The 63rd All-Japan Choral Competition

   There was the final round of the 63rd All-Japan Choral Competition in Hyogo, Japan. The junior high and high school categories were done a month early, and it was the time for colligate, work, general chamber, and general large choir categories. Since there were two colligate choirs performed my “Agnus Dei (from Missa pro Pace),” I was able to get tickets for all the performances.

   One of the interesting categories is “work choir.” A work choir is something that I only find in Japan. This is a club activity choir at work. There were choirs from banks, manufacturing companies, city halls, and etc, and the singers are employees of those companies or organizations. It is very nice for companies or employers to support this kind of club activity. An old saying, “all work and no play makes Jack dull boy,” is certainly true. People who have good balance between work, hobby, and family life are the happiest people, and I am sure that they are also the most productive people at work.

   For many reasons, among the all the hobbies one can choose, choral singing is certainly one of the greatest ones. Congratulations to those who won, congratulations to those who were able to sing on the one of the greatest concert hall in Japan at the final round, and congratulations to those who love singing choral music!

 I also attend the reheasal of Tsuru University Mixed Chorus which performed by Agnus Dei. Here is the rehearsal recording mp3 and the YouTube video. Enjoy!

MindManager

   I have been using software called “MindManager” for a while. This software was developed by Mindjet Corporation, and it does help us to create flexible graphic-based outline. This is a great tool when I organize or brainstorm thesis/book ideas. The software’s look resembles Microsoft Office Suite, so anyone who are familiar with Office can use MindManager immediately. Anyone who have experiences writing long documents knows that importance of outline, and MindManger has been helping me a lot.

   I know that in this world, a word-processor software (like Word), a chart software (like Excel), and a presentation software (like PowerPoint) is default tool for business. Since I started to use MindManager, I felt that this software would be “the fourth” software. If you are looking for a tool to organize your idea, I recommend you try MindManager a chance!

The Goonies

   One of my favorite movies is “the Goonies.” I loved this movie since I was a kid, and still watch it from time to time (Yes, I own a DVD). In summary, this movie is an adventure of a group of teenage friends that try to find pirate’s treasure in order to save their families from foreclosure. I will not go into the details of the movie here, but one of the aspects of this movie that I love is music. The main theme songs were by Cindy Lauper and they sound really 80s, and the underscore soundtrack done by Dave Grusin contains some of the most wonderful and memorable underscores ever written in my opinion.

   Anyway, I had been looking for a CD of the underscore soundtrack, but it was impossible to find it. Fortunately, recently a record label named “Varese Sarabande” released the complete original underscore CD, and I finally got it the other day. It made me very happy, and also made me rethink about what makes a piece of music (or other art like movie etc.) timeless and borderless. When it comes to the Goonies, it captured the childhood’s adventurous and curious souls that every kid has and every adult unconsciously wishes to maintain somewhere in his/her heart. Of course, the presentation of the movie is lower than today’s standard with CG and high-resolution audio. However, ultimately those things are not the deciding factors of the quality of the work. 

   I am living in the 21st century, so as a creator, I need to create a work to fit into today’s society, but the survivability of the work is decided by how much the work reaches to the core part of us which doesn’t change over time. I believe that we have been and will value love, friendship, wisdom, effort, beauty and etc, though society and technology changes over time. At least, as long as I can believe that, I can involve in creative work.