The temperatures dropped to about 16 to 20 degrees, colors of leaves
are slowly changing … The autumn has come.
New semester started again. And I must say it is very joyful time for me
to be in school. As much as I didn’t
like the school when I was teenager, I love it now. Such a great life it is.
We
have one more student in our class; it is a girl from China, Chin san. That
means, the Chinese boys hormones are on the lookout. It is quite funny to see
that, and it always reminds me of the time in school in Slovakia.
Today we had lunch together and then went to Karaoke. It was good fun. Few photos:
(Sorry for the darkness, I am using first time my new camera, actually my first camera ever, a present from Mitsuyo)
Mohsen san, from Iran
Chinese boys
Very soon we will have a concert with my friend Yoshie. She is a teacher
and they have some special day at the school. So we will perform few pieces of
music for the kids and their parents, all together about 800 people, the
biggest audience I ever had. We will perform also with her sister Junko, she
plays flute and also Maho, Junko’s daughter and other young and very talented
violinist.
For this opportunity, as well as for the future playing, we bought a
new toy, called cajon, a Spanish drum, mostly used for flamenco.
You
should see Yoshie buying it in Tokyo. First question was: “Can you give us
discount?” They just put it on sale that day in the morning. But of course, she managed to
take the price down and get a proper nice case for it too; for free of course. From
now on I do shopping only with Yoshie….. Amazing…
We will play some nice jazz and tango to entertain the parents and
also some Japanese kid’s song, for the younger ones. It is really nice to play
Take Five (by Dave Brubeck) and Libertango (by Astor Piazolla) in the formation
of Cajon, Flute and Piano. And to my surprise the children songs are quite
amazing compositions with lot of rhythm changes. I like them. Looking forward
to it…
Here are some pictures from our practice.
Maho trying the cajon
Our practice in Yoshies house, Honjo
Maho, young violinist and Yoshies cute cat
I
was also invited to house of my boss; from the Golf place. They have a lovely
place, by a river and nice woodland area. Next to their house, they have a
small coffee house, called "River Side", (Please remember the name. It is vital information for one of the photos).
My boss plays ukulele and once a month he organizes a live concert with his friends. They play mostly Hawaiian music and bit
of jazz standards. So we had a little coffee there with Mitsuyo and chat with
him and his wife. They are very nice people. We also played together a
little bit. He liked my performance, so he invited me to play at the next of
their live concerts. Looking forward for that too.
It reminds me of the time in
Dumfries when I worked at Rift Valley Jazz Coffee, and played there with the
boss, David Kelly. It looks like, wherever I go, a coffee house is waiting for
me, with a boss who loves music. Recently I realized, that music opens so many doors. Even if we don’t
know the language, the music will manage to break all barriers and create
friendly atmosphere. Such a wonderful tool.
Few photos:
Check the sign on the wall .... always makes me laugh...
Me and my boss
PS: Jessica, I think of you and Margaret
every day. Please say hallo to her from me. Times like these shake our
consciousness, and show us the right values in this precious life. Your
gratitude is the best prayer you can give to her. Gratitude is actually the
only true prayer I know. May your missions be accomplished. You are amazing.
