Then I became a performing taiko drummer. In Odaiko New England (ONE) we have a large repertoire, and therefore need to project many characters and emotions: joy, ferocity, laid-back cool, rock-god intensity. If you are shy, you know that none of these comes naturally to a shy person, especially one with stage fright. Slowly and painfully, I taught myself to pretend: to act joyous, ferocious, cool, intense. Gradually I discovered that “acting” joyous on stage brought out silly, happy childish parts of me I never knew existed. “Acting” joyous freed me to be openly joyous. In the same way, acting ferocious frees the predator in me. I glare at the audience: they are the herd, my natural prey, and when I leave the drum I am going to leap off the stage and hunt them down like a tigress. Some roles are harder than others. The rock-god persona of one of my favorite ONE songs, Kashmir (inspired by the Led Zeppelin piece), is perhaps the most difficult. As a middle-aged woman with bad knees, it is hard to visualize myself as a rock goddess. So I call on my long-suppressed inner rock heroine: eternally young, arrogant, and wicked. And out she comes – glamorous, challenging, triumphant. Am I entirely convincing? Probably not, but my role in the troupe is not to be a star. My job is to support my ensemble, to help us transmit together as a group the message we are rock gods to the audience, and make them leap to their feet screaming at the end of Kashmir. Which, happily, they often do.

There is more to taiko performing, of course: transitions, backstage traffic jams, onstage surprises, offstage distractions, outdoor weather crises, transportation and equipment mixups, missed cues, flying bachi, free-running dogs – all of the haps and mishaps that create the stories we tell over beer and pizza. We are a troupe of performers, with a shared history and a shared identity: we are Odaiko New England.

But I’m still not really an actor…am I?

Mark H Rooney started a building project at ONE a while back to have all the members build themselves okedo. Currently we have about 15 people attempting to make over 20 okedo (some of us are making two). The interesting part about this is that everybody, regardless of drum-building skill or experience, is attempting to do the same thing independently. Initial progress was slow, finding all the materials required at a reasonable price was challenging. Eventually we identified a source for barrels that could be converted into appropriate bodies. (Making stave bodies is too advanced for someone with no woodworking experience.) Rings were more difficult and took quite a bit of searching before finding someone who could make enough of the right size for a reasonable price. Skins were easy, we buy those all the time. The total materials cost per drum is about $150 depending on the size (we are making a few different sizes). Now comes the hard part, actually building the drums.

Mark H was the first to finish an okedo, being an experienced builder with 60+ drums under his belt (yes, he has a very large belt). This was his first okedo though, and he was kind enough to make a lot of the mistakes for us. Let me tell you, that advice and foreknowledge is invaluable and we appreciate is immensely! I recently finished mine as well (at least my first, I still have to tackle the second). Mark and I compared notes and even though we used the same set of resources (primarily Brian’s excellent guide to Making an Okedo-Daiko) we ended up with two very different drums built with some pretty divergent methods. We compared notes and shared our experience with the group and anybody else who would listen. Based on what we learned from each other we are each going to go about building our second drums differently. Many of the other members have made progress on or finished their bodies at this point and are moving on to sewing their heads. Many of these people who cut, shaped, sanded, and painted those barrels into bodies don’t even own a saw and have no woodworking experience at all, yet they are getting it done and doing  a great job. So far all the bodies are very unique, each one is a snowflake that reflects the builders personality. Since we are only providing each other advice and leaving each individual to do ALL the work on their own we are seeing a lot of interesting and unique ideas develop. I’m excited to see how they will all turn out!

Photo courtesy of Grace Liang Tysk

While this is a regular event for us, there were many aspects to this year’s show that were different from previous years. Most notably, this show was produced by our new Artistic Director, Juni Kobayashi. Our previous Artistic Director, Mark H Rooney, has relocated to Washington D.C. and was not able to join us. We missed having him, but we feel Mark was in a way present at this event embodied in the new three foot diameter hira daiko that he just completed for the group. Below you can see ONE members surrounding the new drum Mark made for us; we are all trying to get a hit in simultaneously.

Photo courtesy of Grace Liang Tysk

Odaiko New England’s classes have grown a lot over the last few years and it was very apparent at this show. In addition to Odaiko New England Members, there were performances by the ONE Recreational Taiko Class, the ONE Styles Class, and the Concord-Carlisle Adult & Community Education (CCACE) Taiko Class. The Recreational and CCACE classes include students who have been playing for as little as a few months whereas the Styles class consists of more experienced students who have been playing for at least a year.

