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Mark H Rooney Taiko

Taiko Instructor & Performer

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Taiko Voices

Since 2011, thousands of people have become a part of our greater community and I am repeatedly humbled by the remarkable individuals who share their energies, talents and stories - the students, performers, collaborators, guest artists and, certainly, the audience. I am thrilled that we can now offer an opportunity for everyone to gain insight into the true lifeblood of Mark H Taiko and I hope that you will find their voices as inspiring as I do!
– Mark H

Learning How to Kiai in a Pandemic by Molly Bergen

05.01.2020 by Linda Lombardi //

I was a shy kid who rarely raised my voice, even on the playground, yet as long as I remember I’ve been drawn to the drums. When I was eight or nine, and a recent transplant to northern California from the East Coast, my parents took me to see Stanford Taiko. I was transfixed by the entire thing — the deep pulse of the odaiko that I could feel in my chest, the crisp articulation of a dozen drummers playing in unison, the sudden swells in volume until everyone was playing full out. I also loved the energy of the players, who smiled and grimaced and sweated and yelled through it all. I had no idea what they were saying, but somehow it made sense anyway.

Since then, my love of drumming has taken me lots of places, from school concert band to jazz set lessons, from West African drumming classes to my college “found-object percussion group,” before bringing me back to taiko in 2011, when I picked up a flyer for an “intro to taiko” workshop by Mark H Rooney. Nine (!) years later, I’m a member of Miyako Taiko and the Mark H Taiko Connection.

In my ongoing efforts to become a better performer, kiai (the unintelligible yelling I remember from my first taiko show) has always been a big challenge for me. Kiai is used to convey emotion and communicate with fellow taiko players — to give energy to a tired soloist, for example — as well as the audience. A taiko song could be played perfectly, but if there is no kiai, it will probably sound like something is missing. But knowing all this hasn’t made it much easier for me to do it. I constantly have to remind myself “don’t forget to kiai,” which just goes to show how unnatural it is for me.

Fast-forward to early March 2020. I arrived at Miyako practice to find Mark Clorox-wiping bachi. Everyone was on edge. The coronavirus outbreak had just been declared a pandemic, and state and city leaders were starting to ban large gatherings of people.  We didn’t know it at the time, but this was the last practice we’d be having for a while.

After talking through some recent news developments (including the cancellation of Sakura Taiko Fest, our flagship annual show, as well as the entire cherry blossom performance season), we set up the drums to run through a couple of songs. On that particular Thursday, after a stressful week, it felt great to hit the drum as hard as I could. I was surprised to hear myself yelling, too — and it felt different this time.

Instead of my brain telling my mouth what to yell like it  normally does (“Try yelling this sound!”), I didn’t even have to think about the emotions I should be conveying. I just felt them, and then I heard them coming from my own lips — not actual words, more like primal sounds of all the emotions I had built up in recent weeks of seeing COVID-19 slowly take over and then upend our world. Frustration. Anger. Fear. Grief.

Expressing these all-consuming emotions was exhausting, but it also felt good. And as we moved on to a lighter song, and I looked around at so many people smiling for the first time of the evening, another feeling rose to the surface: immense gratitude for this group of people that I get to play with every week (in normal life, anyway).

More than 40 days into social distancing here in Washington, D.C., taiko practice is one of the things I have been missing the most. I can’t wait for that first post-pandemic practice, whenever that may be — something tells me we’ll need that kiai more than ever.

Photos copyright Thomas Huggins

 

Categories // Taiko Voices, Uncategorized Tags // taiko, taiko communication

Virtual Sakura Taiko Fest

04.09.2020 by Linda Lombardi //

The Sakura Taiko Takeover at the Tidal Basin is our biggest event of the year. Part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, if we’re lucky, it actually takes place among blooming cherry trees, as it did last year. While this year’s event was cancelled, we can still enjoy performances by some of the groups that were planning to participate through the magic of the internet.

Oto-Wa Taiko would have been our first guest group from outside the United States, traveling to DC from the Canadian capital. Oto-Wa Taiko members are celebrating the group’s 30th anniversary this year. The name Oto-Wa Taiko, while phonetically reflecting its community of origin, Ottawa, uses two Japanese characters, OTO (音) and WA (和). OTO means sound while WA means harmony. The character WA symbolizes the harmony of spirit among the players with their taiko as they make joyous sound together. Oto-Wa Taiko also conducts general interest taiko workshops and runs taiko classes for anyone interested in experiencing taiko first-hand.

River City Taiko is a community taiko group in Richmond, Virginia, and has been active for nearly ten years. The group gives lessons in traditional Japanese drumming, and performs at a number of events throughout the year in Central Virginia as well as Tidewater and the Charlottesville area. River City Taiko’s mission is to let people of all ages and backgrounds know that taiko is both something that they can enjoy and a community that they can become a part of. If you’d like to learn more, please visit River City Taiko on Facebook and Instagram.

