Now that the semester is coming to an end, I can say I’m glad I joined the piano circle – even though I have mixed feelings on my experience. It was great to get a taste of Japanese college student life through circle activities and meeting new people, especially since the piano circle was a diverse group with different backgrounds and levels of experience talking with foreign exchange students.

While everyone was friendly, I found it hard to make closer friends. Since many of them don’t have a particular interest in spending time with exchange students, they tend to stay within their groups of friends that are solidified outside of the circle. In making piano circle friends outside of the circle’s room (box), I found that the power of your school year was surprisingly strong. Surprisingly so in that I didn’t observe any emphasis on senpai-kohai relationships in the circle, but ended up invited to an all first-year piano circle casual dinner at the 食堂. I additionally observed, when helping out at the school’s EVE festival, the other two first years that I was advertising our booth’s food with started joking around and overall acting casual very quickly, though they had just met that afternoon. Bonding within your own school year was evidently natural, and bridging the senpai-kohai dynamic to become close friends seemed rare if done at all. That also brings me to the point of my own ambiguous status as an exchange student, since although they invited me, I doubt they would have invited a third-year Japanese student. (Of note, as an exchange student, you’re also not an “official Doshisha student” for any event purposes, etc.)

The other major difficulty in making friends is that the piano circle has no fixed meeting times every week. While that’s ideal for fitting into it into one’s schedule, I would generally only see the same member once or twice per month even if I went at the same time every week. At the beginning, I asked a few members when they usually go, and the reply was generally “when I have time.” I was surprised by how some people always seemed to show up at the same times though, and wonder if there’s a reachable level of friendship where you’ll casually text the other when you’re at the circle box. Regardless, whenever I did go, the members were always open to talking and helping out with my homework. I could tell that some of them weren’t used to talking to exchange students, aka figuring out my strange Japanese, but they all responded to my questions and often asked questions in return.

Ultimately, I didn’t get that much piano practice done this semester, but I had an interesting experience! Even if I got along with a smaller percentage of the piano circle students than students that have a particular interest in meeting exchange students, I’m glad I got to meet a diverse group that is likely more representative of Japanese students as a whole. My one regret is that I wish I had understood the above dynamics earlier and made more of an early effort to become closer friends with some piano circle members. But I’ll be here next spring, and plan to continue my piano circle adventures until the end of the semester in February. The piano circle is a no stress, social option for anyone with even a slight interest in piano, and I highly recommend it. 🙂

ピアノ研究会にいる間、大半の時は他のメンバーと話して、本当にピアノを弾く時間が短い。だから、私のピアノの能力はまだ高まっていないけど、無意味な訳ではなくて、とても楽しみである。二週間前に一年生の晩ご飯に誘われたし、いつもいろいろな話に花を咲かせるから、皆が優しいと思う。良い友達になるのを楽しみにしている！小学の一年生の時、ピアノを始めた。毎日45-60分練習して、毎年演奏会を二回していた。そして、大学に入るまでピアノをしていた。大学に入った後で、授業で忙しくなったから、あまりピアノを弾かなくなってしまった。私は時々友達と一緒に寮の共用のピアノを弾いていたけど、授業が難しくなるに連れて、その機会がどんどん少なくなった。それから、自分で弾くのは当然つまらないし、先生がいらっしゃらないから、ピアノのやる気もなくなってしまった。

だから、同志社大学のピアノ研究会に興味がある。ピアノ研究会は毎日同じ時間に集まるのではなくて、時間があれば、自由に決めて行く。一学期2500円で使えるピアノが四台ある。二、三ヶ月ごとにコンサートがあって、前回は先週だった。コンサートに出たかったら、幹部の前で演奏したい曲を弾いて、もしいいと言えば、コンサートに出られる。とは言え演奏するに興味がなくてもいい。熟練した人に限らず、ピアノに興味がある限り初心者でも誰でも入れる。一年生と二年生は多くて、四年生は就職活動で忙しいから、今四年生が二人しかいない。

ピアノ研究会にいる間、大半の時は他のメンバーと話して、本当にピアノを弾く時間が短い。だから、私のピアノの能力はまだ高まっていないけど、無意味な訳ではなくて、とても楽しみである。二週間前に一年生の晩ご飯に誘われたし、いつもいろいろな話に花を咲かせるから、皆が優しいと思う。良い友達になるのを楽しみにしている！

One of the downsides of taking a semester abroad in Japan is that I would miss preforming one of my favorite major works, Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D Minor with the Glee Club at my home institution at the end of April. However, when I became acquainted with Doshisha’s campus, I was excited to find out that Doshisha has a Glee Club as well, which I did not hesitate to join. In my previous blog post, I explained just how unbelievably similar my Glee Club is to Doshisha’s, from the inside jokes, all the way to the songs that we sing. Unfortunately, once Doshisha students were let out for spring vacation, the rehearsals were very difficult if not impossible to attend due to the fact that they were either scheduled during Japanese language classes or took place at Doshisha’s main campus an hour away from KCJS campus. Each week I couldn’t attend rehearsals, I became a bit more anxious about whether or not I would be able to fulfill the KCJS CIP commitment.

