Alex Quinn's Japan Journal

9/25/2004, A little bit about the chorus

I haven't said much about the chorus so far, so today seems to be as good a time as any.  We had a rehearsal tonight.

I belong to the Taishi Chorus.  I was introduced (recruited) by a member who teaches English at another high school nearby.  Taishi is about 10 minutes by train from Aioi.  We will be singing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on November 23, 2004.  The chorus is about 75% female and 25% male.  I'm the only foreigner.  Naturally, everything is in Japanese, but it's not too tough.  Fumi has helped me quite a bit with learning musical terminology, and the people in the chorus are quite accomodating.  We practice every Saturday night from 6:30 to 9:30 PM (3 hours) with no breaks.  Yeah, it's a bit long.  Beethoven choral parts are notoriously high, so my voice is always sore when I get home.  At least in the tenor section, the singers are pretty good.  Language aside, I feel a bit small with my singing abilities.  We sounded sloppy when I started a few weeks ago, but it is really sounding good.  The director has German pronunciation abilities that are truly amazing.  I have never heard any Japanese person make sounds like that, let alone while singing beautifully.  He is a very talented musician.  In this choir, everybody gets a practice CD as part of the entry fee (6000 yen, ≈$60).  The CD has a recording as well as karaoke versions of the piece.  I get the feeling people are actually using it.  In Japan, many people sing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony around the year-end holiday season.

Here's a photo of our promo poster.  Sorry, it's a crumby photo.

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