Finished! Done! Finito!

I'm sure you're tired of hearing me talk about the whole drum building process (I know I am), so here is the final post on this subject. I'm proud of the tacking on this head, and can't wait to try it out. I haven't named her yet, though I have an idea or two. A picture is worth a thousand words, so without further adieu:

First Stretch for the Second Time

Working on the second head. I'm so much more happier with the way this first stretch turned out. I've got a nice, even pull on my mimi, plenty of room for tacks, and the whole process just felt a whole lot calmer and more organized this time. Here's the outcome from last night's pull:And I realized last night that when I get the head back on for the second stretch, that I won't be able to see the inside again (not until I replace the heads anyway). That made me a little sad, so I took a picture:I need to compose a little message to write on the inside of the barrel. It's like putting a message in a time capsule! A little thank you note to Janet and some graffiti to say that I was here once upon a time.

Kata . . . and stuff

We're learning a new (to me anyway) song with tons of movement and beautiful kata. Nothing like beautiful kata to remind me how ungraceful I am. One of my goals in playing with Maze Daiko is to try to develop my kata and learn some cool new moves. One of the best things about watching really good performing groups like San Jose is their sharp kata, and it's amazing to see how even the most subtle of movements can add a whole new dimension to a piece. People are often attracted to the big booming sound of taiko, but I think that the right kata actually makes seeing taiko so impressive. The song I'm learning is in 6, which means weird timing. There's two lines of the song that I've just been struggling with. It's like I can play it, but I can't feel it in me. I like this struggle though. Brain and body, all working together.

Oh and we're having our own concert next month. Actually, we're sharing the stage with the wonderful group Ojala, and I guarantee it will be an exciting night of percussion. You should come. Bring a friend too while you're at it.

And I'm teaching taiko. Next week will be the last class of this session. That was fast! They seem to be enjoying themselves, and I had them playing Matsuri last night. I'm totally impressed since we've only had just had 3 classes. I like their spirit and energy. I'm trying to figure out how to teach the next session. This is just supposed to be an intro class, but people are coming to the next session and some to the session after that. So do I teach a new song? Teach the same one over again? I guess we'll see.

So busy lately!

Head #1!

Yesterday I finally put the first head on my new taiko. That was quite an adventure! I've never done anything like this before, so I just jumped in with optimistic naivete. Eh, why not, right? Started out by setting up my stretching rack, which is made up of eight 4x6 pieces of lumber, four hydrolic jacks, 4 sheets of heavy plywood and quite a bit of rope:At this stage, which is called the second stretch, you take the head you formed during the first stretch, soak the inside of it, and then put it back on the drum, and then wind the rope around the mimi (those stick-things) and back down to the stretching rack. You use the jacks to pull the tension down on the heads.People often ask me if playing taiko is an outlet for anger or aggression. I say making taiko is a better outlet. This is when the party really gets started. After climbing up on to the drum (and getting over that fear of heights) you gotta walk around and massage and bounce on the drum until you break up any lumps. It would be better if I lived in one of those nice victorians with 10-foot ceilings. When the hunchback thing got tiring, I used my knees.
After much massaging, and several cranks on the jacks, we reach the final stage: tacking. In theory I was all set to create two perfect rows of tacks. I had all the tools and measurements and understood the hows and whys to get a perfect row of tacks. The only thing I lacked was experience (which I have some of now). The problem was that I had no idea what I was doing when I cut the slits of my mimi, and I should have made them lower. Or I should have taken the first stretch a tad bit further. In any case, my problem was that I didn't have room for two nice rows of tacks in some spots. So 1/3 of the drum is kind of, well, tacky:The other 2/3 is not bad. Not perfect, but not bad:
The second head will be much nicer. It's soaking in the bathtub as we speak. More adventures in the upcoming week. Hopefully I'll have some pics soon!

