GaZuut!

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Welcome to new students - Jerry, Julie, Nick and Ashwani!

The first class of the month is always a good time to review some taiko fundamentals (or as Franco calls them, “Taiko vegetables”). One key concept for our style of playing is GaZuut, which is a made-up word referring to release, relaxation, letting go of tension. We often talk about GaZuut of the body and of the mind.

Fun fact: “GaZuut” was termed by San Jose Taiko’s Artistic Director Emeritus, PJ Hirabayashi. There is not enough space here to go over her contributions to North American taiko!

Related to GaZuut and one of the Four Principles is the concept of Beginner’s Mind. This is the idea of being eternally open to learning new things. Especially about the self. The path from bachi to taiko is very fast, however, we look at learning the artform of taiko as a longer journey that is different for each person. Making mistakes is an important part of learning.

Deborah and Keith’s Patterns

Here is the exercise we were working on today. They are two patterns written by Deborah and Keith in the class. Last month we spent some time reviewing Kuchishoka (taiko syllables).

Deborah’s pattern:

Don Don KaRa “Su”

(Both - Both - Right-Left - UP)

Keith’s pattern:

Don KaRa Don “Su”

(Right - Right-Left - Right - Flip-up)

I start each pattern saying the words with “air bachi” 8 times, and then play 8 times through. After that there is an option play through at a faster speed. (Note you can slow down or speed up the video with the little flower/wheel icon on the video.)

Practice as you feel comfortable. This is a building block. We will take these and some other patterns and start combining them in different ways.

Note that you should say “Su!” each time. This is part of the pattern, saying it out loud.

Happy Practicing!

REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • Join the San Jose Taiko Parkinson’s Recreational Class Facebook page to share info/resources.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Movement Drills and Kuchishoka (aka Taiko Vocabulary)

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Opening question: How do you feel about winter?

This week we continued on reviewing the movement drill we have been working on this week, putting together the 6 Don’s, and saying SORE while making a big movement. Here is the video again from last week to practice the moves.


Franco also ran us through a review of KUCHISHOKA for some who may not have had as much practice learning this taiko vocabulary. It’s also listed in the weekly reminder email but here are the sounds again:

Taiko sounds:

  • DON - one loud strike on the drum head

  • DORO - two loud strikes

  • tsu - one light, quiet tap on the drum head

  • tsuku - two light, quiet taps

  • Ka - one tap on the edge of the drum head

  • KaRa - two taps on the edge

  • "Su!" - not a strike on the drum but a rest, during which we will say "Su!"

Here is a practice video of the activity we call CALL and RESPONSE that is also on the Drills and Songs page.

(Click on the link to find more of the same type of video. )

Happy Practicing!

REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • Join the San Jose Taiko Parkinson’s Recreational Class Facebook page to share info/resources.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Movement Drills con't

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Opening question: What is an interesting class or seminar that you have taken (during COVID or otherwise)?

This is an exercise video incorporating the different movements that we covered. Start with 6 Don’s and then do the movement while saying “SORE!” (Unfortunately you can’t hear me on the video.) Each movement is done 4 times. I did it over a funk track to make it more fun. Hopefully it’s fun.

  • LINE

  • SUNSHINE

  • X

  • WINDMILL (scroll down to practice this one some more)

  • “PAT” (In - Out. Point forward and then open your arms. The picture has a horizontal line with arrows going in either direction. I believe this was Pat’s! Correct me if I’m wrong.)

  • “REBECCA” (The Goose. Bachi tips towards your mouth and then point diagonally with both arms together. A goose call.)

  • “CATHY” (Two Hands Meeting. Point one arm to the side and bring your other hand to meet it. Alternate sides.)

These are all amazing and creative moves!

(Reminder that you can adjust the playback speed by clicking on the wheel on the bottom right.)

REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • Join the San Jose Taiko Parkinson’s Recreational Class Facebook page to share info/resources.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Movement Cards and DoRo Don Drills

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Welcome to new students Yael and Joyce!

Opening question: What is your favourite colour? Or, what colour represents your personality?

Sore!

After warming up, we warmed up our vocal chords and hara with some kiai practice on the word “Sore” which generally means “Ready-go!” You will hear this word in taiko a lot - you can compare it to “5-6-7-8” in dance instruction. We took some time to unmute and kiai freely as our voices can connect us, even when we are on Zoom.

