Drums who are now my old friends.

I went a little early so that I was sure to be on time. I was pleased to see that we would be using real drums (though they had a few packing-taped tires just in case). One of the people there who was also early gave me some ear plugs, which made me so happy. I was also happy to learn we would be in our bare feet, if we choose.

I practiced some kanji while I waited for the class to start. Everyone arrived on time. We introduced ourselves and most people there had some musical background. One woman had even done a lot of taiko while growing up in Japan.  (She was a treat to watch; she looked so amazing doing it.) Then we started with warm-ups. I surprised myself by doing 25 real push-ups.

My sit-ups were oh so more pathetic.

We finished warming up and stretching. Then they played the simple piece that they would, in the three hours, teach us to play. I was a bit skeptical, but hey, aim high.

They set us up and taught us basic stuff. I got the tall standing drum to start, which was a bit hard to apply the basic techniques to. The class had a tendency to speed up while playing. I tried to keep visual beat with the person in the middle. I could never get the form down, but I did surprise myself with the rhythms. However, when things did speed up, I lost it. I was much worse than two-thirds of the class.

We rotated on the drums so we could try all the different types. The breaks were beautifully timed, the exercises did a good job of establishing that we could do it and usually also pushed us beyond our limits. Once we’d gotten some basic hits down (light hits, medium hits, large hits, horse rhythm, rim hits, vocalizations) they taught us and had us memorize (quite well to my surprise) the two fairly complex pieces. They had the whole class play both together and then split us into groups and had us play the interlocking pieces to form the main piece. Half the class would watch, the other half would preform. Since most people were pretty good it sounded reasonable at the end. Most of the people picked it up really well.

Drums of all shapes and sizes.

My first workshop!

And then the instructors finished off the class with a performance of their own which was a lot of fun to watch.

It was fun, it was hard and I’m going to be sore tomorrow. All in all it was a great three hours and they did a really good job of teaching a lot to us in a very short amount of time.

My snow driving skills put to good use… So much fun to be in a show with such other wonderful musicians… Attack of the curtain!.. Thank goodness for the extra help, or we would have never made it to the next appointment!.. I was certain she’d said “Last time!”… Bananas and a rubber chicken… Testing my new camera by taking pictures of Tiger Okoshi… Good thing I carry my own hachijo bachi… Amazing to see the girls so enthusiastic… MC’ing because I’m loud and the mic is broken… A night sky filled with confetti… 4 shows in 4 days is my taiko limit and when someone offers you nuts, take them!… Great fun to jump into a piece I hadn’t played in 6 months… Improvising on stage as people file in… Too many things to mention… Temporary tattoo for Sheilarae… My first parade and being very colorful… Playing Reimei at dawn… I can’t help but thank my closest taiko friends for letting me drag them to a mountain and order them around… Playing in the back of a pick-up truck and dancing in the street… Manny, the world’s largest athlete introducing us and waiting for Martin Short before we can set the stage… Forgot a drum stand, time to improvise!.. Made our own hachimaki in the time between shows… The ONE family bond is stronger than my personal fears… Canceled due to tornado warning!… Solidified the relationship of performer to audience… This street isn’t big enough for all the noise we make!.. Many amazing taiko groups under the apple trees… So many of us were sick, but we still gave it our all… Even sick, you can’t stop me from fue!.. Almost everything that was said about their dojo, we could echo about ONE. It was amazing to see their strength of community and what it had built… My first MC’ing where I got to think about it ahead of time… ONE working towards its own street fair! Plus I made a new shime stand.

A few of the year's taiko moments.

I feel exceptionally blessed by taiko in 2009. I can only hope for what 2010 might bring.

Beth, that's not a bachi.

The first way was a purely personal blending of old and new. Sheilarae and I were co-running a taiko workshop. Neither of us had ever run a workshop before. The 6th anniversary of my first taiko workshop is coming up at the end of the month and here I was running one! Thank goodness for Sheilarae! There is no way I could have done it alone and she was so much more engaging than I was. Our first workshop was a little shaky. We didn’t quite know how to time things out.

Our second and third groups were much better though, in no small part to the students who arrived full of energy and interest. Our last group was quite small, but the two enthusiastic women who showed up out kiai‘d the other two groups combined. It was a wonderful note to go to the performance on.

The performance. Now here was a real blending of old and new.

Karen and Greg had been working on their stick flipping for a traditional standard, Matsuri. They needed a third to join them, but none of us had quite mastered it well enough to perform. Beth stepped up to the plate however, but instead of her skill in flipping, she employed her skill in comedy. This is why, two days before, on a dreary afternoon, I went to meet a friend to borrow his rubber chicken. Rubber chicken, two bananas (one real and one plastic), taiko and Beth’s comedic timing made for the most “new” Matsuri I’d ever seen. Bachi flew everywhere, and so did bananas and the chicken, making its plaintive cry as it flew through the air.

Will we ever see the chicken again? Time will tell, but this was definitely a memorable performance and a testament to creativity. Were we making a mockery of the tradition? I don’t think so. I think we were paying tribute to the difficulty of the things that some taiko players make look too easy! Plus we were taking the spirit, old and new, and taking it in our own direction.