tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29079436569806436812011-11-27T16:17:12.023-08:00Join us as we journey to Japan to study the art of Japanese drumming, known as Taiko.Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.comBlogger1471100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-17940313250868708582010-08-17T05:45:00.000-07:002010-08-17T05:54:28.616-07:00

The Great Lakes Taiko Center has been up and running now for more than 6 months. We are happy to see the quick growth for taiko in Michigan. Since February we have started four classes and our performing group, Raion Taiko, has had performances every month since January. Our current classes are as follows:Mondays 5:00 - 6:00 pm Children's classTuesdays 9:45 - 10:45 am Ladies class (taught in

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-18545397472914255512009-11-01T05:26:00.000-08:002009-11-01T05:27:33.306-08:00

We performed a mini-concert in the backyard of my parents' house last weekend. Please come by our new blog to check out the pictures.Raion Taiko Neighborhood Taiko Mini-Concert

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-89749398308957210042009-09-26T09:23:00.000-07:002009-09-26T09:25:51.232-07:00

The location of the Raion Taiko Blog has changed. Please visit our new home to read our latest entry, featuring thoughts and reflections from Kodo's Yoshikazu and Yoko Fujimoto during the 2009 KASA Workshop Tour. Raion Taiko Blog - Earth Celebration Part 3Please remember to update your bookmarks.

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-26859407598362284912009-09-12T08:33:00.000-07:002009-09-12T08:37:33.538-07:00

Updates on my location and the status, plus the second installment of my experiences at Kodo's 2009 Earth Celebration.Earth Celebration - Part 2 - The Shiroyama ConcertDid you miss part 1 of Earth Celebration? No worriesEarth Celebration - Part 1And be sure to check out pictures from Raion Taiko's debut in Japan:Raion Taiko Pictures

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-82760738729472546692009-08-20T05:45:00.000-07:002009-08-20T05:49:51.628-07:00

Visit our new blog at our new website, www.michigantaiko.com to read the latest entry covering our trip to Sado Island for Kodo's annual Earth Celebration. In part 1 I talk about Kodo's Sado Island Taiko Center and the workshop I took with my daughter, "Shin-chan Sensei's Taiko Experience". We both really enjoyed ourselves.Kodo Earth Celebration - Part 1

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-45520308409925208852009-08-05T15:13:00.000-07:002009-08-05T15:16:11.298-07:00

New post: Matto Matsuri and finding a practice space when the studios are all full.Come and visit our new website/blog location - Great Lakes Taiko CenterRaion Taiko Blog

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-65387778105843685702009-08-01T15:19:00.000-07:002009-08-01T15:20:50.198-07:00

Our new blog has been updated with a new post. Please stop by our new website to read it. New T-shirts and Matto Matsuri

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-80766074251306484242009-07-30T15:39:00.000-07:002009-07-30T15:44:51.970-07:00

Raion Taiko is growing up a little bit. We are in the process of moving to a new website, where we have integrated our blog as a part of it. From now on, we will most likely be posting at the following address: http://greatlakestaikocenter.squarespace.com/raiontaiko-blogWe are currently in the process of switching over our old URL, so this address might possibly change again. If it does, I will

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-89277427392101967282009-07-24T14:36:00.000-07:002009-07-24T15:27:56.620-07:00

Yesterday we had our 打ち上げ (uchi-age) party for the staff who worked at Exstasia 2009. What is "uchi-age" in English? Actually, I had a brief discussion about this last night with Asano-san's daughter (who is a fluent speaker of English). Neither of us could think of a good, natural-sounding translation. If you look up the word in a Japanese-English dictionary, you'll probably find it means "

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-13555921970944221112009-07-18T14:31:00.000-07:002009-07-18T15:06:31.279-07:00

Today is the big day: Exstasia 2009. I will leave for the concert hall in about an hour, there will be a dress rehearsal in the morning, eat lunch, and then the concert starts at 2:00 PM. When concert-goers enter the lobby when we open up the doors at 1:00, they will be greeted by the large, foam-board Odaiko cut-out you see in the picture above. It has been signed by all of the performers...

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-25071236242102315542009-07-06T05:22:00.000-07:002009-07-06T05:33:46.157-07:00

I think this could be a tough week. I'll only get to practice taiko on Tuesday and Saturday. Last week, on the other hand, was pretty intensive from the taiko standpoint. I had group practices on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday (with an extra one on Saturday, then we had the Exstasia campaign performances on Sunday. In addition, Mayumi and I rented studio time on Wednesday and Thursday

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-10856363986716117732009-07-05T13:59:00.000-07:002009-07-05T14:33:54.982-07:00

At the end of May, Yume Mitai (one of the groups I'm in) participated in a campaign to get the word out and sell tickets for the Exstasia taiko festival coming up in only two weeks! (July 19) Read here about Exstasia Campaign #1. Yesterday (Sunday) we had Exstasia Campaign #2 for Yume Mitai. This time I played shime taiko instead of Nagado.For this campaign we traveled down to the southern tip of

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-25527384079586854752009-07-02T14:13:00.000-07:002009-07-05T14:36:16.739-07:00

This past Monday was the last class of Kinoshita-san's (Hono Taiko) Super Beginner Taiko Course. (Read how I ended up taking this course here.) This course is intended mainly for people with very little, or no experience with taiko so Kinoshita-san started teaching from the very beginning: How to hold the sticks, where to place your feet, how far away to stand from the drum, etc. Last Monday

