Wakuwaku End

This was the last Wakuwaku ever.  It's a pretty unique experience to play for a huge audience of uniformed Japanese 5th graders, something I don't think I'll ever get to do again.  And it was really wonderful to hear their voices singing Furusato with us.  And it was fun to hear the narrator describing the music and the hall the same way every performance in Japanese and understanding a little more every time over the course of three years.  Like a statue being shaved.  And to hear the creativity and humor of my colleagues in the instrument demonstrations, something I wish could happen in other performances, but which is truly unique to this sort of repetitive educational concert.  Perhaps it was the repetition that drove people to such extremes and gave them the opportunity to try so many different things.  

As I walked off the stage, the girls in the front few rows started to excitedly wave and then more joined when they saw they could get a response.  It's an image I hope to save in my memory, to remember the huge smiles on their faces.