May 29, 2010

Congratulations Seniors!!

The graduating class of 2010 finally threw their graduation caps on May 28, 2010. Congratulations seniors!!

For their graduation ceremony, the high school combined orchestra (both band both string orchestras) played the processional. Before the seniors entered, we played a fanfare. Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance was the processional. After the ceremony, we played Giuseppe Verdi's Triumphant March from Aida as the recessional.

What happened?

The fanfare and processional went fine, I think. There may have been some tempo inconsistencies, but overall, we played well. However, during the recessional, a slight miscalculation threw the performance off. We timed the recessional to last about three minutes and twenty seconds. The actual recessional took much less. The seniors were all gone when we were still in the middle of our piece. Some instruments stopped playing, and the recessional was never finished. Luckily, the seniors took the audience together with them, so not many people actually cared about the orchestra in the background. But I still regret not being able to complete the piece.





May 28, 2010

あらしのよるに Arashi no Yoru Ni



Arashi no Yoru ni, or One Stormy Night, is a story book by Yuichi Kimura and Yuichi Kimura (illustrations). Following its success, many sequels came out and the first book was also made into a movie.



I saw the movie adaptation of One Stormy Night. I would first like to ask you.



Can a wolf and a sheep become friends?



In this story, the wolf and sheep packs have traditionally been at odds with one another. One hunts the other, this is not uncommon. However, one sheep named Mei meets a mystery character named Gabu one stormy night. Gabu is a wolf. Mei, not knowing that Gabu is a wolf befriends him. The two decide to meet again and their own pass code that helps identify one another is, "one stormy night." Gabu, however, as smelled Mei and knowing that she is a sheep, befriends her with the intention of eating her later one when they meet.



Gabu does not eat Mei. Instead, the two of them become true friends. So when the wolf pack comes to chase Mei, Gabu and Mei run away together. However, Gabu gets very hungry and Mei is willing to sacrifice herself to Gabu so that he can survive. What will happen?



Arashi no Yoru ni is a very moving story about the beautiful friendship between two living animals whom nature has created as enemies.



May 27, 2010

Animal Farm, The Musical


A few days ago, our English class made a musical based on George Orwell's Animal Farm by compiling songs that we thought matched some of the story's main events. This was done by me.

Can you hear which song refers to which event?

List of songs used:

- " Peter and the Wolf" – Prokofiev
- " Hardships of the Grassroots" – MC Sniper
- " Change" – Gloomy 30s
- " New Direction" – Sugar Ray
- " Symphony No.35 in D Major, Haffner, mvt. 1" – Mozart
- " Polonaise in A, Op.40/1, Military" – Chopin
- " Night on Bald Mountain" – Mussorgsky
- " Symphony N0. 25" – Mozart
- " Requiem, Dies Irae" – Mozart
- " Concerto No.2, Allegro appassionato" – Waltom
- " Money" – Pink Floyd
- " The Great Gig in the Sky" – Pink Floyd
- " Symphony No. 7" – Beethoven
- " Lacrimosa" – Kalafina
- " The Bells of Notre Dame (Reprise)" - from Walt Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame