AISA Band Festival
(KIS participants of the AISA Band Festival 2010, YIS)
For those who either take classes or teach in international schools, music is something that is always around you somewhere. People are rehearsing everyday in Choir, Band, or String classes. Some people practice individually for individual musical goals. In B1 of KIS, everyone, even pedestrians who are just passing by, has some kind of musical inspiration. Music is something that cannot disappear in KIS.
There are numerous musical events and performance opportunities that the students can participate in throughout the year in KIS. There are big official events like KAIAC(choir, band, string), Music Department Concerts(October, December/Holidays, March, May), graduation, etc. There are also minor, informal performance opportunities with differnet titles every year, which are not as important as the official ones. However, if I were to pick one most unique musical event, I’d definitely pick the AISA Band Festival.
AISA Band Festival, just like AISA Choir or AISA Strings Festival, are international gathering of international school students from different countries in Asia. It is very similar to AISA sports events, except the fact that the participants play music instead of getting sweaty. What is so special about this festival is that musicians get to travel other countries and acquire experiences. The musicans get to stay in private houses during their stay in the host nation. They can experience the culture and life in the host nation. Even if one’s school is in the host nation, one can still meet different musicians from different countries and get musically inspired.
The objective of the festival is very simple: a great concert. Muscians meet early in the morning and rehearse more than 6 hours a day in order to make the performance successful.(same goes for the Choir and the Strings Festival) There is no doubt that each and every one of them is a talented musician. It will not be possible for the concert to be successful unless the musicians are talented since there are only about 10 hours of rehearsal in total. However, past AISA concerts were all successful.
The festival is divided into two parts: Concert band and Jazz band. The Concert band is the formulaic Wind Concert band. The Jazz band is a Jazz Big Band composed of a horn section and a rhythm section. The composition of the groups might be simple, but the difficulty of the music makes people hard to pass the audition.(yes, there is an audition!) The pieces that are used in the festival require a lot of practice and musical analysis.
Everything is perfect for AISA Band Festival. However, there is only one flaw that the festival has; it is the lack of support by the people. Since most participants are from other schools, it is a job of the students of the host school to support the musicians and come to the concert. Yet the festival is not getting enough support that it deserves. This year, the festival is taking place in KIS. It is one of the most fascinating performances you can see throughout the year! Also, AISA Band Festival 2012 is taking place in OIS in Osaka, Japan. Therefore, it is the last AISA you can come and see for non-participant rising seniors and juniors! So come and support the musicians!
(AISA Band Festival 2010 Yokohama/ Concert Band – Arabian Dances / KIS participants – John Minwoo Jo, Jay Jeong, Brian Kim, Taeyoon Kim, Arnold Minkyu Hwang, Brian Moon, Austin Yoo, Hajung Kim, Nancy Lee, Emily Park, Minjae Lee, Soyeon Jeong, Ann Yi / Director : Mr. Jay Londgren)
(AISA Band Festival 2010 Yokohama/ Jazz Band – Spain, Bugle Call Rag / KIS participants – Austin Lee Choi, Jaemin Shin, James Huh, Steve Kim, Mr. Jay Londgren)
This performance changed my life! The Jazz Band performance is one of the most influential things that happened in my life, even though I did not actually participate in it.
All the POPs : Music, Culture, Movies, ETC 