[Volunteer Performance] Music and Art Craft Festival @Fukushin Dream Music Hall Report

On October 22nd, following our performance at Senkura at the end of September, we performed at the Handmade Marche Music and Art Craft Festival.

This time, due to the short time since the last time and practice time constraints, the Senkura members will be performing again.

Vn. Minami Suzuki

Va. Yuri Naganuma

Vc. Toki Takahashi

Hr. Shiori Tajima

Hr. Kana Kikuno

Fl. Keika Ishikawa

Fl. Saiun Sakamoto

Pf / Perc. Mizuho Miura

Am I the only one who feels a sense of camaraderie as the group that overcame the Senkura crisis together? Somehow, the ensemble of these members has a certain default feel to it.

The venue is the Fukushima Dream Concert Hall, a hall that Fukushima City is proud of in Japan. The hall in which we will be performing this time has one of the best acoustics in Japan, with a reverberation time of about 3 seconds when empty.

The rehearsal was held in the small hall of the music hall. It's been a while since we've performed in the hall.

While a hall has a rich acoustics, it also makes it more difficult to synchronize timing and adjust the volume balance of each instrument, which means more effort is put into the meetings.

The program will include the songs performed at Senkura, as well as the main theme from the historical drama "Yae no Sakura," set in Fukushima Prefecture. This is also a work by director Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Reflecting on the previous performance, we realized that the performance time was too short compared to the time we were given, so we quickly added more time to the performance. Despite only being able to practice once in October, the Senkura members were able to finish an additional song! It's very encouraging to play together.

The long rehearsal time flew by and it was finally time for the performance. The first song was "Senmeri", or "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence".

The opening piano part touches my heart no matter how many times I listen to it. In fact, I asked Mizuho-san to play this part during rehearsals in a way that was closer to the original song. Her ability to adapt even just before the performance is impressive.

With an MC (Saiun and Nami were the MCs again this time)

The second song is "Aqua". This song has a simple melody repeated, but I always have a hard time matching the chords. This is a song where you can feel the essence of director Ryuichi Sakamoto everywhere.

The third song is the newly added "Yae no Sakura." The sound is reminiscent of Japanese style, and the flute sounds imitating the shakuhachi and ryuteki (both Japanese instruments, vertical and horizontal flutes) are electrifying.

As this is a historical drama set in the Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture, I imagine there were many audience members who had heard of it.

The last song was "Behind the Mask." In stark contrast to the previous three songs, the performance ended with a rhythmic melody that combined techno pop and classical music reverberating through the music hall.

We were able to perform safely this time as well! Thanks to all the performers for your hard work.

The performance ended safely. This time, we were given the rare opportunity to perform in an ensemble in a hall, which was a little different from the previous volunteer performances.

This will also be the first time in the 9th term that volunteers will perform in Fukushima City.

In the future, TYO would like to visit cities like this one that we have not yet visited to perform in and make people feel closer to us.

(Horn section: Kana Kikuno)