It’s strange. For the past two months, I’ve been spending all of my time playing, teaching, and talking about taiko, and at the same time I’ve completely neglected this blog. I hope to fix that.
In late January, I drove up to Waterville, Maine to start my artist residency at Colby College. I’m offering a seminar called Taiko: Music, Movement, and Meaning. It meets once a week, and we spend our time discussing issues from the assigned readings and learning at the drum. We’re planning a group performance at the end of the semester (5/6), and each student will also be responsible for a short research project. I thought it’d be useful to create an online resource for taiko drummers in Maine, so we’ll be conducting interviews and writing articles for our blog Taiko in Maine.
On Thursdays, I also work with the student-run Colby Taiko Group. This club was initiated by Dr. Tamae Prindle, a professor in the East Asian Studies department and a loyal supporter of the group. She acquired PVC taiko and bachi from Mr. Naoto Kobayashi, received a grant in order to purchase 3 chu daiko and a shime daiko, convinced her husband to build taiko stands, and she recently sewed bags for all the new chus!
In early March, KIOKU performed at MIT and Colby. It was really great to play with Chris and Ali again, and the music department chair Steven Nuss hosted a wonderful post-concert party. Through the performance, I was also able to meet and chat with Jesica Chang, who writes for the student newspaper. If you’re interested, you can quickly peek at some of their taiko-related articles: here, here, and here.
Meanwhile I’ve been meeting with the different taiko groups in Maine. I had lunch with Naoto Kobayashi, who leads the Hall-Dale High School Taiko Group and plays in the Maine Taiko Dojo. I’ll be lending a hand later in April as he builds his PVC taiko. This past Saturday (4/3), I gave a workshop to the dedicated and enthusiastic drummers of the Bowdoin Taiko Group. The weather was beautiful, so we played outside on the quad in our bare feet. It was pretty amazing. I visited with the Maine Taiko Dojo and had a wonderful meal afterwards at Shima, co-owned by one of the MTD drummers. Towards the end of the semester, I’ll be meeting with the Bates Taiko Group. I have a final performance for the Colby baccalaureate ceremony with Kaoru Watanabe and some of my students, and then it’s back to NYC.
It’s been an amazing experience thus far and I’ve learned a lot about taiko and teaching taiko. I hope to share some observations in the very near future. I promise.
