About the instruments of the band

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Text and pictures by Rei’ichirō Fukuno (Wikipedia)

この短い記事は京都橘高校吹奏楽部顧問の兼城 裕先生、および京都市上京区にある管楽器専門店ユリ楽器株式会社の許諾のもとに、諸外国の方々と日本との友好親善を目的として英文での掲載・公開を条件に掲載したものです。その趣旨をご理解いただき、大変申し訳ありませんが、記事内容の全文和訳転載や写真転載などはご遠慮ください。なお英・和文の著述の版権は写真版権とともに著者に帰属します。インタビューと原稿と写真：福野礼一郎

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A trumpet used by one of the KT member: Vincent Bach 180ML37SP. The two pillars’ tuning slide are popular among Japanese students.

There seems to be a rumour that “KT only focuses on improving its sit down performance abilities and is moving away from marching.” However, from what I learned over the course of my covering the band, that is a complete misguided interpretation. Kaneshiro-sensei has said “Powerhouse schools posting good results in marching contests have been improving their playing skills even further in the last few years. This makes it a competitive situation, where we cannot compete in the Nationals solely on the basis of popularity. We have to thoroughly refine our playing skills and improve our timbre.” The reason KT’s training places an emphasis on performance, therefore, is based on this calm and objective analysis: they do not want to rest on their laurels and coast on popularity alone. So this focus on improving performance ability is not intended to make light of the marching aspect of things, but rather underscores their very emphasis on marching itself, and the need to perform well to back it up. As discussed in my interviews with the students of the 118th Class, by performing alongside to those powerhouse schools, the members have gotten a better idea of where their weak points lie. That is why they were on board with Kaneshiro-sensei’s trajectory and are putting their all into their daily practices.

Practice alone, however, is not the only contributing factor. Another major factor behind the timbre and tone quality of an orchestra is the instruments they choose and how they maintain them. Therefore, I’d like to share some of my insights on the instruments used by KT.

As with other school wind ensembles, KT has their own collection of large-scale instruments such as sousaphones, euphoniums, tubas, horns, and percussion instruments. For small brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones, and woodwind instruments, clarinets, saxophones, and flutes, the majority are personally owned by the students. Of course, one student own her personal tubas, while others borrow trumpets and trombones from the school.

The more important takeaway here is that the majority of the KT members now have separate instruments for marching and seated performances, and use them depending on the context.

The instrument storage room. Personal instruments are not brought home every day, but are basically stored here.

KT uses vigorous dance moves in its parade and stage marching routines. However, woodwind and brass instruments were not originally designed to withstand these intense movements. It is often the case that some accident, like a trombone slide striking another object, causes it to get stiff and disrupt the tuning, or for the pads (tampons) controlling the keycap tone holes on saxophones, flutes, and clarinets to fall out of alignment, or the reeds in woodwind instruments to degrade. KT’s marching activities cause the instruments to modulate out of tune and to degrade at a much faster pace than usual. Therefore, in previous KT, the interest and awareness of the instrument was somewhat inferior to that of other powerhouse clubs. Many of the former members used their marching instruments for the seated performance too. And also some of the instruments in the club’s collection has become damaged over long years of use. For example, they has been using old style front action + piston type tubas for many years.

The donation information page on the KT web site states that “Donations received will be allocated to the purchase of musical instruments.” Contributions from members’ parents and guardians, alumni, and fans have been actively used over the last several years to procure new instruments and update the collection (click here if you are interested in donating to the band). Now they use the new B-flat tuba, and C tuba was added to the ensemble this year.

Since the days of Hiramatsu-sensei’s tenure, Yuri Gakki (ユリ楽器株式会社) in Kyoto has been responsible for supplying and maintaining instruments to the group. Chiho Higashimura -san (東村知歩さん) is the sales rep for KT from Yuri Gakki. When Kaneshiro-sensei was an advisor to the Kyoto Prefectural Hokuryō Senior High School Wind Orchestra (school website, Wikipedia), Higashimura-san played the trumpet there.

In the video below you can see her sitting in front of a large gong and playing around the 2:10 mark. After graduating from the high school, she went on to a junior college and learned about instrument repair before joining Yuri Gakki. In the process of learning how to maintain instruments at school, she assiduously practiced everything from brass to woodwind instruments such that she could perform the basics on any one.

Click picture to watch video

Here is one anecdote from my visit to KT in March. While talking to Itani-sensei and Higashimura-san in the art preparation room, one of the members of KT came over with a bass clarinet from the orchestra’s equipment. It was a luxury item called the Prestige, a long clarinet by Buffet Crampon, but she said the treble tones were out of alignment.

