Blog#7: The saxophone (Mizuki Yanagisawa)

Hello, this is Mizuki Yanagisawa. Today, I want to introduce a fantastic music instrument, which is called the saxophone.

From my experience, I can say that the saxophone is my best friend. It is because I have played it for around 8 years. I was in the wind orchestra club when I was in middle school and high school, and played saxophone almost every day. Playing the saxophone is very fun and made me relax or sometimes excited. However, how many people know the saxophone? Do you know what form is? Do you know what color is? Do you know what sounds like? Although it is very popular instrument in Jazz music, perhaps some people have never seen or heard it.

The saxophone is the woodwind music instrument which form is like a big curved straw. Usually, it is coated with gold lacquer or silver lacquer, just like this: 

Moreover, the saxophone has a variety of its sounds. In the wind orchestra, it sounds very soft, and in Jazz band or big band it sounds brightly which is almost like a brass instrument such as trumpet or trombone. Therefore, it is sometimes called “almighty” or “all-powerful” music instrument. In both Jazz band and woodwind orchestra, the saxophone plays a role in a “hero” any other instruments due to its flexibility.

Furthermore, did you know that the saxophone is not included in the orchestra instruments? It is because the saxophone was firstly made in 1840 which is quite new comparing to other orchestra instruments such as violin, viola, or contrabass. However, instead of being included in orchestra instruments, it is the main instrument in Jazz or wind ensemble as I have already said in above.

Finally, I want to introduce the music of saxophone. Here is the song of saxophone quartet （四重奏）. 

As you watch it, you will notice that there are four types of saxophone: soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax and baritone sax. These four are different in their sound and how high their sounds are. The harmony of these different sounds will make you fascinated and excited. I hope you will enjoy this song. Additionally, if you are interested in the saxophone, I strongly recommend you to go to the concert and listen to the real sound of the saxophone!

Thank you for reading, and please enjoy your new year holiday.

Blog#7: American Football!! (Nao Murakami)

   Hello, this is Nao Murakami. Today I would like to introduce you about American Football. Have you ever heard of or watch it? It is a kind of sports which is famous and popular in America. The reason I am introducing it is I belong to the American Football club at Gakushuin university as a manager and want more people to know about it and enjoy it.
   First of all, I am going tell you some rules. American Football consists series of downs. Players have their specific position, and try to get points by runs, passes, punts or field goal kicks. When we get points by runs or passes, which is called "touch down", we can get 6 points and another chance for getting point which is called "try for point". At first, it may sounds difficult because there are more rules, but once you understand them, it is really fun to watch games. Also, this sport is very dangerous because players tackle to an against team. In most games, there are some injured players, so most team has their team doctor or trainers, and sometimes there is an ambulance during the game. However, the games are very exciting and fun to watch.
    Second, I am going to tell you about our team at Gakushuin university. The name of the team is GENERALS. Our team is in a division 2 now. There are 36 players, 11 managers, 7 trainers and 5 analyzing staffs. We practice 5 days in a week, Wednesday to Sunday after school. It is little hard but I am really enjoying it. Our target is to remote to division 1.

This is the Promotion Video for Generals. I hope you will enjoy watching it.

 

To sum up, American Football is very exciting sport to watch and play. If you interested in it, please go to see the game! Also, there are many videos on youtube, so if you do not have enough time to go out to see the game, watch it on youtube!  I put one game here.

 

Thank you for reading my blog, and hope you enjoyed it!

Blog#6 Why eyes of the rabbit are red? (Momoko Watanabe)

Hello.  This is Momoko Watanabe.  Today, I'm going to introduce the story, Why eyes of the rabbit are red?, which is told by Ayana Sakai.

There are two main characters. A rabbit which has antlers. Then a deer which has no antlers.  The rabbit had made a boast of his antlers to other animals all the time.  One day, the rabbit met the deer and talked proudly of his antlers as usual. Since the deer has no antlers, he was envious of the rabbit's antlers.  He praised it and asked the rabbit to borrow it. The rabbit was glad of compliments on his antlers, so handed it to the deer.  The deer received and gazed at it, came to want it more and more.   He praised it again and asked the rabbit whether he may put it on his head.  The rabbit became in good temper and granted the deer's request.  The deer put the rabbit's antlers on his head and ran to a riverbank.  He looked at his reflection in the river in fascination and said to rabbit that the antlers suited himself　the best.  Then the deer with the rabbit's antlers crossed a river and ran into forests.  The rabbit tried to chase him, but he couldn't cross the river because he couldn't swim.  Since then, every day the rabbit looked for the deer　while crying, however he could not find the deer.  He cried so much that his eyes became red.
I like this story because this teaches us that if we are arrogant, we will get hurt.

Blog#6: The Mixed-Up Chameleon (Yurina Mori)

 Hi, this is Yurina Mori. I'm going to introduce a recorded story, "The Mixed-Up Chameleon". This is a picture book for children. The story is told by Eric Carle.

 A small green chameleon is the main character of this story. It can turn its body's color by around view. And there are many kinds of animals which have various characteristics in a zoo.

