How I spent my Japanese Goverment Stimulus: Temple Bowls

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 shrine in there homes have a small one, a few inches in diameter, which they will ring as part of the ritual of praying and burning incense, etc. (Sorry if I have that inaccurate, I am not an expert on Buddhism)

Anyway, my brother is not Buddhist, he just enjoys the sound and thought he might be able to use it as a percussion instrument. Since that time he has collected a couple more. My wife and I also enjoy the sound of these bowls, so we have it in our heads to collect a whole "set" of these, from small to large and use them in a taiko concert, perhaps as an introductory or transitional piece. We are imagining them as a sort of accompaniment to a slow flute piece.

When I recently calculated the cost of the different sizes we hoped to get, it was around 2000 USD. So when I got 20,000 yen (about 200 USD) from a Japanese gov't stimulus plan, I decided to take some of it and start collecting these bowls. Right now we have three and we still need to get a lot more. Here is a short video of my kids demonstrating the bowls so you can get an idea of how they sound.



(Yes, mom, those are the new clothes you sent them.)

How I Ended Up in the Super Beginner Taiko Class

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 courses at Asano. Since I imagine that most of our students when we return to Michigan next year will probably be "beginners" I wanted to talk with her to get an idea of what and how she teaches the beginning courses. Actually, I have never taken a beginning/introductory taiko course, even though I have been practicing it for more than two years. To a certain degree, I was able to pick up the correct techniques, movements and so on just from playing with and watching the people in the other Asano groups we play with. What I didn't notice myself was usually corrected by Yamada sensei. So I thought it would be good for me to get an idea of what goes on in a beginner class, what are the objectives, teaching methods, etc. and that's why I went to talk with Kinoshita san. During our meeting she invited me to come and watch either her "Super Beginner" course on Monday evenings, or her "Basic" course on Tuesday evenings.

I hadn't planned on joining either class. Actually, until recently, I always had Yume Mitai taiko practices on Mondays. But because the beginner class was moved to Mondays, Yume Mitai practices were changed to Thursdays, so my Monday evenings were open. Then I remembered my daughter (6 yrs in June). She had been enrolled in Asano's "Taiko Kids" classes on Sunday mornings. Her class was from 9 - 10, then we would jump in the car and race to church for the 10:30 service. After our recital in March, Karen (my daughter) was promoted from the kids beginner class up to the kids intermediate class. I think she was pretty excited and happy. She even got a new headband (new color) to write her name on. Unfortunately the time was from 10 - 11:30, which means we would have to miss church. Because of our own personal priorities, we were forced to "take a break" from the kids taiko classes.

As I talked with Kinoshita san, and she invited me to observe the class, it dawned on me that I could join the class with Karen. It was a "super beginner" class, meaning it was geared towards people with absolutely now taiko experience. I figured Karen should be able to handle that. And besides, as I mentioned, I had never had a beginning taiko course, so it might do me some good as well. It has been a great experience, by the way, but more on that next time.

So, Karen and I signed up to join Kinoshita san's Super Beginner class. We are having some great daddy-daughter time and both are learning a lot. I'll share more about the class and what we are learning next time. right now it is time for me to go to work...

Asano Taiko Golden Week Day of Taiko

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 go back to work (not ready, actually, but I have no choice).

Yesterday (May 6) was a half-day taiko event at Asano Taiko. They named it the G.W. (Golden Week) Day of Taiko and it was billed as a "Pre-Event" for the upcoming 400th anniversary celebration June 5, 6 and 7. The day featured two short taiko performances by different Asano groups. The first one at the start and the second one to close things up. The Asano Kids classes , Jige san's (Hono Taiko) parent-child group, Kojira, JIGEN (my wife and I are in this group) Sasuke, jr, Sasuke and Hono Taiko all played at least one song. In between the performances there was a basic taiko workshop (pictured above), a "Make Your Own Teeny Tiny Taiko Key chain" workshop, which both my kids did. Here's a picture of that:

Then there was the Odaiko Volume Contest in which about 15 children and 15 adults competed to see who could get the loudest sound out of the "Yamato" Odaiko (6 shaku? about 180 cm diameter) housed in Asano's taiko museum.

Both my son and I entered this contest (my son with "Yamato" in the picture above). Each entrant waited his or her chance for one hit to the drum with a "bat" bachi (a sort of large, heavy, bat shaped stick). No warm ups and no do-overs. The sound was measured with a decibel meter so there would be no question about who had produced the loudest sound. The contest was divided between adults and children and there were around 15 to 20 participants each. My son was part of the children's competition. He was by far the youngest (at nearly 3 years old) and fittingly produced the quietest sound in the group. It was around 83 dB, if I recall correctly. Of course, being his dad, I was proud of him for just getting up in front of so many people and giving it a try. He, on the other hand, probably had no idea what the contest was about and was probably just motivated out of getting a lollipop for trying.

Anyhow, my turn came along. I stepped up on the small platform in front of the drum, which was a little unstable and I didn't really need the extra height. It was also small and too close to the drum for me. I checked behind me to make sure that I would not hit Takebe kun, who was holding the decibel meter, extended my arm and swung it forward. "DON" The sound echoed through the museum and slowly faded away. "123.5 decibels," Takebe kun announced. Not a bad hit, but I knew I could have got in a better one, no that I had my bearings. Unfortunately, one person = one try. Here is the video of my attempt.



It is rather hard to get a feel for the loudness on a YouTube video. Besides that, the video was recorded on my digicam, which probably only has a simple recording mic. As simple as this video is, I actually was able to learn something from watching it. In the past, I have written about the benefits of video taping yourself as you play and this is why. I noticed from this video that annoying habit I have of tilting my head to one side when I play. Do you notice that as I hit the drum, my head tilts to the left? I've been "warned" about this several times from Yamada sensei, my wife and most recently by Kinoshita sensei, but apparently I haven't fixed it yet. Seeing it on video and how "silly" it looks may be just enough to remind me not to do it. At any rate, it didn't seem to effect how loud I played the drum because when all the contestants had finished, I had the top score! I was hoping that the prize for winning was the "Yamato" Odaiko, but everyone laughed when I asked if that was the prize. I got something almost as good, though. I got my very own Asano Taiko towel and a keyaki (zelkova) massage tool.