It's the second day of summer camp, and practice for the concert begins today!

Everyone, let's do our best today too!

On the way to the practice venue, the bus driver told us something surprising.

"It's cool here, isn't it? In the winter, it gets down to about -30°C."

It's so much warmer in Tohoku. I'm surprised.

In the morning, we'll be practicing Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 "Fate."
We'll be practicing with a teacher from Ensemble NOVA.

I realize this every year, but there's actually not much time between the kickoff in July and the concert in March. At TYO in particular, we only have practice once a month, so each and every practice is important.

For lunch at the accommodation, we had pork bowls, which gave us plenty of stamina!

There's also a message of support from Fujikura Dai!

I'm Fujikura Dai, the composer who orchestrated Ballet Mécanique.

Thank you all for practicing this orchestral version of Ryuichi Sakamoto's masterpiece, Ballet Mécanique.

This piece was created after we had a conversation like this: I offered, without being asked, "I'll orchestrate just one song," and Sakamoto said, "What? Dai, you'll do it? Ballet Mécanique, if that's the case, you can make it a mess!"

I replied, "No, I don't want to make it a mess, so I won't!"

I was only 9 years old when the original was released, so I hadn't heard it, but I became obsessed with it in middle school and listened to it every day.

I tried to orchestrate the feel of the original, using various techniques.

I think Sakamoto's music-making is about refining each individual sound. Maruno is an orchestra where each and every member has their own sound to play, so in that sense, I believe the sound that you have carefully practiced will resonate vividly during the performance.

I know practicing is hard, but please do your best!

I hope you have gained a deeper understanding of the music and can carry this over to the next performance!

Let's practice hard again tomorrow.