IrishOboe

Saturday morning was the only precious hours I had to myself this weekend, though as usual I can’t complain about the adventures I had. In the afternoon a friend from Hippo picked me up at the Ryuo library and we went to Hippo together listening to the Hippo tapes in her car. She has two beautiful children of ages around1 year and 3 years. Hippo was fun as usual and this time I ventured to give my self-introduction in Japanese using the style everyone else uses. I needed a lot of help, but I got through it. It should be easier next time.

I then met Courtnay at the train station and we went to Sakaori to meet Adden and Steven so we could have a small Bible study. For a few weeks the Bible studies are changed to Sunday nights and Adden can’t make it so we’re having a smaller one on Saturday afternoons so he can still learn about Christ with others. We read the first two chapters of Matthew and managed to do okay given the language barrier and the difficult topic. It’s one thing to communicate well and it’s another to discuss deep philosophical and theological questions! I hope we native English teachers can use simple English in a deep way, rather than a condescending way. It’s so easy to “think” that a non-native speakers understanding is smaller because he can’t express himself eloquently in English. I wonder if I would react differently if I were fluent in another language. Then English would seem so natural, but it would be just another medium. I’m not sure, but this is beside the point. We had a good time together then we all went to church for a Passover Seder. I brought potato salad again, which continues to be a hit. I feel like a real cook now. I cook without a recipe and don’t measure and people love my food! Okay, so potato salad isn’t the most complicated of dishes . . .

Atley led the Passover service, which was not nearly as long as a traditional one, but it was lovely. It was much like any Christian version of the Seder with one outstanding exception. Atley’s experience had taught him that freshly ground horseradish is not considered very bitter to the Japanese pallet, so to retain the intended effect of eating bitter herbs he used wasabi instead! I have to say, it was a bit painful, and it certainly had its desired effect. I remember the Seder we had at St. Paul’s when I was in middle school (or younger?) and I really enjoyed it. It’s a beautiful service and it really helps me to have physical contact connected with reflection and worship.

Sunday morning I biked into Kofu and went to a Japanese dance performance that I’d been given tickets to through the International Center. I really enjoyed watching the children dance all dressed up in traditional fancy kimono and performing with such control and grace. I don’t really know how to describe the dance and I have a feeling there are many more dance styles that I saw that day. One interesting part of every dance was that there were male attendants who would come out on stage (wearing hakama – traditional pants that look like a skirt) and wait in seiza (kneeling with legs underneath the body) until the point in the dance when a costume or prop change was needed. At first I found it distracting, but then I came to realize that the prop and costume change was part of the dance. Still, my favorite part was watching them scoot along the floor from their waiting position to the dancer. I can’t describe it, but they would gather their “skirt” up, flex the foot so that the toes were on the ground and the heels were under their bottoms and quickly slide-scoot like a duck, but it wasn’t a waddle. Their upper body remained completely still and it was done with complete grace. I tried it at home. It’s not easy in pants, much less in a kimono (some ladies did the move in their dancing later on). It’s amazing the dancers could keep their balance with all the crazy stuff they were wearing.

I hadn’t realized that the concert went on all day, but I quit after a few hours since I’d heard about the early music festival going on in the hall next door. I met Niko there and we enjoyed listening to the finalist round. We heard some excellent technicians on the violin, cello, recorder, and harpsichord, but for me they were uninspiring. They were nice to listen to, and had some good musical ideas, but it wasn’t the early music I fell in love with at Eastman. BTW, there were about 60 entries and all of them were Japanese (or at least had Japanese names). The first round was Saturday and we heard five of the eight finalists on Sunday plus a concert given by the winners of previous years. Everyone played on period instruments, but their playing seemed to me to be quite modern in taste. To give credit where credit is due, they could certainly play their way around the instruments. Their fingers were fast and furious and precise. I was beginning to wonder why I’d chosen to spend a year studying that kind of music when a young gamba player started a solo sweet. Immediately my passion was rekindled and I was reminded of the amazing musical experiences I had at Eastman. I don’t know enough about it to explain the difference yet. All I know is that there is a completely different aesthetic, a different goal, a different means of moving from note to note, that completely transforms the music. It is no longer nice background music that is lovely and good to relax to. It is no longer virtuosic “look how fast I can play” displays of hard work. It is a communication, a live, changing, growing, moving experience of beauty and sadness, tension and release. Shuhei Takezawa (a first year university student if my Japanese served me correctly) knew how to use the unique strengths of the instrument to make the music come alive. He didn’t try to fill the hall with a beautiful, resonant sound like we love with our modern instruments. He was softer over all, but produced all the nuances of sound and tone color that baroque instruments were designed to make. I dream to play like that! He was not technically perfect, but that doesn’t matter. How he sang through the music nearly moved me to tears. Sadly when his accompanist came out for the second piece his aesthetic was lost in the sounds of the harpsichord played by someone who clearly didn’t get it. I guessed the judges didn’t get it either and would pick one of the technically amazing performers as the winner. At least Shuhei got to the final round! As I listened to the concert of the previous winners there was no longer any doubt that technical perfection was valued more highly than having a unique voice. I apologize to the performers if they read this review. I’m sure they are sincere and communicate well with many an audience, but I have heard what I love and I can’t get that revelation out of my head! I do hope I can find such performers in Basel to learn from. It was wonderful to have a fresh reminder of what inspired me in the first place!

There was also an instrument exhibition that I sadly couldn’t spend much time in because of the concert schedule. I met the baroque oboe maker Sand N. Dalton and I loved his Eichentopf model. His reed style was quite different, so I wonder what the instrument would have been like with my own reed, but whatever the combination, it was lovely! I also got to play a baroque oboe da caccia for the first time! That was way cool!

The whole day was a blast of the past. It seems like a lifetime ago since I was at music conservatory!

After the concert I biked to Bible study at the Brown’s. I can’t remember if I told the story of when I first biked to the Brown’s or not. I had biked to Kofu since it was a nice day and was waiting for a pickup, but realized too late that I was supposed to go to another station that day. I knew vaguely where the Brown’s lived and I didn’t have my map with me but I decided to try to bike to the Brown’s anyway. Amazingly, and (with God’s blessing for sure, I found them! I only made one wrong turn and didn’t stay on it for long. It only took me 45 minutes to bike back the more direct route (not going through Kofu). That was a fun discovery, and one that I’ll enjoy while the weather is good.

Anyway, this was the first Bible study that we split up this time into couples and singles so the singles study is in Japanese and English. It went rather well since some people are quite good in both languages. I made it home safely on my bike and was two hours of exercise the better for it!