2024.03.13 Haruton Graduation Ceremony Since elementary school, I have watched not only piano but also orchestra conductors on YouTube, reading books on conducting and learning even at a young age. However, in junior high school, I had to focus on being an accompanist for three years at the request of my teacher, so I stopped conducting. It's no use from a parent's point of view...Haruton is the only one who is so absorbed in piano that he plays nearly 10 pieces on stage every year at competitions. Normally, you don't think about it and just choose "accompanist", but Haruton...or rather, my sons "love music" and "love to make music", so they naturally play piano, violin, cello, saxophone, compose... and the pinnacle of that is conducting. My older brother Yuton also participates in piano competitions and is in the orchestra club (violin), but in junior high school he was a "conductor". That's because there were many children in the same grade who could play Chopin etudes. While instructing the chorus competition, he also led the piano accompanist by showing him how to play from here to here. In many classes, the accompanist usually also serves as the instructor, but in this position, he was a rare conductor who could also lead the accompanist. At the graduation ceremony, the students who accompanied Yuton's conductor were those who would go on to become high school piano players...even though they were in such a luxurious environment, five years later. In Haruton's year, the number of students had decreased surprisingly, and there were almost no students who could even play songs at the accompaniment level. In the early summer of his first year of junior high school, Haruton's teacher asked him not only to accompany the choir competition, but also to lead the class choir. And to teach the conductor as well. For this reason, he completely refrained from conducting himself. His older brother Yuton was also a student conductor in his club activities, but for some reason, that position was no longer there when Haruton was here. However, Haruton, who is passionate about music, took the position of section leader, controlling and instructing practice. And in his third year, he was the leader of the entire ensemble when the teacher was not there. "But I haven't been asked to conduct. I don't want to take advantage of the chaos and do it." End of second year of junior high school. Farewell ceremony, graduation ceremony, entrance ceremony... With the departure of the music teacher, I was able to be seen leading the school choir practice while playing the piano on stage before the ceremony. And at the very end of my own graduation ceremony, the conductor's position was fulfilled with the song "On the Day of Departure" - a song that my older brother Yuton had also conducted five years ago at the same place and time. My mother was close to tears at the sight of her son finally making music with such liveliness. Even though it was the first time, there must have been a lot of things that had been building up inside him for a long time. He wasn't just waving his arms in time with the piano and the choir, but he subtly led ahead of the others with a clear sense of rhythm and instructions given in advance. My older brother Yuton, who is now a student conductor of the university orchestra, was watching the video with a nostalgic look on his face, saying, "Haruton, you're so good! You're better than me, aren't you? (wry smile)" It was the last moment when all the hard work he had put in was rewarded, after he had silently swallowed everything.