What's Green Band Association?
| Green Band (GB) was established in 1998 at Sendai in the Tohoku region of Japan. GB is an international brass band aimed to increase green plants on our planet. Its members go overseas to hold the “Green Concert”, and fund by the donation from the audiences. By utilizing the fund, they do activities such as planting trees and protecting animals from cruelty. GB can be played by one band, or other times, some schools can play it together. GB is the group of youth and their leaders who are interested in music and environment hoping to contribute to increase plants on our planet. The phrase, “environmental volunteer beyond borders” may give you a clearer image of GB. |
The History of Green Band Association
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1 Establishment
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| Thanks to many enthusiastic instructors, namely Mr. Junichi Naito, Mr. Yoshio Suzuki and Mr. Hiroshi Hosokura, GB was established. At first, GB started as a woodwind instruments ensemble of five members. Mr. Junichi Naito arranged some tunes for the ensemble and guided the success of its first project. |
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2 Sendai High School Green Band
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| Later on, GB grew bigger. Sendai High School Green Band which consisted of 33 members performed on the biggest stage, Fantasy Land Theater as the first Japanese junior band at Disneyland in Anaheim. Most of the local newspapers and TV stations covered this event, and the band became very popular. Its members held the “Farewell Green Concert” for their host families. It was a very impressive performance that local residents still remember today. |
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3 All Miyagi Green Band
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Celebrating its 40th anniversary of Miyagi Band Association, ALL MIYAGI GREEN BAND was established the next year. This band consists of 51 junior and high school students from all over Miyagi Prefecture. Although 70 percent of its members were junior high school students, they performed remarkably in all activities conducted by Mr. Mitsuzuka. Many Americans were impressed by the Green Concert which was held to save the desert turtles from extinction. In the end, some of them became interested to take part in it. |
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4 Akashikita High School Green Band
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| After a few years of “recess”, GB resumed its activities as Japan Green Band Association in 2004. Mr. Hiramatsu became the President of GB and planned some major concerts since the establishment. As the first major concert, he became a special conductor of Akashikita High School Green Band which consisted of 73 members, and went to America. Since their specialty was marching, they performed “stage-drill concert”, Green Marching Concert and Disney Christmas Parade that were the combination of marching and “zaso”. The audiences loved their performances. Thanks to their donation, they could contribute to the recovery of the trees damaged by the fire in South California in October 2003. This experience had a great influence on how GB should be from now on. |
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