DoRo Don Drill

We spent some time on a DoRo Don drill which mixes up the use of the right and left hand. The main thing we are working on is to balance out both sides and become aware of where you may have challenges on your non-dominant side. Here is a video of that drill. It’s quite long so you can work ahead if you like on certain patterns that might be trickier than others (e.g. RLL - LRR - RLL - LRR).

Movement Cards

We brought back the movement cards. There are 4 so far:

The Line

The Sunshine (or Bird)

The X

The Windmill

Since the Windmill is the trickiest one, here is a video to practice it. (In the drill we usually do 6 DON’s but here I’m only doing 2).

Next week we’ll review these and also have an opportunity to come up with your own 2 beat movement.

Happy practicing!

REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • Join the San Jose Taiko Parkinson’s Recreational Class Facebook page to share info/resources.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Isolation Drills and DoRo tsuku

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Check-in question: Do you speak any other languages besides English? Did you study any languages or want to?

Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

We did some greeting/kiai practice keeping in mind the vowel pronunciations that we worked on last week. Generally speaking it means “please help me” or “I put myself in your hands.” But there are a lot of uses for this term, which I have referred to as the “magic phrase!”

If you want to dig deeper into it’s meaning, I found this Japanese language resource.

Isolation Drill

Here is a recording of the Isolation Drill that Franco led us through that I made early during SIP. A reminder that you can use the little flower/wheel on the bottom right to speed up or slow down the tempo.

DoRo tsuku (loud-loud-soft-soft)

DoRo tsuku practice is always great “taiko vegetables” for building up technique, use of hara and evenness between right and left. Last year we wrote this song during PRC. The square on the top right is playing DoRo tsuku the entire time so it’s great practice if you want to follow along. I boosted the volume on that square.

Happy Practicing!

REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • Join the San Jose Taiko Parkinson’s Recreational Class Facebook page to share info/resources.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Back to FUNdamentals!

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We had a new students today - welcome to Deborah!

Franco and I decided that January is a great time to get back to our taiko fundamentals (taiko vegetables). One thing we spent a little time on was learning and practicing Japanese pronunciation. The nice thing about Japanese is that there are only 5 vowel sounds. Here’s practice video. Try to think about also engaging your hara (core) as we would when kiai-ing! (Random tidbit: Yurika was once an ESL teacher.)

Tips: It helps to relax the lower jaw when making the sounds. Also, the emphasis is almost always on the first syllable of word (in English it’s often the second syllable - e.g. YUrika not yuRIka). The “I” and “U” sounds sometimes get soft or disappear, as in “Yoro sh_ku onegai sh_mas_.” Here’s the hiragana alphabet that I just read (there are a few more sounds/combos that aren’t on here). It’s fun to figure out your Japanese name - Franco is FURANKO. (Which sounds like halfway between a Fu and Hu.)

syllabary_h.gif

Mirror Movement and Roy Drills

These are two drills that are great fundamentals. I’ve reposted 2 videos that are on the activities page that you can use for practice. Thanks and great job to Marlene and Cathy who did a great job leading a couple of rounds of Mirror Movement!

REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • Join the San Jose Taiko Parkinson’s Recreational Class Facebook page to share info/resources.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Good-bye 2020, Isolation, Shelter-in-Place / Hello Healthy Eating

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Check-in question: What are you welcoming in for 2021 or saying good-bye to in 2020?

For the last class of 2020, we played an impromptu song to say good-bye to certain things from 2020 and hello to new things for 2021.

Good-bye 2020

Good-bye 2020

Good-bye Good-bye Good-bye

Good-bye 2020

REMINDERS:

  • We are taking a break from class on December 29th.

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Sore Samba - Agogo

Tuesday’s opening question was suggested by Marlene: “What kind of cookies are you making for the holidays?” Or, what kind of cookies to you like?

We reviewed the kiai starter pack and movement activity from last week. (See below) Then Franco introduced the agogo (pronounced “agago”) part of Sore Samba. Here are a couple of ways to think about the pattern.

Counting:

1 - 3 - 3 - 2 - 1 - 1

Or with words:

“Dough - Yurika - Yurika - Franco - Cookie…”.

In both cases the last number or word goes directly into the first one.

Happy Practicing!


A couple of things…

We are undergoing a bit of review of our online PRC programming as we had initially thought of it as being shorter term. As we are approaching January, it’s a good time to revisit a few things. We had a quick chat about:

  • Class time/date (most people were ok with the time. A bit later would be ok but not earlier. Tuesdays are good

  • Payment system. We’re still exploring ways to tighten this up a bit. Will keep you updated.

