Christmas Concert

The Ryan Sisters will be doing a Christmas Show at Akayu Onsen (赤湯温泉） for three straight evenings starting 12/16, 12/17, 12/18 at 6:30pm. They are performing at a beautiful, traditional Japanese style hotel (旅館). Please call Takinami ryokan　(滝波）in Yamagata at 023-843-6111 for reservations.

Big show

The sisters had their largest audience at their weekly Onsen Hotel performance in Yamagata. You can see the three wearing their black winter Kimono for the first time this season. And backstage the sisters play around before going on stage. Shana played her solo very well tonight, and they played a Christmas song which everyone enjoyed singing along with.

Christmas season

The sisters are practicing a Christmas song for their stage in a few hours. They are in the hotel lobby in this photo.

snow

On the way to Sendai,there is a lot of snow. The sisters have a lesson.

just finished

The sisters just finished up their Sunday night stage performance at a local Yamagata Onsen hotel. In these pics, you can see Kyla and Brenna warming up before going on and the audience

trying to get a good view of the sisters while they play. 

Shana style

Shana practices but doesn't want anyone to watch her. She uses her cleaning rag to focus on her solo.

Sunday night live

Tonight the sisters played at Koyo Onsen Hotel as they do every week. It is a well-known Yamagata hot spring hotel. Kyla and Shana had sore fingers from practicing hard to record their solos yesterday.

Recording

Kyla and Shana are in Sendai today to make a recording of their solos to be selected for the Tokyo national competition.Their Sensei will help them. Brenna automatically qualifies since she made the finals in her division last year.

Practice vs. Performance

Last night the sisters played at their regular part-time job at a hot spring hotel. In this picture, Brenna warms up before going out on stage. They are also preparing to record their solos to be selected for April's Tokyo national competition and for the Osaka competition next month. The Tokyo competition requires a 2 min solo while the Osaka competition requires a 2:30 min solo. Meanwhile, they have several performances in between! All of Tsugaru shamisen music is performed by memory so it can get a bit confusing at times.

on Stage speaking

Brenna speaks to the audience between songs. One of the hardest parts about the sisters performances is learning how to speak to the audience. Kyla usually does most of the speaking but Brenna is slowly learning. Of course, the sisters talk in Japanese.