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From: concertbandland
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  • Love the song. @concertbandland Where did you get a recording of this song?

  • The percussion in this is pretty awesome!! So is the rest of the band but the percussion really sets the mood...

  • I just did a clinician with Hazo on this piece and the real story behind it just makes this piece even more to love. The timpani and the Tom Tom mixed are heart beats and the beautiful French Horn line is him tell her she's pretty. If you do not know the story behind this put your own also, It can be perfect, but not worth remembering. Make people CRY! -Samuel Hazo.

  • Percussion owns!!!

  • Listened to this while doing tai chi........damn. felt like I was in the mountains of japan.....

  • Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony 2011

    

  • go PERCUSSION! did anyone else notice it in the background? we work very hard at it, but very rarely is it noticed.

  • One of the best pieces of music i've ever heard. Truly amazing. Go flutes:)!!!

  • winds ftw. <3

  • SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! <3

  • My marching band played this as a lullaby as par of our show! Love it!

  • The only piece that I know that has more emotion behind it is Colonial Songs by Grainger (The band arrangement played by University of Houston). I love the chords that flow throughout the melodic parts, particularly in the horns, flutes and trumpets.

  • Im learning flute and i a, currently a mallet player, when my friend who is teaching me flute played this song i was absolutly amazed and instantly wated this for our marching band this year

  • Play this song and rainy mood at the same time, so relaxing and beautiful. Just make sure rainy mood isn't too loud at the beginning, lol.

  • Samuel Hazo attended Waynesburg University's Conducting Symposium this past weekend and he shared this song and its story with us. I fell in love instantly <3 He is such a wonderful and inspiring man :) I am so thankful for his presence here on Earth to create such beauty.

  • Absolutely beautiful song.(: Our school is playing this. The horns are beautiful, and the power in this song gives me chills everytime I listen to it. :)

  • That french horn rip at 3:14 never fails to give me chills. Now if only our school's horn section could play it loud enough for me to hear :P

  • I'm playing piccolo for this. :D

  • This is beautiful. We sightread this today in Honors Symphonic Band. Even though it was our first time you could still here the beauty of the harmonies and melodies...

  • I love this piece. It's my favorite one to play because I play the flute solo :)

  • go flute solo!

    the story behind this song is just as beautiful as the song. its so touching and is just one of those songs that just simply moves everyone <3

  • I'm honored to say, i got to play the flute solo for it :3

    this piece is very beautiful.

    a high school piece for a Honors band in a middle school?

    we did pretty good on it, we got 5th in the state of Texas for Honor Band

    the story behind it is also amazing.

    i honestly felt different when i heard it.

    ]

  • @Sabrinaweeno haha nice, we got 3rd in Texas for Honor band.

  • If you're playing this in band, you should ask your instructor to tell you Hazo's story behind it. It is so beautiful, it will change the way you view this song.

  • Goosebumps every time! Absolute favorite piece....second is Arabesque (another Sam Hazo piece). I play French horn, and every piece I've done by him always brings justice to the horn. :D

  • I'm 1st flute and our top band at our school is going to be performing this. :) I'm playing the solo at the beginning, and just listening to it makes my palms sweat! I adore Samuel Hazo!

  • i wanna play this!

  • I'm the oboe player for my schools concert band and I must say this is the most beautiful piece I've gotten to play! Granted I'm only a high school student but still, it's very beautiful! I wish hazo could come to my school for this piece, but I need to take amazing things small steps at a time.

  • @xHappyify I'm and oboe player too and our symphonic band at our school is going to play this for our spring concert...I'm SO excited!! The oboes and woodwinds so lovely together! :)

  • We sight-read this in our top band and... wow!!! It blew us all away especially after one of our directors told us the story behind it. All I can say is WOW. I love this piece.

  • I remember playing this last year for state concert band... still my all time favorite piece even for just playing 2nd trumpet ^_^

  • I played the solos while sight reading this... I fell head over heals by how gorgeous it sounded! It is byfar my favered of all the music ive played.

    POWER TO THE FLUTES!!

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  • We have played Samuel Hazo every year since my freshman year for festival. His works are so beautiful, they are so powerful and I feel proud to have this song for my senior year with the band I love.

  • Samuel Hazo came to our school on Thursday and he is just the funniest, outgoing man I've met. He conducted this piece and helped us with this song and it is just amazing :) He is a great teacher. He inspired a lot of us to be better players.

    "Instead of playing music, play your life story through your instrument."