Inspecting the bass clarinet at their art preparation room: Buffet Crampon Prestige LowC（March 18, 2021)

Higashimura-san immediately set about inspecting the item and observed that, during its long years of use, the grenadilla (African blackwood) had cracked. She declared on the spot that the instrument was unrepairable. She added that the sound could be controlled, albeit with some patience, if the player held the cracks shut with her fingers. Itani-sensei, deputy advisor to KT, is a clarinetist who is always on hand to give advice to the members. She had this to say “It’s impressive to see you’re getting by with such a dilapidated instrument. What a shame. Fukuno-san, you should buy her a new one!” Itani-sensei is from Osaka, so this comment, which she made in the upbeat Osaka dialect, sounded much like a joke to mine. Nevertheless, I decided to look up the price and was little amazed.

The club bought a new bass clarinet a few months later from Yuri Gakki. Those of you who have seen photos or online streaming of the marching contest may already be aware, but starting this year, KT has introduced bass clarinets into the marching in order to emphasize the low end in its performances. However, they use Yamaha bass clarinet for marching performances. This new purchase is intended for sit down performances, and is the finest model of its kind, being a Buffet Crampon Tosca in Low C. If you are interested, take a moment to look up the price. Incidentally, for that same price in Japan, you could buy a small Toyota vehicle.

From what I saw, many of the KT members use high-class instruments for seated performances. Many use professional Yamaha models, but as far as I could see, in terms of clarinets, nearly all of them had ones by Buffet Crampon. Approximately half use Vincent Bach trumpets and trombones, some flute players using Sankyo and Pearl (both made in Japan). In terms of saxophones, many use those from Henri Selmer Paris, which is very popular in Japan. One horn player used a Hans Hoyer and a Yamaha respectively for seated and marching performances.

She using a Hans Hoyer double horn 801MAL

In fact, Kaneshiro-sensei has opened up of his recommended instruments for students. That list includes not only the manufacturers, but also the model numbers. I will omit the details here, but as indicated in the bass clarinet anecdote above, many of these are luxury or top-tier instruments in their category. This should of course have an influence on the choice of instruments by members.

Kaneshiro-sensei was born in Iwakuni-shi, Yamaguchi Prefecture. He took an interest in the trumpet from a young age, and joined the wind music club in junior high. Later, while a student in the education department of a national university, he wrote a letter to Bernhard Schmidt, the second trumpet in the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra (hr-Sinfonieorchester), which Kaneshiro-sensei loved. In the letter, he asked Schmidt-san to make him his pupil, and he went to Germany to study under him after graduating. Kaneshiro-sensei believe that if you buy a good instrument, “you will not only have a better tone, but you will also become better at playing.” His personal favorite is a Schilke. Trumpet playing by KT is generally conducted by Kaneshiro-sensei, which is part of the reason why there are so many trumpet players in the 117th and 118th Classes.

Kaneshiro-sensei had this to say about the club’s recommended instruments. “Adults and professional musicians can use any instrument well, and even the bands can adapt their playing to match the sounds of the other performers. But for junior or senior high school students, the sound of the instrument tends to come out directly. So if you want to match their tone, the easiest way is to use instruments of the same brand all together. And if those instruments are known for producing a good sound, that’s even better.”

Another anecdote that occurred during my visit was this. One day, Higashimura-san brought a number of small instrument cases and took some trumpets out of them with due care, arranging them on a desk. All of them were brand new. Higashimura-san had this to say about the array of trumpets. “On the far left is Yamaha YTR9335CHS from the Chicago series of artist models. It is easy to blow into and the timbre is good. The second is a 180ML37SP by Vincent Bach. It has a heavier feel when blown, but as the player improves, it delivers a very good tone. The third is an intermediate grade Yamaha item. I brought this for reference.”

A trumpet player in the 118th Class brought some instruments in, carrying them with extreme care. She had some misgivings about her current instruments and wasn’t sure whether to have them serviced at the shop she bought them at, or buy a new one. “Try playing yours first,” said Kaneshiro-sensei. She began playing the trumpet, which she had owned since she was in junior high, but it was like the sound was getting stuck. She seemed to be struggling to blow into it. It seemed clear that there was some issue with the instrument. “Now try this,” said Kaneshiro-sensei. It was the new luxury Yamaha model. She attached her own mouthpiece, adjusted her posture, and played a single note. Her expression instantly broke into a smile. As she continued playing, the sound was lovely, clear, and smooth, as if a different person altogether was playing. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was clearly excited about the timbre of the instrument and the ease of playing it. “It’s very easy to play. It feels like my breath just goes right through it!”

