These are my Taiko memories. The first thing I
remember is Esther Vandecar. She had long hair and
she had small sunglasses. She also rode a
motorcycle. It surprised me. What also shocked me
is the noises she made when we played such as, hup!
Sup! Hi!
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Another thing I will remember
are the drums. They weren't like "regular" drums.
As we walked in the room and we looked at the drums
it was weird seeing the different kinds. There were
some big and some small. They were heavy. My
favorite one is not small but not that big. Esther
told us about the culture. The background of Taiko
is interesting.
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I also remember how we had to stay disciplined. We
had to listen carefully to everything Esther told
us which was important. If we didn't bend our knees
or hold our bachi, the drum stick, right Esther
would come up to us and either stop the group and
ask you are you a real Taiko drummer?" Or she would
say, "you're going to break your thumbs!" After a
while, we got used to bending our knees and holding
the bachi right.
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Ever since the beginning of
Taiko we learned some Japanese. Konichi wa means
hello! Sei no, start playing. Mata ne, see you
later. Gambate, good luck try your best.
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We also made masks. We first put Vaseline on our
face so the plaster would not stick. It was
supposed to smell like baby powder, I think, but to
me it stunk really bad! We painted them white then
painted fusia red on top of it in stripes.
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The beginnings were also important. One thing was
at the beginning, I didn't like Taiko that much. I
didn't like the stretches, sitting on air or
constantly remember to hold the bachi right. After
a while it was really fun and my friends and I were
always playing the tunes with our fingers, pencils
and whatever we found useful for bachi. We all will
remember Esther. She was nice, funny and not hard
to talk to. She wasn't that strict either. She was
usually dressed in a Japanese shirt, loose pants
and would be barefoot when she taught us.
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There was also a lot we had to learn. We learned
how important exercising is before you play the
drums. We learned to stay together and we got
better. We had to learn not to be competitive. A
lot of us would go too fast and mess the whole
group up. Esther would always say, "You're not
racing, think slow!" But eventually we learned to
go slow too.
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Responsibility was also a big part of Taiko. We had
to know when to talk and when not to. If our bachi
was chipped we had to go tell Esther and get new
ones. Of course we still had to know to bend our
knees and hold the bachi right.
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One thing is to know how to be a team and not to
think you are the boss or the main person. We
learned that everybody is part of the team.
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Now that it's over I am sad. Esther is a great
teacher. I will never forget her. I won't forget
playing the drums either. They were fun and
exiting. I still want to play. Even though it's
over I know that I can play, at least two songs,
well and I had fun learning them.
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The thing I will remember most is Esther, of
course. I already have mostly what I remember about
her. I will also remember the drums and the songs
we played such as Bicentennial Bayashi, which
Esther wrote for us, and Silk Daiko. Five of us
were in front of the stage while moving through the
drums. We went from drum to drum while playing. It
was confusing at first because we only had two days
to learn it but we played pretty good at the
performances. It was a very fun song to write
about.
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Plain out performing was
also exiting. We had four performances at school,
one at night for the parents and whoever else, one
at a park for Martin Luther King Day and also were
having one on Saturday, January 23 and also the
next day at a drum festival. I wasn't that nervous
at the performances because we all knew our songs
well and I knew we would not mess up. At the
performances I had a speaking part. All I said was
that was Bicentennial Bayashi, our next song is
Silk Daiko. Daiko means Taiko "Great Drum."
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We also had feeling and the pride. The feeling was
fun, exiting and always wanting more. We were also
proud of Ester, having a good teacher like her and
of what we can do. We can now play well.
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Two more things I will always remember are the
drums, naturally, and our masks and headbands. The
drums I will always remember playing no matter
what.
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I will always have these memories of Taiko. They
were a very different experience and a lot more.
Luckily some of us will be able to play again on
the 23 and 24 of January for the last time. I am
exited. I think we will do great.
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