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Google has a fun tool to search through their catalogue of scanned books called the “Ngram Viewer“. The viewer allows users to search for the occurrence of a term or terms in approximately 5,000,000 books from 1800 to 2000. The term “taiko” gives the following, for example.

I’m guessing the spike in the 1960s coincides with the publication of Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan by Eiji Yoshikawa (“taiko” also means “great ruler”), but who knows… could it be the influence of Osuwa and Sukeroku?!

Here is a TED video about the project by some of its contributors. Have fun!

For the Taiko Conference workshop last month I also updated my essay on practice. It is shorter, with a few more tips and tricks. Thanks to Danny Yamamoto for the good revision advice!

http://onensemble.org/2008/10/essay-thoughts-on-practice/

Thank you to the 800+ people who made the 2011 North American Taiko Conference a grand success. Videos, photos, and essays from my Bon Taiko Bonanza workshop coming soon!

My old family friend, Yuri Kageyama is having a book party with reading of poems and music tomorrow, August 15, 8pm at Yoshi’s in San Francisco.  Her son, Isaku, is performing taiko along with old family friend, Makoto Horiuchi on guitar, and Eric Kamau Gravatt on drum set.  Please check it out!!!

For more info:  CLICK HERE.

On Ensemble friend and inspiration, Yoko Fujimoto, will be performing with pianist/composer/arranger Derek Nakamoto and taiko player/flautist Kaoru Watanabe. So sorry I’m going to miss this… I’m sure it’s going to be a great show!

More info at the JANM website.

Hiro flew up to see Shasta Yama last weekend. After enjoying the dark night skies of Mt Shasta, we’ve spent the last few days exploring the Bay Area, hiking around the Presidio in SF and visiting museums in San Jose. Thanks for the fun, Hiro!

Thank you so very much to all of our donors! The fundraising campaign raised over $7000 to empower InventiOn 2011, On Ensemble’s year-long focus on creativity. We’ll be debuting much of our new work at our Torrance performance in October. In the meantime, we hope the FoundatiOn Team members enjoy the music, new t-shirts, bags, and love letters. Thank you all!