Feeling Groovy

On Monday we had another class and my head is still spinning. We've been working on that song that you play on 4 drums, and we finally got to the part where we play our solos. Yes, I dread solos, but this one is going to be cool. We got to hear the solo groove--that's the underlying pattern that you put your solo on top of--and it's groovy. It makes you want to get up and dance. And of course this means that I have to come up with another solo. I have 8 bars to be fabulous. I'm not sure how I could explain how long a bar is in a blog, but it's not long at all--if you're in the audience. If you're writing the 8-bar solo, then that's a whole different story.

And on other fronts, we have the Morgan Hill Haru Matsuri festival this weekend. It's a big festival that brings together a ton of taiko groups and we all get to play for a set. Beginners and old-timers alike get to show off. It's fun. You get a free lunch and a free t-shirt and get to listen to good, free music. I'm not nervous at all. Maybe I'll take some pictures and report back here.

Until then, I'll be practicing my pataflaflas and writing my 8 bar solo!

Pataflafla! Flamacue! Paradiddle-diddle!

Believe it or not, these are real words. One time someone had us play a pattern called a paradiddle and I was like, a para what'll? What the fiddly-widdly is a paradiddly? Well, it's easy really. It's simply a pattern that is played RLRR and then LRLL. Try playing it on your desk. Now play it faster. It works two sides of your brain and makes you crazy. CRAZY! And a paradiddle-diddle is RLRRLL and then LRLLRR. And a pataflafla? Well, pataflafla's are just evil. All these things are the names of drumming patterns that people made up to make you a better player. They're called the rudiments and there are something like 40 of them that every drummer should know. Personally I think a bunch of expert drummers got together and wanted to play a practical joke on their witless students, so they gave patterns that probably had perfectly respectful names, new names. Pattern so-and-so became a paradiddle. And joker drumming expert number 2 wanted to see another witless student play a paradiddle-diddle. And so on and so on until they came up with pataflafla. They must have been roaring with laughter. I mean, the first 15 rudiments are rolls, and their names are perfectly normal: 5 stroke roll, and 7 stroke roll and 19 stroke roll. It's all downhill from there. Drummers must have a sense of humor because sometimes it's hard to hold a taiko class without someone turning a simple comment into a potty joke--or worse. So I guess I follow the great long line of witless drumming students and I'm still working on playing my pataflafla without messing up.

Success!!

Today, I walked into the shoe store, and walked out with these babies. Now, I just need to say that these are not the best looking pair of shoes that I've ever seen. They're SILVER for godsakes. And blue. Shiny chrome silver on the accents with blue laces and blue outlines. These shoes are ugly. I was walking home thinking that the lead singer from Queen would have no problem owning these shoes. He would have been absolutely fabulous in them. And I have to say that when I first put them on, they felt like heaven. I would not have walked out of that store in any other pair of shoes. I have to preface all this by saying that a while ago I bought a pair of shoes that were absolutely beautful on the outside, but were so painfully hideous when you wore them, that I'm actually scared to put them on now. I'm telling you: shin splints and limping around at work after a run in those guys--uh uh. No way am I putting them on again, no matter how beautiful they are. And no way am I putting down the lead singer of Queen. Which brings us back to my current purchase. Shiny? Yes. NASA approved? Yes. I tried on a pair of pretty adidas in the store, and no contest. My astro-robotic shoes stole the show. I'm gonna run miles and miles in them and I know this all just from the first impression. That's how I felt with my current pair of wonderful shoes, and I know that's how these shoes are going to perform.

Which is actually more than I can say about what is purporteldy the best running shoe store in town. I mean, I've heard that people have had great experiences here, but the staff I was dealing with was particularly unapathetic. Her banter with the other clerk (when she was dealing with me, her customer), was less than professional. I felt like an afterthought in her presence. A woman who had shown up 5 minutes before me, however, was receiving royal treatment. Her saleswoman, and I quote, said, "I'm going to go in the back and pull a bunch of shoes for you." And my saleswoman sat down on the display stand and threw around a bunch of technical terms at me that I didn't understand, because I'm not in the shoe business, making me feel somewhat incompetent. Imagine someone chewing gum and popping bubbles in your face. That was my saleswoman (even though in all fairness, I have to say she wasn't chewing gum, but if you can imagine someone just like that, then you get the picture). But OK. I'm not bitter. I'm just not going back. And I'm definetley dissuading anyone from going there. Go to Copelands. That's where I bought the best pair of shoes ever. At least there what you see is what you get, and at least the cashiers are friendly. I mean, if they don' t know what the heck they're talking about, at least they're friendly and you walk out of the store happy with your purchase. Today I was happy with my purchase, but totally turned off with the purporteldy the best running shoe store in town experience. Yes, I love the shoes. But go back? Uh-uh. I don't think so.