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-90506999635063658282009-06-25T15:29:00.000-07:002009-06-25T16:03:31.574-07:00

KODO: Behind the ScenesIt has taken me twice as long to eat my meals in the past few days. I'm not eating more, probably I'm eating less. Why is it taking me so long? Because I am using my left hand to eat. (I'm right-handed, by the way). Using a fork and spoon with your non-dominant hand is one thing, trying to use chopsticks with it is another story. For many westerners, using your dominant

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-22113120214882168222009-06-20T05:12:00.000-07:002009-06-26T14:35:27.818-07:00

Every now and then I get an interesting question about taiko by email. I can't claim to be an expert on taiko, but if I don't know the answer to questions, I often know how to find them. That was the case today. I got an email from a taiko enthusiast who is moving to Fukuoka, Japan this fall and she was trying to find a group to practice with there. At first I was going to send her my apologies

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-65968265646012179692009-06-17T14:33:00.001-07:002009-06-17T15:44:01.658-07:00

I guess it was nearly three weeks ago, but on June 5th, we were able to attend the opening concert for Asano Taiko's 400th annivesary. It was quite an amazing concert featuring some of the taiko world's most famous artists. There were many people and groups whom I have seen perform in the past, such as Hono Taiko, Yamato, and Miyake Taiko, but there were also many groups I saw for the first time,

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-79278974713806813902009-06-16T05:46:00.000-07:002009-06-16T06:00:46.469-07:00

That was quick. On Sunday evening I made a quick post inviting any one interested to invest in our project by funding our Lending Club loan of $5000. 92 people stepped forward within 2 1/2 days to fully fund our loan, with an average investment of around $50. Crowd funding is great, isn't it? I don't know if anyone who was a regular reader of this blog contributed, but thanks to all who did. We

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-65615582661982018232009-06-14T05:01:00.000-07:002009-06-14T14:22:14.352-07:00

A long time ago... well, about a year and a half... I naively asked for donations to help fund our project of bringing taiko drumming to the people of Michigan. There was not a signal donation. I don't mean to sound ungrateful. We have received tremendous amount of help from family and friends with unbelievable amounts of moral and financial support, but soliciting donations from online "

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-15531451795292882862009-06-10T15:33:00.000-07:002009-06-10T16:28:51.833-07:00

There are so many things that happened last weekend at Asano Taiko's 400th Anniversary celebration. I learned so much, met so many new people, thought about a lot of things in a new light. If I tried to sum them up in one post, it would probably be either reeeaaaallllyy long, or too much information at once. Therefore, I will just try to write short reflections on the experiences and what I

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-63146785895665678292009-06-09T14:01:00.000-07:002009-06-09T14:23:28.628-07:00

On Saturday I went over to Asano Taiko to take part in the 400th Annivesary activities. Wadaiko Yamato had performed at the Friday night opening concert and I knew they would be at Asano on Saturday as well. I thought I would wear one of my Yamato t-shirts, so I chose one from their 2001 (?) tour. I have worn the shirt quite a bit and it shows. The image is in pretty rough shape and the color is

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-87716026410649046982009-06-07T04:59:00.000-07:002009-06-07T05:36:25.091-07:00

Unfortunately, we didn't have any luck in the Asano Taiko drawings this weekend. We got about 10 raffle tickets, but we didn't win anything. A couple people I know did win 10,000 yen gift certificates, though. We might not have had any luck in the drawings, but in another sense, we did have some luck. We had a certain budget for the drums we could purchase and it so happened, that there was an

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-44352540857915071612009-06-06T14:37:00.000-07:002009-06-06T15:03:56.463-07:00

Today (Sunday) is the last day of the 400th Anniversary Celebration at Asano Taiko. Today I will take the Miyake Taiko Workshop, and a singing workshop with Yoshikazu Fujimoto, one of Kodo's oldest members. He'll be teaching the song "Kiyari" which is sung along with Miyake Taiko. Yesterday I had one workshop and my wife had two. My wife took a workshop on Hachijo Jima Taiko and a Chappa (cymbal)

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-68039854087336840432009-06-04T05:00:00.000-07:002009-06-04T05:40:19.394-07:00

Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow morning at 9 AM Asano Taiko will kick off their 400th anniversary celebration. It is three days of taiko workshops, live performances, and a huge sale, 400 years in the making! Well, maybe not 400 years in the making, but it's a pretty big deal, especially because sales at Asano are pretty rare. It was 400 years ago, back in 1609, that the Kaga clan, invited

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-48246893979102823612009-05-31T14:13:00.001-07:002009-07-05T14:02:18.336-07:00

Yesterday (Sunday) we had this year's first Exstasia Campaign performances. For those who don't know, Exstasia is a big taiko festival sponsored by Asano Taiko, the city of Hakusan and various other groups and companies in the area. I've written about it the past couple years: 2007, 2008.Anyhow, around this time of year, the groups that practice at Asano Taiko are sent out to do short

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-37584549651812030382009-05-29T14:10:00.000-07:002009-05-29T14:32:23.727-07:00

A few weeks ago tickets for 2009 Exstasia went on sale. That means it's time for the Asano taiko groups to get out, "drum up" (sorry) some interest and sell some tickets. What that usually involves is traveling to a large shopping center or mall on the weekend and playing for about 30 minutes finally reminding everyone when and where Exstasia will be and giving them the opportunity to purchase

