We just returned from our dress rehearsal for tomorrow's concert. I think everything went well enough and I feel ready for tomorrow's performance. I had one little thing go wrong for me today, though. I was playing a different drum than what I am used to and it turns out that the head is much tighter than my usual drum. When I hit the first couple notes, the rebound was so strong that my stick flew out of my hand. Although embarassing and I had to walk part way across the stage to pick it up, I recovered well and finished the song without any more mistakes. No one even mentioned it.
It was interesting to watch all the groups go through their rehearsal as well. One thing I noticed is that the instructors gave very few criticisms, if any. They only said things like "Play a little louder tomorrow." "Let's have even more energy tomorrow!" "Use more voice tomorrow." No individuals were pointed out or picked. No particular sections of the music were critized either. I know everything was not perfrect, but still, only very general comments were given. Even the practices the last couple weeks have been fairly relaxed, and non-critical. In my opinion, I think the instructors are thinking that at this point, it is too late to be making big changes. It will only put pressure on people and make them even more nervous. I think that their hope is that we will all relax and enjoy playing, and if we can do that, our best performance will come out by itself. I agree with this 100%. If the performers are enjoying themselves, the audience will too.
Lastly, I got two big encouragments as I was getting ready to leave. Our bags and coats were close to where Jige-san (of Hono Taiko) and Asano-san (the owner of Asano Taiko) were sitting. Both of them told me they thought I was doing a good job. I know not to put too much worth on this, but still, Jige-san is one of my original taiko inspirations and Asano-san, the owner of the company that makes the best taiko in the world, well, he's seen so many different taiko groups at so many levels, it's just an honor that he would give me encouragement. I was pleased.
2008-03-15
Dress Rehearsal
2008-01-11
Age discrimination, Encouragement and the best taiko group in the world
Maybe I'm just easily pleased, but yesterday I received a compliment/encouragement from Hono Taiko's Yamada-san. Asano Taiko sponsors several taiko groups, their top group, and most well-known, being Hono Taiko. At this weeks practice, we learned that one of the sponsored groups is soon going out of existence and they would like to make a new group to replace it. They are looking for people with experience between the ages of 14 to 30 to make up this amateur/semi-pro level group. Although I am extremely interested in being a part of this group, I was born nearly 3 years too early to be considered for it, so I did not bother to try out for it. Still, last night I saw Yamada san and she asked how old I was because she had thought of me for that group. I told her, and asked if they couldn't possibly extend the age limit to 35. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has asked that. Anyway, I was encouraged to be even considered. I don't mean to say that I have become a taiko virtuoso (if there's such a thing) in 6 months of practice, but I feel validated that I am doing well, showing dedication and potential.
On the other hand, I watch a performance like Yamato's last Sunday and, although it is not discouraging, it also gives me a feeling for the gap between us and becoming a truly professional level performing group. Yamato's concert was truly a moving experience. From the first note of the concert, a chill went through my body, and I was moved to the very last. I have seen Yamato perform on 5 separate occasions now: twice in the US, once in Austria, once in Germany and now in Japan. I am pretty sure that this was the best performance out of the 5 that I've seen.
Yamato now has 18 members, of which I think four are trainees, but they still perform in the shows, just in lesser roles than the full members. Also, I think their touring is more limited. When I first saw Yamato, I think they had about 10 members. 10 people is actually a nice sized taiko team, and when you see 10 people on the stage at once, beating all different sized drums with all their body, mind, heart at the same time, it is quite moving. But add eight more people, and it is even more moving. Also Yamato does not change their program all that much. I first saw them in 1999 and when I opened the program at the concert last Sunday, there was only one song that I hadn't heard. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that I've seen the same concert 5 times either. Yamato's leader, Ogawa san, is constantly making adjustments and changes to improve the songs and the presentation. One of my favorite changes was for the song, Hayate, which has always been one of my favorites. The song features 3 of the girls playing shamisen, accompanied by two other members playing kumi taiko (like a taiko drum set). Miyazaki Mika, the lead shamisen player, has always had an excellent stage presence for this piece, and is probably one of the reasons it is my favorite. Anyhow, this time, there weren't three shamisen players, but about seven. I thought it made the song even better.
