Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival

Yesterday we performed at the Cupertino Cherry Blossom Festival. It's a nice event with friendly people and a good-energy kind of crowd. It's really great when the crowd is supportive. We've never been booed before, but I remember once playing for a crowd that was eating dinner and they were completely ignoring us even though we were five feet away from them and playing a really loud and energetic song. Have you ever heard taiko? I mean, you can't ignore it even if you were deaf because when you play loud you feel it. Anyway. These people were great, and we did great, and we even invited everyone up for audience participation. They love it when we do that.

They also had really cool giant koinobori that were dancing in the wind all day:


Cupertino marks the end (for me) of the matsuri season. The cherry blossoms have blossomed and spring has sprung. Now it's time for me to really get down and learn new stuff. Janet has us learning a new song with lots of movement. This poses a new challenge for me because I'm clumsy. Or maybe the right term is "lanky." Or maybe it really is "clumsy." Because I'm tall--for taiko players anyway--I have to get lower than everyone else. That doesn't mean I simply bend over and fold myself in half, it means that I have to use my knees and keep my upper body nice and straight, and lower myself using real muscles. Imagine if you were standing and took one step forward with your left foot and kind of sunk down. Keep your weight centered and do this for a minute and you'll feel the burn. Keep your back straight and don't bend at the waist. Now wave your arms around madly and smile. That's taiko for you. Janet showed us a few of the movements and she told me to get lower. "No, go even lower," she said. "Lower. Can you go any lower?" After class Janet asked me if I had any problems with my knees and I told her no and I could tell by the look on her face that she won't show any mercy with me. And here I thought my whole life that being tall was a good thing. And I'm not even that tall. Also throw in the fact that I have to be graceful while holding this kind of squat. And on top of that, I have to look like I'm having fun. Well, that's the easy part, because I live for this.