Ongaku-Juku

I’d like to write about the documentary that I saw recently.
It’s about Seiji Ozawa’s project. Seiji Ozawa organizes the project called “Ongaku-juku”. It is founded in 2000. The goal of this project is to educate young musicians through playing of operas and symphonies. He does this project once a year with performances of an opera with young musicians as well as professional musicians. In 2005, Seiji Ozawa brought this project to China. He himself was born in China and lived there until 6, so he has a deep connection with China. They performed the Barbiere di Siviglia and Beethoven Symphony no.7. Although the instrumental levels of the Chinese students are very high, they had a less experience in ensemble playing. The struggle that Ozawa had was making music together. He said that it might be because of the One-Child Policy in China. The children don’t have to learn to do something together, so the ensemble playing was difficult for them. It was interesting to compare this to the Japanese music students. He says that at the first rehearsal, it is normal that people can’t play together because everybody has their own feelings towards music. But in Japan, people can play together at the first rehearsal. Because in Japanese society, harmony is emphasized greatly and everybody suppresses their feelings in order to become the same as everybody else. He says that this is not necessary positive thing in music making. At the end, Ozawa was positive that he was successful to convey his message to the musicians and would like still to continue his involvement with their education.