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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!