If anyone has any thoughts on these feel free to let Yurika know. Thanks!

REMINDERS:

  • We are taking a break from class on December 29th.

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Kiai Starter Pack

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Opening question: What is your favourite household or kitchen gadget?

Doing a bit of review on kiai and adding it to our various activities, I promised the class I would add a “Kiai Starter Pack.” Here’s some that I typically would teach students, but as we mentioned in class, you can really say just about anything. Kiai expresses energy from your body and to share that energy is kind of like an amazing gift. It also gives us energy to do it. In taiko, it typically follows on Japanese syllables, especially ending with “ah” or “oh” as those are easy to say.

3 Types of Striking - X-Form

I recorded this video of the three types of striking as a variation that you can practice. Some of you might find this easier than lifting your arms straight up. During class we talked about keeping your rectangle open and how that might help. In X-Form, it also helps to shift a little bit more from side to side using the lower body.

Sore Samba Call and Response

Franco led us through the beginning of Sore Samba - the call and response. Here are two practice videos. Also, here again the PRACTICE AUDIO TRACK.

Happy Practicing!

REMINDERS:

  • We are taking a break from class on December 29th.

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

3 Types of Basic Striking

PRC welcomes new student Robyn from SF!

Opening question: Name, location and a fun fact about you.

After warm-ups, Franco led us through a coordination activity reviewing ASL numbers. And then we each signed our own phone numbers using both the right and left hands. Here’s a video in case you need a refresher on the basics.

Yurika led a section going over 3 different types of basic taiko striking. They might show up in different songs or some taiko groups might default to one way more than another. SJT’s style is generally the first one, although you might see the others from time to time.

  1. Default position is to start with our bachi at the drum.

  2. Default position is t to start with your arms and bachi straight up in the air.

  3. Striking happens so that arms are always crossing each other. One starts up and one starts down.

    (Remember that you should be able to change the speed of the video by using the little wheel on the bottom right of the video.)

Sore Samba!

We followed up with some more Samba with Franco! Here’s a link to the audio track we have been using in case you want to dance/play along or just listen to it while doing dishes. If you missed it, Franco recorded a fun workout practice video last week. (Scroll down to see.)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • We are taking a break from class on December 29th.

  • There are 2 senior classes starting January. Level 1 will be on Tuesdays from 2:30-3:30PM and Level 2 will be on Wednesdays at 1:00-2:00PM. You can see more info here.

  • There is a TAIKO CENSUS! The Taiko Community Alliance is conducting this census to try to find more about taiko participation in the world. If you can, please fill it out at https://taikocommunityalliance.org/programs/census/ by December 31st.

REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Sore Samba!

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Opening question: If someone were to make an action figure of you, what would you be holding in your hands?

This week we warmed up with a movement and kiai exercise we did a little while ago. Focusing the word “SORE” which basically means “Ready, Go!” If you are a taiko player, you will often hear this as the count in to a song or drill to give the tempo. There are 4 different movements represented by each card. We started with just kiai and movement and then played it on the taiko.

  1. “Line” - down, up

  2. “Sunshine” - swoop up

  3. “X” - cross, open

  4. “Star” - free movement!

Sore Samba Workout

Following up from last week’s activities, Franco led some more Samba-inspired stepping and playing drills. He made this fun workout video for you to practice along with at a slower tempo. Sorry I wasn’t able to update the blog last week, I put some videos/links at the bottom for reference.

If you are interested, here is the performance video of Sore Samba, the San Jose Taiko piece written by Franco. A bit of background on SJT: we are a contemporary taiko company and our music is written by our members, reflecting our diverse backgrounds and inspirations. We do often incorporate other music influences and we were lucky to be able to learn from Franco’s experience in Samba.

For more music to listen to here is a Sergio Mendes playlist. Franco says the first and last tracks are the ones that relate to what we did during class. The other tracks are worth a listen but are primarily interpretations that span different aspects of samba.

Another interesting tidbit: Matthew Brodsky talks about music and brain in relation to Parkinson’s in this video shared by Pat (thanks Pat!). He specifically mentions Samba as a type of music that he thinks is beneficial to people with PD because of it’s polyrhythmic nature. They also give a shout-out to taiko too.

Here is a video of some of things covered last week!

