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The beat’s the thing when Terry Longshore, director of percussion studies at Southern Oregon University, and percussion instructor Bryan Jeffs host Day of Percussion, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 21, in the Music Building on the SOU campus, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd. The event features percussionist Alex Acuña, marimba player Matthew Coley, taiko percussionist Kelvin Underwood and drum-circle facilitator Kerry “The Shakerman” Greene, along with the SOU Percussion Ensemble, percussion trio Compás and the Ashland High School Percussion Ensemble. There will be clinics, workshops, vendors and a raffle. The event will culminate with a performance by Acuña, Coley, Underwood and the Percussion Ensemble at 7:30 p.m. Pre-registration for the day is $25 ($30 after Monday, April 16) and includes the concert. Admission to the concert is $10, $5 for students. Call 541-552-6899 for registration. Concert tickets are available at the box office or by calling 541-552-6101. See sou.edu/music/percussion/dayofpercussion for more.

Get High With Me

Been putting my taiko to good use recently. Along with beginning rehearsals with the Henry V cast, I’ve been collaborating with some great local musicians. Here’s one of the projects.

Ecstatic Dance With Live Music
Sacred Sound Meditation and Soul Inspired Music
Taiko-Cello-Violin-Didgeridoo-Vocals
$15 At The Door

Southern Oregon University’s Department of Music will be presenting the Oregon PAS Day of Percussion on April 21, 2012. I will be giving a 75 minute introduction to Taiko workshop scheduled for 9:30AM and a 30-40 minute performance that evening scheduled for 7:30PM which will showcase some of my original compositions and the Taiko classic “Monochrome”. I’ll be joined by great local musicians such as saxophonist Steve Davidson, bassist Michael Molleman and even my current taiko students. If you happened to have seen “Rolling Thunder” (my collaboration with the SOU Percussion Dept.)last November, you’ll definitely want to check this show out. I’m also really excited to share the stage with one of the greatest drummers of all time Alex Acuna.
Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland OR 97520

I was surprised to see these surface on YouTube and on the Facebook Taiko Community page. Enjoy.

Last weekend was a blast working with the Dancing People Company here in Ashland, Oregon. We had four performances at the historic Armory performance hall for DPC’s annual winter solstice celebration concert “Call Back the Sun”. This time I didn’t collaborate with them using taiko; instead, I used berimbau, cajon and dumbek. It was a slight challenge writing the music for their dance piece “Grassfire” and I’ve realized my potential for alternative percussion set ups. I hope to post some footage of the performance soon.

What else? I currently have 5 taiko students that are showing lots of progress. One in particular, Megan Janssen, is amazing me with how quickly she learns. This is very, very inspiring. I’m planning next year’s Meidoko Green shows which will this time incorporate more students. If all goes well these shows will definitely be something for you all to see.

Rehearsal went well today with the Southern Oregon University percussion ensemble. I’ll be collaborating with the ensemble on Tuesday November 29th 7:30PM at the SOU Recital Hall. Amongst other pieces, we’ll perform composer Maki Ishii’s “Monochrome” made famous by Taiko groups Ondekoza and Kodo. If you’re in the area please stop by. Admission is only $5.00.

Here’s some footage of my recent collaboration with Phoenix Sigalove last Friday evening at the Tatanka benefit concert. Here’s the link below:

Last Saturday I led a follow up to an introduction to Taiko workshop. Things are going well and I’ll be meeting with some excited Taiko students one more time this month before heading down to Los Angeles for more On Ensemble work.