By Haruo Akino

　　　The Sapporo University brass band was invited, as Japan's representative, to "The Fifth International Alpine Music Festival" held in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, from June 30th to July 6th. They scored a remarkable 93 points out of 100 in category B of the amateur section and won the first prize. The conductor is Mr. Toshikatsu Imai, a part-time teacher at Sapporo University who is also the director of music.

　　　The brass band was founded in 1979 and it has 68 members, the numbers of males and females being almost equal. I had an interview with Jun Nishio, the leader of this large band, and Ayumi Yanagiya, the chairperson of the trip to Switzerland.

　　　The members' motives for entering the band were various: one just liked the instruments, another wanted to perform in earnest for the first time, some had been playing in brass bands since junior high school, and one entered Sapporo University solely to become a member of this brass band. The members strengthen their bonds like a family as they spend their time together almost every day throughout the year, and that leads to their good performances.

　　　Conductor Imai has a policy when he coaches the band. He says, "I want the members to learn 'music' through playing his or her own instrument as members of this band. This experience may also train them to express themselves when they go out into the world. Furthermore, when an individual's opinion is chosen as the whole band's decision, I want the band to value 'an individual in a group.' That is to say, to be conscious of the 'ensemble' as a principle of their study. "Although he spoke calmly, I felt a lot of enthusiasm from him.

　　　Mr. Imai can only coach once a week, so the activities are often run by the members themselves. Certainly, they have to become united to play well so that they often make it important to value "harmony," not only through music performances but also in other activities, which give them many good experiences. Although they go through hardships, nothing can express the strong emotion they feel when they get over these. The practices last from three to four hours a day, three or four times a week; but when the concert draws near, they practice every day. However, the members don't feel it to be hard work.

　　　One of their recent achievements was their participation in Japanﾕs 34th national brass band contest for universities in 2001. It was their third try and they won the first prize from among 12 universities. The name of their program was "The Gadfly." Ms. Yanagiya explained her impressions of the experience; The performances of other universities were on a large scale and great, but each of us had the same thoughtsーto have fun and to do our best. So we didn't feel any particular pressure. At the moment they heard the result, she said, "we were glad as much for the evaluation as for not losing our spirit; we were focused all the time and became united to do our best. We shared the pleasure of the moment with each other." They then tossed Mr. Imai into the air.

　　　Since they won the prize, they were selected in February 2002, to participate in the International Music Festival in Switzerland as Japan's sole representative. In those five months, they had a lot of impassioned practices every day. They always had a consciousness of the goals they wished to achieve, a desire to play better, and the need during practice to consider every step important.

　　　But they had two large problems. One was how to earn the huge sum of money needed to make an trip to Switzerland (about 380,000 yen per person). They saved time by practicing individually in the spring vacation and worked very hard at part-time jobs to earn money and almost all the members took short intensive jobs which needed many people. The other was that most members hadn't been abroad, so they didn't know how to get passports, they didn't know the language spoken in Switzerland, they didn't know what they needed to take abroad, and many other things. They set up an executive committee and coped with the things they hadn't previously experienced.

　　　Since 20 teams from 20 countries from all over the world participated in the Music Festival in Switzerland, it was a gathering with a markedly international character. When they listened to other countries' performances, they felt each team is marvelous so they were very impressed by the high level. Especially, the performance by the Swiss professional military band was extremely impressive. "We actually saw the magnificent scenery with our own eyes and our hearts leapt for joy," said Mr. Nishio.

　　　This festival has been held five times and this was the third appearance of a representative from Japan. The Sapporo University brass band performed "Godspeed," "Lament for Wind Orchestra," the intermezzo from "Manon Lescaut," "Rhapsody for Band," and "The Gadfly," and the players showed the fruits of their practices, exciting the audience greatly.

　　　Mr. Nishio said, "Itﾕs just like a dream to be able to perform abroad. Moreover, hearing the result of winning the first prize, we were surprised rather than pleased. We couldnﾕt find any words to express our surprise. As the representative of Japan we are glad that our performance was valued in this way."

　　　Being a Sapporo University student, I want to applaud them once again in that they believed in themselves and in the possibility of success in their own efforts to make their dreams come true.

　　　Senior student Ayumi Yanagiya left a message to the brass band. "It's the last chance for you to play instruments for a long time with many colleagues, so work as hard as you can and don't leave anything to be regretted." Sophomore student Jun Nishio said, "The pleasure of hearing an audience's handclaps after a performance produces in us a very deep emotion, and it is a marvelous feeling. So we welcome anyone who wants to play instruments."

　　　The amazing achievement of winning the first prize at the International Music Festival is a brilliant success, and I very much look forward to supporting the bandﾕs further development in the future.