For some time now Tanaka-sensei has been writing a book of his 23 years (1995-2018) as Tachibana Band Director and Advisor. Now the book is finished and it will be available at bookstores on January 27, 2021 (links to buy online: Amazon Japan, Rakuten Books, Kinokuniya Books).
Titled “Nurturing Orange Devils Without Teaching Them – The Miraculous Method of Teaching Motivation and Potential 120%” (オレンジの悪魔は 教えずに育てる やる気と可能性を120%引き出す奇跡の指導法) the book has 224 pages the fans will certainly find fascinating read, and it comes with recommendations by Masaharu Fukuyama and George Tokoro. The table of the contents of the book can be found here, in Japanese. Great promotional articles by the publisher (Diamond) are here (in Japanese): Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4, Article 5, Article 6, Article 7, Article 8, Article 9.
To coincide with the Tachibana expedition to Taiwan in October 2022 the book was also be published there on September 27, 2022 (click here for the announcement at the Tanaka-sensei facebook).
Tanaka-sensei writes also a series of essays of his time as the Band Advisor to The Education Newspaper, click here.
In the video below Tanaka-sensei is interviewed by Yūko Nakamura at 本TUBE (Japanese author interview site):
Click picture to watch video
And below is his second interview at 本TUBE subtitled in English:
Click picture to watch video
Third interview at 本TUBE is here, and English summary by Tetsuya T -san is here:
Click picture to watch video
https://diamond.jp/articles/-/265874
In this 9th extract, Tanaka-sensei follows on from the previous one by emphasising how, as training became tougher in early summer, he would encourage the 1st years to express their emotions. He would point out how their seniors would confront each other and argue noisily. That was a good thing. Accepting that “it’s okay to have conflicts”, they had faced a lot of difficulties together and as a result, strong friendships had been forged which would last a lifetime. The 1st years would not fully understand the message at first, but it would remain somewhere in their minds, to be drawn upon when difficulties arose. This developed resilience and a team better able to resolve conflict.
He would also tell the seniors to set aside childish likes and dislikes. Even were a dislike to be strong, the priority was to cooperate to achieve their common purpose. “That’s what adult relationships are all about”.
Tanaka-sensei talks about the 111th class. It was a “mega grade”, with many members who had rushed to join after seeing a TV programme that had followed the band in 2011. But despite a strong ambition to win the national contest and frantic practice, not all could participate. Some 3rd years did not get a chance to show their talent and were left to support the younger members. “We are all equal as human beings, but not in our abilities. It is this cruel fairness that helps the Orange Devils to grow”.
Again, this summary is my interpretation. It is absolutely open to re-interpretation or correction!
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An eighth extract has been published: https://diamond.jp/articles/-/264566
Here, Tanaka-sensei describes how he addressed the tensions building up in the period leading to the June “Brass Band of 3000” event. As practice became much harder “The smiles disappear completely… If they don’t get over this, they won’t be able to smile naturally on the stage. The first-year students, in particular, are often surprised by the unimaginable rigour of the Tachibana they have always dreamed of.” Gathering the first-years to talk it through, Tanaka-sensei would point out that however hard it was for them, it was even tougher for the third years. “This is the first time that the first years realise that they have to look at the team as a whole. The sobbing continues, but their pale faces are beginning to show more colour.” This sense of realisation of all being in it together was key to moving forward and the year’s members started expressing themselves openly. Tanaka-sensei would bring the seniors’ leadership into the dialogue and practical steps, such as scheduling, would be taken to move forward. The process appears to involve creating a sense of unity in each year group, as part of the overall team unity. Tanaka-sensei is apparently emphasising that his role was that of supportive facilitation, characterised in part by encouraging the expression of emotion. Note: This passage is difficult to interpret and other impressions would be welcome.
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In the article 7 extract referenced above, Tanaka-sensei relates that he liked to tease newcomers aspiring to join the band about getting rid of Sing3. The answers were invariably along the lines of “Absolutely not! I came to Tachibana to do the Sing!”. This parallels the exchange between Coach Yokoyama and DM Okazel reported in the Interview page.
Tanaka-sensei also talks about a 116th class tuba player named “Mr L”. Upon being asked what instrument he played at junior high school, “L” replied that he had not; he had joined the basketball club instead. “I’ve been longing for Tachibana that I saw on TV since I was in elementary school” he explained. “I felt that dancing ‘Sing’ required a lot of physical strength, so I joined the sports club in junior high school to train myself.”