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-62520809971733084022009-05-23T17:44:00.000-07:002009-05-24T05:59:04.805-07:00

I recently received an inquiry as to how much a "moderately priced" taiko would cost. I've been looking into this a bit myself lately, since we are preparing economically (as well as mentally) for purchasing our own taiko drums in just a couple of weeks. We plan to get the drums at Asano Taiko's 400th Anniversary sale in a couple weeks. It is a rare opportunity to get top of the line Asano drums

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-13743569243419596122009-05-16T17:17:00.000-07:002009-05-16T17:35:10.359-07:00

Here they are! After several weeks of brainstorming, meetings, debating over colors, positioning and numerous other finite adjustments, they are ready. We now have our very own official logos. For the time being, we have two. The first is for the "Great Lakes Taiko Center", a learning and resource center for taiko. The second is for Raion Taiko, the name we have chosen for our performing group,

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-35623950021128772882009-05-12T14:04:00.000-07:002009-05-12T14:18:58.257-07:00

About 10 years ago my older brother (a professional drummer/percussionist) visited me in Japan for about a week. One of the souveniers he bought during his visit was a temple bowl. They come in all different sizes and they have a beautiful sustained ring that goes on and on. Buddhist temples usually have a fairly large one (one or two feet in diameter, maybe) and people who have a little Buddhist

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-30598836865266604482009-05-11T14:08:00.000-07:002009-05-11T14:28:20.412-07:00

This week I will have taiko practice/lessons on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Since the end of April, my wife and I (and my daughter) enrolled in two new taiko classes that will continue until the middle of the summer, which added to our already busy taiko schedule. A month or so ago, I went to talk with Kinoshita san of Hono Taiko. She teaches most of the beginning level

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-48266089579183247442009-05-06T14:17:00.001-07:002009-05-07T14:52:27.403-07:00

I didn't think yesterday was all that strenuous. We didn't have to show up at Asano until noon, we toned down our outfits to black t-shirts and pants and we only had one quick performance (about 5 min) and then we could enjoy the other events going on in the afternoon. But for some reason, I felt so tired when my alarm went off this morning. I don't know why. I'm awake now, though, and ready to

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-26950514563542587822009-04-30T14:25:00.000-07:002009-05-03T15:39:01.567-07:00

Has it really been ten days? I apologize. It really has been too long. Recently, I've been hit with several things that take up a lot of my time that I usually use for writing blog posts. One being income tax... yes, it's after April 15, but when you live overseas, you get an extra two months to file. Unfortunately, today I cannot write much either, but just to let any of you loyal readers know

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-71492516621709151162009-04-19T14:23:00.000-07:002009-04-20T14:14:04.299-07:00

On Sunday, I visited a nursing home in Komatsu along with several over students from the Ichikawa Kaga Taiko Juku.I think everyone enjoyed themselves quite a bit. When we return to Michigan, I hope that we can visit some nursing homes and share taiko drumming with the people there. I imagine it will not be quite the same, though. Elderly Americans will probably not have the same memories and

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-3846686944510147522009-04-18T15:35:00.000-07:002009-04-18T15:51:26.497-07:00

I meant to add this to yesterday's post, but it turned out longer than I expected, so I saved it for today. This is mostly an FYI for anyone who lives in Japan, especially in the Hokuriku area (Ishikawa, Toyama, Fukui). In anticipation of the big, three-day celebration coming up in June for Asano's 400th Anniversary, Asano is presenting a day of 400th Anniversary "Pre-Events" on the Wednesday of

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-78056162212135275882009-04-17T17:27:00.000-07:002009-04-18T15:52:30.883-07:00

I've started training to join Wadaiko Yamato. Well, actually, I cannot join them, I am, unfortunately, too old. Thankfully, they do not have an age limit on their workshops. Last fall they offered a two day workshop called the "Yamato Course Workshop". Those who participated went through two days of training and practice in the same way that the performing members of Yamato do. That means

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-56623621758867774722009-04-14T14:08:00.000-07:002009-04-14T16:16:28.579-07:00

I don't have any connecting theme or topic to write about today. Actually, I haven't had any major topic or theme for a couple weeks now, which is why I haven't been writing as much as usual. Sorry, I'll try to fix that. For now, though, I'll just share several updates with you. I returned to the Ichikawa Juku (Kaga Taiko) last Sunday after an absence of several weeks. Aside from all the

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-45919032633811782202009-04-05T04:20:00.001-07:002009-04-05T14:46:27.453-07:00

When I began my taiko blogging back in the summer of 2007, I didn't find many other English blogs related purely to learning or playing taiko. As time has passed, however, I have slowly become aware of a few more blogs out there that dedicate most of their posting to posts about learning and performing taiko. Today I will tell you about two blogs I know of which are all taiko, all the time. All

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-48095521164101444902009-03-29T17:02:00.000-07:002009-03-29T17:44:33.007-07:00

If you haven't done so yet, please be sure to stop by and take our taiko survey about taiko in Michigan. If you have, please tell a friend to stop by and take it. It only takes two minutes and is a great help to us. Thank you.Click Here to take surveyIn January Mayumi and I decided to dedicate more time to learning the traditional Kaga style of taiko drumming. We had taken two four-month "Primer"

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-83516135286273671702009-03-26T19:41:00.000-07:002009-03-26T19:56:12.256-07:00

