Spiking the stage

On April 17, Odaiko New England’s (almost) full contingent – Ensemble and Community – trekked to Bellows Falls, VT to perform at the Opera House as part of the Stone Church Arts Series.

Kristen and Shigeru playing Senryū

I have had great vacations in Vermont, but was unfamiliar with Bellows Falls.  So, prior to the show, I did a little research.  According to their website, the mission of the Stone Church Arts Series is stated as “bringing the world to Bellows Falls.”  Further research noted that the Opera House had recently been renovated.   Taken alongside the scenic pictures of the waterfall, covered bridges, and fall foliage, Bellows Falls seemed be a special place – commitment to arts in a beautiful setting.

Driving into Bellows Falls, the scenic part was easily confirmed with the waterfall and river.  The downtown had all the qualities of a small New England town with its five and dime store, galleries and small shops.  In one of the windows, I spied artwork from a local school.  All were easy confirmation of the importance of art in the community.

As we walked down the street to find lunch, we saw our posters in practically every storefront.   Clearly, there was a lot of community support for Stone Church Arts.

We had lunch in a great little coffee shop with homemade breads, desserts, and sandwiches.  In the back of the shop, there were a few tables, some cushy chairs, and more art on the walls.  Two people were playing backgammon, and a women was reading to her child.  There were some shelves with books.   I found one of my favorite cookbooks – The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Birnbaum – which was a likely source for the beautiful desserts.  Midway through lunch, a man walked in, took one look at us and said “You must be the taiko drummers – I just bought my tickets!”

Our audience that evening was fantastic.  It was a fun show to perform.  (I had my cleanest performance of Kashmir!)  After the show, I got a chance to chat with a few audience members.  They were very enthusiastic, asking many questions regarding our practice schedule and equipment, and thanking us for coming.  I thanked them for being such a lovely audience.

To Stone Arts Church Series, thank you for having us and introducing me to this special community.  I can’t wait to come back!

Putting our hands together before the show

‘YA’ stands for ‘Young Audiences of Massachusetts’.   It also represents a major part of Odaiko New England’s mission – to teach the art and culture of taiko drumming to children.  Through Young Audiences, ONE performs at many schools throughout the region.  In addition, many schools/groups book workshops directly from ONE for more hands-on lessons.

This spring, I had the opportunity to assist Juni while she visited at two local elementary schools.  While we taught workshops to the 2nd graders at both schools, the second school included the YA performance.  The performance was lots of fun, especially since I got to play the role of the Rain God which involved a Japanese mask and a squirt gun.

For these schools, ONE’s visit enriched their lessons about Japan.  During each workshop, the kids learned more about the art form and equipment, then got an opportunity to drum. They even got a chance to learn a song.  The kids had great fun banging on the big drums.  My most touching moment came as I watched one student help a fellow student with special needs experience drumming.  The sheer joy it brought to both kids was really fantastic to see.

The school visits have brought new meaning to my own taiko experience.  I look forward to following the yellow suitcase on its future journeys.

As Mark said, “The Cool Factor was definitely on the high side!”   How often do you get to drum in the middle of Harvard Square amidst a laser light show with fog machines and a confetti storm - all while staring down a 2-3 story float shaped like a Harvard Prof???   That’s cool enough, but then add to that the reason why we were there – to welcome revelers celebrating the Harvard Lampoon Castle‘s 100th birthday!   On May 2, this was exactly the scene for about 300-ish party goers plus all the people who just happened to be on the street at the time.

The plan was that we played Shin-en, an upbeat festival song, followed by Mahora, a more intense song.  At that point the Jester would emerge from the building and parade around the building with the crowd while we moved onto Kokyo.  Well, apparently the Jester really wanted to come out and join us because she came out almost immediately after Shin-en and just jumped right in, trying almost every drum and accessory we had.

A few of us played at the top of the stairs and sitting on the railings.  So, we had a slightly different vantage point than those on the sidewalk.  While we didn’t get barraged by confetti up there – there was a point when all I could see was a bunch of bachi (drumsticks) above the fog and swirling confetti.

The atmosphere was fantastic.   This is definitely one of my favorite taiko moments.   Two weeks later, we are still finding purple, yellow, and gold confetti tucked amongst the crevices of our equipment.   I hope we are still finding them 6 months from now….