よろしくおねがいします

We played an outreach concert this afternoon in Ashiya and in addition to some quintet and trio repertoire, I agreed to play a movement of Bach.  I also decided to make my first attempt at public speaking in Japanese.

My first speech in Japanese

I got some help from my chamber music partners.  They corrected some word choices and cleared up some grammar and throughout the morning prompted me to practice and listened to me say it through, congratulating me each time.  It's great to have a second childhood in Japan.

It says: "(Hello), my name is Andrea.  About two years ago I came to Japan from America.  In the summer of 2011, I attended the PMF summer music festival in Sapporo and fell in love with Japan.  At that time I heard about HPAC.  Now I'm really happy to be in Japan.  Thank you, please think kindly of me."  And then I bowed, truly appreciating their audience, their kindness and patience in listening to me, and continued, in my friend's handwriting, "And now I will play Bach."

And then I played the Allemande from the G Major Suite for them, feeling their kindness with me throughout.  I'm really happy to be in Japan.