Say it with me: A-ta-ri-ga-ne!

Yesterday, less than 24 hours after I had ordered it from Rolling Thunder, I received my shiny, brand-new atarigane. This bowl-shaped object started out as the bane of my existance. For some reason (at my dojo anyway), playing narimono (any kind of bells or shakers that add an extra dimension to a song) is seen as an afterthought, or something that beginners play when they don't know the song. Kind of like if there aren't enough drum positions, then go shake something. I don't know why we don't take narimono more seriously. Often when I hear taiko being played, it's the narimono that I start tapping my feet to. So, since there aren't enough positions to play on one of our songs, Cranes, I have been assigned to narimono. Specifically, the atarigane. When I first received the position, I was a little upset. I thought: you mean I have to go tinkle-tinkle instead of play on a real drum? I instantly realized how selfish that was--even if I was only thinking it. But then I decided, well, if I'm gonna play this thing, then I'm gonna OWN it, baby! I'm going to be the E-Taiko atarigane master!

The only problem is, I don't know how to really play the thing. That's why I decided to get one of my own. Rolling Thunder is an excellent resource for all your taiko supplies. I've bought tons of bachi from them, and they are unbelievably responsive and fast. Did I already mention the less than 24 hour turnaround time? (note: they are located one town away, so don't quote me on that 24 hour thing--just be impressed) So now I have to find a way to muffle the thing so I can practice it at home. But just you wait. You're gonna see me on stage doing atarigane solos.

I Need New Shoes

I love these shoes. I got them at a discount shoe store for really cheap. They're weightless, they fit my feet perfectly, they're comfortable even after miles and miles of running or walking. They're at the perfect point in the wearing-in process where I don't even need to lace them up anymore--I can just slide right into them because they have conformed perfectly with the shape of my feet. The only thing is, they're completely worn out. These are one pair of really tired shoes. I went for a run the other day in them and came home with aching legs because I think the internal padding has worn out. I think it wore out a long time ago, but I've been in shoe denial. It's really strange. I love to buy things. I can spend hours on the internet researching the different options, styles, color swatches, and fabrics for a freakin' t-shirt, but shoes--forget it. I hate buying shoes. I hate going to the shoe store, I hate trying them on, I hate walking back and forth in front of the short shoe mirrors, and I hate the whole shoe-buying transaction. And it's not like I have any weird feet phobias ore anything like that. I just dislike buying shoes. I even have a gift certificate for one of the best running shoe stores around. You'd think it would have burned a hole in my pocket by now, but no.

It's time. I know it. My shoes know it. My legs know it. It's like knowing that you've got to put the old, tired shoes to sleep, but just want to keep them around for just a little while longer. But OK, I swear. This weekend I'll get myself a new pair. Maybe I'll even post a picture of them on this blog for you.

Sweating

I love to sweat. It feels good to sweat. It makes you feel like you're doing something. Now I'm not talking about nervous sweat, or sweaty feet, or sweaty sleep sweat. I'm talking about healthy, work-out sweat. Before last winter, I would sweat at the drop of a hat. I think it was because I was running several times a week and my body was in good condition. But then daylight savings time ended and it was dark by the time I came home from work, and it's scary to run in the dark on the streets of Oakland and Berkeley. People really aren't paying attention to pedestrians when they drive. Plus, I just didn't feel safe. But now I really miss sweating like that. I like it when I'm all warmed up for taiko and playing and all sweaty. It adds another dimension to playing. It makes you feel more alive.

So I've dusted off my running shoes, and have started up again. Last year when I first started running again, I thought it would be way harder than it was to get in shape. In high school, I was on the varsity cross country running and track teams. But that was a long time ago. Now it's all about self-motivation. Do I stay at home and watch that rerun episode of Friends or do I go for a run? My goal now is to get a good half hour in, because there are all kinds of reasons why you should run. It prevents things like osteoporosis (sp?), heart disease, and a bunch of other things, like maybe gingivitis and halitosis. Or whatever. But the best reason to run is that it makes you sweat and it feels so good to sweat!

I used to have a couch . . .

now I have a drum-practice setup. In real life we would have 2 big drums on the side where the black pillows are, and two smaller drums (called shime) in the middle. And we would stand. In my setup here, I have to kneel seiza (is that how you spell it?) style. If I sit cross-legged, my knobby knees get in the way. Oh, and we play all 4 drums. It's hard. I'm sure Janet wishes we had 4 hands. But then, she would probably make it so we had 16 drums in front of us.