In the photo below the ONE Styles class is playing the piece they worked on this semester over the last 16 weeks, Yatai Bayashi. This is a very challenging piece and learning it in 16 weeks is a huge accomplishment.

Photo courtesy of Grace Liang Tysk

In the photo below the Concord-Carlisle Adult & Community Education (CCACE) Taiko Class is playing Hiryuu Sandan Gaeshi. Hiryuu is a piece created from traditional Osuwa rhythms by Daihachi Oguchi. The song calls upon the dragon gods to come to earth three times to bless mankind with peace, prosperity, and good fortune.

Photo courtesy of Grace Liang Tysk

In the photo below the ONE Recreational Taiko Class is also playing Hiryuu San-dan Gaeshi. It may have been the second performance of the piece that night, but the Rec Class delivered an energetic reprise.

Photo courtesy of Grace Liang Tysk

Before the last song of the night we had a round of Audience Participation (AP). The AP, as always, was a big hit (pun intended).  We had in excess of 30 drums at the show, which made for quite the cacophony at times…everybody was pretty eager to get a chance to make some noise.  The performance ended with all the groups together playing Kokyo, which is a piece Mark H Rooney learned from Sensei Sasa of Wakahaya Taiko in Shimodate, Ibaraki Prefecture. After the show there was  a potluck reception where the audience and performers got a chance to mingle. There was plenty of good food and good conversation to go around. As with previous years, the Showcase was a lot of fun and a big success!

Step 1: Cut a notch for your big toe.

Step 2: Turn inside out and use a whip stitch to sew the edges together.

Step 3: Turn right side out and try them on.

It all started in April, right after we got our new ONE jackets and other gear:

Sheilarae, Kristen, Jasmine, and I sported our new jackets and hats while loading equipment for the first of many spring gigs.

April 17: Stone Church Arts

The week I finished my taxes, I completed spring cleanups for 2 clients, planted 5 apple trees, interviewed 2 new crew members, organized my tools, and attended taiko practice as usual.  The week’s activities culminated in a 2 hour concert in Bellows Falls, VT on Saturday.  This was an excellent show, based on reVision, our 15th anniversary concert from last spring.  Since it was a full length concert, we needed transition pieces to distract the audience while setting up drums for the next piece.  That meant I got to break out my sanshin and play Island Stroll with Diane again.  I am happy every chance we get to perform it.  The first time was terrifying, but now I think we are both getting a lot more confident.

Kristen and Karen playing Shin-en.

May 1: Rhode Island Cherry Blossom Festival

The last week in April included many hours of weeding, mulching and pruning, during the day, with visits to the dojo in the evening.  I needed the practice since, on May 1, we had the privilege of performing at Rhode Island’s first Sakura Matsuri (Cherry Blossom Festival).

Unfortunately, the same early spring and warm weather that brought me a lot more April business than usual, also encouraged the cherry blossoms to open well ahead of schedule.  That meant that the blossoms were long gone by the time we were there to celebrate them.  It was also surprisingly hot weather for early May.  No matter!  We still had a good time with both performances that morning.

A noisy waterfall in the background in Pawtucket, RI wasn't loud enough to drown out the sound of our drums.

May 1: Wesleyan University Student Recital

For some of us, performing twice in one morning, just isn’t enough taiko.  So, after we finished our performance at the Cherry Blossom Festival, Kristen, Tanya, and I hopped into Tanya’s car and drove to Middletown, CT.  There we had a delicious and leisurely meal before meeting up with Karen and watching the Wesleyan University student taiko recital.

The Wesleyan students displayed tremendous energy, and some pretty awesome solo skills.

Mark looks on as the Wesleyan Students perform Matsuri.

Fortunately, there was time for ice cream with Mark before our drive home.  On our way, Tanya and I learned that a massive water pipe had burst not far from my home, affecting the drinking water supply for the entire area–much of the Boston area was under a boil water order.  (Lucky Tanya lives far enough West that she didn’t have to worry about it.)

May 2: Walk for Hunger

The very next day, we had an opportunity to bring taiko to the masses.  Project Bread’s Walk for Hunger is an enormous fundraiser, involving over 40,000 people who walk to raise money for emergency food programs.  Our job was to play at the finish line, as a way of thanking the walkers for their efforts.  We also served as entertainment for the volunteers stationed at the finish line to hand out water.