We hope you have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving! Take care everyone!

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Taiko Vegetables

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Opening question: Are you a hot person or a cold person? Do you prefer cold weather or hot weather?

Stepping

After warm-ups Franco led us through some stepping and playing exercises. I forgot to take video, but here is a related activity that we did a few months ago.

Taiko Vegetables

Franco coined the term “Taiko Vegetables” when talking about exercises that are for practicing fundamentals. Though they can be repetitive, they can also be fun while giving time to letting mind and body to get more connected.

Here is longer version of the DoRo Don drill that we also did in class.

Other things…

If you are free, please join us for San Jose Taiko’s virtual concert “Rhythm Spirit 2020” this Saturday at 12:00PM PT. It will be hosted on our YouTube channel. Normally at this time we would be preparing for an in-theatre concert so we are happy to be able to put this performance out for people to enjoy.

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Don/DoRo/Su & Roy Drills

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Welcome to the father and daughter duo, Charles and Faith! They are calling in from Ohio and Santa Cruz respectively.

Opening Question: Name, location, how long have you been playing taiko, what is an action/gesture that describes how you are feeling right now?

Given the kind of day today is, we wanted to just play a lot of taiko to move some energy around. We started out with a quick review of some kuchishoka (taiko vocabulary) and did some call and response.

This is kind of a long video going over some of the kuchishoka. You can find similar drills like this here.

Roy Drills

We followed up with some classic Roy Drills! You can also find more Roy Drills on the PRC activities page.

Please take care of yourselves this week.

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!


Groove Holmes

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Opening question: If you wrote a taiko song about your life right now, what would you call it?

Yurika: Patience / 
Franco: Shave and a Haircut
 / Pat: Zoom Zoom Zoom!
 / Marlene: Crazy Neighbors / 
Lane: Slowly and Anxiously / 
Cathy: The Beat Goes On
…
 / Keith: Move, Sit, Move
 / Rebecca: Sick of My Own Company
 / Ellen: Anxious Until Whenever the Hell it’s Over
 / Theresa: Walking Outside


Sorry to skip last week’s blogpost!

This morning after warm-ups Franco led us through an activity learning and practicing how to count to 10 using ASL (American Sign Language). As I forgot to take a video, here is one I found on youtube. We also did it counting along in Japanese as well as using exaggerated movement and facial expression to show emphasis. You can also try it on your non-dominant hand as we like to do all activities on both sides of our body.


Set It and Forget It

For today’s movement activity we started out with some mirror movement with bachi, keeping in mind the ideas of gathering and releasing energy, and being relaxed instead of overly controlled. After warming up on that we added a new element. One hand played a consistent beat on the taiko, while the other arm was doing mirror movement. In order to do this, you need to “set it and forget it” on the taiko side so you can give most of your attention over to the movement side. We practiced this on both the right and left hand sides.

Groove Along

Last week, we practiced our rock beat pattern to the AC/DC track, Back in Black. We liked that Ellen had found her own groove when playing along and wanted to give you the opportunity to do that for this week’s song, Groove Holmes by the Beastie Boys. As a base, you can always play the rock beat pattern (you can see this below in the last blog entry) or find your own beat. Everyone’s might be slightly different but we’ll all be unified with the main pulse.

If you have any songs you like the beat to, feel free to let us know! Ellen said she likes Cathy’s Clown by the Everly Brothers. We also heard Cold Sweat from Keith, but not sure if it’s this one by James Brown?

Other things:

Have a good week!


ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!



SORÉ! ("Ready Go!")

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Opening question: How have you (or will you) treated yourself during COVID?

Marlene: Zoppe Circus / Cathy: PRC and other classes / Lane: Getting a haircut! / Renira: Driving to Arizona / Keith: Getting an iPad / Ellen: Getting more books / Pat: Marvel Movie-thon every weekend / Theresa: Game/movie/craft nights with daughter / Rebecca: PRC! / Yurika: Going to the Fort Mason drive-in / Franco: Green Egg

After Warm-Ups this morning Yurika ran a kiai and coordination activity. Basically we got into a vigorous march using elbows and then did call and response of basic kiai. Since kiai are meant to be shouted with volume and intention, sometimes it’s easier to do that when the body is in motion rather than still.

“Soré!”

