Day 2 - Final rehearsal at Koyo Conservatory, Gion Matsuri Festival

On day two of our journey in Japan, we begin with a morning rehearsal at Koyo Conservatory in Kobe. We rehearsed for four hours in one of their smaller ensemble rooms, and went over some of the new music we were to prepare for Akikazu Nakamura. By this time the band was sounding really together, and we had the all of the music worked out for the performances. the setlist, the featured soloists and transitions were smooth and we were ready for our first performance the next day at [Environment 0g]. After rehearsal, we went travelled to downtown Kyoto to catch the last bit of the Gion Matsuri festival. The Gion Matsuri festival,

"The Gion Matsuri, familiarly known as 'Gion-san,' is a festival of Yasaka-jinja Shrine, and the highlight is the splendid pageant of some 20 and 10 floats called yamaboko proceeding along the main streets of Kyoto on the 17th and 24th." - (http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/spot/festival/gion.html)

We did not arrive in time to see the floats, or the main parade, but caught a beautiful performance of Gagaku, a very ancient traditional music of Japan, to conclude the festival. We felt truly immersed in the culture of Japan!