This type of gig has a very different feel from a stage performance.  For one thing, we were playing to create a festive atmosphere, to an audience that wasn’t likely to give us their full attention, except briefly as they pass by.  That meant that we didn’t play our standard arrangements of a wide variety of songs.  Instead we played fewer songs with more looping.  We played in the sun for over two hours, so I was especially appreciative when we were given ice cream bars.  Did I eat 3?

May 8: Spring Thunder Festival

Twice a year, we put together a taiko showcase in order to give our students an opportunity to strut their stuff, while giving members a chance to try out something new.  The spring showcase (or Spring Thunder Festival), was a smashing success.  Watching the students perform with joy can be quite inspirational for a jaded old player like myself.   (Yeah, okay…  4 years of taiko hasn’t actually jaded me, but the students are still an inspiration.)

The community members had the chance to learn the Hachijo-Yatai Bayashi Medley in just a few weeks.  That was both challenging, and a blast!  I love playing the Yatai part against Hachijo.

May 15: Asian Heritage Festival, House of the Samurai

A week later my parents were planning to come for a visit.  But wait!  I’d volunteered to perform at the House of the Samurai Asian Heritage Festival in Londonderry, NH that weekend!  What to do?

Easy Solution: Mom and Dad were driving from VT anyway, so they just stopped in Londonderry to see me play, and then gave me a ride home.

I particularly enjoyed this gig.  The House of the Samurai is a Karate dojo which also has programs in Yoga and Chi Gong.  The space was beautiful, Ken and Mandy (the owners of the dojo) were tremendously nice, and after our performance we had the chance to relax and enjoy the other activities they’d arranged for the day.  It was my parents’ first chance to see a our festival set–which it turns out my Mom likes a lot more than the formal concerts.

Cat, Joy, Jasmine, Ken and Mandy Akiyama, Juni, Diane, and myself after the show.

May 22: YMCA Movie Night

Thanks to Karen, we had a quick chance to build a connection with our neighbors at the North Suburban YMCA in Woburn by performing a few songs before they screened “Up”.

June 12: Waltham Riverfest

Last year, I had my first chance to lead a gig.  It was an exciting opportunity to get practice in leadership, logistics, and public speaking.  But the memory will always be darkened by the fact that I spent the rest of my time that weekend arranging a trip to Texas for my cousin’s funeral.

I couldn’t help thinking about the good and the bad from last year, but with my family in the audience, and rain clouds overhead, the second Waltham Riverfest was a completely different story.  Last year’s performance had been perfect weather.  This year, the looming rain began to fall just as the previous act wrapped up.  Fortunately, we had a plastic sheet to protect the drums, and the organizers had a canopy that we could set up under.

We couldn’t have played without the canopy, but it was very small-about 10 feet by 10 feet.  Somehow, we managed to squeeze the odaiko and 3 chudaiko under it.   Fortunately I’d brought Smokey, my Remo shime.  Since she’s made of synthetic materials, it was okay to play her in the rain, so we didn’t have to fit 5 drums into the tiny space!

The audience was larger than last year, despite the significantly worse weather.  There wasn’t enough space for naname, and I was concerned that the rain would get harder, so we had to shorten the set, but still managed to play a Reimei remix, Kashmir, and Shin-en before a wet audience.  We even managed to pull off some audience participation.

Meanwhile, another crew of Odaiko New Englanders were getting rained on while participating in the Boston Pride parade and festival.  But that’s someone else’s story.

June 13: Dragon Boat Festival

The next day, we put in our annual appearance at the Boston Dragon Boat Festival.  This has been one of my favorite festivals since the first time I played it in 2007.

This year our set included Mahora, a marathon song, which I remember playing at Dragon Boats two years earlier.

June 26: Taiko in the Woods

As June, and the busy season, drew to a close, a few of us attended a private camping party, in which we had the chance to play for the other attendees.  I love playing with the forest as a backdrop.

Cat captured me mid-twirl as I played Matsuri.

Always a Little Behind

Keeping up with posting to the blog can be tough with a performance schedule like this, on top of practices and the miscellaneous work that we do for the group–not to mention our day jobs.  Even though there are many ONE members who could be blogging, we don’t always find the time.  I don’t know how my favorite Taiko bloggers (like All Things Taiko, On Ensemble, and Raion Taiko) keep up!  I don’t even have time to read all their awesome posts, let alone write for and manage the ONE blog!  Maybe I’ll learn.  Maybe next year I’ll keep up…  For now, I’m going to cheat a little bit, and post this with a date of July 1 for the sake of our archives, even though I’m actually writing this much later.