    - Mr. Hazo.

    thank you for being a great teacher, Mr. Hazo :)

  • Our honor band just had a clinic with Hazo today over this song! and my goodness I've never had chills with any song as intense as the ones i got during our last rep of the day with him, man, and im just the vibes player!

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  • absolutely gorgeous. Got to see this performed live with Hazo as the Conductor. So amazing. I had chills the whole time. <3

  • I played this peice with Hazo himself! Fine man and fine musician!

  • hoping we get to play this!

    its magical

  • This such a beautiful piece of music. The dynamics are incredible, the band in this recording had such a delicate touch when it came to playing this song. The emotion is so readily conveyed. This is the epitome of western interpretation of eastern music. Just beautiful.

  • i absoulutely love this song..we played it as our middle tune in our marching show this year and it was so amazing all of the musical moments and beauty in this song..i absoulutely love it and always will

  • i love this song, i play trumpet and it has one of the more exciting parts, when we come in at 1:56. plus we rest a lot so we can listen to other parts more! and the note we play at 3:15 makes me feel sutch passion for my music, that feeling you get when u play is why i play and will for a long time to come!!!! like this song and you should like oveture for winds

  • i love this song, i play trumpet and it has one of the more exciting parts, when we come in at 1:56. plus we rest a lot so we can listen to other parts more! like this song and you should like oveture for winds

  • i love this song, i play trumpet and it has one of the more exciting parts, plus we rest a lot so we can listen to other parts more! like this song and you should like oveture for winds

  • There are apparently five people who have no passion for music. Anyone who could dislike this is insane!

  • @rush12211

    Sunayama

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  • @Phatca3 That could be true. it's quite sad that people have missed the like button, or purposely hit the dislike button, no? It's a beautiful and fun chart to play, true?

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  • i just love 3:18 that part can give my body the shivers. This song makes me wanna cry because I get so happy. Like Ican't explain how I feel, this is why I love band seriously. I want to play this song so badly

  • anyone know which japanese folk song this is?

  • I cry every time I hear this because 1) It's so beautiful and 2) I have a great love for Japan and my concert band played this when the earthquake and tsunami hit

  • Its so beautifull!

  • This piece is simply beautiful. Samuel R. Hazo is an icon in the musical community and should go down in history as one of the greatest composers of this era.

  • I was in the room with Mr. Hazo and you conducted this song for our simphonic band. Im a low brass player and the triple forte towards the end of this song always brings me tears of joy. There is nothing more powerful than making beautiful music with a group of people who all feel the same way about a song. You can feel it in the room. Thank you Mr. Hazo.

  • This is so beautiful.

  • @Soturi92 I still fight back tears. I hope all goes well with your move. :)

  • Is Samuel Hazo Japanese? his names sounds a bit like Japanese.

  • Nice

    

  • im lucky i got to play the bells and play the melody of the music box.

  • sorry my previous comments are out of order

  • When she is reminded of her country, she takes the music box into the closet alone, plays the music box, and cries. 

  • The story is that a Japanese girl, who when she was a little girl, given a music box (the melody of which is the begining melody and the melody at the very end) and she grows up hearing it, and it reminds her of her family and her heritage. when she is older, she falls in love with an american man and has to choose whether to stay in Japan or go to America with the man and marry him. She chooses to go (which is when the trumpets get huge.) and after she stays in america, she misses her country.

  • I think there was a story to this. Something about a girl who falls in love with a man.

    She wants to marry her but has 2 tough choices: Marry him but leave her country to live with him, or not marry him and stay here. I'm not sure how it goes

  • I really want to play this with my wind ensemble

  • Minor cord at 2:29 is amazing, always waited for that part while playing this song

  • I absolutely love this song!! My friend told me to look it up and i am hooked!! So beautiful

  • i Can't believe people are doing this for marching band! I'm in mb and we just played this song in our spring concert. It's so gorgeous.. definitely one of my favorite songs I've ever played, like top one or two. As a flute player... this was amazing. i get chills every time I hear it and/or play it. Hazo is a genius.

  • FLUTES WIN! :D

  • @Zwala101 FUCK YES. :DDD

  • @TOkenftw2010

    ^_^

  • THAT OBOE BACKING THOSE FLUTES UP MERCY!!!!!!!!

  • 0:00 - 1:06 ...Me walking down the aisle at my wedding and then finally reaching the alter at the end. :D

  • if my director handed this chart out again, i would take it and play it in a heartbeat. i loved playing this song. it's so beautiful, and when done right, you can either replicate or enhance the emotions felt...been there done that. it was amazing.

