SMB is marching on!

We, the Sagamihara marching band, are getting ready for coming events. On September 3rd, we will perform at the 19th Machida Sakae street festival sponsored by Sakae street business association in Odakyu Machida station district. The main theme will be “Traffic Safety and the Prevention of Delinquency,” and the event will be held on Sakae street.

On the following week, we will have a fellowship at the Sagamihara-shiritsu Yume-no-oka elementary school as the closing of the first season of the year. We are sure that we’ll have a great time practicing and at the show.

Odawara Cho-chin summer festival

At noon on July 29th, OMB participated in Odawara cho-chin summer festival. We had a standstill for about fifteen minutes at Odawara jo-ka Ninomaru stage. (Participants: Ko-zu JHS wind ensemble club, Sakawa JHS wind ensemble club, Izumi JHS wind ensemble club, etc…)

Summer Paradice 2006 (OMB,CG Unit)

On July 23rd, OMB and CG Unit Sirius performed at Dynacity (a local department store) Summer Paradice 2006.



We have performed for this annual event three times. Instead of parading or marching drills, we played Japanese pop music in a standstill for about forty minutes. We encouraged some kids from the audience to join our show, which really got the audience excited. It made our concert much more lively, and we would like to thank to the people who came to see our show under the unpleasing weather.

Practice with Hodogaya Marching Band

On May 21st, we practiced at Yokohama Shiritsu Hodogaya elementary school, and we had practice together with Hodogaya’s marching band club. We demonstrated our methods of warming-ups and exercises, and enjoyed practicing with the youngsters.

At first, we were all nervous. Although some of our members were teachers, the rest of us don’t usually have any opportunities to interact with such young students in their daily lives. As we practiced together under the beautiful spring weather, our worries faded away. Through this rehearsal, we learned how to communicate through music and leadership.

We are still realizing the potential of these joint practice sessions; we want to expand our variation of music activities. See you again soon, Hodogaya elementary school kids!

Parade in the 29th Yamato Simin festival

On May 14th, SMB and CG Unit Sirius took part in the 29th Yamato Simin festival for the first time. It had been raining since the morning; but fortunately, it stopped when the parade began. We sought to push ourselves to the fullest.



Because of the audience’s hearty cheers, we were able to perform joyfully and would like to thank them for their support. At Hikichidai park, there were a lot of food stands, stores, and events, including a standstill by the US Navy marching band, also known as the Orient Express. The parade started at 10 am from the Yamato station with 16 marching bands, approximately 600 people. Later on, the Japanese portable shrine, mikoshi, joined in the parade.

Participants: Kanagawa police marching band and color guard, Sagami girls high school wind ensemble band, Yokohama Inspires Drum & Bugle Corps, Kugenuma high school marching band, Midori form baton, Yamato scouts conference, etc…

Performed with eMOTION BRASS!

On May 13th, eMOTION BRASS and two players from Sirius participated in the Kobe festival. In the “Omatsuri parade,” there were many performing groups such as samba dancers, baton twirlers, and marching bands. We were the last performing group of the parade. However, it was raining and very windy in Kobe. Because of the bad weather, some groups decided not to participate. Despite the bad conditions, we waited until our turn. When we finally got out there, the audience along the street gave us a lot of support for which we are grateful.


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＜eMOTION BRASS Blog＞

Performed at the Hojo Godai festival

On May 3rd, OMB took part in the Odawara Hojo Godai festival. This annual parade is the biggest event in Odawara because of the number of people involved; approximately 2000 people participate in this parade including junior high school marching bands, cho-chin dancers, mikoshi carriers, and samurai reenactors. We performed with So-Yo high school cheer leading club as the first group of the parade, and we were grateful to the audiences who clapped and cheered for us. Even though the training period was relatively short, our efforts paid off and we closed the first season of our 2006 activity with satisfaction and relief. We would like to thank to those who supported and cheered for us from the bottom of our heart.

OMB: Tanzawa parade in Hadano, Kanagawa

Odawara Marching Band: Tanzawa parade in Hadano, Kanagawa.

We had a parade in Hadano, Kanagawa on April 16. Unfortunately, it was raining on that day. We gathered with a hustle and warmed up as we had planned, but the weather did not clear up.

At the start of the parade, an event organizer told us that we would be able to take part. However, OMB and two school marching bands had to give up on the parade because we worried that the rain would damage the woodwind instruments.

It was regrettable that we couldn’t participate, but we used the remaining time for a meeting and taking a group picture to preserve our motivation for the next performance and show. We are truly appreciative for all the people who cheered and supported us.

SMB: 2006 season kicked off!!

Sagamihara Marching Band: 2006 season kicked off!!

We, Sirius Sagamihara Marching Band, started our 2006 season. First of all, we not only started practicing basics but also new repertoires. Although rookies are still catching on, they are really enjoying playing the music.
We will have a band camp from April 29 to 30. Our first show of the year will be the Yamato Shimin matsuri on May 14. We will make our group bonds tighter, and we also try to become stronger through training and exercise. We can’t wait until the first show!!

Members wanted!! Why don’t you enjoy marching with us? Feel free to drop by and visit us. No marching experience necessary. We are looking forward to seeing all of you.

Music Party !

Thanks to those who came to our concert, for sharing a tremendous time with us. We will up-date pictures and comments from the concert soon.

☆　☆　☆　☆　☆

We used to hold our annual concert in Christmas season; however, this year we had to postpone the concert until February. Due to changing our regular concert season, we worried about snow conditions (February is usually snowy in Japan), conflicting schedules and so on. Although we had those serious concerns, we made efforts to make a concert that shared our feelings with the audience.

In terms of new big step toward Sirius Music Party ’06, we had an opportunity to play the music with eMOTION BRASS, a marching band based in western portion of Japan. It took a whole year to prepare and discuss plans for the concert, but our only opportunity to play together was the day of the concert.

eMOTION BRASS, Marching Band Sirius, and Color Guard Unit Sirius are all independent musical units. We aspired to make a show that conveyed a sense of unity of the three different musical units through the music, rather than the uniqueness of each band. After all our efforts paid off, we were emboldened, and are exploring the possibility of future collaboration.

The morning of the concert, we felt a bit of nervousness and excitement. As we started rehearsing, the atmosphere backstage became relaxed and energetic, and it spread over the hall. When the sound blasted into the hall, we realized how amazing the music was. Despite our fears, the audience hall was packed. We abandoned the seats that we didn’t plant to use. At the end of the concert, some people cheered for us, waving a banner, and it made the concert more exciting and fantastic. We are going to continue our passion for music; we are looking forward to seeing again all of the people who we’ve met through our activities and are planning to reach out the western portion of Japan in the future.

For this concert, we had expert cameramen as a part of our staff. Those who helped at the box office were also invaluable to us. We appreciate for the great effort of the stage and lighting staff, and printing crew. We look forward to holding similarly excellent concerts in the future.
(MB Sirius, eMOTION BRASS, CG Unit Sirius)