August 11-12, 2019: Report on the 4th and 5th days of the training camp!

First, the fourth day of the training camp.

On this day, the representative director of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra and President of Yamaha Music Japan, Masato Oshiki, was in attendance.

We are truly grateful that you always come to support us despite the distance, having come all the way to Morioka for our last regular concert and all the way to Kawaguchiko this time.

And morning practice begins!

What animal is on Professor Yanagisawa's T-shirt that day?

The answer was the Iriomote wildcat! Before this training camp, Professor Yanagisawa had also visited Iriomote Island in addition to Ishigaki Island.

Now, we began practicing the second movement of the Ninth Symphony under the direction of Mr. Yanagisawa, who was wearing a T-shirt featuring the Iriomote cat.

The woodwind section plays a major role in the second movement.

While practicing other parts, I noticed that many of the members were reading the score. That's a good attitude!

After finishing the morning practice, we had oyakodon for lunch.

Just like a student, he gobbles down his rice bowl with gusto!

In the afternoon, Mari Watanabe, who always hosts our regular concerts, also rushed over to Lake Kawaguchi!

Mari Watanabe gave us some "Kamakura Custard" and "Pie no Mi"! Thank you very much!

When it was time for a break, the members jumped in right away.

I'll replenish my sugar and work hard on practice in the afternoon!

The ensemble ended around 4 p.m.

During the break, Director Sakamoto was writing something on the musical staff... We'll find out what he was writing later!

After the break, Director Sakamoto talked about his new song.

In addition to the Ninth, the regular concert in March next year will also feature the premiere of a new piece by Director Sakamoto that he created specifically for the Tohoku Youth Orchestra.

Although the song is apparently not yet complete, he spoke to us in advance about the harmonies and rhythms that will be used in the song.

First, Director Sakamoto gave the instruction, "Try making any sound that comes to mind."

It was a strange and unsettling sound.

Next, I played the "11/8" rhythm that will be used in the song.

The strings, wind instruments, and percussion all have different accents. At this point, what was being projected onto the screen was what the director had written on the musical staff earlier.

The orchestra members were surprisingly able to adapt quickly to the improvised harmonies and unfamiliar rhythms, and director Sakamoto seemed relieved, saying, "That's good."

I'm really looking forward to the finished song...!

Afterwards, we put away our instruments and had time for Director Sakamoto to talk about the music he listened to.

Mari Watanabe also acted as the interviewer and moderator of the event.

We asked them about the type of music they listened to at each stage, from when they were in elementary school to when they became adults.

Apparently, Director Sakamoto hated practicing the piano as a child and often rebelled against his piano teacher.

He listened to a wide range of musical genres, including Bach, Beethoven, Debussy, John Cage, the Beatles, jazz, and ethnic music.

By the way, the audio recorded at this time will be broadcast several times in the future on Shibuya Radio's "Shibuya's Tohoku Youth Orchestra" ( https://note.mu/shiburadi/m/m289709e20a78 ).

Stay tuned!

Well, here is our last dinner at the training camp.

The meals at this training camp were all carefully prepared and delicious.

Abe-kun, the cellist. He always takes photos of us with his single-lens reflex camera, and I used quite a few of his photos in this report on the camp. Thank you!

Here's a photo with Director Sakamoto!

And for dessert, there was ice cream, gifted by former students Sato Miyu and Hatakeyama Akane, who came to support the event the day before!

After dinner we had our final practice of the camp.

As the culmination of the camp, we performed all of the Ninth Symphony's movements!

It seemed like the performance had come together much better than before the camp. The members seemed to be very passionate about their performance, especially in the climax at the end of the fourth movement.

I think it was worth the effort over the four days!

After finishing practice and putting away their instruments, it was time for the last event of the camp!

A seasonal feature of summer: fireworks!

Participants were mainly elementary, middle, and high school students and enjoyed the fireworks together with Director Sakamoto!

Sparklers are so elegant!

Several university students helped buy fireworks, prepare buckets, and handle the fire.

This training camp was centered around practice and there weren't any particular activities, so it was nice to have some summer-like fun at the end.

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The final day of the training camp, the fifth day.

A group of university students went out for a walk at 6:30 in the morning to get a feel for the fresh air around Lake Kawaguchi before heading home.

We could even see the peak of Mt. Fuji!

After breakfast, we immediately loaded our instruments and luggage.

The bus departs just after 9am. We are finally heading back to Tohoku.

Those who were leaving on site waved goodbye.

As it was the last day of a three-day weekend, the highway was congested.

We ended up arriving in Fukushima around 4:30pm.

From Fukushima, the Sendai group will head back by bus, while the Iwate group will head back by Shinkansen.

This concludes the training camp. Thank you for your hard work!

A few members were unwell, but we were relieved to hear that no one was seriously injured.

To all members, please take some rest.
See you again at next month's practice session!