Hachijo and odaiko with Yuta today! Yuta began with an introduction of the history and context of Hachijo, explaining his own path to studying this particular style. To give a brief summary, he talked about how Hachijo is rooted in the fact that anyone can play, not just young men, hence its prevalence in bars, hotels, and other public areas so everyone can share the joy of playing. On Hachijo Island, however, locals are generally eager to leave as soon as they can, with the attraction of pop culture and foreign customs outweighing that of folk customs and tradition.

After much anticipation, we finally arrived today! Yuta and Kris started the morning with a quick tour of Asano Taiko US as well as recording some diagnostic videos of both naname technique and small drum rhythmic dexterity. We then spent several hours isolating fundamentals, with Kris choosing one individual to be the "keeper" of a particular point. That is, one person will become the master of the ideal grip, another focuses primarily on the angle of the elbow approaching the drum, and so on.

For the past few weeks, Jen Baik, LATI Coach and Professional Taiko player, has been guiding the class through Omiyage while providing exercises to help us memorize the piece and improve as taiko players. She has been doing a great job preparing us for the LATI Dama Evaluation during PEAC Week, or the last week of class. Each student has the option to complete a small evaluation that tests how well we know the piece and ability to play sections. Although it sounds intimidating, I’m finding it to be a great opportunity push myself and learn Omiyage.

Beginning Monday, Mar 24, Stanford Taiko will be at LATI for a week-long intensive! Yuta and I will be teaching naname, hachijo, odaiko, small drum, improvisation, timing, and selections from Eau de Squarepusher. The group has also reserved studio time at the facility for members' practice and for an intercollegiate taiko get-together. Mr Kato will give a presentation on drum making and Katsuji will lecture about Asano and Asano Taiko US. It's going to be an amazing week!