Can You Say School Show?

Did the school show today! It was fun. It was strange to be on stage with a cafeteria full of kids sitting in neat rows on the floor looking up at you. I remember once as a kid I too sat on the floor in the cafeteria as a group presented their stuff to us--can't remember what it was though, just remember as the grand finale they said they were going to be so loud and wild that the roof was going to fall in, but it didn't, and I was a little disappointed. They were loud though. But it's interesting to kind of see how you remember those things, and maybe one of those kids will remember our show and want to pursue taiko, or something in the arts anyway, and maybe stand up on a stage decades from now, looking down at the same wide-eyed kids they were. Why isn't there more arts in the schools?

All the preparation I did was worth it, and now I feel like I've got a solid school show under my belt, so if you've got a gig, we're available. Janet and Bean have done a million school shows, so I'm sure this was no big deal for them. During the show, Janet would say a word and ask the kids to repeat the word back. She'd play chappa, talk about it, and then say chappa, and then all the kids would say it back. It was a running theme. Listen and repeat. Our closing song was Mokuyobi, and it was really hilarious because Janet would just randomly kiai during the song, and all the kids would kiai back. I kiaied, they kiaied. Bean kiaied--you get the point. I was laughing so hard I could hardly play. Kids are funny. Why do we stop being kids if it's so fun?

Oh, and my Mokuyobi solo went fine. I like it and all, and I've got this new set of movements I really like, but there are places that could use more energy, and maybe I'll work on it some more before the October 1st show. We'll see. I love this deadline thing. Makes me so much more motivated and productive.

Happy weekend everybody.