If you have been playing taiko for any length of time, you’ll probably have heard this word. We don’t always explain it explicitly, but basically it means - “ready, go!” It can be confusing as “Soré” can have other meanings in Japanese. In the taiko context we usually will focus on each syllable equally with intention (e.g. “SOH!-REH!”) and it serves the purposes of setting the timing of the first strike, getting you ready mentally/physically and also imbues you with ki/energy.

Today’s exercise was using “soré” to prep for gather and release of energy. On the “so” let you body weight drop a little bit and on the “ré” use that potential energy to spring yourself up and wind up your arms. Right after that you can use that energy to hit the drum. So sequentially “SO-RÉ-DON!”

Drumming Technique and Rock Drumming Con’t

Franco led us through a review of last-week’s coordination drill based on the 2’s and 4’s rock drumming. You can see a video of it below from last week. Lane made a helpful tip that he thinks about it as 2 beats (one hand / two hands).

We spent a little bit of time talking about drumming fundamentals and striking. Even though we are not playing on taiko right now at home, there are ways of capitalizing on your technique to get the best sound out of your bucket or box and also to not to cause undue strain to your wrists and elbows. A key part of this is relaxed grip.

Other things:

Fun drumming video:

  • Nandi Bushell a young British girl who plays drumset with attitude playing along with the Foo Fighters. Franco’s a big fan!

Have a good week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. Please mark on your payment what dates the payment is for. This will help greatly in reconciling payments.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Gathering and Emptying Energy (Ki)

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We had a new student in class today, welcome Keith!

Opening questions: Please say your name, where you are located, how long you have been playing taiko and something you have learned about yourself during these last few months.

We have a fair number of videos today as we started on a couple of new concepts for the month of October. After warming up briefly, Franco led us through a coordination exercise that practices hand independence. It is based on rock drumming - one hand playing the high hat part and one hand playing the snare. We switched back and forth on which hand was doing what.

After the warm-up, Yurika led a movement exercise around Gathering and Emptying energy. This is a San Jose Taiko concept where instead of using muscles to strike the drum, we use energy that we store up in our bodies. You can think about it as a spring that is either coiled to spring out or pulled outwards to spring back together. Breathing is a huge part of this. After some breathing and moving exercises, we took it back to the taiko.

Roy Drills

Roy Drills are always great to implement new skills and concepts. The only rule is to not stop playing, even when it gets difficult and you can’t keep up. For today, since the focus was on gather/emptying of energy into the drum, the key is to keep breathing and try not to get too tense.

To finish off the day’s activities Franco led us through putting the rock drumming coordination activity on the taiko.

Check-in Mode and Sharing

When we were back in the studio, it was easier for us to talk to each other and share during the class on our self-observations. We would like to bring back that sharing mode as we know that what you are all learning is valuable to hear from each other. While going through the class and activities, you can ask yourself things like:

  • What felt good during that exercise and why?

  • What was hard? What was easy?

  • What was something that you noticed in yourself that you didn’t notice before?

  • What are you wondering if other people are experiencing?

Thanks everyone for your honesty and openness to sharing. This is a big part of San Jose Taiko’s learning philosophy and Beginner’s Mind - that we can continually learn from each other no matter how much or little experience you have had with taiko or anything else for that matter.

Have a good week and happy practicing!

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!




Sharp versus Smooth con't

(Click here to go to the PRC Main page.)

Opening question: What was a memorable Halloween costume that you made for your yourself or your kids? (Unfortunately, my computer crashed while writing this entry and I lost all the answers! But I remember: Raggedy Ann, Freddy Kruger, lobster in a pot, a box of floss!)

After warm-ups, we did a bit of review on the Ei Ja Nai Ka call and response from last week (see below) and talked about how it means, “Ain’t it good?” with an element of “what the heck, whatever!” and focusing on what is good in life. To be able to call that out with energy and spirit.

We followed up with the RumbaKo sweeps. First focusing only on the sweeping hand first, controlling it’s movement, and also turning your gaze towards the sweeping hand. And finally adding in a weight shift towards that hand, before adding in the taiko hand. It’s a lot of things to think about all at once, and great to do it on both sides of the body.

Putting together all of our elements for the month - sharp/smooth movements, horsebeat and numbers, we finished up putting together the 5544 “song”. Playing it a bit slower at first then challenging ourselves to playing it faster.

