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We just finished a great weekend of performances with Mu Daiko! A huge thank you goes out to Rick, Iris and Mu Daiko for bringing us back to Minneapolis. Another set of thank yous go out to Susie and Gregg, Iris, Alex and Ben and Jeff for taking such good care of us during our stay. After the last performance we all went out to do what taiko players really do best: EAT! Nothing quite like good food and good company after a great concert! We had great fun performing with Mu Daiko and Minneapolis is quickly becoming one of On Ensemble’s favorite destinations!

Tomorrow Kelvin and I fly back to the West Coast while Kris and Maz head to Moab Utah to lead workshops for Moab Taiko Dan. One of the great things about being on the road is the opportunity to work with taiko groups all across the country. Every tour we go on we seem to find new groups to connect with. It’s great to see the growth of the North American taiko community and find new groups that we hadn’t known of before. At one of the concerts we met members of a collegiate taiko group based in St. Olaf! I thought I was relatively up to date on the collegiate taiko groups out there but you never know when or where you’ll find new taiko players! So if you are a part of a taiko group that is on the way from Los Angeles to New York get in touch with us. There is a really good chance that On Ensemble will be passing through your town sometime soon:)

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.

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.

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!