Toward the end of Doshisha’s spring break, I invited one of the Glee Club’s managers, who introduced himself to me as “Onee-san,” for lunch near Shijo. It was not until recently that one of the other members of the Glee Club told me that the manager was stuck with unfortunate nickname, because he makes a drastic transformation into an onee-san at nomihodai with members of the Glee Club. And as he said the word onee-san, he limped his left wrist for comedic effect, which made his explanation all the more clear. After discussing over a soba lunch about how the Glee Club was doing recently and how he was preparing for shu-katsu, or job-hunting, he pulled out a volume entitled “Doshisha’s Favorite Songs.” As I flipped through the book of sheet music, I came across the song “Ride the Chariot,” a song that the Doshisha Glee Club sang for the audience during a reception after the farewell concert I attended in February. Interestingly enough, at Cornell, we also share the same custom; among other songs, we also sing, “Ride the Chariot” for our audience members, who decide to stick around after our concert. Flipping not much further, my jaw dropped in disbelief when I came across the next song in his book.

It was Franz Beibl’s Ave Maria; a magnificent piece that is so inextricably linked to the history of Cornell’s Glee Club, to the extent that the song itself has become distinctly Cornellian in the hearts of all Cornell Glee Club members past and present.In short, the Ave Maria would have most likely have been lost in obscurity if Biebl had not entrusted it to director Thomas A. Sokol during the Glee Club’s tour in Germany in the 1970’s. Once the Glee Club returned and introduced the song back to the United States, it became instantly popular. As I was still in awe as to how could this song could have possibly traveled all the way to Japan, Onee-san told me that the Doshisha Glee Club preformed Ave Maria several years ago, though it had been before any of the current members were in the club. After talking further about Ave Maria, I asked Onee-san if I could practice with the Glee Club once more, even if it would mean that it would be an inconvenience for me. After asking around, he invited me to the practices that the Glee Club holds for its shinnyu-sei, incoming freshmen that are potential members for the club.

The week before classes began for the Doshisha students, a club fair was held, which made the campus quite bustling with activity. I stopped by the Glee Club booth, where I was greeted with a warm welcome. Not too much later, a recent alumnus from the Glee Club also came by to say hello. Noticing me as the one who likes Biebl’s Ave Maria, he expressed relief that I was able to understand Japanese, since it would be very difficult for me to participate in rehearsals if I had not. Even though he said these praises, it had been difficult to follow the more abstract breathing and vocal techniques in rehearsal. Moreover, being that the Glee Club is composed of all men, during my time in the club, I had quite some difficulty deciphering the words that were spoken to me. Male speech in Japanese is characteristically rapid, seasoned with contractions and slang words, and peppered with Kansai-ben, the dialect of Japanese that is spoken in and around the Kyoto region, which is not taught in the classroom. Contrary to his praises, even his continuing remarks were a bit difficult for me to follow. From what I could piece together, Doshisha’s Glee Club recently had an excellent relationship with the Yale University’s Glee Club, a fact that is clear when one notices that Doshisha’s College Song has been adopted from Yale’s. However, for whatever reason, the Glee Clubs have not been in contact since their last joint concert in the 2000s. Quite ambitiously, he mentioned that it would be fantastic if Doshisha’s Glee Club were to establish a connection with Cornell’s Glee Club, with me as a bridge between the two worlds. Though coordinating such an collaboration would be an undertaking too lofty to imagine, I can not help but wonder how incredible the experience would be if we were to perform together in concert.

一年前に，コーネル大学で、グリークラブに入った。アメリカの人気があるドラマの「glee」と混同しないように、グリークラブというのは、伝統がある男声合唱団だ。クラシック音楽に限らず，シーシャンティーや、大学の歌や，海外の音楽も演奏する。アメリカでは，絶対に忘れられない友達を作ったり，素晴らしい音楽演奏をしたりしたので、日本でも，同じ結果になるだろうかと思案し，同志社で、グリークラブを続けることにした。

僕が初めて行った練習は、とても面白かった。誰かがお知らせをするなり、皆が大きな声で、「した」と叫んだのを初めて聞いた時は，びっくりした。「した」というのは、「ありがとうございました」や「お疲れ様でした」が最後のモーラに，短くなったものだ。グリークラブの外の人に「した」を使っても，通じないらしい。滑稽だと言っても、日本の内輪のグループで使う独特な表現はアメリカのに比べて，全然違うと思う。

卒団生のためのフェアウェルコンサートが近づいてきたから、「蛍の光」と「You’ll Never Walk Alone」という簡単な曲しか完璧にはしなかった。すごく忙しかったから，何回も，同じ曲を練習した。それで精神的に疲れたのは言うまでのないが、グリークラブの部員の皆が日本人らしく、一生懸命歌っていたから、僕も精一杯頑張ってみせた。

「You’ll Never Walk Alone」を練習しながら，日本人には，英語の発音が難しいということに気がついた。母音と子音の言い方に加えて、自然な息の取り方と二重母音の区別のし方は、英語のネイティブスピーカーも、間違いがちで，全然易しいことではない。英語の歌にひきかえ、日本語のは，母音の言い方が同じなので、たくさん協同の努力をせずに、美しく，聞きやすくなると思う。

3時間経過した後に，練習が終わり，三回生が三山木という和食屋で晩ご飯を食べに行くのに誘ってくれた。しかし、食事をする前に，卒業生のための秘密の歌を練習しなければならないと言われた。驚いたことに，その秘密の歌は、コーネルのコンサルトでも、熱唱された「What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor」だ。本当に懐かしかった。その歌をよく知っていたから，発音や，音程や，テンポをアメリカでしたように提案できた。感動的なフェアウェルコンサートの後で，卒業生のために、三回生が歌ったら，上達したことが見せられるに違いなく、僕も嬉しくなった。

これまで，練習は一回だけだったが、友人を作るために、また参加したい。