Monday, December 29, 2008MY CHRISTMAS SEASON
It was nice that people gave me gifts to help me along. I'm glad I could splurge on a tasty meal at the Outback and go to a Messiah sing.
A clerk at a gift shop asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told her that I wanted vol.15 of the manga NODAME CANTABILE, which the gift shop carried. A manga is a graphic novel or glorified comic book. She gave me the manga on Christmas Eve, when I dropped by the shop. I quickly read through the manga that day. While this is a fictional story, I found it somewhat informative in discussing music. Some of it was disgusting such as Mozart's fascination with excrement. Mozart was not the only musician mentioned. Ravel, Beethoven and Bach were also mentioned in passing. The live action TV drama, which was based on the manga, made some changes in the choices of music performed. While I took music appreciation the TV series exposed me to works I had not heard before such as Ravel's Albarado del Gracioso. Yes, I already know about Ravel's Bolero. Of course this is old hat my trivia night team mates. But for me this is a new discovery. The TV aired around Christmas season of 2006. I followed the series with NO subtitles. I read the manga, and Garten's summaries of each episode. There were a total of 10 episodes. In addition I watched the action of the characters. Dave Endresak in his now defunct mailing list made a point that one should observe the non verbal acting of the actors. While I disagreed with Dave on a number of issues, I think his point on that issue was very insightful. In hindsight it is amusing to reflect on Garten's comments that a sequel would NOT likely be made. Apparently Japanese dramas rarely have sequels. Believe it or not the series was so popular a two part special lasting a total of 4 hours was made and aired January 2008. I'm not saying Japanese TV is better than American TV. But I believe NODAME CANTABILE had some positive effects. Classical music became very popular in Japan. Yes, there is a Bach fad. I don't know how long that will last. But classical music became popular among young and old. I met one Japanese national who expressed an interest in learning piano. A Korean national told me the same thing. When he was young he was obligated to take piano lessons. But he was not enthused about it since his friends were into sports. In my humble opinion Fuji TV should license the series and have it broadcast with subtitles in English, Korean, Chinese, French, and German etc. A German speaking person told me that German dialogue was hokey. Nevertheless this German speaking person also fell in love with the series. He could identify with the main character, Nodame, who could play by ear, but not sight read music very quickly. He was the same way. He could play the clarinet by ear, but was not adept at sight reading. I know I'm going off the path in talking about my Christmas season, but before returning to my Christmas season, I want to say that I was impressed by the level of discussion at Garten's website. In a way the website posts made me think of discussions which may take place in a college level English class. Perhaps NONDAME could be an indirect and more fun way to learn music appreciation. I should add that discussion of anime series might be a way to teach English literature. I'm not saying we should ignore Shakespeare. But I am saying that one can get into literary discussions with some anime series. I think it was on Dave Endresak's mailing list that I heard the term "story arc." Yes, anime and manga can be mindless entertainment. But I think some series such as MAISON IKKOKU can be an interesting look at human relationships and emotions. Well, getting back to my Christmas season. I've written before about my visits to the Christmas Eve services at the Japanese Christian church and the Assyrian church. On Christmas Day, I went to my home congregation, which is part of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The assistant pastor preached an excellent sermon tying in the Easter season with the Christmas season. I think we tend to lose sight of the reason why Christ was born. The pastor pointed out that Christ was born and came to earth because of our sin. If we had not fallen there would be no need for Christ to be born and then to die on the cross for us. I guess the words "goodwill to men" from the MESSIAH also come to mind. It is not "goodwill among men." It is not "lets all be good neighbors." It is instead God extending his grace towards us. Past sermons tie in with this message I remember our former assistant pastor made the point about the cradle and the cross being connected. And I remember our senior pastor making the analogy of Christ's birth to D-Day. Christmas is not the end of the story. It marks the beginning of Christ's redemption and reclamation of humanity and creation. As the carol goes "Remember Christ our savior was born upon this day to save us all from Satan's power when we all had gone astray." In celebrating Christmas we must not forget Good Friday and Easter. I would recommend listening to the Christmas sermon at www.lcos.org. P.S. It was interesting to see how a Christmas carol has crossed geographical and denominational lines. Over this Christmas season I've heard "Angels, we have heard on high" in Japanese, Assyrian and English.
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