REGISTER HERE
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Monday, July 16th
6:00-7:30pm
Being a Good Mechanic by Yasuko (Ueda) Cheetham
$30
8:00-10:00pm
The Great Divide by David Cheetham
$40
Both Workshops
$60
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Being a Good Mechanic - Your Body's Preventative Maintenance and Tuning
Yasuko (Ueda) Cheetham
This workshop will provide participants with exercises necessary to increase strength and flexibility in often-overlooked areas of the body - rotator cuffs, fingers and wrists, hips, feet, as well as introducing additional vocabulary to their repertoire of core-strength exercises. Using practices from a variety of disciplines, participants will learn to construct a routine which will make them more efficient as taiko drummers in addition to avoiding injuries common to our activity. They will also learn about basic and proper use of Thera-Bands, an inexpensive and convenient tool commonly used in Pilates, to facilitate these exercises. The workshop will include detailed descriptions of the exercises - the "How and Why", a handout of the exercises, modifications to the exercises to suit an individuals strength and skill, and a Thera-Band for the participants to keep.
The Great Divide - Developing the Skills That Make Players Great
David Cheetham
This workshop will introduce participants to a few key concepts that are common to every great drummer or percussionist, regardless of their style. Understanding these fundamental mechanics of playing, associating them with basic musical ideas, and learning to apply them your own playing can be the next stage in your journey as a taiko drummer. In this workshop, we will discuss the underlying ideas of stick control and pulse relationship, learn how to increase our facility with them, and practice applying them to drills, songs, and warm-ups. The successful application of this material will open up new possibilities in your playing, both as an individual and as a member of an ensemble. We will also cover how these techniques can be applied in a group setting to improve their overall musicality. This workshop is open to and beneficial for any level of player, but newer players may find the later drills are not yet within their reach.
BIOGRAPHY
Yasuko (Ueda) Cheetham
Born and raised in Tokyo, Yasuko began her adventure in music at age 3 with piano, and clarinet at age 10. She attended Shobi Conservatory, and was a certified Yamaha Marching Band instructor in addition to her private studio of school-aged kids from around Tokyo. She moved to the US in 1993 with the dream of participating in Drum and Bugle Corps. After studying English, a season with Riverside Community College's Marching Tigers (Affectionately known as Off-Season Blue Devils), and a chance meeting while marching the Rose Parade as alumni of Shinagawa Girls' High School, she moved to Las Vegas. There, she earned multiple degrees and certifications through UNLV. Recently, she has focused her energy on movement and body mechanics. She is a certified Pilates Instructor through Body by DK, a system with millions of practitioners throughout the world, and has spent hundreds of hours researching various methods and practices in an effort to devise a comprehensive system to help musicians maintain their bodies. Taiko is a recent addition to her musical repertoire, and has proven to be the perfect match for her quest to bridge the gap between musicians' minds and bodies.
David Cheetham
David comes to the world of Taiko through a long career in the world of marching arts. From age 16 to age 22, he marched 3 summers in the Drum and Bugle Corps circuit, 7 football seasons, 3 Rose Parades, and 5 seasons of winter Drum Line. After earning a degree in Music Education, he went on to teach marching band, drum line, color guard, guitar, choir, and music theory at a high school in Las Vegas. Retiring from full-time teaching in 2011, he now works as a technician for Cirque du Soleil. In 2009, in a fit of overwhelming boredom, he searched "taiko" in Google. There, he discovered an art form that tapped into all of his previous experience, and added the element they had all been missing: fun! In October 2010, Korabo Taiko was formed, and under his musical direction they have become a respected institution in Las Vegas with numerous yearly performances. With his passion for steel fabrication, David also has the odd distinction of being the Go-To-Guy for weird projects throughout the Taiko Community... such contraptions as TAIKOPROJECT's "Collapsible Ojime" and "Lay-Down Ohira Cart", Unit Souzou's "Transformer Stand", Crespi Celt-Taiko's "Taiko Movers" Joe Small's "Collapsible Adjustable Tate-Dai" the "Indestructible Stretching Jig", and several other projects currently in progress.