Okayama Gakugeikan Symphonic Band

52 years ago, San Jose made a sister relationship with the city of Okayama in Japan and established the Santa Clara International Exchange Concert.

From this city, a group of middle and high school students from Japan traveled to the United States to perform.

The Harker School was one of the lucky ones who had the opportunity to see them.

During the assembly today, we got to experience this amazing band.

It was hard to explain what it was like. But it felt like you were in a Disney movie. You know the scenes where something magical/ lovely/ happy happens and you hear this whole orchestra. It was like that. And surround sound.

It was different than a regular orchestra. A group of girls put on glittery boas and started singing and dancing to a song. And there were featured musicians. And they got out of their chairs and came off of the stage and started to play in the audience.

They played from classical to popular songs.

Here is a video of one of their performances:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eI54-pOUa8&feature=channel_page

After the performance I got a chance to talk to some of the members of the band. With my limited Japanese, I was able to ask simple questions.

They say the tour is long and somewhat tiring but very fun since they get to travel with friends. They also said that they love America but it's hard since they do not know much English. They phrase they say they use a lot is "Sorry I don't know much English."

It was actually fun to use what I learned in the classroom to talk to them!

Anyways, this band is amazing and I reccomend you go see them. They perform in many different places so if you search in google, I'm sure you can find a performance.

They tour to San Jose, Santa Clara, and San Fracisco.