Taiko Workshop
***
AKA: 3 Down 40 to Go (43 Things)
It finally happened!!!!!!! (^ ^)
Yesterday I went up to San Jose for my first ever taiko workshop with San Jose Taiko.
It was sooooooo awesome, and I am in sooooooo much pain.
I need to backtrack a bit first, so you can have the full story.
As some of you may remember, back in September I signed up for a new venture as a birthday present to myself. I plunked down some money to get my car fixed- the motor in some fan had apparently burned out. Good to go, right? Wrong. Then last month I noticed that I was losing water. I took it back in and plunked down some more money to replace the water pump. So everything is alright now, right? Nope. Last week I discovered a crack in my radiatior. Oh the horror!!! I thought I was going to have to cancel my trip completely to get a new radiator.
Not quite. Although I'm still broke and haven't gotten my baby fixed yet, I plunked down some money and rented me a really tiny car. A Dodge Neon. Okay, it's not the smallest car ever built, but you have to admit that had I rented a Cooper Mini, the cuteness factor alone would have made up for its size.
So, Sunday morning I get up early and start my journey. I went to 8:00 Mass instead of my usual 10:30 Mass with the family, because I don't like missing church if I can help it. Afterwards I hopped on the 99 heading north, then 152 heading west.
By the way, did I mention it was raining?
I stopped briefly at a mini mart in Los Banos for something to drink, but my first real stop on my trek was at the Casa de Fruta (Casa day Fruta- in the spirit of Bob Roll!). You can't not stop there if you're going over Pacheco Pass. I always buy something there, it's good for the local economy. My mom was born in Hollister, so I consider it part of my roots.
Back on the road, I caught the 101 north in Gilroy. Next stop: San Jose. As I left Gilroy city limits, the clouds parted and the glorious sun broke through. I thought it was a sign of a good workshop to come.
I arrived in Japantown about 11:45, and had no problem finding Okida Hall, the studio for San Jose Taiko. A Sunday morning farmer's market was just shutting down, so I had no issue finding free parking. Since the workshop didn't start until two, I decided to walk around Japantown and check things out.
At this point I have to stop and apologize. All this way, and I did not take a single picture. I brought my camera and plenty of batteries, but it never made its way out of my purse.
I browsed through a cute shop called Nikkei Traditions. I swear I wanted to buy EVERYTHING in that store, but I was broke, and I still had to buy myself lunch. I wanted a light lunch so I ate at a cafe called Banana Crepe. Delicious. They served sandwiches wrapped in crepes. I had a Hawaiian crepe which was ham, swiss, lettuce, tomatoes and pineapple. It was really yummy and just the right size. They also offered dessert crepes, and I was really really tempted to get one that was strawberries and whipped cream, but I had to pass. I'll be honest, I was afraid that I'd be too full and end up tossing my lunch on the floor of the studio. Talk about dying of embarassment.
So finally it was 2:00. I took a deep breath and entered the studio. Okida Hall was once a community center resembling a cafeteria from my elementary school days. Now it has studio mirrors on one wall, a thick marley-covered floor, and another wall with shelves and shelves of drums. One wall is an unused stage and opposite, the area near the front entrance, is set with chairs.
The instructors for the workshop were PJ Hirabayashi, Creative Director; Pam Murotsune, performing member for 10 years; Sylvia King, first year performing member (If I remember correctly); and Alex Hudson, apprentice. Of course, this wouldn't be a Big YZ/Blossom post if I didn't mention the fact that I thought Alex was really, really, cute. Really. I was definitely hearing faint clicking sounds in the background, and it wasn't any drum.
First we (about 15-20 of us) took off our shoes and made a circle on the floor. Okay, first instinct was to say "dance floor" since the floor was very similar to the portable floor we used in the dance program at Fresno State. So what do I call it? The taiko floor? Sounds good. We sat in a circle on the taiko floor and introduced ourselves. I give myself extra credit points for being the most traveled that day (^ ^). Next we watched a video about San Jose Taiko and their community involvement. Very impressive in my opinion. They even do company workshops in communications. Let's try THAT at our next All-Staff meeting. Woo-Hoo!
After the video, we were given an introduction to all the drums in the ensemble: From the smallest drum, shime-daiko, smaller than a snare drum, to the largest drum, o-daiko, which is really really big. Next we stood for warm ups. Felt like high intensity tai-chi. And yes, I was already sweating by the end of it. We learned how to stand, called kata. A definite workout for the quads. We learned how to hold the drum sticks, called bachi. And we learned how to use them, the whole arm technique. Then we got to use them on drums, nagado-daiko. Shaped like, and can be made from, wine barrels. Sorry Dave and John, this is waaaaay cooler than senior year drum line!