  • i would play this song again in a heartbeat!!!!

  • this song is so beautiful :) ♥ i LOVE it :) i play flute, and we are playing this in our marching show . i love this song!!!!! Japanese songs are so pretty.

  • or how about marching band

    

  • I played this in band last year and it was great fun :)

  • Oh my gosh! This is beautiful! I wanna play it so bad!!!!

  • we are playing an edited version of this song in our marching show this year! it sounds so pretty!:)

  • i love it at 4:20 where the trumpets get stratosphere notes and it all just drops down off the face of the earth to hear the flute melody again!

    Hazo never fails to amaze me!

  • absolutely captivateing <3

    

  • i played thiss for U.I.L and after i wass don playyin it i wass literaly about to cry

  • One of my all time favorites.

  • wow....it gave me chills! beautiful song :)

  • The harp is really gorgeous in this song! ^_^

    A great song to relax into in my opinion.

  • Background:

    Based on Sunayama, this composition tells a story of the inner conflict of a Japanese girl who falls in love with an American. She is torn between a life with him in America and her longing for the culture of her childhood. From time to time she plays a music box given to her by her parents (Sunayama theme), bringing a flood of homeland memories. The composer weaves together a tapestry of sounds and moods as the piece builds to a fulfilling climax of musical drama and power.

  • Man...I remember playing this a few years back. Go tubas! But anyways, this piece is just plain amazing. I nearly cry each time I listen to it. It makes me think of a sad movie with a twist ending that's even worse than what the main character was orginally going through.

  • empty mind. one thousand pounds lifted off my shoulders. this is truly beautiful.

  • May God bless those who lost their lives and the surivors of the earthquake.

  • I played this song for Honor Band, it was right after the disasters in Japan. The conductor we had lived in Japan for many years and he still has people he is close with there. When we finished the piece he had tears streaming down his face. Most magical moment of my life.

  • @Jiffy28 kinda irrelivant but our band was playing this song and i fought back tears everytime we played it because ( im assuming you know the story behind the piece ) i was torn between moving to michigan to be with my lover and staying here in alabama... ;( im still in alabama right now but ill be moving there after christmas.

  • @Jiffy28 I was in that band. I've never felt that much of a physical connection to the music I was playing ever before.

  • Samuel R. Hazo is a beast.

  • this is one of the sweetest pieces I've ever played in percussion.

    The syncopation in the taiko drum rhythm is intense as hell.

  • enjoyed the piece, we just did our recording on this.

  • Beautiful composition. Our high school Wind Ensemble just played this.

  • love love LOVE this song! I remember playing it freshman year in concert band. I worked so hard on the first flute part just to play it a few times! But honestly this was probably my favourite song to play EVER. Thanks for the upload! :)

  • sry for the double post lol, computer froze up :P

  • I remember playing this at our concert :D one of my favorite trumpet parts EVER!

  • @BabyLikeCheese the trumpet part is ok in my opinion. its a good piece and i enjoyed playing it but i didnt think it was the best part.,

  • @FunnyCheerio Wth r u talkin about the trumpet part is beast espacialy when he gets to that high a or b or somthing like that >>>>.Your out of your ffffffucking mind

  • Oh I remember playing this for my band's concert a few years ago....one of my favorite trumpet parts ever :D

  • My schools band is going to Memphis on Tuesday, i am so excited to play this again.. Song Royalty.

  • amazing :)

  • We played this, it was amazing, I miss it. :)

  • i heard this today at the state band festival. i wish my school had played this. >:,|

  • This would be fun to march to....

  • How in the world has someone hit the dislike button. That is a disgrace!

  • i will never forget playing this song. i played it this year in a concert for the people in japan and it was so beautiful i loved it so much one of my favorites :)

  • Played this my senior year...kinda miss it.

  • I wish my sxhool played this!! D:

  • VERY NICE VEBRATO

  • When I listen to this song I feel like I'm on epic through Japan.

  • Is it me or are these trumpets freaking amazing?

  • @NeebasAndAyirhs Yes they are!

  • So amazing i love how near the end the trumpets play the high B natural and D it sounds so amazing and then the song comes back down to just the ocean drum, flute, harp, and bells so nice ^_^

  • This piece always gives me cold chills when I listen to it. And Evan more when I played it for district 16 honors band. I love the low parts and everything seems to fit with the whole song and go together as one. Loved it:)

  • We played this for uil my sophomore year and I loved it, now the seniors chose it as or last song to play for spring. Beautiful piece.

  • I play French Horn and I love this.

