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Opening question: Which of the elements do you identify with most? Everyone in today’s class was either water or wind, Pat was earth. But no fires! Fluidity, travel, flexibility, going with the flow and groundedness were things that came up.
Kiai Contest
After warming up, Franco led us through a review of kiai and then we split into 2 teams to practice a loud, explosive, short kiai and also to try a longer sustained kiai. We discovered that with Zoom, the loudest person takes over the sound and you can’t hear anyone else!
Movement / Posing
We did a review of the 4 movements we had been working on with Yurika - the “line”, “sunshine”, “X” and “windmill.” That windmill is a nice tricky one that we can continue to practice and coordinate. If you are familiar with Karate Kid, it is a similar to the “Wax On, Wax Off” movement. Or if you were saying “So long, farewell!” The hands move up and out. Maybe that will help! Franco and I talked afterward about how for some concepts it just takes someone explaining it a different way or just after hearing it multiple times that it might just "click” one day.
We also practiced doing shorter movements within one count, alternating with a DON. The movement is free and paired with a kiai. You could think of it more like a striking a pose. Here is a video of PJ Hirabayashi (our AD Emeritus) playing a song that shows an example of how this might be played in a song at 20 seconds. She’s moving around the drum in this instance.
Roy Drills
Since we haven’t done Roy Drills in awhile, we finished off with this activity - the only rule is to play along and not stop playing!
Play along with Franco for practice.
A FEW OTHER THINGS…
SJT is starting up a senior class which is a mix of students from a few different classes who have been plyaing awhile, plus some new students. It will run on Wednesdays from 1-2PM on Zoom, starting September 9th and is taught by Yurika. If you are interested in joining, you can register here.
Also, Yurika is running a Make-Your-Own Taiko “craft afternoon” if you would like to learn how to make a taiko out of a 5 gallon bucket or box. It will be on Wednesday, September 2nd from 1-2PM. You will need a 5 gallon bucket (OR a medium sized box AND 4 pairs of disposable chopsticks, preferably new and not ripped apart, a box cutter) and a roll of heavy duty clear packing tape and scissors.
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.
At any time, feel free to email yurika@taiko.org for questions!