国際コースで12月16日～18日にMusic Weekが実施されました。

Day 1

The week started with Mike S introducing himself and giving some background as a violinist and workshop facilitator. The students (and Duncan) were surprised and impressed to hear that he'd played on the original Star Wars soundtrack, and that he'd also played with and developed a friendship with Empress Michiko. Empress Michiko played piano and Mike S played violin.

After that, the discussion turned to the Monet exhibition. Mike S asked the students to present their Monet-style paintings that Chris had got them to make. Mike asked them about each piece and filled in some information about Monet. He was pretty impressed with their work. After that, Mike gave some more information about Monet, impressionism, and music, and also talked a bit about Debussy. Thanks to Chris' earlier lessons, Shosuke correctly identified Debussy from the picture Mike showed.

Mike introduced the six key concepts that make up music: rhythm, melody, harmony, silence, dynamics and finally, texture. Texture was the focus of this weeks' workshop. The texture of a sound may dramatically alter depending on the manner in which an instrument is played. The texture of a piece is created by weaving different sounds together just like a garment.

Day 2

On day 2, students began to refine their performance piece, using a variety of instruments from the first day. Moreover, students focussed on the composition of the piece. This included looking at texture, melody, and scales with the different instruments. In between practising, students had in-depth discussions about the composition and how Debussy used different techniques to represent occurrences such as a stone dropping into water and the resultant ripples.

After a busy morning, students had the time to prepare a short presentation for the course. With this short presentation, the aim was for the students to explain the thinking and reasoning behind their composition.

Day 3

The final day of Music Week began with a short discussion about the day ahead. The students spend the morning critically considering their piece and working out how to improve it. They also practiced their presentations.

In the afternoon, students had one final run through of their composition before guests arrived. Among the guests were parents of the students, as well as guides from The National Museum of Western Art who helped the students during the Monet exhibition. The presentation began with a short explanation from Michael Spencer, and the students' composition was performed after, to rapturous applause.

Following this composition, the students then performed a West African song for the parents, alongside a dance. Unknown to the parents, the whole room were invited to stand up and perform the song and dance together. A moment that showed that everyone in the room was equal in music and dance. After performing this song and dance, the students performed their composition one final time.