Trying out the trumpets: Vincent Bach 180KL37SP vs Yamaha YTR9335CHS (March 19, 2021)

The third instrument she tried was the Vincent Bach. As Higashimura-san said, compared to the Yamaha, the student had to work a little harder to blow. Though it was a bit more difficult, the resulting sound was, as far as I could tell, even richer and fuller than the prior trumpet. Kaneshiro-sensei said right away, “In terms of sound, this is the one.” The student looked a bit confused.

Later that, I crossed paths with her in the halls and asked her if she’d finalized her trumpet decision. She said she hadn’t. “The Yamaha is easy to play, but the Vincent Bach sounds better, right?” I asked. “Precisely,” she said. If it weren’t for Kaneshiro-sensei’s guidance, she might have picked the Yamaha on the spot. Perhaps wanting her performative abilities to improve still further, Kaneshiro-sensei suggested the Vincent Bach. Higashimura-san had this to say: “Even if it feels difficult to play at first, you can get used to it after practicing for about a month. Then it starts to produce a very fine sound, and you have students who come back and say they’re glad they picked the instrument the teacher suggested.” Ultimately, I don’t know which trumpet the student chose. This anecdote indicates how critical proper instructions are when it comes to selecting a musical instrument.

From my experience of interviewing Japanese instrument manufacturers and touring the manufacturing process and listening to engineers, I found that it takes a larger lung capacity to produce a sound of equivalent size because the internal shape and finish of the instrument have a major effect on fluid dynamics. Yet it seems that it is for this same reason that these instruments tend to have a fat and fuller sound. That being said, that subject is outside the scope of this article.

Yamaha Musical Instruments, Toyo-oka factory (Iwata city, Shizuoka prefecture). Soldering process of the pillars of the keys on the saxophone. I interviewed for a Japanese magazine article on June 27, 2018（photo: Masayuki Arakawa)

A composer who has attended many junior and senior high school’s marching contests over the years said, “The best schools and marching bands ultimately have a whole fleet of the best instruments. That’s part of the reason why their timbre is clearly great.” These new and major change in focus has led to major improvements in the timbre of the KT’s sound. People who have heard live performances before are all unanimous in saying this about the present KT. “The performances and the timbre are head and shoulders above what they were before.” That composer who saw an online stream of the 49th Kansai Marching Contest performance was effusive, saying, “The performance of “Hands Across the Sea” was quite good, indeed. The sound was well-rounded across the board, and it was a very expressive performance.”

Other efforts go into producing the right timbre. Itani-sensei, having been asked by a student, was painstakingly selecting the right single reed for a clarinet. The student bought 20 of reeds at an instrument shop, and Itani-sensei was attaching them one by one to the mouthpiece, setting them in place with the ligature, and testing them. It was quite a time-consuming process. The reed, mouthpiece, and ligature in a woodwind instruments play a major role in the timbre, so many members said they went through several instruments through trial and error until finding one they liked.

Exhibition at Yamaha Corporate Museum “YAMAHA INNOVATION ROAD” at Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture

Yuri Gakki also undertakes the maintenance of the pads that control the tone of saxophones, flutes and clarinets. The luxury pads of flutes and clarinets are made of pig intestine wrapped on compressed felt, and those on saxophones are made of leather, but they are adjusted in different ways (flutes are adjusted using thin paper between them, while saxophones are adjusted to shellac or hot melt adhesive with heat from the cup side). The pitch and timbre change greatly due to subtle conditions, so maintenance is indispensable. Other key points to maintaining a good timbre in a wind instrument are to brush one’s teeth and to keep the mouth clean prior to playing, as well as regularly cleaning the interior of the instrument.

Installing Yamaha Harmony Director HD-300（March 19, 2021）

Higashimura-san visits KT 3-4 times a week to consult on school equipment and members’ privately-owned instruments. Instruments bought at Yuri Gakki receive consultations free of charge (Japan’s musical instrument stores usually offer service free of charge for 1 year after purchase, with only parts being charged for within 5 years after purchase), and consultations on items purchased at other stores, and school equipment not under warranty, for a charge. In all cases, the instruments are serviced by professionals at Yuri Gakki. Higashimura-san was also in attendance for the 2021 Kansai Marching Contest in order to provide emergency repairs in the event of same-day problems.

These efforts behind the scenes have supported and helped further improve KT’s performances. It is our hope that this article makes watching and listening to their performances even more enjoyable!

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