Give Taiko a Try this Summer

After a long, cold winter, we are gearing up for the summer season at the Taiko Center. The events and performances really start to pick up in May and June. You can look for the Taiko Center Community Drummers at the finish line for Northville's Kona Run on June 8.  Raion Taiko will be in Holland this weekend (May 18) and at the Hamburg Family Festival on June 15. In July, Raion Taiko will head Up North to Alpena and Lake City.

The Taiko Center will not be offering any introductory taiko classes again until September, but we will run a class that is "beginner friendly": Miyake Daiko. Miyake Daiko is a simple piece, in that it really only has one phrase that is repeated over and over. Playing this phrase with proper form, however, is a challenge for even experienced players. For 10 weeks over the summer, we will introduce this piece to students. Anyone who wants to have fun and give their legs a good workout, this class is for you. No experience required. Just send an email to raion.taiko@gmail.com to register or for more information.

Miyake Taiko Drummers (Miyakejima Geino Doushikai)

More Information about Miyake Daiko: http://www.miyaketaiko.com/en/

Whether you join one of our classes, or come out to see a performance, please give Taiko a try this summer!

Taiko at the World Series - Detroit Tigers

At the Taiko Center, we have had a few opportunities to perform outdoors in downtown Detroit. It is always a unique and fun experience to be surrounded by the big buildings, a lot of people and to hear the deep sounds of taiko drums echoing around the city.

So when the Detroit Tigers made the playoffs last month, I decided that if they could make it to the World Series, the Taiko Center would pack up the drums, go down to the game and cheer on the Tigers from the streets.

Once they punched their ticket to the World Series, through the connections of one of our students, we were able to get a spot right along Woodward in front of Comerica Park. We arrived on site at 5 PM, set up the drums and started playing on and off up until the game began around 8 PM. Once the sun went down it was pretty cold, so we kept playing from time to time to stay warm. Many people stopped to listen on their way to the game, took pictures, videos, stoped to chat and so on. Many people looked happy to see us. I hope we brought some joy to everyone who was down in the city.

Unfortunately, the Tigers lost that night and went on to get swept by the Giants the following day. We still enjoyed performing and since the Tigers are favored to get back to the World Series in 2013, we may just have to plan on heading down again.

See more pictures at our Facebook Page.

The Turtle Pig Song - Kids Taiko Class

Last week I shared a video of our older kids class and about the challenges of learning and performing one of the most famous pieces in the taiko world, Miyake Daiko. (If you'd like to see them perform it live, please come to West Oaks shopping center in Novi this Saturday (Sept 29) around 3:30 PM).

This week I have another kids class and video to introduce. Our younger class, ranging in age from about 4 years old through 1st grade, meets on Mondays in Novi from 5 - 5:45 PM. Many of our first graders from last year moved up to the next level, so there aren't as many students, but it is also a great time to join the class. We are currently enrolling students, ages 4 through 1st grade for taiko classes in Novi on Mondays and Wednesdays in Ann Arbor. Check the Taiko Classes page or send an email to raion.taiko@gmail.com for more information.

About two years ago, we were honored to have Hono-O-Daiko as a guest to help us celebrate the one year anniversary of the Great Lakes Taiko Center. During that visit, Hono-O-Daiko member and leader, Akemi Jige taught the Kame Buta Song to our children's class. Kame means "Turtle" and Buta means "Pig" in Japanese.

For a few months, the class has been working on getting this song ready to perform. They are getting close. We still have a few more lines to learn, but here is a shortened version, which we will also perform this Saturday at West Oaks in Novi. Enjoy...

Learning Miyake Taiko at the Great Lakes Taiko Center

This past spring, we decided to challenge our Kids/Youth class (2nd - 5th grade) to learn a challenging taiko piece. The piece was made famous by the KODO drummers, who learned it from the Tsumuras of Miyake-Jima.

Miyake Taiko is one of those pieces that probably just about every taiko group has attempted, or at least desired to perform. The piece is simple. It is basically one phrase repeated over and over, but the form is physically challenging. It requires a good amount of endurance as well as significant flexibility. For most adults, unless you've been playing this piece since you were a child, it is probably not possible to achieve the ideal flexibility for this song. It requires that you squat with your feet apart and your buttocks as close to the floor as possible. Then the player must move back and forth parallel to the floor, keeping their back perpendicular. It is very difficult for most adults to achieve a low enough stance and therefore, if we choose to play the piece, we just have to accept whatever depth we can get to.

Kids, on the other hand, are still very flexible and most can move with proper form without a problem. Since late spring, we have been working with our Kids/Youth class (2nd - 5th grade, Mondays 6 - 7 PM) on the piece, Miyake Taiko and they will be performing it for the first time on Sept 29 and again on Oct 7. It is a challenging piece and although we still have a long way to go, they have made significant progress. Here is a video from this past Monday's class. Some of the students only joined the class a month ago, but they have been able to catch on quickly.

The Great Lakes Taiko Center offers classes for children and adults of all ages. If you live in South Eastern Michigan are interested in learning to play the taiko drums, please check our class offerings and find a class that would suit you, or send an email to raion.taiko@gmail.com to get more information.

Four (actually five) Taiko Concerts in Two Weeks!

Raion Taiko at the DIA - Friday Night Live

It's finally August! Actually, finally is probably not the best word since July really flew by. It was perhaps our busiest month yet, the past two weeks being the most intense. After our performance at the Concert of Colors, we had two more that week - one in Battle Creek and the next at the DIA (Detroit Institute of Arts (pictured above).

Our DIA performance was actually rescheduled from May (also a busy month). We had planned to to perform outside, but as we approached our scheduled performance date, it looked more and more like it was going to rain. A day or two before the performance, a last minute replacement was found and we postponed our performance until July, when it was less likely to rain. 

Funny how things can be ironic. As it turned out, on the day in May that we were originally booked for it did not rain. In fact, it was a beautiful evening, if I recall. And, you guessed it, July 22 turned out to be a fairly wet day. As we were driving down, it started pouring rain. Obviously, the rain let up in time for us to perform, but there was a point where a few sprinkles started during the show, but not enough to cancel.　(Nothing like this video - rain starts around 2 min)

The following week we only had one performance at a library near Grand Rapids, but the week before we held our first Kids Summer Taiko Week each afternoon. We had a great time with two classes with kids aged 4 - 12 years. Altogether, we had 12 kids. To end the kids summer course, we held a mini-recital at Guernsey Farms Dairy on the lawn.

There was a good crowd on hand for the performance with many family and friends. After the performance, there was, of course...

... Ice Cream for all!