It's the future

If I've ever preached to you the value of the older minidisc recorders (the Sharp IM-DR420 in particular)--about how they make it easier to get around those pesky copyright protections and how it's better to record with on-the-fly sound level adjustments and so on and so on, I take it all back. High-MD is the way of the future. Quoting from the best minidisc retailer, minidisco.com :

With a Hi-MD recorder, you can...

1. Make your own high quality recordings with a microphone or via the analog line input.

2. Upload these recordings digitally and at high-speed into Sony's Sonic Stage software (included with every Hi-MD unit).

3. Use Sony's WAV Conversion Tool to digitally convert the files at high-speed to WAV format.

4. Now that your your recordings are in WAV format, you can edit your recordings, burn an audio CD, make MP3s or do anything else you want. You're limited only by your imagination!

* * * There are no restrictions on your uploaded recordings! We've tested this in our office and it works like a charm. * * *

What this means, is that you can record your fabulous taiko solos and very easily burn them to cd and make a thousand copies and give them to all your friends. Or you can edit out your mistakes that much easier.

To understand my excitement better, you have to realize that the only way to get your live recordings off you minidisc recorder is to use an intermediary software program that will record your md's in real time. That means if you recorded an hour-long solo, it would take an hour to transfer it to your computer. Then, if you're not computerly-inclined like me, you have to figure out how to convert that file into something you can put on a cd, or whatever. It's hard. It's a pain. With hi-md, you plug the thing in, click, and you're set to go.

I want one.
I have to have one.
I need one.

I sure hope I have the strength not to buy one right now. After all, my md is great. I finally figured out how to really use it. And it does have that on-the-fly recording level adjustment, which is crucial for taiko. But how am I going to resist the urge? How am I going to fight the way of the future????

Practice, practice, practice

This week is all about learning a new song. If you know me, then you know that my life revolves around taiko. And if you really really really knew me, then you would know that for the past 6 months I've been moping around feeling sorry for myself because the taiko ensemble that I was this close to being in, got cancelled. Or rather, postponed. Although I didn't know it was really a postponement. I still can't believe it's happening at all. The ensemble consists of me, two of my other classmates, my sensei Susan, and my all-time #1 super fabulous taiko hero, Janet. If you watch her play, you have to remember not to drool or leave your mouth hanging open. I'm just in constant awe, and I'm completely thrilled that I have this chance to learn from her and play taiko in her shadow.

Susan and Janet made us audition for this, and let me just say that the audition was one of the more grueling taiko experiences I've had. The hardest part was coming up with a solo, since part of the audition included playing something to the base beat of our choice. I spent an entire weekend composing the thing, because every idea I had, I immediatly discarded, leaving me with a whole lot of nothing after hours and hours of struggle. It didn't help that this audition also occurred during the most absolute busiest times of the year for me--the frosh priority application deadline. That's when all the kids send in their applications and we get buried in paperwork. On top of that, boss lady has figured out a way to double the amount of apps we get, which is good for the college, but horrible for taiko solos. But I kept at it, because I knew that if I walked into that audition empty handed and just tried to noodle my way through a solo, that I'd be absolutely ashamed of myself. So when it came time for solos, there were two other people ahead of me. Their solos were long and fabulous, and I was worried about my short solo. Somehow, though, I made it through and when I was done I kind of sighed and hung my head, which is (by the way) the worst way to end a solo. I didn't feel great about it, but boy, was I glad it was over. In my post-audition evaluation, I was told that Janet thought my solo was "groovy," and I could die happy just knowing that.

Which brings us back to the now, because I made the audition, and I'm in, and I have to learn this song. Learning it on Monday was fantastic. It was hard, but it just feels so good to play. There are some songs that you can just wear on your body like a favorite t-shirt you never want to take off. That's the thing about taiko for me; it becomes me. It is me. It lives in me. It's as if I am not who I am unless I'm playing. As we were learning pieces of the song, I would look up every once in a while at one of my classmates, C, and there was a giant grin stretched across her face, and I knew that I was wearing the same grin. As we were learning, I was thinking, "Yeah! That's SO cool!" I'm so happy and lucky to be able to be learning this. And Janet is a great teacher. I like the way she glances up and sees you in the mirror and reacts--she guides the class with so much respect and dignity. She always makes you feel good about your playing, even if it sucks at first. But your playing never really gets better unless you have that little bit of encouragement at first. Her encouragement has just made me soar.

And, well, the thing about blogging is that while it's great to look back on, it doesn't help your playing at all. So I'm going to log off now and practice. Practice, practice, practice.