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