Saturday, September 8, 2012

Tatami rooms

We had our first performance with the HPAC full orchestra today in Taka-cho, a small town in the Hyogo Prefecture.  Apparently it is typical to do nearly an entire run-through of the program for the sound check.  We touched almost every note of the concert today before we played it in the performance.  And we will play these pieces again, and possibly again.  Apparently this is also quite normal.  It made me think of Suzuki's method of repetition.  Doing things over and over and over time they become more settled and secure.  It is nice not to have to judge the success of a single performance because there will be another chance.  Steady effort.  Faith in good work.  After a concert everyone says, "Ostukaresama desu," which is a way of saying good work, nice job.  The stem word, "tsukare" actually has connotations of effort.  In essence, this phrase praises hard work.  It's not about talent, or the luck of the performance, but the work that went into it.

When we got back I spent some time studying Japanese and getting groceries before going to one of the member's apartments for a surprise party.

Perhaps there is something about tatami rooms, or paper walls, or having everyone seated on the floor around a low kotatsu table.  Maybe it's the fact that even a month later, a member's birthday wasn't going uncelebrated or that the group silences didn't feel awkward.  Perhaps it was the mix of Japanese snacks, Mexican style.  I'm not sure what it was, but there was something very warm in the gathering.  I'm really looking forward to playing with these people, to rehearsing with them more than we are accustomed, to spending time with them in a small tatami room.

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