“Tokyo White Hand Chorus” was founded in 2017 for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Since the following year, the chorus has included children who are blind or hard to see, and is pursuing a variety of expressive skills that respects the individuality of each member. “White Hand Chorus” was born 25 years ago in Venezuela, South America, and has been working with children who have visual and hearing disabilities, autism, and vocal difficulties.
Tokyo White Hand Chorus aims to promote self-expression and inclusive interaction, and to realize a symbiotic society by encouraging a positive attitude toward diversity from childhood. At present, the "Signing Team" and the "Voice Team" are paired together, and diverse children, including those with multiple disabilities and those without disabilities, are practicing hard to create more beautiful music while having fun together.
The Signing Team and Voice Team have been working through trial and error to find a way to practice online since last spring due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, Signing Team invited two deaf people, Eri Makihara and DAKEI, as new instructors, and held a ongaku(music) workshop for "people who live with their eyes" at Tokyo Metropolitan Theater from last summer. In this workshop, we created comfortable expressions and soundless works based on the visuals of people who live with their eyes, such as sign language and the body, and by creating a new form of ongaku that had been difficult to focus on until now, we approached a big question, "What exactly is music?” The children actively exchanged opinions with each other and with the instructors on what they think and what would be interesting to do. In the January-March workshop, the children used ZOOM to create works together online, and with each workshop, their range of expression expanded, as they thought of new hand movements and were able to express their feelings deeply.
The Voice Team, which is mainly made up of children who are blind or have difficulty in seeing, has been actively practicing online during COVID-19 pandemic, and in last November, they were finally able to resume the face-to-face practice. At the practice in the classroom, the children were reunited for the first time in eight months and met their new teacher, Ms.Yoshikawa, for the first time in the new school year, which made the children happy. Children who gathered in the classroom practiced against the wall while wearing masks, and those who could not come continued to participate online and worked hard. Now, with the World Children's Music Festival just around the corner, we are practicing several times in person. We can see the serious expressions on the children's faces as they are filled with the desire to deliver wonderful music to everyone.・World Children's Music Festival 2021 in Tokyo・
Date: March 29, 2021, 18:00-20:00
Venue: Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Concert Hall
Online tIcket: we have 2 types of online
tickets！
(1)live streaming
・viewing period: March 29, 2021, 18:00-20:00
(2 )archived streaming
・viewing period: March 29, 2021(after the concert) - April
1, 23:59
・subscription period: until 21:00, April1, 2021For details, please check the following HP!Check our Bio!#Tokyowhitehandchorus