Well, I'm just about to leave for Nagano for a couple days to go and see the monkeys in the hot springs. Hope I'll be able to bring back some photos. Why are we going to Nagano? I've always wanted to visit Nagano and since my parents are visiting at the moment, it was a good excuse to go there. Now my mum is a pretty good seamstress, so we thought we would ask her to make some simple taiko

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-82458152171650996552009-03-25T19:41:00.000-07:002009-03-25T21:19:57.804-07:00

Last Saturday I attended the second monthly concert given at the Asano Taiko museum. (The debut of the monthly concerts I wrote about last month here) Last month's concert was titled 月のしずく, something like "drips of moon". This month was called　香 or "Fragrance". The performers were, once again, Hono Taiko, Kazusa Okazaki of Hikari and a guest flute player, Mr. Yagi (sorry, I can't read his first

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-11305624063948923752009-03-17T14:09:00.000-07:002009-03-17T14:39:28.344-07:00

Let me start by thanking all the people that have responded to our "Taiko in Michigan" survey. The responses so far have been very helpful and very encouraging. If you haven't taken our survey and wouldn't mind giving your opinion on some of our ideas, we would be thrilled if you would follow the link above, or the one right here: Click here to take survey The questions are short and easy. The

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-2980817961061587492009-03-14T14:36:00.001-07:002009-03-14T16:13:28.993-07:00

Last Sunday we successfully completed the March 2009 Asano Taiko Spring Recital, 今響きが風になる. Saturday began at 8:30 with loading up drums from the Asano practice space, the rental warehouse and Asano EX and then transporting them all over to the concert venue, the Matto Bunka Kaikan. (The same place we saw Exstasia two years ago.) Then we moved on to rehearsing. For this recital I was part of the

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-3323440215995007652009-03-11T21:59:00.000-07:002009-03-12T00:19:03.373-07:00

We've been talking about money fairly often. We are getting to the point in our planning, where we need to start thinking about where and how we will get money to buy drums and to pay for other costs associated with our plans. It seems like musicians never have enough money. Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says, "Real musicians HAVE a day job"? It's usually true, because trying to "do"

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-75474795747678835202009-03-06T13:54:00.000-08:002009-03-06T14:26:17.395-08:00

Tomorrow is the big day. It's 7 AM now and in about an hour, I'll be heading out to Asano Taiko to load up drums and move them to the concert venue: The Matto Bunka Kaikan Hall. Then, starting after lunch, each performing group has about 20 minutes to figure out how they are going to move the drums on and off the stage, where there going to stand, run through their piece and make any last minute

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-87058562125515683462009-03-05T16:16:00.000-08:002009-03-05T16:34:22.120-08:00

I went to get my haircut yesterday. It's nice and short now. My friends and co-workers now know what my short haircut means. As soon as I come to work the next day, they ask me, "So when is your taiko concert?"This time it is this Sunday afternoon (March 8) I will play in three groups, Mayumi (my wife) will play in two and my daughter will play in one. It will be a busy day. We'll really have to

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-72014218693113425452009-03-02T12:57:00.000-08:002009-03-02T13:08:14.061-08:00

Happy Girl's Day! Today is Hina Matsuri in Japan. Since we have a daughter, we have been displaying our hina ningyo dolls for a couple weeks now. Technically we should take them down before tomorrow. The superstition is that if you leave the display up after March 3, your daughter won't be able to get married. I think we're going to tempt fate, though and leave it up an extra day so that my

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-52354813586330003972009-02-28T13:50:00.001-08:002009-03-01T05:22:21.643-08:00

Last night (Feb 28) Asano Taiko held what is to be the first of monthly concerts in its Museum (pictured above). The performers were Hono Taiko and Hikari. Hono Taiko I have mentioned many times in this blog (in fact, if you search google for "hono taiko" this blog comes up on the first page of results several times). Hikari, I have not mentioned quite as often (I did a couple weeks ago, though

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-92154081683765950412009-02-28T04:12:00.000-08:002009-02-28T04:26:18.858-08:00

In Japan, where the school year begins in April, March is graduation season. The school where I work is having its graduation ceremony on Monday. On Friday the choir was practicing singing Bach's "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring" to sing at the event. The music teacher was not happy with the students' expression while singing the song. At one point he told them: 顔を見るだけで聴きたくないんだ。 For those who

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-72513671111135641192009-02-26T13:41:00.000-08:002009-02-26T13:55:01.819-08:00

Recently I've been putting more time into the business aspects of starting up this taiko center in Michigan. I'm reading a very insightful book, "The E-myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber for the second time and taking notes. For anyone who is considering starting, or in the midst of running a small business, I would highly recommend it. I've also been spending some time going through the primer

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-84174112919574527292009-02-22T04:53:00.000-08:002009-02-22T14:36:06.169-08:00

Saturday I practiced mainly shime taiko from 1 to 5:30 PM. That's a lot of strain on one's wrist and it is slightly painful now. I need to take it easy. I don't want to damage it permanently. Anyhow, At Saturday's practice for one of the groups I am in, Jigen, two pieces of advice given to us by Yamada sensei stuck in my mind. One wasn't actually advice, but it still stuck with me. Both had

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-31344897017882857592009-02-20T01:21:00.001-08:002009-02-22T13:43:23.192-08:00

