03

Stretch
Be sure to stretch shoulders especially since we will be carrying the katsugi okedo for majority of the class. Also stretch your legs because of the amount of standing and bending of the legs. Please take time to stretch on your own before class, but we will do light stretching together.

Katsugi Fundamentals
Uchikomi: Practiced more striking with the left and right hand. Emphasized relaxing the left wrist for a better snap into the drum. To balance sound, try to have right hand match the volume of your left hand since it tends to be a little bit weaker. Did 4/8/16 for right hand, then left hand and finally alternating. We can open our wrists a little bit more by rotating our forearm to snap into the drum. Feel the gravity of the strike.
"Odaiko Drill" lines: We learned lines of an Odaiko Drill I used to do in Jodaiko. The lines are depicted in the first image. This drill with its alternating lines for group A and group B allows for playing in tandem with others in our class to feed energy off of each other and make connections while playing. I'd like for us to really lean into the joy we get when we play all together. I'd also like us to try to emote a little bit more while we play adding to the performance. We want to focus on both hand playing in this drill along with volume control and anticipation.

Nuanced Hitting: We reviewed our "Desserts" song. See image 2 for reference. This time we tried playing while stepping in time, it's a little tricky stepping while playing triplets but I think it is a good challenge. We also started walking around the room while playing the katsugi okedo. Similar to the idea of rubbing your tummy while patting your head, we need to think about our hands and feet all at the same time. It takes a little time to get used to playing and moving without feeling awkward so just work on this little by little so it gets more comfortable. Also try to memorize the lines so you can focus more on other aspects other than the sticking.

Left hand back striking: We briefly went over the left handed strike on the opposite head of the okedo. The nice thing is we can play on both heads of the okedo so we could integrate cross over patterns. The strike is similar to the regular left handed strike where you still maintain the grip and snap into the drum head, but just our arm positioning is a little different. In this playing style we are also shifting the okedo so it is laying horizontal on our laps for easier access to both heads. Reaching both heads is important, make sure your left wrist is clearing the edge of the drum head so you can snap into the drum and not hit your hands. Try to arc the bachi as much we can to get the strongest snap possible is important while playing slow, because as we play faster and faster you still want to have that same energy as a high arc even though it is being played softer. We learned the line "Pina Colada" to practice this left handed back strike and it is also a line that is used in my piece that I am writing. Note image 3.

Happy practicing and reminder there is not class on 4/24! See you next week!

Clean Up

Aisatsu

Extra Notes

If you have any questions or need any clarifications feel free to email me or message here!