We did a lot in September, it was nice to have 5 weeks to focus on these elements. Next months we’ll be shifting focus on something slightly different, but of course carrying forth the fundaments of San Jose Taiko’s 4 Principles. In case you forgot they are:

MUSICAL TECHNIQUE (the part of taiko that you hear)

KATA / FORM (the part of taiko that you see)

ATTITUDE (the part of taiko that you think about)

KI / ENERGY (the part of taiko that you feel)

All 4 principles are equally important and we are continually striving to improve in all areas. The concept of Beginner’s Mind is always a good one to keep close at hand - no matter how long you have been playing taiko, we always strive to see what else we can learn each time we are at the drum (and in life!). That applies to students and teachers. As we are always learning from you too.

Have a good week!

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month.

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • We’re starting a new session for October so feel free to spread the word to anyone who might be interested in coming to PRC.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!


Ei Ja Nai Ka? "Isn't it Good?"

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Opening question: What was your favourite toy or game growing up?

Rebecca: Yellow plastic lamb
 / Nancy: Swings
 / Cathy: Monopoly
 / Ellen: Stuffed animals
 that would join her and her brother while watching Saturday morning cartoons / Franco: Apple II+
 / Lane: Anything outside
, also hotwheels which ended up getting destroyed by younger brother / 
Theresa: Drums! Playing in parades in Sacramento with sister / Sonya: stuffed animals, horses, plastic dinosaurs
 / Yurika: digging holes in the backyard with sister and brother, looking for treasure

“Ei Ja Nai Ka?” Call and Response

Today we learned the kakegoe (掛け声) for a song that is played by San Jose Taiko and many other taiko groups around the world called “Ei Ja Nai Ka.” Kakegoe are usually words of encouragement for the musicians, singers, or dancers performing with music.  Usually they are phased a longer than kiai and might fit in musically, but always shouted with energy and intention.

Ei Ja Nai Ka? hai! ASORE! ASORE!

Ei Ja Nai Ka? hai! ASORE SORE YOI SHO!

Ei Ja Nai Ka? hai! ASORE! ASORE!

Ei Ja Nai Ka? hai! ASORE SORE YOI SHO!

Ei EI Ja JA Nai NAI Ka KA

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - HAI!

Yurika had recorded this for our summer obon performance at home:

Here are a couple of videos of Ei Ja Nai Ka? being performed at home during COVID and also at the San Jose Obon Festival. You can see how Ei Ja Nai Ka? has spread all over the world here.

Putting Things Together

Franco went over a review of the RumbaKo “sweeps” that we worked on last week (see videos below). The sweeps are great to practice as they challenge our right and left sides to do something very different - while one side is playing the taiko with rhythmic strikes, the other hand is trying to make a smooth movement. Franco suggested that if that is difficult at first, it’s ok to move the “smooth” hand more like a ticking clock.

We also did a bit more practice on the Horsebeat from last week and added an element, alternating 4 horsebeats with 4 counts of movement. The movements can be smooth movements or they can be sharp movements.

IMG_2852.jpg

After practicing this for a while, we also reviewed the song that we made up using numbers. Then putting it all together:

5 . 5 . 4 . . 4 . . / 5 . 5 . 1 . 1 . 2 . (“Ho!”)

Horsebeat x 4 / Movement x 4 counts

Repeat the whole thing!

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. (The fee for September is $45/month since there are 5 Tuesdays.)

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • We will be running classes through December. We’re not sure when we’ll be back at the studio, so it will be Zoom for the time being. If we do end up going back to the studio, we are planning to also have either a separate Zoom class or a hybrid Zoom/studio class if you can’t come all the way to SJ.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!

Horsebeat (DON DOKO = R RL = 1 1-2)

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Opening question: Do you speak another language besides English? Or can you teach us a word/phrase from another language?

A variety of languages popped up in the class - French, Spanish, Italian, Armenian, Japanese, ASL. Franco and Yurika had taken an ASL course for taiko instructors and thought perhaps this might come in handy for teaching Zoom classes long-term. Since everyone is muted a lot of the time. Stay tuned for some new taiko zoom hand signals.

RumbaKo Sweeps

Building off of exercises on sharp vs. smooth movements, Franco ran us through an exercise based on an SJT song called RumbaKo, which was inspired by rhythms from Cuba. There is a section of the song called Sweeps, and this is what we were working on. Here is a practice video. (*Tip: You can make the video go faster or slower by clicking on the little wheel/flower at the bottom right of the video and choosing the speed you want.)

You can see the entire performance of RumbaKo below. The sweeps section starts around 1 minute 30. (It is slightly different than our practice exercise.)

