Taiko Gathering Day, April 18

Beth and I are Taiko Warriors, don't you think? Here we are in the traditional Taiko playing garb. All except goofy wrap around pants and the tabi (shoes). They look uncomfortable to me. Like toe-socks, but with only the big toe separated.



Being a part of the organized mayhem of Moko's Taiko Gathering Day is truly extraordinary. Once a year, She invites all her students to gather at the Shibuya Children's Hall Theatre to play for each other. There are many ages and skill levels from wee little kindergarten beginners to older folks like me. People who have been playing for 3 months and people who have been playing for 14 years. All Nationalities.


At this year's event I was involved in 3 ways...as assistant stage manager, Taiko player and member of the marimba quartet. I got there at 9:30 a.m. to help set up the marimbas. Hiroko-san was our featured marimba artist, and she and her husband brought all the equipment in their van. Ding! Right exactly at 9:30 (Japanese are very punctual) we unloaded everything in many trips, and I helped put the marimbas together. Never had I done that before. Clever construction, lots of folding parts, the keyboard just lifts off and rolls up...anyway. I had been practicing with Moko and Hiroko for weeks and weeks for this day. I memorized may part so that I would be worthy and earned my stripes by getting blisters for one piece where I held 2 mallets in my right hand.

We set up the stage for a warm up and ran through the pieces. I was focused, alert, thinking (imagine that!) and played everything very well. I was really pleased.





Here we are behind the curtain right before we played. I look like Godzilla next to the other members of the group!


Then the performances began...lots of kids, (organized chaos)lots of lining people up, loud playing, my own very poor performance during taiko (tempo was out of control)...all of this before the intermission when we would get ready to play marimbas. So 4 hours after our really good warm up, we were on again. Not so pretty for me. I was disappointed. My mind was not as focused and I made some stupid mistakes. Sigh. It was still fun though and the audience enjoyed it. Beth said she couldn't tell anything was wrong except by the look on my face. We played 4 fast pieces to really show off Hiroko-san's virtuoso playing ability. Moko is no slouch either! Nadene is the other gal, and she teaches music at a private International School in Yokohama.

The second half of the concert was wonderful. Moko's performance group-her top most players-played several pieces with astounding precision. Such a treat to see and hear.