We did.
And last week he came back and gave us the finished program and tickets to the show. I asked Kaori if she would be interested in going, A) because I have NO idea where the school is/what to do once I get there, etc., and B) because Kaori is really fun to hang out with. Maybe I should have put those in the opposite order...no, really, I require someone to hold my hand through these things, so that goes first.
Sunday was the show. The Kehi High School Brass Band Spring Concert '09.
We got there about 5:30 (or 17:30 as the poster indicates) and took our seats. It wasn't actually at Kehi High School, but at Tsuruga Cultural Center, so it was a really nice auditorium. Pretty large too, and I would say 70-80% full. Not a bad turn out for a brass band (by the way, not really a brass band, but a regular band, it had saxophones, clarinets, flutes, drums, etc., not just brass instruments, just no stringed instruments). We took our seats, back of the first section of seats, me on the aisle. You think American theater seats are small, trust me, Japanese theater seats are smaller, and much less leg room.
Here is the program
I know exciting, right?But here is what was inside
A handwritten note from a member of the band. And Kaori had a different note in her program. So these students took the time to hand write about 1000 notes. Wow! The note just says thanks for coming to the concert, hope you enjoy it, and then a section about the writer, what their name is, what instrument they play, and where they would be on stage. I thought that was kind of neat. And gave me someone to clap for.The band was pretty small, about thirty kids. Three or four people per section. Nothing like the middle school band I was in, nor like the marching band in high school. And, well, here are their pictures
Ninety percent female. There were more members, but these were the only ones with the headshots. The boy on the bottom right was the guy that came to Geos all those times. In Japan it seems like boys simply do not participate in artistic activities. I think I mentioned this when I went to see West Side Story, half of the "male" gang members were really women just wearing boy clothes. I asked Kaori about this phenomena, and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Boys are just lazy." Well, I can't disagree with that, I am lazy as hell, but I think there is something deeper there. I don't know, but I think culturally boys might be discouraged from the arts and encouraged to pursue more academic matters, or sports.
Anyway, my favorite thing about those headshots is how all the girls are giving the peace "V" and the boys are just looking as hard as they can. That is about right.
Oh, and also, you will notice, all of these photos are from the program. I did not bring my camera that night. I am not sure, but it might be illegal for me to take pictures of Japanese high school girls. Better to play it safe. However, I could buy their panties in a vending machine in Tokyo....what a strange country I live in.
The show began (and you will see why I call it a show in a minute) with the curtain rising on just one boy playing rock drums on stage by himself. Then the flute section ran in from the side of the seats into the aisle (right behind us by the way) and started playing. Then they ran to the stage as another instrumental section ran in from the audience and did a little "group solo" (I have no idea what that might be called) all the while the other band members were clapping and chanting. Nothing like any high school band concert I have ever been to. The scariest part was when the trombones came out and I saw a slide go past my head. Yikes!
These kids were running around and clapping and chanting and playing their instruments and it was amazing to see. I was deeply impressed with their coordination and choreography. I guess that is what the marching band does too, but it was something else to see it on a stage.
After the band settled in they played a short set, about twenty minutes, of pop music (YMCA, Mr. Lonely, Bohemian Rhapsody, and some others I recognized but couldn't name) and then broke to bring in the OBs and OGs (not Original Gangstas like I thought, but band Alumni). The alumni joined the band and the full band played another longer "set" of more classical music. It was all very good, and almost every instrumentalist got a spotlight piece where they would get out of their seat and go to the front of the stage to a microphone and play a short piece. Very entertaining.
Oh, and it was amusing to see the alumni vs the current students. Apparently you are not allowed to dye your hair when you are in school here. So all of the school students had the "typical Asian" jet black hair, with some crazy hairstyles on the girls I must say, only way to differentiate yourselves I guess. But, every single alumni had dyed hair. Every last one of them had brown-to-red hair. It seems like every woman in this country dyes their hair, and most men too. Kaori mentioned that when she first came back all her friends were saying it was easy to tell she had been in America because she had naturally colored hair, something none of them did.
