of whether they had attended the summer camp or not, and the secretariat also joined in.

First of all, those born in January, which includes me, are joined by those born in February.

This person was born in March. Naomi Okada from the secretariat is looking away.

Mari Otsuka, who is in the Fukushima office, was also born in April.

This is the group born in May.

Each member was born in June or July and has a different hand sign.

Those born in August include the conducting duo of Yanagisawa and Takeda.

It's true that nine is a difficult number for people born in September.

This is October.

And then there are those born in November and December.

It seemed like for many people it was the first time they spoke, and I would like to create another opportunity like this for shuffling.

After the lunch break, ensemble practice begins.

There's a familiar figure playing the double bass.

The person was Soga Hikaru, who graduated from the group in April this year and got a job at JA Miyagi Watari.

"I came to listen to Brahms," he said. "I was surprised at how quickly things have progressed this year," he said, but there are other pieces to perform, so there is still a long way to go. On this day in particular, Yanagisawa repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to "focus on tone and sound quality." The Tohoku Youth Orchestra has a long way to go before they reach Brahms 2.

After a thorough and intensive ensemble practice, the leaders of each section and department gathered together, led by Captain Isogai.

Once again, Mr. Hashimoto, who is in charge of crowdfunding, would like to ask for everyone's cooperation.

After the Fukushima Minpo Hall was cleaned up, former captain Akane Hatakeyama came running up to thank Soga-san, who had come to visit, for the treats he had brought. Hatakeyama-san has been hired by the JA Kyosai Miyagi Prefecture Federation next spring, meaning that Soga-san will be not only a senior at TYO, but also a senior at the JA Group.

I was surprised that they all dressed similarly, as if they had planned it. Anyway, congratulations on your job offer. From past performance, it can be said that members of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra are strong in job hunting.

I think the joint practice session, which was held for the first time in about two months, was very productive. On this day, we handed out printed copies of Director Sakamoto's message about this season, which he read out at the joint practice session in July. Brahms' Symphony No. 2 was chosen as the next piece to be performed because we wanted the members to understand the overall structure of the piece and perform it, not just their own parts. All members, please do not just trace the parts, but also read the full score.

We appreciate your continued support for the Tohoku Youth Orchestra.