Tachibana wins National Gold for the third time in a row!

Posted on by under All, MarchingContest, News, News/Tachibana



Today (November 19) the National Finals of the 36th All Japan Marching Contest were held at Ōsaka-jō Hall. Tachibana was first to perform in the Contest but it did not hamper their style: the result was Gold for the third time in a row! Congratulations to the band! Official results are here, in Japanese.

The band has never before achieved three Golds in a row at the National Finals, but in 1996-1998 they won three times the “Good sound award” which could be considered as equivalent to “Gold” today. Click here for the Contest track record of the band.

16 thoughts on “Tachibana wins National Gold for the third time in a row!”

  2. The schedule in the AJMC competition is straightforward. The entrance doors open every 7 minutes for the next performer. This seven minutes was used by KT in the following way:

    00:00-00:16 The battle cry
    00:16-00:35 Entrance and positions
    00:35-00:48 Announcement by the organizers
    00:49-00:57 Heads-up

    00:57-01:20 Fanfare for Tachibana
    01:12-03:37 木陰の散歩道 – On the Mall
    03:37-05:06 ばら色の人生 – La Vie en rose
    05:06-06:12 The Sing!
    (Performance total 5 minutes 15 seconds)

    06:12-06:16 Remain in position
    06:16-06:32 Main crew exit
    06:32-06:40 Color Guards exit with their flags

    About 15 seconds to spare 😉

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  5. Kyoto Tachibana SHS Marching Brass Band World’s Best Entertainment and will continue to be for many years to comes
    I’m shocked “ Sing Sing Sing” not used this season and did anyone know why??

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    • S3 has been replaced with “The Sing” for three years now, each time giving KT a National Gold.

      This is only guesswork, but I’m pretty sure the professional wind band instructors in Japan have a score card for each wind band adaptation for each song, and their complexity is tuned for different skill levels and ages. I suspect the standard Sing3 adaptation played by KT was not difficult enough to produce a National Gold in the minds of the judges.

      “The Sing” keeps some core elements of the old KT style S3 but omits the easy and long parts, so they have more time for other displays of skill. The performance is limited to 6 minutes. The last Sing3 in 2019 Kyoto qualifications lasted a little over 2 minutes. “The Sing” on Sunday lasted 66 seconds. More time for more. And you have to observe that the coreography for S3 made it very difficult to maintain a clear sound; perfect for entertaining stage and field performances but very bad in a competition. It had to be changed.

      Sing3 and the other Swing adaptations have been a very huge hit int the Japanese club scene 20-25 years ago; we had one Swing adaptation in the competition on Sunday, too. Perhaps the judges have deemed it to be “old style”, even. But “The Sing” is perhaps seen as a fresh one.

      If you roam the YT or other platforms for different songs, you’ll see that many of them are played by different age groups, mainly either by junior or senior HS clubs. One example is the Canon Brass Rock; it’s a very entertaining piece but rarely played by higher level SHS bands. KT has played it once in a commercial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO9vAGiD1qc) for a nearby community; they probably rehearsed it once before performing it 🙂

      Another example is Winter Games; I personally like the old KT version much, much more, but I suspect the current adaptation played by them is of a bit higher skill level.

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      • Your analysis is informative and most convincing. One thing tho’, the choice of relatively simpler pieces can be justified if they are played very well indeed. Example the Canon piece. I actually think it is hard to play well and KT play it beautifully, remarkably aptly for the video.

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        • I absolutely agree! (Here’s a nice JHS Canon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7hu6zFezRQ What I like the most is the crisp and balanced young drummer. The drum solo (at 03:10) can easily get a bit muddled; not here.) I’d really, really like to get a version of the KT Canon without the narrator; it’s more waves and less metronome, like the younger ones usually are.

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  11. Yes , you have done it
    A great hat trick of results. 👏👏👏
    I am so proud and pleased for you all, the legacy lives on.
    Enjoy celebrations.
    I will await to see the video of your performance and the warding of the Gold Medal 🥇
    The future is bright the future is Orange 🍊

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