Horsebeat + Number Song

We also continued on with the number theme. Yurika made a up a song based on numbers that fit nicely into counts of 8, which should feel more natural to us than the random number activity from last week. In contrast to other world music that might be written in complex meters of 5 or 11 or 13, Japanese music and western music both are mostly written in counts of 8.

The pattern is:

5 . 5 . 4 . . 4 . . / 5 . 5 . 1 . 1 . 2 . (“Ho!”)

This does break our previous rule of having 2 clicks after even numbers. But to mix things up, we changed the last click after the 2 into a Kiai and movement.

The entire song pattern is preceded by a Horsebeat. This is a base beat or “ji” that is very common in taiko music. When played quickly, it evokes the image of pounding hooves. There are various ways you can think about it:

Don DoKo (or Don DoRo)

Right Right-Left

1 - 1-2

In this exercise, play the horsebeat 8 times before and after the song (set of numbers).

Happy practicing!

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. (The fee for September is $45/month since there are 5 Tuesdays.)

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • We will be running classes through December. We’re not sure when we’ll be back at the studio, so it will be Zoom for the time being. If we do end up going back to the studio, we are planning to also have either a separate Zoom class or a hybrid Zoom/studio class if you can’t come all the way to SJ.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!


Sharp versus Smooth - Part 2

(Click here to go to the PRC Main page.)

Opening question: Do you have any secret talents? Everyone has a little thing they have discovered they are good at. One of our members was extremely talented at fixing zippers, we called her the “zipper savant.” It turns out that Ellen can wiggle her ears, Marlene is especially talented at making frozen yogurt and Cathy can untangle jewelry. Franco accidentally discovered he was good at making fake gift certificates, but of course he wouldn’t try to fool someone intentionally!

We had a guest in the class today, Sam Leung. He is a student at Rhode Island School of Design, and plays taiko with Gendo Taiko, the collegiate group out there. He is very interested in the applications of taiko for Parkinson’s. Moving forward, we may have other guests as San Jose Taiko is becoming known in the global taiko community for our Parkinson’s programming. Our intention is to be able to share our work with others so that this type of class may be available around the world. We hope that this is not an inconvenience to you and want to be respectful of our wonderful space here. Please feel free to let us know if you have questions.

After warm-ups, Yurika led us through a coordination activity. Since we had been working on arm circles during last month and getting your arms to do slightly different things. Here is a video below going over the activity.

Today’s Sharp versus Smooth Drill followed up from last week. We added on some “parameters” or ways of mixing up the free movement. We did some reps with the parameter of looking at one of your hands during the movement. We also did some where you could get out of your taiko stance and start to move around the drum. The pattern stayed the same:

Don Don Don Don - SHARP - SHARP -

Don Don DoRo Don - SMOOTH (4 counts)

Number Drill con’t…

We also did some more of last week’s number drill, this time adding on more numbers and also adding a background “ji” or “basebeat” made with the virtual drum machine at dokodon.com. If you want to practice to the one Yurika made, it’s a horsebeat and you can click here to access it.

Franco challenged us to add Kiai also. For one click, you can say “hup” or “ha” and for two clicks, “so-re". And if you want a further challenge, you can add movement while you are clicking your bachi. It was interesting to observe how things influenced each other, for example Lane said that he became aware that sometime he would click with one hand under or over. Renira mentioned that she found doing the even numbers harder than odd numbers.

Here is a video of the last round when all the numbers were in.

Have fun practicing and I hope everyone isn’t too affected by the smoke.

Make Your Own Bucket-Taiko!

Yurika ran an informal session on how to make a practice taiko with a 5-gallon bucket (or a box) and some tape. It’s kind of long, but here is a recording of the session if you would like to make one yourself.

It doesn’t have to be this fancy, but here is one that a student made in another class. Feel free to make it your own!

20200905_020131.jpg

ANNOUNCEMENTS and REMINDERS:

  • Payment for classes should be made here: https://www.paypal.me/sanjosetaiko OR by check made out to San Jose Taiko, 565 N. 5th Street, San Jose CA 95112 (please mark the check PRC). The fee is $10 drop-in or $36/month. (The fee for September is $45/month since there are 5 Tuesdays.)

  • Bachi can be purchased to be mailed for $10 a pair.

  • Our friends in southern California are also running a taiko class for Parkinson’s called “Rhythmic Flow Taiko” on Sundays. Please check their website for more info.

  • At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!