First Stretch

Started putting the skin on my drum. I can't believe I'm doing this. I never thought I'd be making my own drum! Anyhow, last Sunday I started soaking my first hide. It started out looking taquito-like and very stiff:But by the next morning, it was pliable enough for me to take it out of the bathtub (so I could take a shower!) and put into a smaller container, where it soaked for 3 days:So I've been studying the holy grail and one of the most complicated issues was how and where to put the mimi. I spent a long time creating the cutting diagram for the skin and the template for the mimi slits. I wasn't sure how far out the mimi should be, or how much wiggle room I needed. You know the saying: measure twice, cut once. Here's what it ended up looking like with the dowels in:And then it was time to stretch. The first stretch is when you start forming the shape of the heads on the barrel. It's not a tight stretch. It's more like an introduction: hello barrel, I'm skin, nice to meet you. Barrel: Hi skin, come here and give me a hug. The real stretching and tension comes later.

This was also the part where I took those skeletons out of my closet and placed them on the floor. Also pulled out the rope and plywood and my fabulously tunged drum body. Things were really feeling like they were coming together. I researched and studied this for so long that I was halfway through putting the first pulls of tension on the skin when I realized: hey, I've never done this before--what am I doing? Am I doing this right? Why does this seem so easy? But then it was cool because everything seemed to be going just fine. I mean, I could be making mistakes or doing something horribly wrong, but right now, I'm happy with the results.

So here's what's all over the floor in my place:Pretty cool huh?

Gods of Steer

I don't know about you guys, but I think these things look like giant corn tortillas. Give me a cauldron of menudo or posole and I'd be in heaven. They're actually the skins for my new taiko! I feel like I should give some sort of offering to the gods of steer in thanks for these skins (does anyone know of anything like that?). I don't know much about choosing hides, so I let the good folks at Rolling Thunder do it for me. I heard good things about the rawhide they sourced, and when I called them they were very helpful and sent these things my way. I'd like the drum to be ready for our Big Show in July, but we'll see, especially since I've never skinned a drum before, or even seen a drum get skinned before. But luckily I have the Holy Grail of drum notes, borrowed from Janet:
This book has all the answers. Or at least, it's enough to give me the courage to try to do this on my own. I think the best thing about it was that she was willing to give drum building and skinning a try and she just rolled up her sleeves, jumped in, and gave it a go. It's actually a good read, and it helps that she is very precise (ahem, anal!) and observant (anal!) and exacting (anal!) with pretty little pictures and diagrams which are enormously helpful*:
I can so totally do this.

*I'm anal too. That's why I think it's such a great read. Who else would totally be enthralled by notes about how the radius was more successful when it was at 3/8" larger than the original 1/4", or whatever.

Teaching

Last night I taught my first taiko class all by myself. I've done lots of assisting before, I've done team-teaching before, but I never had my own solo class. I wasn't too nervous because I've been anticipating this since February of last year. I created my own syllabus and went over what I wanted to teach and got some feedback and was pretty confident. There was about an hour right before class when I started to get nervous, but then I told myself: shut up. Once I was up there, with students in the class looking at me, and me looking at them, well the nervousness kind of melted away and we got down to business. Actually my class was completely sold out, and if I hadn't brought my shime, we wouldn't have had enough drums! Can you believe that? My class is the first RCW class to sell out!

After class I was thinking about how full circle I've come. It feels like not too long ago that I was a beginning student learning renshu (I still think of myself as a beginner, actually). And now, thanks to Janet who keeps offering up these great opportunities and experiences to me, I'm doing the teaching. I've got my own class and my own students and everything. That's kind of a big step for me! I keep making these steps--some big, some really small, each bringing me a little further along. It's exciting.

Grand Opening!

Saturday was the big Grand Opening of Rhythmix Cultural Works. It was so amazing to see years and years of preparation and hard work all come together like that. Janet should be really proud. There were tons of people there. The day-time event was packed, and lots of people from the community came and everything I heard was very supportive and exciting. The night time show was SOLD OUT. Great performers. Great audience.

I teach taiko tomorrow night! Woo hoo! It should be fun. I think my class is actually filled up! I was worried no one would come except for my friend, and now I worry because I hope we have enough drums for people to play!

I didn't have a lot of time to take pics, but here are a few. Festivities actually started on Friday night with a reception for the donors and the unveiling of the donor wall. My name is up there!
Ribbon cutting by city council members. (I always thought they used those gigantic scissors for these things!) And here are a couple shots of the theater space. Every single one of these 180 seats sold out. And check out the stage. It's got lights and wings and sound. Pretty amazing.