Maze Daiko in Concert!

I've been so busy lately I haven't had much time to do promo for our upcoming show featuring Maze Daiko and Ojala. Here is our blurb:

Saturday July 21, 8pm

$18 in advance $20 at the door

Buy tickets for Ojala and Maze Daiko - an Evening of Women Drummers
Ojala is a group of 6 talented women who combine traditional Afro-Cuban folkloric music, infectious funky contemporary rhythms, beautiful vocals and imaginative and original songs. Carolyn Brandy, a groundbreaking Bay Area female percussionist, is the musical director of the band, and the inspiring vocals are led by Regina Wells and Elouise Burrell. Joining them are Annette Acosta and Sue Matthews, and dancer Ava Miller.

Mazeru is the Japanese word for "mix" and taiko (daiko) is the Japanese word for "drum". Maze Daiko creates an exciting mix of instrumentation and rhythms with the physical elegance and powerful sounds of taiko. Ensemble members Janet Koike, Kathryn Cabunoc, Carolyn West, Crissy Sato and Tina Blaine (also featured on djembe and dumbek), plus guest artist, Meri Mitsuyoshi playing fue (Japanese flute), create intricate rhythms and melodies to fill the stage with vibrant music and sound. Two amazing groups in one evening!

Rhythmix Cultural Works
2513 Blanding Ave
Alameda, Ca 94501
(510) 845-5060
mailto:info@rhythmix.org

O Mio Yemaya

Just got back from drum camp. It was a wonderful experience. I got to help teach taiko as well as take other kinds of drumming classes. It's really nice to see the things other types of percussionists are doing, and to hear their stories and to be able to play with them. We had to take two trips to get all the drums there (in 2 cars), and two trips to get them all back. Exhausting, but so worth it.

Knotted Up

Oy. If I could reach down inside my stomach I'd probably pull out something like this. I'm stressing, though I know I shouldn't. I'm learning a new song that we're going to perform and it just makes me nervous. I'm almost at the point where I can play it smoothly, but it hasn't sunk in yet. It's not at the point where I can play it without thinking, where it gets nice and deep into the muscles and tucked away in the chasms of the brain. The song has really pretty movement and it's in six time and thank goodness I don't have to solo. To complicate things, I'm busy. It's a good busy--teaching my taiko class, and then assisting at Drum Camp again this year, and lots of rehearsal and family coming up for the show. It's all good though. I'll get through this!

Aloha

Just got back from my first vacation in over 3 years. Boy did I need this vacation. I went to the Big Island of Hawaii and stayed for 10 days. We went to the beach almost every day and I was in heaven. Did and saw so much that I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. I had a good time.

Here goes.

This is actually Maui seen from the airplane. Pretty.The Big Island is the youngest of the Hawaiian islands. As you may know, the islands sit atop a volcanic vent that spews forth lava that accumulated and eventually formed each of the islands. The tectonic plate that the islands sit on keeps moving westward, hence, the dozens and dozens of bits of land in the island chain. The Big Island is, well, the biggest, and evidence of all that (relatively) recent volcanic activity is everywhere. Here is Laupahoehoe Point, site of a major tsunami in the 1940's (I think). Rugged and beautiful and dangerous: And here is the highway outside of Kona. Pure volcanic landscape at sunset (with rainbow, if you look close enough):One of the things I love most about Hawaii are the houses. Most of them have these galvanized roofs and sit on raised foundations, I think because it rains a lot here. I took tons of pictures of houses and this was one of my favorites, maybe because it's green:Oh, and they don't have trash in Hawaii--they have rubbish. This is a rubbish bin, as my Mom used to call them:

Before major tourism took hold, two of the major industries on the Big Island were ranching and sugar cane. My great grandparents came here in 1899 to work the sugar cane in Puna. Evidence of the sugar cane industry, although now defunct, still sprouts up here and there:Ranching is still intact. My grandfather actually worked on Parker Ranch, one of the oldest ranches in the U.S. He was a carpenter. Parker Ranch has been around since 1847, and they were celebrating their 160th anniversary. Every year they hold a rodeo and we got to attend it on the 4th of July. They had horse races (the guy on the loudspeaker kept saying, "no wagering, please." Yeah right), Poo Wai U (which is a kind of calf roping), Branding (with paint, thank goodness), calf-dressing (you heard me right--the team that could put a T-shirt on a calf the fastest won), Ranch Mugging (more calf-roping) and Team Roping, which I didn't see because we were in line to get us some chili. Here is a pic of the dreamy paniolos, or cowboys:And here is a shot of my first Hawaiian obon. They had taiko drummers playing in between old-time music blaring from the loudspeakers. I don't know how to dance, but my friend wanted me to dance the Electric Slide when it came on. I politely declined. Who knew it was an obon dance??:Another thing I love about Hawaii is how quaint things can be. Here is a picture of a small-town grocery store. Reminds me of the store they had on the island of Lanai we used to go to when I vistited as a kid:And of course I went to the beach--almost every day. I was being a tourist after all, and I love the ocean, especially when the water is calm and warm and practically crystal clear. We saw fish and honu, or sea turtles. Here's a shot of one of the lovely beaches we went to and one of me in my Japanese tourist disguise (and I'm actually a couple of shades darker now):They also had a grass shack set up at the beach. I wanted to move in and stay forever, but I couldn't find the front door:Oh, and on the 4th of July we also got to set off fireworks. In LA where I'm from, they banned fireworks when I was just about old enough to remember anything. All I remember is setting off sparklers, which kind of suck. But here fireworks are still legal. We bought a box of fireworks and friend Kris said we also needed to get "punk." I was like, huh? What's punk? Apparently, punk is a slow-burning substance often used to create a kind of smoke that repels mosquitos. They used to give it out when you bought fireworks, but not anymore. One of the highlights of this trip was when we went to the store and Kris asked someone, "You guys got punk?" And the lady replied "Aisle five." You have to understand that in Hawaii everyone speaks a wonderfully lovely and fluid pidgin. It's like everyone is singing to each other. When my mom (who was born and raised in Hawaii) got together with her sisters, they would sometimes speak pidgin. You have to go there to appreciate it. Anyhow. Here is me with punk and my first fireworks:
And in parting, here is another one of my favorite things. On the highway between the house and the beach was a sign saying that the Minimum speed limit was 40 mph. Wouldn't want anyone getting too comfortable with the relaxed and slow-paced island life. Ahh. It was good. It really was. Can't wait to go back. But now it's time to get back to life. I had a 5-hour taiko rehearsal today. Another tomorrow. Class on Tuesday. Drum camp all next weekend and a ton more rehearsals. July 21st people. Big concert. Try to go if you can!

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.

Big Show

This Saturday is the Grand Opening for RCW. OMG, it's coming up soon. I feel ready. Mostly. We have rehearsal tomorrow for the Three Rivers piece, which opens the show. I'm so intimidated since I'll be playing with wonderfully talented people. Tonight I tightened both of Janet's shime, and boy did I get sweaty. I get more sweaty tightening shime than I do running--it just drips off me.

If you're around you should totally see the space. You should totally come to the show! You're invited! Come! The place is BEAUTIFUL! The floors, the walls, the stage--even the stairs are beautiful. I'm so jealous that I don't live there. It's going to be a wonderful place where the community can come and share their talents and knowledge and to bring people together. I'm so not the person who has the vocabulary to do the PR on this place, but it is wonderful and you need to check it out. At least go to the Rhythmix Cultural Works website.

Rhythmix Cultural Works Grand Opening

GRAND OPENING

June 2nd, 2007, 8pm.

Our free daytime celebration will include performances from our instructors including Brazilian capoeira, Japanese taiko drumming, Hoop dance, and presentations from the Alameda High School Jazz Band and The Alameda Children's Musical Theater. We will have an incredible silent auction and raffle with one-of-a-kind items - not to be missed! Hands-on art workshops and festival-style entertainment with stilt-walkers, jugglers, NBAM's Lil' Juju pinball games, fire-eaters, and the Bicycle Rodeo. We will be opening the K Gallery with an exhibit titled "The Art of Food" featuring well-known Bay Area artists from Magnolia Press in Oakland. We will celebrate our opening with food booths from local vendors, sampling their artistry! Another Room Book Arts Bookstore, adjacent to the K Gallery, will also be opening. Another Room carries book arts, artists' books and ephemera, from around the United States, and a few books from beyond our borders. Our Evening Performance will be $25 in advance and a sliding scale $30 to $3000 at the door, and will be hosted by well-known comedian Ed Holmes with notable Bay Area performers including The San Francisco Mime Troupe, Maze Daiko, Bay Area Theater Sports, Izu Ensemble (jazz fusion), and dance music from DJ Vordo. There will be a coffee and dessert reception with the artists following the performance. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to bring new and established artists to Alameda. Please join us for our Grand Opening!

