Canon hosted “The Fourth Canon Enjoy Music!” event at Muza Kawasaki*, in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, on December 23, 2011.

The program is carried out with the cooperation of the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, which calls Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall home, and this was the fourth time it was held. One of Canon’s educational support and community contribution activities, the goal of this endeavor is to provide an opportunity for children to become familiar with and enjoy music by experiencing playing musical instruments and attending a mini-concert.

There was an open call for applicants from among elementary age children in Kawasaki City, where Canon has several places of business, and neighboring Tsurumi Ward in Yokohama City. On the day of the event, 46 children and their family members participated.

For this event, the children were able to enjoy hands-on experience playing brass instruments such as the trumpet, horn, trombone and tuba, under the guidance of the orchestra members. Although they struggled to produce sounds from the instruments, they tackled this effort in earnest and created quite a din. Compact digital cameras were lent out to accompanying parents or guardians to photograph their children playing the instruments.

For the mini concert, a brass quintet performed Christmas songs, the theme song from the anime movie “My Neighbor Totoro” and other pieces both children and adults could enjoy.

After the concert, each participant chose and received printouts of three of their favorite photos from among those taken by their family members, and were presented with a copy of a group photo of the program’s participants as well.

The impressions voiced by the children included the observation that “Every instrument had a good sound and I could feel it reverberate strongly throughout my whole body.” From the adults, we heard comments such as that “I was surprised to see my son playing the instruments, as my preconception was that they were difficult to play.”

* Canon has been a special supporter of the Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall since 2007.