I just noticed that this will be my 100th post! Hurray! Let's hope for at least a hundred more.Anyhow, last Friday we invited our taiko teacher, Mizue Yamada of Hono Taiko and Kazusa Okazaki, a member of a group called Hikari, the teacher of our daughter's taiko class and an employee working in the office at Asano Taiko over for dinner. We wanted to share our plans with them, hear their

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-82121153534429020162009-02-19T14:59:00.000-08:002009-02-19T15:05:13.199-08:00

Did I say the last entry would be "short"? I guess I did. Oh well. I've got to work on being less verbose. As promised, I will write more about Kaga Taiko today. I'll try not to make it too long. There is a lot I could say (and probably will, eventually) about Kaga Taiko, but this time, I will just try to describe what Kaga Taiko practice is like. The practice begins at 1:00 on Sunday

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-65519874503591451912009-02-16T13:16:00.000-08:002009-02-16T13:40:02.492-08:00

Today, a short entry with a suggestion for any of the readers who are in taiko groups of their own. I was recently reminded of how helpful and enlightening it can be to tape (video, that is) yourself, or your group during practice, and then watching it afterwards and critiquing the performance together. With taiko, I think that the way the performers look and move together on stage is just as

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-70553928203988154352009-02-15T13:10:00.000-08:002009-02-15T13:41:43.852-08:00

The exit off of the highway is barely noticeable. There is no sign, and hardly any deceleration ramp, just a narrow street that quickly disappears underneath a bridge as soon as it leaves the highway. You follow that street through a small group of houses clustered together, then you come out into an open space with mostly rice fields on either side of the road. On the left is a slightly

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-24585245281389386972009-02-14T14:14:00.000-08:002009-02-14T14:35:36.933-08:00

This past Friday evening (Feb. 13), taiko fans in Michigan were likely attending Kodo's performance at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. If you missed it, I believe you have one more chance to see them, in East Lansing at the Wharton Center at MSU (assuming that the performance is not sold out). Unfortunately we could not attend the concert, since we are in Japan. Still, we had an enjoyable Friday

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-15374895921472809742009-02-08T04:21:00.000-08:002009-08-23T05:34:30.674-07:00

I think practicing shime taiko every day with a metronome can really help you improve quickly. And not only with shime taiko or taiko playing, but with music in general. In December I pulled out my violin to begin practicing for a Christmas performance at school and I could even see improvements in my violin playing, thanks to the extra shime practice I had been doing. The last time I posted an

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-60904468656227783392009-02-05T13:06:00.000-08:002009-02-05T13:42:48.508-08:00

This June (2009), Asano Taiko is turning 400 years old. To celebrate their birthday, Asano Taiko is putting on three days of taiko workshops and concerts (a rare sale as well) on June 5th, 6th and 7th. I realize that most of my readers do not live in Japan, and posting the great taiko opportunities available in June may just make some of you envious (sorry) but then again, it is in June, which

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-28625108850124854692009-02-03T13:23:00.000-08:002009-02-04T05:02:37.163-08:00

It has been several weeks since we traveled to Nara to see Yamato perform their New Year concert. So it is probably time to finish up writing my "review" of their performance. This will be my third and final entry recounting Yamato's 2009 New Year Concert. I have seen them around eight times now, and in the 8 years since I first saw them, their set list has not changed all that much, two or

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-30724492666521427582009-01-26T13:09:00.000-08:002009-02-03T13:23:19.191-08:00

Before I get into the Yamato concert, I'd just like to announce that we have totally re-worked our website and the new Great Lakes Taiko Center Website is up and running. Don't get too excited, my web design skills are pretty limited, but it is certainly an improvement over what was up before. Please stop by and visit: http://www.michigantaiko.comNow back to Yamato. I have now been studying

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-45921667338338737032009-01-21T13:25:00.000-08:002009-02-03T13:18:57.780-08:00

Early, January 11th, my wife and daughter and I piled into our white station wagon/mini van, along with two friends from our group, Jigen, and left Kanazawa for a four hour drive through treacherous snow-covered roads to Nara. (Actually, once we got halfway through Shiga Prefecture, the snow was pretty much gone.) We were heading out to see Wadaiko Yamato’s 2009 New Year Concert at the Nara

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-47699273856595828992009-01-18T12:44:00.000-08:002009-01-18T12:57:49.600-08:00

For those of you looking forward to the report on the Yamato concert we attended last weekend, I apologize for the delay. I caught the flu these past few days and have been in bed recovering. I also want to take the time to give a proper review, so please, just wait a bit longer. Yesterday, however, Mayumi and I (in spite of a slightly lingering fever) were able to make a brief taiko

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-23791342016640382902009-01-13T12:53:00.000-08:002009-01-13T13:15:15.183-08:00

Greetings from cold and snowy Kanazawa. We finally got a significant snowfall here and the temperature has been dropping daily. Seeing as how one of the places where we practice is not heated, it makes practice very cold. I can never feel my toes by the end of the session. Still, I always feel better after playing taiko for 90 minutes. Work started back up again last week, and although I

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-55397028774080596882009-01-06T04:42:00.000-08:002009-01-06T04:56:28.217-08:00

Today I received an email from Maria of Taiko Drum, Tasmania University Union Taiko Society. She had read my previous post about playing Shime Taiko and asked me if I had any exercises that I could recommend. I thought that maybe there are other people out there who would like to know some techniques for practicing shime taiko as well. So here is the main part of my response to her. By the way