Rhythmix Cultural Works

2513 Blanding Ave

Alameda, CA 94501

Additional Event Information (510)845-5060
http://www.rhythmix.org

This promises to be a really good show. Space is limited, people! Get your tickets soon!

Chekere Finito

Finished my chekere last weekend--more out of necessity than anything. RCW is having its grand opening on June 2nd, and we're gearing up for that. We're playing a piece called "Three Rivers" which predates me by decades and decades of experience. I'm totally intimidated, since we're playing with musicians who have been described as having "perfect timing." No exaggeration, especially since I've seen these perfect-timing musicians in real life. As percussion-girl I turned down a part to play clave for someone who was described as having centered her life around clave. What do I know?? I wanted to finally make the final knots on my chekere because my chekere is way quieter and more subtle than the chekere I've been playing. I'm playing with my teacher's teachers. I'm playing with folks who have made it possible for women to pursue drumming in the ways we are pursuing it in the first place.

Just writing about this makes me realize how stressful this is going to be. Kai to Ryu! Kanki! You don't remember this do you, but remember how much I stressed over that for the Aiko performance? And Mokuyobi. My goals for this performance are to get through Kai to Ryu flawlessly, to rework on my Kanki solo, and to have my (boring) Mokuyobi solo down. Plus we have the show during the day, and I volunteered to be on stage crew, plus the evening performances (that people are paying to see) plus more stage crew, and then meet-and-greet after the show. And then taiko teaching the following Tuesday. I spent all of today coming up with a syllabus for that.

It'll be a good learning experience. That's what I say. Plus, isn't this what I've always wanted?

Bay to Breakers 2007: Tres Fridas

Ran Bay to Breakers again yesterday. It was a fun race. This year we decided to dress up as Frida Kahlo. Mary and I stayed up till 2 in the morning the night before putting the finishing touches on our costumes. Actually I put in practically zero effort, but was surprised at how well it turned out. Mary was Frida from her painting "The Broken Column," which I thought was totally cool. Mary's friend wore an Adams' family wig and curled the braids up a la Frida. I put roses in my hair which for some reason negated the fact that my hair is short and made me look very Frida-esque. I thought we looked great:Here's a pic of a tortilla. I finally got a good answer to my question of WHY tortillas? Mary said they're organic confetti. That works for me. I sent this baby flying right after I took the pic:
This year it took us 35 minutes to cross the start line:
There were the usual naked people and people hauling carts of alcohol and really funny and really horrendous costumes. My favorite Bay to Breakers regulars are the group of people who dress up as salmon and start at the finish line and end at the starting line. Isn't that cool?And here we are running up the Hayes Street Hill, which is not as hard as it looks on TV. I think the monobrow kind of suits me--isnt' that scary?:
And here are the breakers. We wanted to go sit on the beach, but the sand was blowing so hard we had to turn around, but not before I got this pic:
We entered the costume contest, but alas, we didn't win. It was cool though because all throughout the race people would ask to take pics with us or others would yell, "Frida! Hey Frida!" which made us happy because at least they knew who we were supposed to be.

See ya there next year!

Stage 2: Finishing

No, not finished. Just finishing. The outside of the drum that is. I'm done sanding. There comes a point in every OCD's life when you just gotta say: ok, enough with the sanding already! I got the majority of the stains out, but not all of them, and you know what? It's fine. No one will notice.

I decided on using tung oil for the finish. Tung oil has been used for centuries by the Chinese, and I read lots of good stuff about it. I did some research on the internet and found a company in Vermont that claims to have perfected the tung oil manufacturing process, and after reading everything on their website, I was sold. Tonight I applied the first of two coats of sealer. The color of the drum totally changed from chalky-pale to a richer, healthier color. This pic doesn't do it justice. I wonder what it will look like when I'm actually applying the tung oil? We'll see! Until then I'll be watching paint (er, sealer) dry.

