From President Hiroki Niibori's Greetings to
The 33rd "All Japan Primary•Middle•High Schools' Guitar Festival"
Kiyomi Niibori (a member of NE & Ladies' Quartet, Master of Arts in Music)
"All Japan Guitar Concours" is held in every October and preceding Guitar
Festivals are held in every August and September in various districts in Japan
as the pre selection for the concours.
"All Japan Guitar Concours" (started in 1970) is sponsored by Nihon
Kyouiku (Japanese Educational) Guitar League <NKG> and [International Guitar
Orchestra Association <IGOA>], both of them were established by Dr. Niibori
in 1969 and he has been working as the president, and it is the Japanese only
one synthetic Guitar Concours covering 11 departments such as solo, ensemble,
orchestra, for the field of performance, conducting, composing, arranging, education,
manufacturing, and electric guitar categories, added in 2004.
"All Japan Primary•Middle•High School's Guitar Festival" is
the pre selection for students' department (high school students or under) of
the concours and held in Kantou and Shizuoka districts, having so many participants
to the concours (the affairs of the festival is reported on page 8 ff. of this
issue). The participants in the festival were also pre selected and, this time,
participants in the festival in Kantou district were 16 persons for solo, 28 parties
for ensemble, and 12 parties for orchestra. Formerly the festival was subjected
to middle and high school students and there were so many excellent primary school
students wishing to participate in solo and ensemble for the festival, then participating
to festival was approved in last year and naming was changed from "All Japan
Middle•High Schools' Guitar Festival" to "All Japan Primary•Middle•High
Schools' Guitar Festival".
President Niibori's "Greetings" carried on the program of the festival
is introduced here for this time.
<From President Niibori's "Greetings" on the program>
Thinking in big unit as the earth or the world, Japan is considered to be a rapidly
maturing country since the era of Meiji. In such a society, there will be a team
reaching the level of leader in the world with effective foresight digesting global
information in proper balance and, on the other hand, the rest will be a team
getting behind or degenerating with its progress. It will be getting easy to occur
that the difference of success or not will be widened rapidly.
It will be said also for NKG (Nihon Kyouiku Guitar League) itself, of course,
and "this festival".
The ZKG (Zenkoku Kyouiku Guitar League), to be said as the forerunner of NKG (established
in 1969), was established in 1964 (Showa 39) (president: Daigorou Arima, chairman
of the board of directors: Hiroki Niibori).
At that time, various guitar leagues were born in Japan and almost all of them
disappeared. Among those affairs, there are many reasons for this league continued
for so long time.
The 1st: Schools, Students and Teachers have been made much of.
The 2nd: Exclusive teaching materials (scores) (instruments) have been developed
for them.
The 3rd: Persons who will be able to bring up, vocational colleges and method
have been earnestly researched, developed, brought up, and practiced.
Soplanino guitars, alto guitars, cembalo guitars, bass guitars, contrabass guitars,
guitarrons, scores and notations, all of them in your hands reached at high level
to be awarded grand prix from World Scientific Council in 1995.
All of you participants of this festival are using those materials as a matter
of course.
However, this is the highest method and you are said to be standing at the top
of the world in the field of guitar ensemble.
Furthermore, looking at the most advanced performers among the companion, you
will surely understand the team studied with the most advanced learning method
for 1~2 years.
The content is hearing high leveled live performance, after all. And the practice
to see and to hear DVD repeatedly (with all of members) will be said as the best
method to learn instantly all of 10 years' contents. That is to give highest priority
to decisive method to grasp directly composer's heart with your right brain rather
than to take in from musical score with your left brain. The fact of students'
guitar orchestra, learned at "Nihon Guitar Music Conservatory" and "International
Niibori Guitar Music Academy", caused all standing ovation at public performance
in Europe (Germany), obviously proves above.
Music is originally composed by "man" with all of his/her "heart".
Then, the method to feel "heart" first (recognize in right brain) and
to check next with musical score (using left brain) will be the most advantageous
way to progress.
Taking musical score first, you will worry about your performance exactly as score
(worrying too much about mistake) and your willpower to understand the important
"composer's feeling = heart, imaging dream" will be hurt. Tremendous
time will be spent to perfectly memorize musical score for person with weak sensitivity.
There will be nothing more superior way to performing with feeling in right brain
and musical breathing (especially expression of rhythm), even starting with any
method, to reach best performance.
Therefore, starting directly with right brain = sensitivity is tens and hundreds
times faster.
Musical note show high pitch, low pitch, long and short sound, and it does not
show tone quality, weakness and strength exactly. Furthermore, it is impossible
to describe exactly the most important agogic. Musical note show only pitch and
length of sound.
Therefore, it is not good to persist in musical score for long times.
10 or 30 years ago, there was only way to understand musical piece with insufficient
musical score.
Now, you can learn with sound = CD, of course, and sound with image = DVD.
The key to get fastest progress depends on utilizing DVD frequently or not.
But, CD and DVD must be limited to world's highest level and thoroughly researched
ones, needless to say.
Therefore, it is the best way, undoubtedly said to be, to understand quickly that
joining to the organization having 40~50 years of history and utilizing best DVD
(also live performance) praised in the world for long times.
Today, teams with latest study method will perform marvelously as A-ranked in
the world. Teams not yet reached such level will be desired to jump up with referring
them.
I sincerely hope the success of the concert.
For questions, advice & requests about Monthly Harmony,
Niibori Guitar Music Academy, Editorial Office
143-14 Fujisawa, Fujisawa-shi, Kanagawa-ken,
251-0052 Japan
Phone: +81-466-23-8338 / Fax: +81-466-23-9337
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