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Encounter with Saxophone
About 20 years ago, when I retired from the life as a businessman, I started playing saxophone. Soon after, I recruited friends and started the "Takarazuka Masters Ensemble (TMA),” performing for the elderly at their assisted living facilities as volunteers once or twice a month. Around the same time, the "Takarazuka Music and Cinema Club" (Kinema-no-Kai) was founded, and club meetings have been hosted every month to enjoy movies and music. At times, we invited guest performers.
My first encounter with saxophone is about 20 years ago when I started trial lessons in a musical instrument class. Although I was a natural music lover, I did not particularly like the saxophone. Oddly enough, however, in 1961 when I was first assigned to work for a major Japanese textile company, the section manager assigned me to become a women's volleyball team (what I did was picking up volleyballs, cheering the players and accompanying to their expedition matches) while doing six months of accounting training at a factory in southern Osaka. Six months later, when I was transferred to a factory in Hyogo prefecture, the volleyball team gave me a farewell gift of a single record played by the jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins.
Record jacket at that time ⇒
A few decades later, when I started playing the saxophone, a Japanese movie called “Swing Girls” was a great hit. In short, the story of the movie goes that high school girls with no musical instrument experience start brass band and climb to national championship. There were several high schools that said to be modeled after to produce the film, and with one among them, I made an appointment with a teacher at a high schools in Nagano prefecture. I visited the school and heard the untold story of the film making.
Exhibits related to the movie "Swing Girls" of a high school in Nagano prefecture that I visited
"Films・Musicals・Musical Instrument Performance ～Excitement Changes Your Way of Life～"
Mini Concert Series
Recalling that, in 2006, under the title of "Films・Musicals・Musical Instruments Performance ～Excitement Changes the Way of Life～", a total of four lectures and mini-concert were given at the "Sorio Hall" in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, where my current home is. Hosting the series of recitals was the beginning of my musical performance activities after that.
Originally a music lover, after I encountered Sax, of course I wanted to play well, but more than that, I wanted to play more of my favorite songs, including movie music, musicals, classic, standard, canzone, jazz-like songs, ballad, and children's songs. The number of repertoires has increased rapidly. In recent years, I asked my piano teacher to transcribe the music of the classic masterpieces (including "Sous les toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris)" and "An Affair to Remember") of which scores are not easily available. The repertoires have further increase
The saxophone is an instrument invented by Adolphe Sax of Belgium in the middle of the 19th century. 2014 marked the 200th anniversary of the birth of Adolphe Sax, and events were held all over the world. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to travel to Holland and Belgium for a two-week family trip that year, to the city of Dinant, Belgium, the birthplace of Adolf, and to see the colorful saxophones on all the railings of the long bridge over the Meuse River.
Colorful saxophones on all the railings of the long bridge over the Meuse River, Dinan City (on the left), and the author in front of the Adolphe Sax Museum (on the right).
The places where we play sax in "Takarazuka Masters Ensemble" are volunteer performances at facilities for the elderly. Other memorable places and cities where I performed include, "Takarazuka Culture Creation Center (former Takarazuka Music School Building)" at its opening, the Village in Sasayama City, Takarazuka Nishitani-no-Mori Park, Nara City, Yamato Koriyama City, Moriguchi City, Hirakata City, Nishi-no-Miyahama, Suita City Senri, Osaka City Dojima, Umeda Herbis Plaze ENT, Tenmabashi, Shin-Osaka and Hiyoshi in Yokohama City Kohoku Ward, Suita, Minato-ku in Tokyo, Syracuse in NY State, St. Louis in Missouri to name a few. Takarazuka City has recently settled down as the main place for our performance.
TMA member at the time of formation A duo of piano and saxophone
Takarazuka Culture Creation Center (at the time of opening)
"Takarazuka Cinema and Music Cub"
The "Takarazuka Kinema (Cinema) and Music Club" initially used two public halls in Takarazuka City to show movies and have guest musicians perform. I have carried the equipment for movie screening (including projector, DVD player, audio player, and electric wires) in a large suitcase from home, took train, assembled the equipment at the site, disassembled and cleaned up after the performance and carried these back home. A few years ago, I changed the venue to rent a "meeting room" in my condominium complex, so the time burden was halved. After the movie screening and performance, we were looking forward to having a toast at the Japanese style room in the public hall or at "izakaya" (a local Japanese style pub). We also have been hosting a "sukiyaki" party with famous Kobe beef twice a year.
Friends of "Takarazuka Kinema (Cinema) and Music Club"
Lunch party at a mountain lodge-style inn
Author's postscript:
This article is a partial amendment of the article posted in the old boys' society's quarterly magazine several years back of the company that I worked for. There have been some changes since then in musical activities and my life in general, so, I have edited for this blog use. There may be some redundancies and ambiguities to the readers of this Blog, but I have kept the article to the extent that it does not impair originality, so I would like to ask you to understand that point. If you are interested there is a part 2 of this article discussing My “Classic Film and Art Theory” Part 2 of 2.
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