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-32622628554586157292009-01-03T13:50:00.000-08:002009-01-03T14:20:08.092-08:00

What is this? It's my winter break taiko project. I am attempting to build a stand for our 1.8 shaku (that's about 54 cm) nagado taiko. When we first arrived in Japan, back in August 2007, the first thing we did was buy this taiko, but we bought it with a Miyake stand, which holds the drum horizontally. You must play the drum from the sides, instead of from the top. It wasn't a mistake, we

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-22321628338573884792009-01-02T18:25:00.000-08:002009-01-02T18:58:04.941-08:00

It's a bit late to be talking about Christmas presents, but since I got a couple taiko related gifts, I'll do it anyhow. The first thing I got was a practice pad. I had asked for this specifically. Since we live in an apartment building, we cannot really play/practice the drums in our house. I thought that a practice pad would be a good solution. You can't necessarily practice Nagado or

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-61314359390952950732008-12-26T19:07:00.000-08:002008-12-26T19:17:37.884-08:00

I went to Asano Taiko today, but not to play or practice taiko. They are actually closed for the winter holidays. Not Christmas, but New Year. One of the Japanese traditions leading up to the New Year is to have a big house cleaning, or business cleaning. It's called "Osouji". It's religious background has to do with creating a clean space to welcome in the New Year spirits. I suppose it has

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-73268167320714086112008-12-23T15:21:00.000-08:002008-12-23T16:01:39.066-08:00

It's Christmas Eve Day here, in Japan and we are sure busy. You see, Christmas is not a holiday in Japan and most people have to work today and tomorrow and the next day. Thus, for those who wish to celebrate Christmas in a major way, like in Europe or the States, it is a challenge to get everything ready because you are often working right up to, and through the holiday. It's rather

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-18621039116434465912008-12-18T16:15:00.000-08:002008-12-20T13:24:55.592-08:00

I caught a cold earlier this week. It isn’t so bad, but there were a couple days of a sore throat and now it has moved on to my nose. No matter how many times I blow it, there always seems to be ... well, leftovers. So I was looking forward to my Kaga Taiko class yesterday (Thursday). Why is that? Because taiko always seems to help my ailments. Whether it is a small cold, or the flu, if I

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-32798479801312780032008-12-03T12:36:00.000-08:002008-12-03T13:00:35.820-08:00

Professional taiko teams are well known for their rigorous exercise and training programs. Some of you may have even heard the story about Kodo running the New York Marathon and then performing a concert on a stage at the finish line. I've never run a marathon, but from what people who have, have told me, performing a physically demanding taiko concert at the finish line is probably not the

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-80768740388509854642008-11-25T12:48:00.001-08:002008-11-25T13:12:20.113-08:00

Can I write about classical ballet today? My daughter had her first ever ballet recital on Monday. The whole event was a pretty impressive production. And it should be, considering the cost. In the end, after paying our share of renting the hall, renting costumes, printing up programs, making a professionally produced DVD and so on, we probably payed between 8 and 900 dollars! *A warning to

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-87981135015641826152008-11-13T13:39:00.000-08:002008-11-15T17:04:15.826-08:00

Even though I was deathly ill last Sunday (Nov. 2), I did manage to drag myself out of bed to go and see the Hayashi Eitetsu Fu-un no Kai concert with my wife and daughter at the Ishikawa Prefectural Music Hall (a wonderful concert hall, and facility). I may have had a dangerously high fever, but, as is usually the case when I hear, or play taiko, I felt the sickness leave my body and enjoyed

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-59461100794583860872008-11-13T13:21:00.000-08:002008-11-13T13:39:28.950-08:00

As it turns out, I was probably too sick to attend the Fujimoto workshop mentioned in the previous post anyhow. That afternoon, as I was at work, wishing that I could be at the workshop, I began to feel very fatigued and my muscles started to feel sore. But I attributed this to having gone running the day before for the first time in a month as well as increasing my dumbbell workout on the same

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-27922080681885225762008-11-01T14:47:00.000-07:002008-11-01T15:19:17.347-07:00

Yesterday was Saturday and I had to work. Usually I can leave work on Saturdays around 1:30, but today I had to stay until 4. Not only did it force me to miss JIGEN practice, but I also missed out on a (perhaps) once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. At least my wife was able to participate in it. What was it? It was a free, private workshop by Mr. Yoshikazu Fujimoto of Kodo. When I say private, I

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-34754942531019761532008-10-30T14:28:00.000-07:002008-10-31T14:49:13.848-07:00

We've been practicing taiko at Asano Taiko for nearly 14 months now. Up till now we have mainly been learning to play nagado taiko and/or Odaiko. But this past Saturday, at JIGEN practice, we learned that our next song to learn would be all shime-daiko. All nine of us (possibly 11, we may get two new members) lined up on the stage playing shime taiko. 　We are pretty excited because we have

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-83559244865195851382008-10-13T13:51:00.000-07:002008-10-13T14:29:30.561-07:00

Yesterday we successfully completed the 2008 Asano Taiko fall recital. I played in three groups (four, if you count the finale) without making any major mistakes. After all the strenuous work, and moving large taiko around, unloading and loading trucks on Sunday and Monday, I am not even sore. My back doesn't hurt either. The actual playing in three groups was not so demanding. Each group

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-18612908638903330032008-10-12T14:24:00.000-07:002008-10-12T14:32:19.576-07:00

It's a brisk, October morning, there's a beautiful sunrise and today is a taiko concert. There is something about performing that I really enjoy. I'll be performing with three groups today, playing Odaiko for two of them. Mayumi will be playing in two groups. Can't wait.