Several other songs also included an increased number of performers, and others, the music itself had been changed. And some songs, I think, were just performed even better than before.
This Yamato's 15th year (I think) and at one point in the concert, Ogawa san shared a little bit about how the group was started back in 1993. He had already had experience playing taiko with another group, but was working as a glass blower. There was a festival coming up at a nearby shrine and his mother suggested/encouraged him to put together a few songs with a couple other people and perform at the festival. He, and two other friends wrote a few songs, practiced intensively for maybe two weeks and performed. Their performance was well received and after that, they had many inquiries about joining their group, or doing more performances. I guess there was enough interest, that they decided to try to create a more serious performing group.
In some ways, I thought there were some similarities to our own beginning (although there are many differences as well). We, also, kind of started out without any clear goals, or expectations and following our first we also received an unexpected amount of interest and requests for future performances, enough to encourage us to actually try to create a serious taiko group as well. Although we have no plans to become a world touring group, spending 11 out of 12 months in other countries, I hope that we can attempt to practice and perform the drums with the same passion and dedication that Yamato does.
After the concert there was a reception for Yamato and their friends, to which we were invited. There were quite a few people in a rather small space, so unfortunately, there was not a lot of time for one on one interaction and talking. We did get some pictures with some of the members, though, which I will post below. But first, there was, I guess a notable celebrity in attendance at the concert and the reception, but I did not realize it. I noticed him at the reception because he had very unique clothing. I cannot describe it very well, but he had a brimmed hat, and a sort of patchwork shirt and was also wearing a patchwork type of apron, possibly made of leather. I kept wondering what country he had come from. I thought possibly Mongolia or far eastern Russia. I realized that I was probably staring too much, and was just thinking that I should go and talk to him, instead of staring when my wife told me that he was Kansai Yamamoto, a internationally recognized fashion designer and big fan of taiko.
Anyhow, here are some pictures from the reception, but first, as the concert was held in Nara, some Nara-esque photos:
Me with one of Nara's famed, tame "sacred" deer:
And Mayumi in front of a "Sharp Pagoda":
Me and my wife with Takeru Matsushita, one of Yamato's assistant leaders.
Me with Midori Tamai. He is one of Yamato's most recognizable players because of his hair, which is unfortunately not visible in this picture.
Mayumi with current member, Mika Miyazaki (left, the lead shamisen player) and former member, Shoko Kodera (middle).
2007-09-27
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 7th. 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.
2007-09-14
A Bit more about Children's Taiko
I recently received a comment from a reader who enjoyed reading the “Children’s Taiko” entry, so I thought that I could write a bit more about it.
I can’t say that I’ve been in Japan long enough to make a judgment like this, but it seems that taiko has become more and more popular over the last 10 years or so, and I am becoming aware of new children’s taiko classes all the time. Of course this could also simply be that as I travel further along the taiko journey, I am just becoming exposed to more of these groups. In any case, children’s taiko classes are certainly prevalent in
So far, I haven’t come across any groups for children younger than 4 years old. From what I have seen, it is quite an accomplishment to get 4 year olds all playing the drum together. This week will only be our third week in the Asano class, but the teacher has not asked the children to play anything more than single notes so far. The notes are not even part of a rhythm; they are just working on having the correct stance and hand/arm motions. The other class, a neighborhood class, has also not moved beyond very basic rhythms, such as 4 quarter notes, or 4 quarters followed by 5 eighth notes. I am anxious to see what type of song they end up learning.
I have come across children’s groups, which are actually performing groups. Although the average age tends to be a bit older than 4 years old, the members do range in age from early elementary school through high school. One of these groups I saw at Exstasia this year. They were an all girl group from in Island somewhere in
Part 1
Part 2
2007-09-10
Children's Taiko
My daughter is part of two children’s taiko groups. One is a neighborhood group; the other is a class at Asano Taiko for children. Although we are not part of these groups, (we are too old) watching the lessons can be very enlightening, particularly the Asano Taiko class. Here are two things I have learned from observing the lessons:
As many wise people have observed, we can learn a great deal from children.