On Saturday, June 20th, TAIKOPROJECT performed for the 10th anniversary of the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) Pavilion! In 2005, JANM gave us the opportunity to conduct taiko residencies during their Big Drum Taiko exhibit and it was a great opportunity for us to show our appreciation to JANM by helping them celebrate their anniversary.
This performance was also special because it was the first performance for our newest TAIKOPROJECT trainee, Jenny Mimura! While she was a little nervous that she would hit someone in the head with the TP banner, she did a great job!
Check out some photos of the performance from local photographer Marc Amba
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
Free performances!!!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Performing for lots and lots of students!!
Last Thursday, we culminated the Classroom Connections program by performing at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach. The theater was amazing!
Since all the students had one of us go into their classrooms to talk about taiko already, we adjusted our school show and added in additional information that we don't usually get to talk about in a typical school show. The first show had 1000 students and the second show had 800 students.
It was nice to connect with the students in the classrooms first (I guess that's why they call it 'Classroom Connections'!!). :)
Since all the students had one of us go into their classrooms to talk about taiko already, we adjusted our school show and added in additional information that we don't usually get to talk about in a typical school show. The first show had 1000 students and the second show had 800 students.
It was nice to connect with the students in the classrooms first (I guess that's why they call it 'Classroom Connections'!!). :)
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Asano's 400th Anniversary
Bryan and I are in Japan for Asano's 400th Year Anniversary. 400 years! Wow... this is really special.
After traveling for almost 24 hours, we arrived late last night, checked in to our hotel, and tried to get sleep. Jet lag is rough...
Today we had a nice Japanese breakfast at the hotel, then made our way over to Asano's company warehouse and store where they were having the event. Saw a lot of taiko people from both Japan and the U.S. It was nice to catch up with everyone amongst the chaos.
Here's Bryan in front of a huge odaiko. We want one!
Here's the room where they keep all of the taiko for sale. Beautiful drums! This was only half of the room. The other half had many more taiko.
Did some shopping for bachi and kane, then we met with Ryutaro Kaneko for some possible future collaborations. We're really excited to have this opportunity!
After our meeting we went back to our hotel and got dressed up for the reception! Yes, yes... Bryan and I actually own suits, believe it or not... Do we look sharp?
Throughout the reception, there were many performances. This one in particular is from Kabuki (I think... correct me if I'm wrong). These guys had wild hair!
We go to more events tomorrow, then maybe Kanazawa on Monday to do some omiyage shopping.
After traveling for almost 24 hours, we arrived late last night, checked in to our hotel, and tried to get sleep. Jet lag is rough...
Today we had a nice Japanese breakfast at the hotel, then made our way over to Asano's company warehouse and store where they were having the event. Saw a lot of taiko people from both Japan and the U.S. It was nice to catch up with everyone amongst the chaos.
Here's Bryan in front of a huge odaiko. We want one!
Here's the room where they keep all of the taiko for sale. Beautiful drums! This was only half of the room. The other half had many more taiko.
Did some shopping for bachi and kane, then we met with Ryutaro Kaneko for some possible future collaborations. We're really excited to have this opportunity!
After our meeting we went back to our hotel and got dressed up for the reception! Yes, yes... Bryan and I actually own suits, believe it or not... Do we look sharp?
Throughout the reception, there were many performances. This one in particular is from Kabuki (I think... correct me if I'm wrong). These guys had wild hair!
We go to more events tomorrow, then maybe Kanazawa on Monday to do some omiyage shopping.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
TP in Long Beach~!!
For the last two weeks, Bryan, Maz, Jen, Courtney, Jason, and I have been going into elementary school classrooms in Long Beach. We would go to the schools alone and teach the class... like we were guest teachers! This would be a typical day for one of us that did lessons that day:
-Drive to the elementary school, usually when school started
-Meet up with someone from the Carpenter Center (which is where our big school show will be this Thursday)
-Unload the car full of equipment for the lessons (chu, chu stand, shime, shime stand, okedo, okedo stand, percussion bag, a skate to put it all on, etc.)
-Wheel the equipment into class #1
-Do the lesson (demo and intro, taiko in Japan, taiko in US, drum talk, percussion talk, kiai talk, kids learn song and play on drums, q&a)
-Pack everything back up
-Wheel equipment to class #2
-Repeat above steps
For each school we went to, we had about 3-4 classrooms that we visited. Then, this Thursday (tomorrow), TP will go to the Carpenter Center in Long Beach to do two school shows. From what I hear, the Carpenter Center has a huge, beautiful theater! I'm excited to do a school show in such a big venue!
It's pretty neat that the Carpenter Center provides this program to the students in Long Beach. Prior to our classroom visits, they send someone else in a week or two ahead of time to talk about performing arts, music, and to give a little background about taiko. Then, we go into the classrooms to talk more in depth about taiko. After getting all this background knowledge about taiko, they come to the theater to watch the show. It's not just about getting exposed to different cultures, but they emphasize on the students to try and retain the information. Cool, huh? :)
We'll have an update about how our school shows went!
In other news, Bryan and Maz will be leaving for Japan tomorrow to attend Asano Taiko's 400th Anniversary! Have fun!
:)
-Drive to the elementary school, usually when school started
-Meet up with someone from the Carpenter Center (which is where our big school show will be this Thursday)
-Unload the car full of equipment for the lessons (chu, chu stand, shime, shime stand, okedo, okedo stand, percussion bag, a skate to put it all on, etc.)
-Wheel the equipment into class #1
-Do the lesson (demo and intro, taiko in Japan, taiko in US, drum talk, percussion talk, kiai talk, kids learn song and play on drums, q&a)
-Pack everything back up
-Wheel equipment to class #2
-Repeat above steps
For each school we went to, we had about 3-4 classrooms that we visited. Then, this Thursday (tomorrow), TP will go to the Carpenter Center in Long Beach to do two school shows. From what I hear, the Carpenter Center has a huge, beautiful theater! I'm excited to do a school show in such a big venue!
It's pretty neat that the Carpenter Center provides this program to the students in Long Beach. Prior to our classroom visits, they send someone else in a week or two ahead of time to talk about performing arts, music, and to give a little background about taiko. Then, we go into the classrooms to talk more in depth about taiko. After getting all this background knowledge about taiko, they come to the theater to watch the show. It's not just about getting exposed to different cultures, but they emphasize on the students to try and retain the information. Cool, huh? :)
We'll have an update about how our school shows went!
In other news, Bryan and Maz will be leaving for Japan tomorrow to attend Asano Taiko's 400th Anniversary! Have fun!
:)
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