On August 26th, the second joint practice session of the 9th term was held at the Fukushima Minpo Hall.

In the morning, unlike our usual practice sessions, we had an event where participants were not allowed to use their instruments.

Before getting into the planning, each section chief and section leader introduced themselves.

Self-introductions by alumni who will be joining in this practice.

The concert in March will be a memorial performance for director Ryuichi Sakamoto, so graduating members who wish to do so will also be able to participate in the concert.

We also held a recreational workshop entitled "Thinking about the future of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra."

The workshop was conceived and led by the new captain, trombone player Kaizu Kota, and horn player Kikuno Kanara.

"Since the COVID-19 outbreak, we've been unable to hold summer training camps, and so opportunities for members to interact with each other outside of practice have decreased," and "Members who joined recently haven't had many opportunities to think about the purpose of TYO..." were some of the members' opinions raised, so we decided to once again create an opportunity for members to exchange opinions with each other.

First, let's look back on the Tohoku Youth Orchestra's activities to date while looking at photos.

In response to the question "What is Tohoku Youth?", participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire on the spot, and their written opinions were then displayed on the screen in real time for everyone to see.

From there, the topic was decided to have all the members think again about the "Philosophy of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra."

The Tohoku Youth Orchestra has the aims of "spiritual recovery in the disaster-stricken areas through music," "passing on the memories and lessons of the earthquake," and "supporting the development and production of music talent that can compete on the world stage." Now in its ninth term, the orchestra split into groups to hold discussions to reexamine this aim and share their opinions.

The group was divided into eight groups and exchanged opinions with members of the orchestra, conductor Yanagasawa, and members of the secretariat.

Through ice-breaker topics such as "Kinoko no Yama or Takenoko no Sato, which do you prefer?" and "Anywhere Door or Time Machine, which would you prefer?", each team discussed "the purpose of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra" and "ideas for activities."

As a supervisor, I was reminded of the high level of digital literacy among the younger generation when I saw the group members effortlessly using Jamboard (a digital whiteboard) to summarize their opinions.

The two-hour workshop ended. It was a good opportunity for the members to think again about the purpose and meaning of their activities and to have exchanges with each other.

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Also attending the practice session was Hideyuki Araki of Minpo Printing, a former director of the Tohoku Youth Orchestra General Incorporated Association who has supported TYO for many years, who offered words of encouragement.

The Fukushima Minpo newspaper also published an article about the Tohoku Youth Orchestra on August 26th.

We also received some tea from JA Kyosairen Fukushima, who has been supporting us for many years. This was a very welcome gift, especially as we needed to stay hydrated during practice in the scorching heat every day.

---After a lunch break, we will practice in the afternoon for the concert in March.

In the afternoon, we will be performing a piece that will be performed for the first time at a concert in March of next year.
Music composed by director Ryuichi Sakamoto,
We started by listening to "El Mar Mediterrani" (Mediterranean Theme) together.

This song was the climax of the opening ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

This was my first time seeing the music after I had just handed out the sheet music.
We decided to start by playing together as a group.

We welcome alumni who have graduated this term but wish to continue their activities until our regular concert in March of next year.
It was a rehearsal session with some familiar faces.
It was a fulfilling day as the 9th term got underway in preparation for the concert.

Everyone, the hot weather continues, but please keep practicing hard and look forward to next month's joint practice session.

Please support the Tohoku Youth Orchestra!
We are accepting support here .