As part of the workshop, we learned that taiko is an oral tradition. Therefore, there is no sheet music to learn. Music is taught phonetically. "If you can say it, you can play it." There were a few different ways to strike the drum, and each way had a sound/name. A big strike was called don, a soft strike was called tsu, and a strike along the rim was called ka, among others. I think that's how other percussion works too, generally, because I remember a joke from my freshman year at Fresno State by the drum line and the punchline went along the line of "Was that a dut or a chut?". Also vague memory tells me that the opening line to the FSU cadence sounded like "spak-oom spak-oom spak digga digga digga". I could also just be smoking crack. After we worked on some exercises, we were taught a song. It was a simple practice song, like scales I guess, but it was really fun, and banging that drum was the most fun I had had in a really long time.
Before I knew it, my three hours were up. (> <) As exhausted as I was, I did not want to stop. Unfortunately play time was over and I had to go home. My arms felt like spaghetti and my legs were shaking. Good thing my rental car was an automatic because I know I would not have been able to shift my way back to The No. Before I left, though, I picked up a San Jose Taiko t-shirt and CD as momentos.
On my way home, I stopped for dinner in Morgan Hill. Denny's, for a french toast slam with a Coke (my first caffeine of the day). My arms were so taxed, that I could not lift the glass to my mouth. I had to slide the glass close to me and drink from a straw with the glass still on the table. Of course I brought along an appetizer, ibuprofen. Good thinking I say. After dinner I fed the car and headed home. It was uneventful. Back in Los Banos I stopped through Caffe'e Via for a small peppermint latte, to ensure the rest of my journey. That was the heaviest cup of coffee I ever felt! Every time I lifted the cup to my mouth, I could feel my bicep and forearm muscle shake. I nearly dropped it twice.
I finally returned to Fresno a bit before ten, and by then my legs had started to stiffen up on me. I knew I was going to be in for a long hard Monday, so I took the morning off in advance. Good thing, because I was going to need all the extra time.
All in all, it was a great workshop, and an AWESOME experience!!! Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!
Yvette Z.
The Sore Muscle Collector
PS- You there, in Australia. Hi. I notice you read this post often. Do you like taiko? Leave me a comment. :)
AKA: 3 Down 40 to Go (43 Things)
It finally happened!!!!!!! (^ ^)
Yesterday I went up to San Jose for my first ever taiko workshop with San Jose Taiko.
It was sooooooo awesome, and I am in sooooooo much pain.
I need to backtrack a bit first, so you can have the full story.
As some of you may remember, back in September I signed up for a new venture as a birthday present to myself. I plunked down some money to get my car fixed- the motor in some fan had apparently burned out. Good to go, right? Wrong. Then last month I noticed that I was losing water. I took it back in and plunked down some more money to replace the water pump. So everything is alright now, right? Nope. Last week I discovered a crack in my radiatior. Oh the horror!!! I thought I was going to have to cancel my trip completely to get a new radiator.
Not quite. Although I'm still broke and haven't gotten my baby fixed yet, I plunked down some money and rented me a really tiny car. A Dodge Neon. Okay, it's not the smallest car ever built, but you have to admit that had I rented a Cooper Mini, the cuteness factor alone would have made up for its size.
So, Sunday morning I get up early and start my journey. I went to 8:00 Mass instead of my usual 10:30 Mass with the family, because I don't like missing church if I can help it. Afterwards I hopped on the 99 heading north, then 152 heading west.
By the way, did I mention it was raining?
I stopped briefly at a mini mart in Los Banos for something to drink, but my first real stop on my trek was at the Casa de Fruta (Casa day Fruta- in the spirit of Bob Roll!). You can't not stop there if you're going over Pacheco Pass. I always buy something there, it's good for the local economy. My mom was born in Hollister, so I consider it part of my roots.
Back on the road, I caught the 101 north in Gilroy. Next stop: San Jose. As I left Gilroy city limits, the clouds parted and the glorious sun broke through. I thought it was a sign of a good workshop to come.
I arrived in Japantown about 11:45, and had no problem finding Okida Hall, the studio for San Jose Taiko. A Sunday morning farmer's market was just shutting down, so I had no issue finding free parking. Since the workshop didn't start until two, I decided to walk around Japantown and check things out.
At this point I have to stop and apologize. All this way, and I did not take a single picture. I brought my camera and plenty of batteries, but it never made its way out of my purse.
