我が青春のカルカッタ・・・現コルカタ

　今日４月１０日は私にとって忘れられない記念日です。学校を卒業すると最初の就職としてインドのカルカッタ日本人学校勤務のため日本を出発した日です。日本での教職経験なしに、いきなり日本人学校に赴任しました。それまで両親から離れたことはなく、急に見知らぬ国での生活は多くの人々との出会いとなり、人生とはどう展開するか分からぬものです。

　外国での生活は学生時代から念願であったことから迷うことなく応募しました。群馬県教員採用試験に合格した者、音楽を教えられる者との条件に合い、採用通知を戴いたときほど嬉しかったことはありません。しかし、当初、父はこんな千載一遇のチャンスはないと大賛成してくれましたが、母は心配でインド行きを反対してました。

　それでも、外務省の派遣であることから最後は賛成してくれ、インド滞在中も心配だったのでしょう。母から何十通と手紙が届き、西南の空を見ては無事を祈ってると書かれてました。今でもその手紙はすべて保存してあります。私としては、毎日が珍しいことばかりで、１年目は仕事でも生活でも夢中で過ぎましたが、若いからでしょうか２年目からは次第に日本の生活を忘れ始める現象が起こりました。それは気候や、ルピーのお金、特に多くの人との出会いで言葉が異なったからでしょう。

　ところで、写真はカルカッタ交響楽団の常任指揮者Bernard Jacob氏です。インドでの西洋音楽は長い期間、イギリスの統治下にあった影響でしょう。昔から盛んであったといわれてます。日本人学校勤務の傍ら、将来日本に帰ってからは高校で吹奏楽を指導したい希望が強かったことからカルカッタ交響楽団の定期演奏会には毎月聴きに行ってました。いつも観客の中に日本人は私一人でした。そしてついに、常任指揮者でユダヤ人のヤコブ先生にお願いし、指揮のレッスンをしていただいてました。この頃の私は充実した青春だったと言えそうです。わが師ヤコブ先生の写真は今でも家に飾ってあります。

Dear my friends who are crazy about conducting and great music.

　The simultaneous interpretation into English for your understanding will be done after my breakfast Japan time.

..................................................................

　Today, April 10th, is an unforgettable anniversary for me. After graduating from Gumma university, today was the day that I left Japan to work as a teacher of Calcutta Japanese School in India for my first job. I was suddenly applied for the Japanese school without any teaching experience in Japan. I had never been away from my parents until then, and suddenly lived in a strange country and met many people, therefore I never know how human's life will unforeseen.

　Since living abroad had been my dream since I was a student, I applied without hesitation. The conditions was someone who passed the Gumma Prefecture Teacher Recruitment Examination and could teach music. I have never been happier when I received the job offer. However, at first, my father was very supportive, saying that it was a one-in-a-million opportunity, but my mother was worried and opposed my going to India.

　However, she finally agreed because I was dispatched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She must have been worried during my stay in India. During stay in India, I received dozens of letters from my mother who wrote that she looked up at the southwestern sky and prayed for my safety. I still keep all of those letters. For me, every day was new and exciting, and I was engrossed in both work and life in my first year at Calcutta-city, but from my second year, perhaps because I was young, I started to gradually forget about the life in Japan. This was probably due to the climate, the rupee currency, and especially the different language such as Hindi and English that I spoke with many people there.

　Not change the subject, but the photo is of Bernard Jacob, the principal conductor of the Calcutta Symphony Orchestra. Western music in India was probably influenced by the long period of British rule so that it has been popular since ancient times. While working at the Japanese school, I had a strong desire to teach brass bands at a high school when I returned to Japan in the future, so I went to listen to the Calcutta Symphony Orchestra's regular concerts every month. I was always the only Japanese person in the audience. Finally, I asked the principal conductor, Mr. Jacob, who is Jewish, to give me conducting lessons. Therefore I think I was able to enjoy my adolescence to the fullest during this time. I still have a photo of my teacher, Mr. Jacob, hanging in my house.

https://ttsreader.com/ja/...

絞りの魅力、写真にアップして気づく

　写真はすべて私の庭で種が零れて自然に生えた花桃たちです。親は最近ご覧に入れてます築山あるピンクと白の二色に咲き分けてる「源平枝垂れ」です。しかし、ご覧の通り、子供たちは上の写真の「絞り」であったり、左下のように「赤一色」であったり、右下のように「絞りと赤」と味わいがあり、色彩が独立し、個性が出てます。改めて見ると、絞りもなかなか魅力があります。現在、鉢植えですが、直植えして大きく育てようと思います。

　もしかして、人間の場合も、子供の方が個性的で、親にない特質を持っているかもしれません。しっかり伸ばしてやりたいものです。

　今、春たけなわで桜に人気があります。我の庭の桜は「八重桜」で、開花は４月下旬です。また、珍しく「八重の枝垂れ桜」もありますが、未だ高さ１mほどの幼木です。それでも蕾を持ってるので、今春開花するかもしれません。私は一人暮らしなので、このような植物たちが家族のようなものです。このため、植物の世話は花の咲かない季節も含め一年中のため、結果的に、身体の運動にもなってます。

　一方、この植物の世話が美的感覚にプラスになればよいと思います。それは色彩はもちろん、四方八方から樹形を見て剪定するからです。不思議なことに、これがソプラノサクソフォーン演奏やピアノ演奏にも「音色」という点で共通するように思います。それは「旋律の良さ」で選曲し、声楽と同様、私の場合、楽器演奏では音色を磨くことを目標にしてます。果たしてどうでしょう。いつか聴いて戴けると有難いです。

Dear my FB friends who are crazy about avoiding senile dementia and great music.

　The simultaneous interpretation into English for your understanding will be done after my breakfast Japan time.

...................................................................

　All the photos are of peach blossoms that grew naturally from seeds spilled in my garden. The parent is a bicolored "Genpeishidare" that I've recently been showing you, which is blooming in pink and white on a artificial hill. However, as you can see, the children are "shibori" that means dapple as in the photo above, "all red" as in the bottom left, and "shibori and red" as in the bottom right. They have a sense of individuality and independent colors. Looking at them again, the shibori is quite attractive. Currently she is in a pot, but I will plant her directly and let it raise big.

　Perhaps in the case of humans, children may be more individualistic that parents and have nice qualities that their parents do not have. We would like to make sure they grow well.

　Now that spring is in full swing here and there in Japan, cherry blossoms are popular. The cherry blossoms in my garden are "double cherry blossoms" that will bloom in late April. There is also a rare "double weeping cherry", but it is still a young tree about 1m tall. Still, it has buds, so it may bloom from now on this spring. I live alone, so these plants are like a family to me. For this reason, caring for plants is done all year round, even in seasons when they do not bloom, I serves them, as a result, it will become physical exercise.

　On the other hand, I hope that caring for these plants will benefit my aesthetic sense. This is because I prune them while looking at the shape of the tree from all directions, as well as the color. Strangely enough, I think this is also common to soprano saxophone and piano playing in terms of "tone quality" I select pieces for "good melody." Just like with vocal music, in my case, I aim to improve my tone quality when playing instruments. I wonder how it will turn out? I would be grateful if you could listen to my performance someday.

https://ttsreader.com/ja/...