A quick update

My schedule is finally beginning to get a bit busier. I have been wanting to make several entries lately, but amazingly have not had the time to write all that I would like to. The schedule of working, training, and attending taiko classes three times a week, seems to be catching up with me. By the time I get home in the evenings, the first thing on my mind is usually sleeping. I am also finding it harder and harder to wake up to go jogging in the morning. But I am pleased that I have been able to keep up a regular jogging schedule for about a month now. I have tried in the past, but I think I always lost interest within a couple weeks. This time, though, I have a goal to motivate me to continue. At any rate, since my schedule is getting tighter, I may have to resign myself to making briefer entries in the journal.

So here is my quick update:

After worrying that we might have to stop attending our Tuesday evening taiko class (Kaga style drumming) because of work. We have actually been able to attend all but one of the classes this month. Next month also looks like we will be able to attend most of the classes.

The practices for the Shin-Matto-Bayashi Hozonkai have been getting more intense every week, mainly because there are two performances approaching. One this Sunday (9/30) and another October 7^th. In fact, this week, practice was led by one of the members of Hono Taiko, Ms. Yamada (I do not know her first name). Needless to say, she made us work twice as hard as usual, which I think you notice twice as much when you are playing the Odaiko. The Odaiko is one of the more strenuous drums to play because, first of all you must use much larger and heavier sticks than the average size drums, and the stance requires your arms to always be in a raised position. An untrained person (that would be me) will likely be nearly exhausted after only a couple minutes of playing. Anyhow, here is picture of the blisters I developed at the practice:

The Hozonkai song is quite long, and I have actually only learned one section of it. When I say “learned”, I only mean the sticking and the rhythms, the technique is a completely different story. Therefore, it has not yet been decided whether or not I will be able to join the group for these next two performances or not. Either way, I will be in attendance at both concerts and if there is opportunity to take video, I will definitely post it for all of you to watch.