Friday, January 24, 2014
Hidemi’s Rambling No.503
The drama club to which I belonged when I was a junior high school
student had two school plays a year, for the homecoming entertainment
and for the welcoming new students party. The casting would be done by a
seniority system. A handful of senior members appeared on the stage and
other members worked backstage. New members usually started from the
stage props staff, then were promoted to the scene shifter, the
spotlighting, the curtain drawer/prompter, the stage lighting, and
finally, the cast member. My fellow five new comers had quit within a
year because they couldn’t take this slow promotion toward cast members,
and I was the only one left among those who joined that year. Since
there were so many members who were one year my senior, it seemed the
day I would be cast in a play would never come in this seniority system.
But once I begin something, I don’t quit easily. When the twice-a-year
school play came near, I would work eagerly backstage while seeing some
senior cast members whose acting was much worse than mine rehearse on
the stage. I started as the stage props staff. The first play I took
part in was a Japanese drama. Some cast members had trouble putting
Japanese sandals very quickly when they stormed out of the room in one
scene and complained to us. From then on I had stretched their sandals
carefully before the scene for the cast members to put them on quickly.
As the spotlighting, I learned to move a spotlight just as the cast
member moved on stage and to keep the light above her chest all the
time. Every once in a while in rehearsal, I made a mistake to follow the
cast’s quick movement and my light missed the position slightly. In
that case, the play would come to an instant halt and everyone turned to
me. I would stand straight beside the spotlight and yell “I’m so
sorry!” to the whole production. Dreaming of standing on stage someday, I
resigned myself to working for drearily trivial things so hard in the
total shadow of the glittering stage glamor…
Friday, January 17, 2014
Hidemi’s Rambling No.502
I was a member of the drama club at junior high school. There were
almost 100 new comers when I first joined it in the seventh grade, but
only six remained including me after a month because of sober training
that was far from the stage glamor. We did voice and physical exercises
every day to develop our abdominal muscles. In the end of the exercises,
the members would stand side by side and utter a loud and long tone one
by one in front of the club captain. While we were squeezing ‘Ahhhh’, a
senior member would put a hand on our shoulder to see if it rose. If we
were doing abdominal breathing, our shoulders didn’t rise. The club
captain would time the length of the tone and check whether it wavered
or not. A loud, long, steady voice was good and I was the one who always
uttered the loudest, longest, steadiest ‘Ahhhh’ without raising my
shoulders. While the club captain corrected each member, in my turn she
would say “Nothing to be corrected” to me. That made me so happy and I
practiced diligently back at home too, to hear her say that every time.
Gradually, I had tougher training at the club such as tongue twisters,
short dialogues and pantomime. For some reason, I was good at those and
had a good word from the captain each time. I began to think I might
have a talent for acting. Secretly I took pleasure in picturing myself
on the stage of a school play. A sad fact was, I was a fat and short
girl. Even with the ability to act well, things wouldn’t go so smoothly
for an ugly girl like me in the theater. But back then, I was too young
and innocent to realize that. I just kept on striving and improving only
my acting without caring about my bad looks…
Friday, January 10, 2014
Hidemi’s Rambling No.501
Last year, I spent fairly much time pondering whether I live in Japan
for the rest of my life or settle in US for my music career. I used to
live in the States for music and returned to Japan temporarily. This
temporary homecoming turned out to become much longer than I had
expected and have lasted to this day because of rapid advances in
computer technology and the Internet. It’s now possible to work for the
US music market while living in Japan through the Internet. Songs and
books are easily released and promoted. More new tools and gadgets could
be introduced, so that physically staying in US could be unnecessary.
Above all, life in this small town of Japan, which is secluded from the
city by the mountains, is suitable for creative work. It’s so
hustle-free that I deeply concentrate on my work. Since I moved in here,
my working pace has been good and steady. I feel I have finally found a
perfect environment to work on music. On the other hand, I’m always
afraid of settling down. Anyone who stops would die. I would lose
motivation for writing a song unless I move forward even by a small
step. For this year, I decided to visit the States for the first time in
years. I know its cost is a prodigious sum of money for me and it
requires mountainous troublesome arrangements. I also know too well that
after those efforts, what awaits me are an excruciatingly long flight,
murderous jet lag, and countless unpleasant incidents. Still, I need to
breathe in California air. My anxieties for money, health and the future
never go away but I think I can manage as long as I stay positive and
look ahead. My mind was made up…
Filed under Life | Tags: Childhood, Famil
Filed under Life | Tags: Childhood, Famil
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