Right before intermission they brought out some kids to the front of the stage to dance as they played what my best guess is a child's song or a theme song to a children's show. Why do I guess this? One of the band members came out dressed like a dinosaur. Almost Barney looking, but with long blonde yarn hair. Poor band member. Oh, and I forgot to mention, all the band members were dressed in all black with red blazers. I felt really sorry for the drummer to have to drum in that get up. Whew! He must have been boiling up.
After intermission they had a story. Some of the band members were dressed up and acted out a little play. Kaori was trying to translate for me, but I stopped her, how annoying that must have been for her. Best as I could tell, a guy and girl meet and fall in love, then there is a war, and the girl is shot and the guy is sad. All the while the story is going on, the rest of the band is providing musical accompaniment. My favorite part, after the play was over, the band members who acted in the play had to go back and play the rest of the concert in costume. And one guy was dressed up as an old man with a yarn wig and beard, which he kept on for the rest of the evening. Pretty funny.
After the play they brought all the seniors in the band to the front of the stage to pay tribute to them. Japanese school years end at the end of March, so this was most likely their last event before graduation. They presented the seniors (all female) with flowers, then the rest of the band sang a song to them. Which caused many of the seniors to start tearing up, and several of the rest of the band members as well. I know absolutely none of these people, but I got to tell you, it got kind of dusty in that auditorium during the tribute. Stupid emotions.
After another short break for the band members(not me, yeah, definitely not me) to compose themselves, and during which they handed out glow in the dark sticks, those kind you break to get them to glow, like at amusement parks.
These. They were bendy and many people made rings or bracelets with them. When they first handed them out, most people were just holding onto them, except for myself, Kaori, and every child under ten who figured out if we bend them they start to glow.
After intermission, the band started back up and brought out a special guest, a famous Japanese saxophone player. You could tell he was famous because he had on an audacious shirt and his hair was dyed bright pink.
Tough to tell from this picture, but that is a rock star right there.
The next half hour or so was a back and forth between him playing sax backed by the band, and him being interviewed by the hostess for the evening. Suffice it to say, not my favorite part of the concert. Kind of boring really. Oh well, they can't all be winners.
The concert ended with a couple of upbeat songs where we were directed to wave our glow sticks back and forth and clap (the Japanese apparently love to clap along in unison) during the songs. Then, just when you thought it was over, half of the band ran out into the audience with their instruments and started playing in the aisles and dancing. We were all instructed to dance (the twist, the swim, the monkey, and one more I can't remember, waving hands back and forth, much too complicated for my dumb ass). One of the band members was about a foot away from me (oops, I mean thirty centimeters) shouting, clapping, playing her instrument, and dancing up a storm. It was.....uncomfortable.
Then it ended with bows and more clapping and the band running out of the auditorium, apparently to line up at the entrance to continue to thank people as they left. We say the boy who had come to Geos and he thanked us (well Kaori) graciously for a minute and continued to follow us as we left the building. I love these people. I love how nice they are. I love how enthusiastic they are about what they do. It is very rare to hear someone complain about their job over here, even though their jobs suck and their work hours are beyond shit (salary men typically work 8-8 Monday through Friday and then take home work every night to finish and go in most Saturdays for at least half a day if not a full day of work. I have had Saturday evening students come in wearing full suits saying they just got off of work). I think that is the one thing I will never be able to do. I am a natural complainer. Even when I am happy, I still complain about stuff. I know, character flaw, and trust me when I say I have had enough girl friends call me on it I should know better, but that is the way I am. Maybe if I learn Japanese I won't complain, just won't learn the vocabulary and be linguistically unable to say negative things. Sounds like a good plan to me.
So, all in all, a pretty fun evening. Earlier in the day I hung out and played some pool. I am the KING of 9 ball. Just wait for the other people to clear the table and then I sink the 9 ball. I didn't say I was good, just opportunistic.
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