 The chameleon can turn body's color, like I wrote before. For example, it turn brownish when it moves onto brown tree and it turn reddish when it sits on red flower and so on. Amazingly, it can also turn the color by weather and hunger. When it feels cold and hungry, it turn gray. Also, when it feels warm or it eats something, it turns sparkling green. One day, the chameleon saw a zoo which had a lot of animals. It thought how small, slow and weak it is because it has never seen so beautiful animals. It wished that it wanted to be big and white like a polar bear. Just then, its dreams came true. Its body changed big and white! Then, it started getting good points of various animals gradually. Finally, it was a chameleon which mixed-up characteristics of many animals. It was very happy. But, it noticed that it couldn't catch the fly as usual. It wished it could be itsself, its dreams came true again and it could catch the fly.

 I like this story because I think this story tells us it is important to notice each good points of us. We  feel other people have a lot of strong points, but we must have each very great points. So I think we should find only one characteristic!

Blog#6: Lopsy And Bopsy And The Letter To Santa(Misaki Yoshida)

  Hello, this is Misaki Yoshida. Christmas is coming soon, so today I'd like to introduce a Christmas short story. Here is the video of storytelling. Please watch this video first. This is a little childish story, but the narrator is brilliant.

 

 

 

  This Christmas story is called “Lopsy And Bopsy And The Letter To Santa”, which is told by Penelope Bourhill. In this story, two main characters appear, Lopsy and Bopsy. Lopsy, who writes a letter to Santa every year, is a friend of Bopsy. In contrast, Bopsy didn’t think to write a letter to Santa. One day, Bopsy called on Lopsy to see if he could play. But he refused it, because Santa Claus came to their town that day. As Bopsy thought that Santa came just once a year on the Christmas Eve a night, so he was very glad. However, he was very disappointed when he discovered that Lopsy wrote the letter to Santa every year. He feared he would be forgotten on Christmas Eve. Lopsy advised Bopsy to write a letter right now and give it to Santa when he comes to town. After he went back his home, he wrote a letter to Santa soon. That afternoon Santa came to their town, and Bopsy could meet and give the letter to Santa. Santa said, “Have no fear on Christmas Eve, no child do I forget.” Santa has already known what Bopsy wanted. He learned that Santa would never forget a child at Christmas. I like this story, because as I said earlier, though this story is a little childish, the narrator is wonderful. She uses some techniques in storytelling. She uses different voices for different characters in dialogue, so we can understand who is talking. Also, she changes her voice to change the feeling of character. These techniques attract us. We are learning how to read the story dramatically, so I think it is a great example. I really recommend you to watch this video. Please enjoy it and a merry Christmas!

 

 

 

Blog#6: Santa's Christmas (Nao Murakami)

  Hello, This is Nao Murakami! Today I would like to talk about the story called Santa's Christmas told by Lavina Tien. In this story, there are not many main characters. The first character is Santa Clause. He is the person who gives presents to children on Christmas day, but in this story, he is sick. Then there are four reindeer which usually supports Santa to carry presents. The last character is the children who came from all over the world.
  In this story, like I wrote before, Santa becomes sick and cannot prepare the Christmas presents, so the Santa is thinking about children sadly in his bed. Suddenly, he notice his four reindeer standing patiently outside his house as usual, but they look little tired. Then Santa finds there are a long train of sleds behind reindeer with a lot of children. They hopped out on the snow and come to Santa's house. Surprisingly, they all have a small present for Santa to wish Santa's well! So, Santa let them come in to his house and share the presents. Then one girl ask Santa, "which present do you like the best?", and Santa replies "It is the love and kindness that each of you shown me today and that is the best present of all". Santa tells them that this is the true meaning of the Christmas, and gives them a big warm hug.
  I have never heard of this story, but I loved it soon after I watched it. I think this story is very cute and heart warming. It tells us how nice people's love and kindness are. I think this is not very popular or famous story, but I deeply recommend it to you!

Blog#6: The Greatest Treasure (Mizuki Yanagisawa)

Hello everyone, this is Mizuki Yanagisawa. Today I am going to introduce a wonderful storytelling to you. Here is the video of storytelling. Please watch this video first, and then please read my article.

This heart-warming story is called “The Greatest Treasure”, which is told by Amit Garg. In this story, various characters appear as story goes on. A boy called Peter is a friendly main character of this story that goes to some adventures to find a treasure. A lion, who Peter first meets, is so strong and courageous that he leads Peter into the forest. An eagle is Peter’s friend which has excellent vision and can alert Peter to dangers. A sheep also becomes Peter’s friend who has soft hair and can keep Peter warm when it is cold. A camel, which is called the ship of the desert, helps Peter get across the desert. A turtle also helps them cross the ocean. An Owl is a key character who has ancient wisdom. Briefly, the plot of the story is about Peter’s finding a treasure. One day, Peter finds a treasure map and decides to go to have some adventures. On his adventure, he meets a lion, an eagle, a sheep, a camel and a turtle and asks them to join in a treasure hunt. Even though there are many mountains, valleys, seas, and deserts that hinder their adventure, they overcome those struggles by helping each other. Finally, they meet an owl and the owl says Peter and his friends have already found the treasure. When they ask where the treasure is, the owl answers that the treasures are their cooperation and friendship. Finally, they look each other and realize that the owl is right. Overall, I liked this story. It is because the characters in this story were very familiar to us so that it was easy to understand their feelings. Moreover, I was interested in this story because the story tells us some morals which are a friendship and to help each other is important in our lives. Therefore, I recommend you to listen to this story and want you to enjoy it!