Tanaka-sensei then mentions the usefulness of boys in carrying heavy instruments.
Interestingly, Tanaka-sensei says that “L” came all the way from a junior high school in the Tango region. The Tango region borders the coast north west of Kyoto city and must be far too far to commute from daily. “L”‘s dream was strong enough and his parents supportive enough to have found a solution.
(translations are a mix of Google Translate and DeepL)
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Yet another extract from Tanaka-sensei’s book has appeared [https://diamond.jp/articles/-/262600]. Here he mainly describes the band’s 2008 national marching contest performance. The class 105 members were so absolutely determined to win gold that they considered their upperclassmen had been too “lukewarm” (despite their major achievement in reaching the nationals in 2007, which Tanaka-sensei describes in the previous extract). They “practised and practised so hard”. It’s worth here viewing again the 2008 performance [https://youtu.be/yabmDNngHdUI] to see how confident the band were as a result. As Trueman Nishi comments on the Events in History page, immediately after the performance, band members were already screaming “Moratta-zo!! (We got it)”. They had indeed achieved their dream.
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Yet another excerpt from Tanaka-sensei’s book has appeared on his publisher’s website. Once again, it makes a fascinating read, concentrating on what it took to reach the 2017 marching national final contest. He describes the considerable physical exertion involved along with the rationale and the self-motivation required.
Some quotes:
“Brass bands are not just for performers. The music is for the people who listen to it. How can the audience be entertained if all they do is march?”
“And if the Orange Devils are a collegiate style band, cheering for someone, how can they show their ‘character’ by marching in unison?”
“When we trained together with a strong school in the Kanto region, they could not keep up with us. That is how tough it was.”
“It is the pride of the orange demons ‘to stand by to march at any time!’”
“At last, the wall crumbled. No, the club members broke through it.”
https://diamond.jp/articles/-/262381
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Error: not the 2017 but the 2007 contest. Apologies.
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The extracts from Tanaka-sensei’s book, that are continuing to appear on his publisher’s website, are most interesting. Today’s contains new details about the birth of Sing3 as we know it. My understanding had been that interest in the “Burn the Floor” Sing Sing Sing performance had been initiated by one or two students. However, according to Tanaka-sensei, it was Coach Yokoyama who introduced the “Burn the Floor” DVD to the band. He asked them “Can you do this while playing an instrument?”. Although his suggestion “stunned the members of the club”, the 102nd class’s marching section immediately began working on it. Tanaka-sensei and Coach Yokoyama’s objective was to challenge the band with a difficult task and let them get on with it. That’s if I’ve understood the text correctly. May the publishers heed our calls to have the book translated soon!
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Alan-san
You are right.
He has talked about it in the past. He talks about it in the interview in this video. (https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Ti4y1V7yA , It’s in Japanese, but he talks about it from 2:50.)
I also hope that the book will be translated.
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Did I understood correctly that on the 3rd page the publisher says that a reprint of the book is already ordered?
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ODF- Is under order, or has already been reprinted; comes to the same thing really.
発売1週間でたちまち重版決定！ = (via DeepL) The book was immediately reprinted within a week of its release!
I’ve only just noticed a quote from DM Horacha: “Those days are still treasures”. Thanks to her and everyone she led, they are for all of us too!
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Maybe the publisher need a YT video with thousands of views and comments to start thinking about a translated version ? ^^
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The table of contents for the book can be found here: https://www.hanmoto.com/bd/isbn/9784478110218
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Thank You for the information Ryu-san! Blog updated accordingly.
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Hello ,please do a English version of your book ,you do have fans in other countries, and would like that opportunity to read about you as well , you are greatly followed on YouTube by many ,,oh a CD would be nice to have as well ,of your wonderful and catchy music
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I will definitely get this book when i return to Japan hopefully in May of next year. Looking forward to adding this to my Japanese book collection even though i don’t read Japanese! Wish it was available in English!
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It will be unfortunate if the book is published only in Japanese, because I believe it will be an important material to better understand the methodology applied so successfully.
If so, I hope that someone can do the translation (into English at least) and publication so that we, the foreigners, can have a better chance to read about it.
Anyway, I wish success in this project.
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