Stage actors always fascinated me. As a shy person I admired and envied them: in front of a live audience they took on a new personality and pretended to be someone else: brave, silly, nasty, pathetic, noble, or tragic. How did they get the courage to do that? Then I became a performing taiko drummer. [...]

Pardon my sentimental blubbering. A few days ago in a shinnenkai celebration, with cheers, laughter and more than a few damp eyes, we welcomed two new members to Odaiko New England: Greg and Shane. It was with enormous pride in their efforts, accomplishments and promise that we bestowed on them in our welcome ceremony the [...]

It may have been the first time anyone has participated in a jam-session Miyake with Kodo while wearing an LBD (Little Black Dress). It was certainly the first time I observed such a thing. For sure, a Kodo drummer pounding out a wild, macho Miyake on one side of the drum, with a poised, elegant [...]