Fall traditions: school chorus performances

Each year in Autumn my children's schools have a choir performance, or chorus "gasshou" 合唱 as it is called in Japanese. My older two children are in Junior High School so their chorus performances are a bigger event than that of my younger two children who are in Elementary school.

In elementary school the chorus performances are just performed as part of the school assembly and are only a few minutes long. However, parents are invited to come along to watch. They usually have one grade perform each morning and you just go along on the day your child/ren is / are performing. It is not a competition either. It is just a display of the work the children have done in choir practise.

Meanwhile, at Junior High School it is a competition. And it is a much larger production than at elementary school. At Junior High School one of the students is chosen to be the conductor. Whereas at elementary school the teacher is the conductor. Also, at junior high school one (or more) students are chosen from each class to play accompanying music on the piano. This also happens at the elementary school after fifth grade.

Each class in each grade performs their song of choice. In my children's school the teacher proposes a choice of about ten songs and the students decide between them which they will perform. Once the song has been chosen students then audition to be the conductor. There is also an audition for the pianist. Then they practise hard and it culminates with a chorus competition, usually on a date late in October. 

My children's chorus competition was this week. It is held in a large theater and parents and other interested parties (piano teachers etc) are invited to watch. There is no entry fee and seating is first come, first served. The students cycle to the venue together. It makes a fun day out for the kids, albeit a lot of them get very nervous before the competition and, unfortunately, many of them are upset after the competition.

There are various accolades - best performance by grade year, best pianist by year, best conductor by year, best performance overall etc. There is great excitement as the results are announced. I think it is a really great experience for the students and it is very enjoyable to watch the kids perform too.