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

Taiko performances can give audiences the impression that taiko and martial arts are closely-related disciplines, if not fully intertwined as one art. The group TAO seeks to obliterate any distinction between the two while putting on a dynamite concert. Since I have no background whatsoever in martial arts, I cannot comment definitively on how successfully TAO accomplishes this mission; however, in performance there is no question that TAO puts on a thrilling, exciting show. This is a group that hits an audience between the eyes with blazing energy, exuberant, restless rhythms and exceptional athleticism.

Thanks in part to the fine acoustic environment of the Berklee Performance Center, the group’s sound was clean and articulate. An array of wireless mics for the performers and instruments was no doubt carefully aligned, with degrees of reverb calibrated and volumes balanced. TAO’s attention to sound prompted me to recall the amount of time Mark, Victor and others spent working on the sound balance for ONE’s “reVision” concerts.

The group’s choreography is precisely crafted – down to the last detail. While much of the movement was performed with a panache that suggested spontaneity and improvisation, my impression was rather that these had each been completely planned and polished, calculated for maximum effect so as to leave nothing to chance. From time to time the group seemed to pull in an element from Blue Man Group here, a comedic exchange there, which never failed to entertain the audience. The group’s visual appearance also evinced a similar attention to minute detail: the costumes were excellent, and even the performers’ hair was scrupulously tended to, whether frizzed out, short and spiky, or drooping locks partially obscuring the eyes, a multitude of styles, every strand perfectly in place.

The transitions possessed some ambiguity; was the music being played still part of the previous song, an entirely different song in its own right, or the intro to the next song? On one hand this could be confusing for those who like to know what’s being played and when, but I think many people would prefer to simply experience the performance without wondering which song is which. Having no clear start or finish to some of the songs helps to convey a quality of time out of time so that the audience comes under the group’s spell.

The group’s outstanding athleticism is mainly demonstrated by the male drummers, which made me wonder about how TAO sees the role of its female members, who, other than assertively playing Odaiko, generally do not perform the most physical or flashiest movements. Precision-crafted choreography isn’t limited to one particular physique or brute strength; while we may never know the rationale behind TAO’s leadership’s decision to not have any of the women participating in the same choreography as the men – at least, in the full-ensemble pieces featuring the most aggressive, acrobatic moves – audiences will wonder: Why does it have to be that way?

A remarkable contrast of styles came to mind, having seen Kodo in 2009 and TAO one year later: Kodo, for all its virtuosity, is exquisitely economical in its movement and playing. Not an ounce of wasted energy. On the other hand, while TAO does not recklessly misuse energy, its members expend an extraordinary amount of it to achieve the extroverted, aggressive, dynamic entertainment that appears before the audience. To use a pair of sports metaphors, it’s like the group was playing full-court, run-and-gun basketball while running two half-marathons – with only a 15-minute intermission in between.

I don’t want to sound like I’m nit-picking, but a possible shortcoming of this approach is that subtleties of sound, composition, and performance can be lost on an audience after they’ve been hit with a pumped-up sonic and visual barrage.  If TAO seeks to achieve a perfect blend of art and full-throttle taiko, the group may need to explore ways to strike the right balance so audiences will appreciate the quiet songs just as much as the noisy ones.

The group’s approach suggests a fascinating cultural perspective; the members live and train in a national park on the island of Kyushu, observing a strictly disciplined lifestyle and practice schedule in much the same way as Ondekoza, Kodo and Shidara. However, while such groups strive to maintain a thoroughly Japanese identity and serve, one could say, as guardians of Japanese culture, TAO deliberately steams ahead in a different direction. For example, right from their first recording, many of the compositions reveal non-Japanese influences; songs like “Horizon”, “Queen”, and especially “Maori” go beyond traditional taiko rhythms. Most telling is the fact that the group is establishing an office in NYC and its management apparently views America as a kind of entertainment Mecca. TAO doesn’t just want to embark on world tours – it wants to enjoy a level of success in America far surpassing that of any predecessors or contemporaries.

Any reservations aside, TAO performs exhilarating, vibrant, engaging taiko – simply, it’s a “must-see” ensemble. I hope the group continues to pursue new ideas for making taiko accessible to people who might otherwise have no interest in seeing a taiko performance, and it would be great if their combination of taiko and entertainment leads more people all over North America to discover the unique quality of joy imparted by taiko – and to discover the taiko groups that already exist within their own communities.

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.