Odaiko New England

Bellows Falls Vermont

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 Senryƫ

I have had great vacations in Vermont, but was unfamiliar […]

TAO: The Martial Art of Drumming

TAO review: Berklee Performance Center, Thursday, March 18, 7:30pm

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 […]

7 Years Ago: My First Taiko Workshop

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. […]

Shinnenkai: New Year, New Members

ONE members gather to welcome Shane, Greg and the New Year

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 […]

Swim Like a Drummer

Yesterday morning I swam 10,000 yards (5.68 miles/9.14 km) in about 2 hours 38 minutes–the longest swimming workout of my life.

I was participating in a special New Year’s event for Cambridge Masters Swim Club. The swim was broken up into units of 100 yards swum on timed intervals. I chose 1 minute 35 second […]

An amazing taiko year

I cannot believe the amazing taiko opportunities that 2009 has brought me. I was lucky enough to have played in at least 33 shows. Each one taught me something about taiko, performance or myself. I decided to write down a thought about each one as way to summarize my year.

My snow driving skills put […]

My Extended Taiko Family

“We’re gathering our extended taiko family for the holidays,” I wrote on our website to promote ONE’s 2nd annual Winter Extravaganza. It was an ironic statement for me, since my own family would not be coming.

And so it was that I left my taiko widower and orphans at home to take part in our […]

Shidara Residency

If you are a taiko player in North America striving to be the best player you can be (whatever that might mean personally to you), then at some point you have probably thought to yourself: I should really go study in Japan. Then you say to yourself…”Self, what kind of crazy idea is that? You […]

Remembering What it Takes to Start from Scratch

Saturday night we performed for Zenshinkan Dojo, an Aikido Dojo in Worcester, to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Close to 100 members were gathered to recognize two decades of hard work. People got up and told passionate stories of commitment, personal transformation, friendships, and people working tirelessly on behalf of the group. And they talked about […]

Do-Ko-Splash: Honing Your Taiko Chops with Kayaking

A handful of ONE’ers met at Charles River Canoe and Kayak in Newton for an afternoon of grueling paddling — just for fun. Taiko players are like that.

Joy's orange Crocs match her kayak…

…And the lovely foliage.

I was nominated to write our blog post because […]