I LOVE Public Radio

And you should too. Public radio changed my life. When I was in high school everyone around me was listening to those icky top 40 radio stations playing the same 100 songs over and over. I got bored of that and played around with the dial on my radio, turning it all the way to the left into the upper 80's and low 90's region of the dial, and boy did that just rock my world. I listened to jazz and blues and old time music and discovered the best radio station in the whole world, KCRW. It totally opened my world. There is such interesting work being done out there--people taking risks and experimenting, and people from other places making beautiful music, and people who just can't be categorized and niched into this or that genre. It really made me appreciate music. Made me learn how to listen with an open mind and to really enjoy what is out there. When I moved away from home I was sad because I could never find a radio station playing quite the same music as KCRW. Yes, there was college radio, but college radio is dj'd by college students, and although KCRW is technically a college radio station it has honed the craft of bringing cutting edge, little-heard, interesting music to an artform. And in recent years, it has honed the craft of bringing radio to as wide an audience as possible, and with the rise of the internet and data streaming, they are able to broadcast live programming as well as bring their rich archive of music right to your computer, just with the push of a button. Amazing. I can't listen to a show without discovering something spectacular. Yesterday I heard a group who were at one time rebel-fighters-in-the-Sahara-turned-musicians, and I had to learn more about them (used up some of my precious i-credits to download an album). You don't hear that kind of stuff on the top 40s, believe me.

There's a little icon there to the right advocating for Saving Net Radio, since the Suits want to make public radio stations pay steep royalties for bringing little-heard music to the masses. Typical. Contact your congressperson if you can. My beloved Barbara already said she would vote our way. And in the meantime, turn on your radios, people. Listen. Subscribe. Enjoy!

5263!

I'm running Bay to Breakers again this year and this time my lucky number is 5263! Woo hoo! The cool thing they're doing this year is giving out racing chips that you attach to your shoelaces. This way, you can get an accurate time since it records when you actually cross the starting line and when you cross the finish. My official time last year was 16 minutes off since it took me that long to cross the starting line, and yes readers, that's why I did not beat those Kenyans.

So I've been a little flaky with my training this year. I've been trying to get out a couple times a week, but I get tired, or busy or distracted or lazy. But today I tried making up for it all and I ran for a whole hour! Yes that's right, 60 minutes. I'd only intended to run 30 minutes, but then I pushed myself to 45, and once I got to 45 I kept going and when I reached 50, I was like, just keep at it for another 10 minutes and you'll be up to 60! And so I did! And there is my theory of long distance running for you. Trick yourself to get further, and once you get a little further than you had intended it feels like a great accomplishment, and reaching new heights or goals isn't so hard. Plus it helps to have my ipod on me. Time gets measured in songs, and if I can just push through this one song, I'll be seven minutes further along.

I'm paying for it now though. I am so exhausted. I sleep-walked through the grocery store and dinner and I don't know what I'm doing right now blogging. The thing I worry about is that right after the race I have to be at a community outreach thing at RCW and I have to be "on" and chipper and recruiting students for my class or at least being happy and nice. I can do it though, right? I just hope someone nudges me if I start snoring.

Photo Shoot!

Today I experienced my first professional taiko photo-shoot. Special thanks to Bean for putting in all the work in coordinating this. There was a real photographer with umbrella flashy things and big camera with real film. We showed up with costume and make-up (well, I had my one tube of lipstick anyway--I have some other stuff on the way from internetlandia for me to use and practice with). Boy oh boy are photo shoots exhausting. I came home and my friend was like, you look tired. Your eyes are all red. And I was tired. You wouldn't think standing there with a smile on your face could wipe you out, but it did. But it's hard to project such happy or serious or flirty energy for a couple of hours. It wipes you out.

We don't have rehearsal this weekend, and honestly, I don't really want to think about taiko this week. I love it, but I could use the break. Just want to putter around and work on art projects and play video games and maybe go out and watch a movie. Oh, and work on my drum--but that's not really taiko is it? That's hobby and handicraft. Just need the rest, that's all.

Yawn...