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Kris and I both taught workshops this past weekend in UCLA at Yukai Daiko’s Taiko Camp.  Every year, before the school year starts, Yukai holds a taiko camp to which Kris and I both taught at last year as well.  This year, I did one of my newer workshops called “How to Kiai Confidently While Playing Taiko”.  Kiai are hard because it’s another thing added to the form of Taiko.  You’ve got your stance, you’ve got your beats, you’ve got your movements, and then your kiai or vocal shouts.  It was fun, but my voice was all tired from the day before at Chico!  I was very impressed with Yukai this past year and I’m excited to see their advancements this year.  Special thanks to Jessica and Isabella for organizing everything and to Danny for the following picture.

On Ensemble had a fabulous time facilitating the 2009 Summer Taiko Institute!  32 participants from around North America spent three days with us learning On Ensemble’s approach to taiko and a new Free Music taiko piece composed for the community.

Here are a few photos from the three days!

Thank you to(the participants), Darren, Taiko Conference Advisory Board for making STI possible!

Joy, one of our fearless participants, has scanned the score for each part of the song.  The written music is a bit rough, but you can find these scanned images here.

Random videos have been popping up as well!

Chikara Daiko invited me to give the group a workshop last night and we had a great time! The theme was “sensitivity”, and we covered shime and nagado basics.  I taught them On Ensemble’s current arrangement of Renshuu.

Chikara is a *great* group of folks and it was an honor and pleasure to be there. Thank you Chikara Daiko!

(click for larger ver)

We’ve had an amazing response to the Summer Taiko Institute thus far.  We received an overwhelming number of qualitfied applications and are really looking forward to working with a great group of participants from all across North America come August.

The Summer Taiko Institute is also being featured on a new website CreateCulture.org that I think many of you will be interested in.  It’s a social networking site for those interested in the arts and there are ton of listings of interesting events and workshops from New York to Los Angeles.

Thank you to all the taiko players who have applied to participate in this year’s Summer Taiko Institute, happening August 3-5, immediately prior to the 2009 Taiko Conference.  Sign up now to take advantage of an amazing opportunity for three days of intensive taiko!  The application process is quick and easy!

Applications are due Friday, April 10, 2009.
http://www.taikoconference.org/summer-taiko-institute

We’re pulling out all the stops to make this STI jam-packed with goodness!  We’re composing a brand new taiko piece, to be debuted and taught to the 25 participants.  The piece will be the foundation for exploring each step of the song cycle: from practice to performance to critical review and revision.  In addition to basic form and technique training, participants learn practical tips for improving timing, musicality, and playing as a group.  As the song is further polished, supplementary drills and performance concepts for refinement are explored.  Along with specific techniques, rhythms, and drills, participants learn the On Ensemble members’ underlying philosophies and creative processes.  STI participants come away empowered to apply the concepts to future songs. The course provides numerous take-home materials, in addition to the new piece itself, for sharing with participants’ home groups.

In the last few years, On Ensemble has been hard at work developing an extensive series of workshops, and we’ll be drawing from all this work for STI! In short, this is the going to be the best hands-on taiko intensive On Ensemble has ever done!

Visit http://www.taikoconference.org/summer-taiko-institute to learn more and apply!

We are very pleased to announce that On Ensemble will be teaching the 2009 Summer Taiko Institute!  This 3-day taiko intensive will take place in Los Angeles on August 3-5, immediately prior to the 2009 Taiko Conference.

Applications are due Friday, April 10, 2009.

We’re pulling out all the stops to make this Summer Taiko Institute (STI) jam-packed with goodness!..

(more…)

What do you think are some of the key issues to be discussed at Taiko Conference this coming August?

Past topics include:

“What you should know but we don’t talk about”, a discussion of taiko etiquitte,

“You’re a taiko player?!”, what it means to play a Japanese drum when you’re not Japanese,

and near and dear to my heart,

“Why taiko music should be free, and how Copyleft can help us”, about why I believe all music should be freely shared.

What do you think?  What are key questions for us taiko players to discuss?  Please share your thoughts below!

Thank you everyone again for some great feedback on our last Taiko Conference Survey regarding workshops for this year!

This August the North American Taiko Conference returns to Los Angeles!  Every two years the taiko community rallies together to create the Taiko Conference, an amazing weekend of taiko workshops and performances, with players, teachers, and taiko enthusiasts from around the world.  The JACCC will be hosting the Conference again, and a number of us are volunteering to help with the planning and preparations.

One of the first challenges is to determine what workshops and taiko topics we’d like facilitators to offer during the Conference.  Toward this end, we are asking past participants to give us feedback.

In the comments below, let us know!  Thank you for your input!

In past Taiko Conferences, what workshops were particularly good?