Last week we had a wonderful guest come and visit us: Barbora Pilátová, an 18-year-old student who came all the way from the Czech Republic. Barbora is currently spending a 10-day holiday in Niigata at her Japanese friend's home and last week, she decided to make a one day trip to Matsumoto to see the castle and to participate in Geiyukan's Shamisen Workshop! She was kind enough to let me join her at the workshop.
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To start things off, we watched a nice shamisen performance by the teacher, Hideyoshiha, while enjoying green tea and Japanese sweets.
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Next, Barbora got to try playing the shamisen herself! Hideyoshiha briefly explained the basics and then provided Barbora with the musical score for a Japanese song called "Sakura, Sakura." Slowly strumming the shamisen, Barbora played the whole song to the end.
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Hideyoshiha said Barbora was a fast learning and had a knack for the shamisen. After correcting her use of the shamisen pick, Barbora tried the song a second time and was able to play much louder and clearer. After the third and fourth time, she could smoothly play through "Sakura, Sakura"!
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When I asked Barbora what she thought of the experience, she answered with an enthusiastic "Great!"
Lastly, she received a cute gift—a handmade frog charm made by Hideyoshiha's husband—and concluded the workshop. Then, it was back to Niigata for Barbora.
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Thank you Hideyoshiha for your wonderful performance! And to Barbora, we hope you come back to Matsumoto to visit again!
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