Odaiko New England

Juni’s Taiko Ten Performance at NATC

Odaiko New England’s Artistic Director Juni Kobayashi performed the first movement of her ambitious new composition “Ganesh Awakens” at Taiko Ten at the 2011 North American Taiko Conference. Juni’s piece was the only solo piece performed at Taiko Ten and it received an overwhelmingly positive reception. If you were not able to make it to […]

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 […]

30 Days to Better Shime: A Review

My Practice Setup

At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, I absolutely love and recommend Kristofer Bergstrom of On Ensemble’s program 30 Days to Better Shime. I first heard about the course while attending this year’s North American Taiko Conference in Los Angeles, California. Not being one to often […]

The Taiko March

While we were at Summer Taiko Institute, Tanya, Beth and I had the unique opportunity to join Kris Bergstrom of On Ensemble in a demonstration of the Taiko March, a piece he had composed and choreographed as part of the Taiko Games at North American Taiko Conference. He had had everything planned out, but […]

Food and Friends: Fuel for Kumi-daiko

Dinner with new friends: Mary, Lisa, Stacey, Mari, Kaoru, George, & May

There are two things a taiko player likes to do: banging on drums and going out to eat. At least these are two of my favorite things! Taiko Conference was not only about learning new techniques, songs, and drills. It was […]

Taiko Conference: First Impressions

Taiko players packed the room, and enjoyed dinner together at the opening reception on Thursday evening.

The first full day of the North American Taiko Conference (NATC), Friday the 7th, was even more of an eye-opener than I thought it might be. While it may be that not every North American taiko group […]

It’s over… …it’s about to begin

I’m sad to say that Summer Taiko Institute is already over. Tanya, Joy, and I had a wonderful time.

I think it is rare to see such impressive musicianship and excellent teaching skills in the same person, and even more amazing to find a group of four people who work so well together in both […]

Immersed in Taiko

I am learning my shime part of the song.

Days one and two of Summer Taiko Institute are over and Joy, Beth and I are pleasantly exhausted. We’ve spent two days absorbing techniques on timing, articulation, form and stance, all while learning a new song written by Shoji Kameda of On Ensemble. There […]

’twas the night before Taiko Institute

Beth, Tanya and me playing in the trees near the La Brea Tar Pits

It’s finally August, and that means Taiko Conference and Summer Taiko Institute!

Tanya, Beth and I have never been to Taiko Conference before, and we decided to jump in with both feet and do it all! Beth and I […]

Taiko 10 Here We Come!!!

Great news! Odaiko New England has been selected to perform at this year’s Taiko 10!!! The Taiko 10 is a free outdoor community concert held in association with the North American Taiko Conference, a biennial gathering of taiko enthusiasts from all over the world, which is taking place in Los Angeles on August 7-9 this […]