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  • It's such a shame our director decided not to do this song back in my sophomore year. It's so beautiful and different from other songs we've played. Oh well, I have the sheet music for both 1st and 2nd Flute so that I can play along to this wonderful recording. >:)

  • My eyes went red when i was performing this song........

    *One of my favorite song*

  • love the low registers i get to play as a tuba player at the climax, everything in my head shakes and i can barley read the music lol

  • I love the flute. <3

    We're playing this for our spring concert.

  • I'm playing 1st flute for this piece. The solo is absolutely gorgeous and nearly impossible to make it sound as beautiful as it does in this recording!

  • Hazo and Whitacre make the most beautiful songs!! This song gives me so many drawing ideas!!

  • I got to play bass clarinet in this piece. It was so much fun!!! During the big hit, I got to play as loud as I wanted to without anyone hearing me. It was a blast.

  • My friend got to workshop under Hazo. He's a genius.

  • It's impossible to dislike something this beautiful.

  • I cried a little

  • My friend arranged this song for our woodwind choir and it sounds so good! I love Hazo!!!

  • Wow. . .

    That was one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard .

    (':

    I hope we can play this in band !

  • One of the greatest compositions of all time. This is what music today lacks, emotion. Samuel R. Hazo has captured all human emotion in every one of his pieces. If more people took the time out to listen to music like this then they would see how modern music is trash. Truly one of the greatest composers of all time.

  • @600bri I have played this on the trumpet :) doesnt take to long to learn prety good and the only slightly difficult part is towards the end with the sustain high notes

  • @Anjuwazhere I thought it was a Russian man

  • Good, no one missed the Like button.

  • @Felixphaeton 1 person did

  • @Felixphaeton Nope.... one careless person spazzed and accidentally clicked dislike

  • @Felixphaeton Except one stupid person -.-

  • The Story: It starts with a japanese girl whose mother gives her a music box that plays a traditionsl japanese song. Later in life she falls in love with an American man and struggles to make the decision if she should stay in her homeland or go with her love. She decides to leave and gets married in America. As she grows older she longs for her homecountry and starts to suffer from attacks that she can only get over when she secludes herself in a closet, listens to her music box, and cries.

  • chord at 2:27...Enough said

  • sorry double comment my computer messed up

  • i love this song as i play some epic parts on euphonium/baritone b.c. . Has a high A natural that adds a level of challenge. 

  • i play Euphonium/Baritone B.C. part and though it is slow much of the song it is entertaining to play because of its beauty. has some really high notes for a low brass instrument, including a high A natural but thats the only hard aprt

  • I play the harp part on marimba. You don't understand how much of a challenge yet beautiful it is.

  • has anybody played this on the trumpet?is so how was it

  • @ninjaslice79 i dont know for sure but i know that the trumpets play a d 2 octaves above the staff

    

  • wow this is so beautiful!! i love japanese songs their all so relaxing!

  • French horn rip <3

  • Played bass trombone my senior year of high school. This is on of my favorite pieces from the spring semester, especially the part towards the end where everything builds to this hall filling level. Happens around 3:10, kinda sad about the trombones playing this not having any oomph.

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  • Can anyone tell me what that last crazy brass chord was pleaseeee?

  • @littleangle11

    this wud be a good one to play

    specially with the story behind it wud go with graduation

  • my band played this last thursday night... our director cried :P

  • Has anyone played the harp part for this?

  • @MissMusic83 I'm learning it... alas, on a keyboard. We don't have an actual harp.

  • @OkamiGohan Does the part look difficult to you? How much do you actually play? I can't say I can hear a lot of harp in this recording.

  • @MissMusic83 It has so many 32nd note runs... I'm not used to that many. Although, it's easier because you can use both hands. I try to play it all, but again, 32nd notes... yikes. It's sometimes hard to keep tempo playing them all. As for hearing the harp, if you look at the sheet music, a lot of the harp part is duplicated by the flutes, so if you hear them playing in unison, it's probably the harp part.

  • @OkamiGohan Thanks! I am going to play this in May but haven't gotten the music. I'm so curious to find out what the part looks like.

  • @MissMusic83 No problem. ^.^ Glad to have helped. It really is an amazing song to play, though that is coming from a French Horn player (turned percussionist for this song XD). I hope you enjoy playing it.

  • Such a sad song but so beautiful, I wish my band played songs like this.

  • Our Middle School Wind Ensemble's playing this.

  • Wow i LOVE this song, and i play flute in middle school band :)

  • hay to all of yall what is the best song you ever played?