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-12783580847123725812008-10-11T14:00:00.000-07:002008-10-11T15:13:58.574-07:00

If you're a regular reader of the raion taiko blog, you may be wondering if the situation with our lost luggage/bachi every got worked out with ANA. If you're not a regular reader (why not think about becoming one?) Here are links to the previous entries to bring you up to date:ANA Lost my LuggageLost Luggage UpdateFinally, after a month of searching, ANA decided to declare our bag as officially

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-34595687939573375962008-09-29T14:06:00.001-07:002008-10-01T14:41:29.701-07:00

Sunday marked another milestone in our taiko journey. It has been one year since my first stage performance in Japan. Looking back, I actually find it funny that I called last year's performance in Togi a milestone. Maybe it was more like a step in the right direction than a milestone. Anyhow, on Sunday we (Matto Yume Mitai) traveled to Togi in the Noto Peninsula for a concert with Hono Taiko

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-10848858422352519452008-09-24T14:30:00.000-07:002008-09-25T14:48:18.292-07:00

Have you heard of the group, Yamato? If you've been around taiko for very long, it's likely you know of them, and if you're a regular reader/visitor to this taiko blog, then you probably recognize that I have written about them before. (a visit in May, their concert in January) and you also probably know that I have called them "the best taiko group in the world". I suppose that point could be

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-72546656379447824212008-09-21T04:52:00.000-07:002008-09-21T05:21:35.685-07:00

An update of the lost luggage/lost bachi mentioned in the previous post. Today I finally received a phone call from All Nippon Airways (ANA) regarding the status of the search for my luggage, which they lost. Actually, they have been trying to contact me for several days now (ever since about two days after I mailed the letter) but we are always gone at taiko practice, so when they call, we're

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-10628539186351899782008-09-15T14:15:00.001-07:002008-09-15T14:34:32.657-07:00

If you follow me on Twitter, you are likely already aware that upon our recent return to Japan from a visit to the US, the airline we were flying on, ANA (All Nippon Airways) had lost our bag of taiko bachi (sticks). So far, the response from the airline (ANA) has been less than impressive. Normally, this would not be a surprise, but from a Japanese airline, I actually am surprised that the

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-76318542738923042172008-09-10T13:48:00.000-07:002008-09-10T14:08:59.359-07:00

I would like to post one more excuse for my lack of blogging efforts in August. If you are a regular reader, then you know that designing t-shirts was my first excuse. If you don't know what t-shirts I am talking about, read the t-shirt excuse blog. Or just have look directly at the t-shirt store where you can order them.Anyhow, the other thing that kept me away from my taiko blog for most of

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-71273960951306073532008-09-02T13:36:00.000-07:002008-09-02T14:44:03.399-07:00

My apologies for the long hiatus. There were many factors inovloved in my extended absence from updating our taiko blog. It must have been tough for the one or two of you who check here every day to find out the latest taiko adventures of Brian and Mayumi. These days I'm trying to juggle a lot of online hats combine that with a three week trip back to Michigan and Chicago, returning to Japan

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-16810918150417892982008-08-02T14:41:00.000-07:002008-08-07T00:52:16.824-07:00

Four days of outdoor, physical labor in the hot sun, usually lasting until 10 pm or midnight and the only physical payment received was free meals and iced tea. That is one way to describe volunteering for the Exstasia Taiko festival hosted by Asano Taiko. Although it was hard work, I don't have any complaints. To be honest, I rather enjoy hard, physical work. One feels a sense of

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-50296484652549927972008-07-20T14:16:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:00:00.859-08:00

"Does it get this hot in Michigan?" "Does it get this cold in Michigan?" Japanese people seem to enjoy asking these types of questions. My answer is usually "Yes, sometimes it gets even hotter (or colder)." Now we are approaching the hottest time of the year in Japan and a typhoon that passed to the north has brought with it hot and sticky weather. It's actually only in the 90s (and in the

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-63405188502443916902008-07-19T05:14:00.000-07:002008-07-19T05:44:21.567-07:00

As promised, here is the second half of the list (How to be an Amateur),I began a couple days ago. This list is called (naturally) How to be a Professional.1. Never consider your product "good enough", you should always look for something to improve2. Be confident in your strengths and take pride in what you have accomplished3. Have clearly defined goals for today, tomorrow, this week, next week

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-80195168204713396962008-07-16T13:47:00.000-07:002008-07-16T14:37:49.624-07:00

Some people have a lot of talent, but never seem to be able to find their big break. I think there are a lot of talented musicians out there who are struggling to make ends meet. Unfortunately, just having talent is usually not enough to pay your bills. Perhaps you've seen the bumper sticker that says, "Real musicians have day jobs". It would be nice if having talent was enough to put food on

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-13949428536872937762008-07-08T13:44:00.000-07:002008-07-08T13:54:40.424-07:00

No taiko until Saturday for me. Of course, I would be happy to play for every day, but because of practicing for five hours on Saturday, two performances on Sunday and then practice on Monday and Tuesday night, the blisters on my hand are not complaining about the break. I made a couple new blisters over the weekend, and they actually need the time to heal up. Saturday it will be back to taiko

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-82229530915766013722008-07-06T05:15:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:00:01.226-08:00

