Saturday, December 8, 2012

The wonderful Aiphonic!

The Japanese... they do concert halls.  Everywhere you look, you'll find wonderful halls, both large and small.  Aiphonic is a wonderful example of a perfect space for bells.

The stage is a good size - large enough for us, but no so huge that it swallows the sound:


This is our typical horseshoe setup, with four tables separated by three 45-degree "wedges" and a "dog-leg" table on the bass side for the big boys down to G2.  As you can see, there's about 10-ft behind the tables before you get to the back of the stage, against which Barbara is leaning.

Another fabulous feature of many Japanese halls is very steep raking:


This means that even people in the back rows are close enough to get a good view of what we're doing.  And, because handbell ensembles have so much going on, a more birds-eye view gives those "back benchers" greater insight into what we're doing.  I really love steep halls like this, both performing and attending!

They don't skimp on the details, either.


This is a suspended trellis above the stage.  I love the leaf motif, which is used throughout.  I assume that the cubes were placed to better disperse the sound throughout the space.  Here's more lovely detail on the ceiling:


This fits in with theorganic feel of the nearly solid wood construction.  I find it to be a very peaceful hall.

We had an intense rehearsal on our first full day in Japan.  While Aiphonic is beautiful, we were there to work, and we did!



On the left is a picture of Michele sitting at her Sonics "station."  On the right is my setup.  Yes, the two of us sit on the floor throughout Sonics.  We always spend a long time working on Sonics, because it's Jim's baby and it's also highly dependent on the hall!!  Getting up is always an exercise in "ayup, I'm gettin' older..." (creak creak creak)

Oh, and we can't arrive in Japan without our obligatory "Welcome, Sonos!" picture:
These are always in the bus above the driver's head.  There's something just fun in seeing your group's name on the bus.

And, because I can, a final picture, this one of my sweetie right after we got on the bus at Osaka as we were travelling to Itami City.

Am I a lucky guy, or what??

---Jason

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