The shamisen recital

November 14th was the day of the shamisen recital by my shamisen teacher and his students.

We had practiced very hard. However at several group practice sessions, we struggled to play well, so it was easy to imagine our shamisen teacher's anxiety.

On the day of the recital, we gathered at Nihonbashi-kokaido early in the morning. To tell the truth, I worked at some parties till midnight the night before the recital, so I had slept for only 3 hours.

In the morning, we confirmed our positions on the stage, and practiced some pieces of music. Even in the final practice, we still made some mistakes.

The last group practice session finished 45 minutes before the start of the main event, so we ate lunch in a hurry. Finally the recital started.

Most of the members played the opening piece together. When the curtain opened, I spotted my mother and her sister in the audience. They also found me. I felt self conscious.

To tell the truth, after the recital, I was planning to confess about my new job to my family. It was going to take quite a lot of courage, so I got even more tense.

I thought I could perform well, however I made one mistake.
When we play on stage, we have to take the cover off the top part of the shamisen. However I forgot to take it off for one part of the program.
That part being when I was playing with my shamisen teacher and just a few students, so it was easy for my mistake to stand out.

By the way, at the recital, one of the main performances was a part of a famous kabuki song.
Some senior male students had practiced the kabuki performance like real actors and my shamisen teacher and some of the more proficient students played the shamisen.

The Male students had been receiving lessons from a traditional Japanese professional dance teacher for more than a half year.
However it was too difficult for them to perform kabuki, since they couldn't remember their long lines. Nevertheless they tried hard.

On stage, their earnest performance touched the audience's heart, and their mistakes made everyone laugh.
After their performance, my shamisen teacher looked very glad.

Finally our recital was finished. Most of the audience remained until the very end even though person they came to see had finished performing earlier in the recital. It was very rare.

I think the recital was successful.
However I still had a big job ahead in which I would confess about my new job to my family.