I really enjoy performing. When there is an audience to play for, I always feel like I have more energy, and if I can feel that the audience is enjoying themselves, I get even more energy. I am always excited when we have a performance.Today I performed twice with Matto Yume Mitai at the Jusco shopping center in Kaga (Ishikawa prefecture). This was a campaign performance to promote the

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-69593458677053006502008-06-27T05:03:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:00:01.351-08:00

I learned the sad news this evening as I opened my Internet browser and saw the headline on Yahoo: "Master Japanese drummer, Oguchi dies". All of us who play and perform taiko today owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Oguchi, the grandfather of modern taiko. Oguchi is credited as having established and developed the style of taiko performing that most of us practice today. Without his work, taiko

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-87570565924372761532008-06-20T13:36:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:00:01.491-08:00

Because of the noise, practicing taiko in your home is always a challenge, especially in Japan. In fact, other than patting out rhythms on your knees with your hands, there is not much you can do, without bothering the neighbors. It has, therefore, been a challenge for us to find a time and place to practice our own music. We do go to Asano three times a week, but we cannot practice our own

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-52175689424494815222008-06-17T14:13:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:00:01.941-08:00

We were able to order a couple new drums over the past two months. Unfortunately, they are not Asano drums. They are only a tenth of the cost of Asano, but they do allow us to practice on or own, so for the time being, we are satisfied to use them. They are two shime taiko, the small, high pitched drums that one often sees being played in taiko groups. Here are a couple pictures of them. (At

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-37197053609608877362008-06-07T15:33:00.001-07:002008-06-07T22:47:00.589-07:00

Yesterday was a productive day from a taiko standpoint. I woke up early enough to go jogging. Unfortunately it's been too long since I have been running. I hope to get back into the habit of going three times a week, but we are just heading into the rainy season, which means nearly daily rain showers for a month or more. Not that a little rain will keep me from running, but if it is heavy, I

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-91647427074400584612008-06-02T13:55:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:00:02.305-08:00

I forgot to bring my music to Yume Mitai practice yesterday. It wasn't a big deal, because I have most of it memorized, except for the brand new songs. On the other hand, it sort of was because there was also a piece of music that I was supposed to pass on to another member, who is in Jigen and Matto Bayashi with us as well. Since he is also in Matto Bayashi, and we practice on Tuesdays, I

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-73650587957815618752008-05-24T21:33:00.000-07:002008-11-15T17:06:26.649-08:00

A couple weeks ago, we went to a mall near our house, where Asano Taiko was doing a PR performance for the upcoming Extasia Taiko Festival on July 27th. The group performing is Sasuke, consisting of all junior high or high school age students. Earlier this spring, they took part in the All Japan Youth Taiko Competition as a representative of Ishikawa Prefecture, and they received an award (not

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-79407893722461791592008-05-21T14:27:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:00:02.667-08:00

This past Tuesday, we had our Matto Bayashi practice as usual. Our practice area is called Asano-EX and it is a mile or two down the road from the main Asano Taiko buildings. It is also not available as a practice space to the general public, like the practice area (新響館）at the main building is. So it is where most of the Asano sponsored groups practice, like Matto Bayashi, Sasuke and even Hono

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-11859274231566629602008-05-09T14:25:00.001-07:002008-11-18T23:00:02.752-08:00

The Monday following the big concert this week was the "Children's Day" holiday in Japan. Following two weeks of nearly daily taiko practices, including some strange dancing, which exercised muscles I have never used before, and ending with two hours of stage tear down, moving large and heavy taiko around, my body was actually pretty sore. In fact, I probably aggravated a pulled back I hurt a

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-58574220191688008862008-05-08T13:51:00.000-07:002008-11-18T23:00:02.982-08:00

Wow! Taiko Shock? Yes, that is what Asano Taiko named the special Golden week concert in which I participated last Sunday. I guess, to a native English speaker, it is not very catchy and doesn't really seem to roll off the tongue all that smoothly. Still, this does not mean that it is the same way for Japanese people. Regardless of the name, I was very happy to have the opportunity to be a

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-76279069558638208472008-05-05T16:49:00.000-07:002008-05-06T06:20:03.694-07:00

It is the last day of the Golden Week Holidays. Since Sunday, I could finally relax for a couple of days, but there are many people at Asano who had to get up Monday morning and continue working, practicing and performing. There were so many new experiences this past weekend, I honestly don't know where to start, and I'm afraid I will forget about some of them if I don't write them down. For

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-44314236265040195812008-05-02T06:27:00.000-07:002008-05-02T06:50:46.668-07:00

It seems like it's been a while since I had a chance to make a posting here, and I guess it has been nearly two weeks. The last two weeks have been rather busy, though. Sunday is the big concert, where Yume Mitai (one of the groups I play with) will get to play with former Kodo members and the Miyake Taiko hozonkai, as well as several other big names in the taiko world. Here is a link to the

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2907943656980643681.post-54816826268300853252008-04-19T14:43:00.000-07:002008-04-19T15:40:39.313-07:00

In several older posts (here too), I mentioned being encouraged to join a newly forming taiko group, sponsored by Asano Taiko. I was to be a group made up of young, energetic people, with taiko experience, who have a serious desire to learn taiko. Both my wife and I were able to get on the roster for this group and finally, yesterday, we were able to have our first practice. After our first

Great Lakes Taiko Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12012821930191570255noreply@blogger.com0