On Ensemble : Masato Baba, Kristofer Bergstrom, Shoji Kameda and Kelvin Underwood » Hinode Taiko

Winnipeg!

maz — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:48:58 +0000

Sadly, our stay here in Winnipeg, Canada has come to a close. We’d like to give a HUGE thank you to Pam and her awesome dog, Ruby, for hosting us. I had fun walking Ruby, although I think she was actually taking me for a walk.

We were kept busy up here teaching workshops to Hinode Taiko, performing a lecture/demonstration for Pam’s school, and eating. The Hinode Taiko folks are a fun bunch! Thanks for being great students! Oh, and Karleen made an unbelievable vegan chocolate cake with fresh raspberries. Kris was in heaven!

The first day, Kris taught his “30 Days to Better Shime” workshop and I taught slant stand. The second day, Kris gave a private shime tightening workshop, then we held a percussion workshop, and taught composition at night. Today we had a lecture/demo and ended with a fun improvisation workshop. Before the workshop, we ate at Mr. Ono’s restaurant, Edohei, the restaurant Shoji mentioned and ate like kings. Shoji’s right! The butterfish sushi and tuna, avocado, and grapefruit salad were the bomb!

Tomorrow, Kris, Kelvin, and I drive back to Minneapolis, MN for our concert series with Mu Daiko this weekend and Shoji flies in from LA.

Saint Cloud Wrap-Up

maz — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 08:42:23 +0000

Our residency here at Saint John’s University came to a close with a hands-on workshop in the afternoon and then our final concert this evening. We taught some basics and Renshu Taiko to our workshop participants. We had a few kids participate who saw our lecture/demonstration yesterday and they did awesome. Kris did introductions and final wrap up, I taught basics, and Kelvin taught Renshu. Great job everyone!

The concert went well. Thank you to all who came out and supported us! Special thanks to Leslie, Mary, Brooke, Brian, Kevin, Adam, and Deb for bringing us out and making this happen! It was a fun experience and we felt very well taken care of.

Tomorrow, we head to Minneapolis to drop off our van at Mu Daiko‘s studio, then we drive our rental car to Winnipeg, Canada to hold workshops with Hinode Taiko and a lecture/demonstrations for schools.

Next Up: Minnesota!

shoji — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 10:00:55 +0000

Today Maz and Kelvin hit the road with a van packed full of equipment to Minnesota! On November 15th we’ll be performing at the College of Saint Benedict Saint John’s University’s Humphrey Theater in Collegeville then we’ll be performing with Mu Daiko at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis November 21-23rd. In between the two performances we’ll be heading up to Winnipeg for workshops with Hinode Taiko. It should be a fun little tour provided we don’t get stuck in bad weather. We’ll be making posts from the road so keep checking back!