I browsed through a cute shop called Nikkei Traditions. I swear I wanted to buy EVERYTHING in that store, but I was broke, and I still had to buy myself lunch. I wanted a light lunch so I ate at a cafe called Banana Crepe. Delicious. They served sandwiches wrapped in crepes. I had a Hawaiian crepe which was ham, swiss, lettuce, tomatoes and pineapple. It was really yummy and just the right size. They also offered dessert crepes, and I was really really tempted to get one that was strawberries and whipped cream, but I had to pass. I'll be honest, I was afraid that I'd be too full and end up tossing my lunch on the floor of the studio. Talk about dying of embarassment.
So finally it was 2:00. I took a deep breath and entered the studio. Okida Hall was once a community center resembling a cafeteria from my elementary school days. Now it has studio mirrors on one wall, a thick marley-covered floor, and another wall with shelves and shelves of drums. One wall is an unused stage and opposite, the area near the front entrance, is set with chairs.
The instructors for the workshop were PJ Hirabayashi, Creative Director; Pam Murotsune, performing member for 10 years; Sylvia King, first year performing member (If I remember correctly); and Alex Hudson, apprentice. Of course, this wouldn't be a Big YZ/Blossom post if I didn't mention the fact that I thought Alex was really, really, cute. Really. I was definitely hearing faint clicking sounds in the background, and it wasn't any drum.
First we (about 15-20 of us) took off our shoes and made a circle on the floor. Okay, first instinct was to say "dance floor" since the floor was very similar to the portable floor we used in the dance program at Fresno State. So what do I call it? The taiko floor? Sounds good. We sat in a circle on the taiko floor and introduced ourselves. I give myself extra credit points for being the most traveled that day (^ ^). Next we watched a video about San Jose Taiko and their community involvement. Very impressive in my opinion. They even do company workshops in communications. Let's try THAT at our next All-Staff meeting. Woo-Hoo!
After the video, we were given an introduction to all the drums in the ensemble: From the smallest drum, shime-daiko, smaller than a snare drum, to the largest drum, o-daiko, which is really really big. Next we stood for warm ups. Felt like high intensity tai-chi. And yes, I was already sweating by the end of it. We learned how to stand, called kata. A definite workout for the quads. We learned how to hold the drum sticks, called bachi. And we learned how to use them, the whole arm technique. Then we got to use them on drums, nagado-daiko. Shaped like, and can be made from, wine barrels. Sorry Dave and John, this is waaaaay cooler than senior year drum line!
As part of the workshop, we learned that taiko is an oral tradition. Therefore, there is no sheet music to learn. Music is taught phonetically. "If you can say it, you can play it." There were a few different ways to strike the drum, and each way had a sound/name. A big strike was called don, a soft strike was called tsu, and a strike along the rim was called ka, among others. I think that's how other percussion works too, generally, because I remember a joke from my freshman year at Fresno State by the drum line and the punchline went along the line of "Was that a dut or a chut?". Also vague memory tells me that the opening line to the FSU cadence sounded like "spak-oom spak-oom spak digga digga digga". I could also just be smoking crack. After we worked on some exercises, we were taught a song. It was a simple practice song, like scales I guess, but it was really fun, and banging that drum was the most fun I had had in a really long time.
Before I knew it, my three hours were up. (> <) As exhausted as I was, I did not want to stop. Unfortunately play time was over and I had to go home. My arms felt like spaghetti and my legs were shaking. Good thing my rental car was an automatic because I know I would not have been able to shift my way back to The No. Before I left, though, I picked up a San Jose Taiko t-shirt and CD as momentos.
On my way home, I stopped for dinner in Morgan Hill. Denny's, for a french toast slam with a Coke (my first caffeine of the day). My arms were so taxed, that I could not lift the glass to my mouth. I had to slide the glass close to me and drink from a straw with the glass still on the table. Of course I brought along an appetizer, ibuprofen. Good thinking I say. After dinner I fed the car and headed home. It was uneventful. Back in Los Banos I stopped through Caffe'e Via for a small peppermint latte, to ensure the rest of my journey. That was the heaviest cup of coffee I ever felt! Every time I lifted the cup to my mouth, I could feel my bicep and forearm muscle shake. I nearly dropped it twice.
I finally returned to Fresno a bit before ten, and by then my legs had started to stiffen up on me. I knew I was going to be in for a long hard Monday, so I took the morning off in advance. Good thing, because I was going to need all the extra time.
All in all, it was a great workshop, and an AWESOME experience!!! Would I do it again? In a heartbeat!
Yvette Z.
The Sore Muscle Collector
PS- You there, in Australia. Hi. I notice you read this post often. Do you like taiko? Leave me a comment. :)
posted by Yvette @ 12/11/2006
1 comments