 

Our neighbors Nen Daiko have performed at every Sakura Taiko event since the tradition began! Nen Daiko is the taiko ensemble of Ekoji Buddhist Temple in Fairfax Station, Virginia, and has been performing in the Washington DC metropolitan area for over 25 years.

While we don’t have video, we’d also like to give a shoutout to the other groups that were planning to travel to DC: Taiko Tides from Stony Brook, Columbia Taiko from Columbia University,  and the Swarthmore Taiko Ensemble. And stay tuned for another post with video of our Mark H Taiko groups!

 

 

 

Categories // Performances, Taiko Voices, Uncategorized Tags // DC, National Cherry Blossom Festival, performances, sakura taiko fest, Tidal Basin

Taiko Voices: Four Questions with Laura Colter

03.24.2020 by Linda Lombardi //

For this week’s post, we present Four Questions with Laura Colter. Some of her answers will be no surprise to fellow taiko players who’ve admired her sparkly shoes. Enjoy!

1. TELL US WHO YOU ARE – WHAT YOU DO OTHER THAN TAIKO, AND A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR TAIKO HISTORY.

Outside of taiko, I’m a mom, and a preschool teacher, and my side hustle is something called Color Street. Color Street is at-home nail polish, salon quality at a fraction of a cost. It’s sold like Avon. A friend gave me a sample of it last winter and you know how you get the funk in the winter sometimes? Applying that hint of sparkle to the tips of my fingers just made me happy. Everything has a sparkle about it.

One of the reasons I do it is it allows me to help others. I do a lot of fundraisers through it – I just finished raising funds for a little boy who just had a heart transplant. I pick things I’d love to give to and can’t because of financial reasons.  Color Street lets me give back. And it’s such a frivolous first world thing, but it really makes people happy, in such an affordable way.

I came to taiko because I thought it was interesting and I wanted a form of exercise. What I like about taiko is that it keeps me active but also gives back to the community. I’m not just sitting in a cycle studio. I enjoy it, and in turn it gives someone else something to enjoy. That was one of the big draws.

2. HOW HAS LIFE PREPARED YOU FOR TAIKO?

I feel like coming to taiko is out of character for me. At my first intro workshop, I sat down on those benches outside the classroom and people asked, ‘so what are you doing here?’ I said this is my yearly out-of-my-comfort-zone outing. I think it’s important to try to stretch yourself and I don’t do that as often as I should.

3. HOW HAS TAIKO PREPARED YOU FOR LIFE?

I was held back in second grade, which was not a boost to the ego. As a second grader, you think, oh I’m not good enough for anything. You carry that for quite some time, or at least I did. As a child I had unspecified learning disabilities and I was never really taught the way I could learn- hello undiagnosed ADHD. So, I didn’t think I’d ever feel good enough. I think a lot of people feel that way. It’s also the biggest factor in why I became a teacher. I like to find the way a child learns and then teach them.

But in this community, you’re always good enough. I really appreciate Mark for his unique teaching ability – he finds the way we learn, whether we know it or not. I have no musical experience – I was in choir but I didn’t read music, I just sang along with whoever I was standing next to – but he has all the confidence in the world that we’re going to get it. And that has prepared me in other areas of my life to just try it, and it’s ok to goof up, but as long as you show up and give it your best, it’s good enough.

I value the community that I’ve found in taiko.  It’s such a welcoming and diverse community and I just really appreciate the confidence Mark has in our abilities. I think there’s something special about being in that room, sharing that energy. It’s like church or sanctuary on a Sunday night. The energy we get from each other is such a nice way to end your weekend and begin your week.

4. TO END ON A LIGHTER NOTE: WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO… GIVE PEOPLE!

Glitter! A twinkle in their eye. The sparkle in their eye, whether because I made them a cupcake, or sat and listened to their concerns and showed up or donated to their cause.   I just want to leave people better than when I found them.

 

Categories // Taiko Voices, Uncategorized Tags // community, taiko talk

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Meet the Artist Series

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Taiko Voices

Mark H Taiko’s First Online “Meet the Artist” by Lee Blank

December 8, 2020 By Linda Lombardi

Building community and supporting other artists are founding principles of … [Read More...]

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Random Acts of Taiko

TONIGHT!! In less than 7 hours, (at 8 PM Eastern S TONIGHT!! In less than 7 hours, (at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time, tonight, Friday, 2/19) - Ryo Shimamoto takes to the Meet the Artist screen! Please register ahead of time: https://www.markhrooney.com/event/meet-the-artist-ryo-shimamoto/ See you soon!
Just THREE DAYS!! Feb 19th, 8 PM EST, join us for Just THREE DAYS!! Feb 19th, 8 PM EST, join us for our fourth virtual “Meet the Artist” featuring the (intended) Artists of CONNECT2020! This one is close to my heart as it features my remarkable teacher and taiko-brother Ryo Shimamoto @jdryo!  As it will be Saturday morning in Japan (where he is joining us from), Ryo is recommending lemon tea but also encourages pear cider (which he can’t find in his area but we got him hooked on back at Kristen’s and my wedding...!) Pull up a sofa, set up a viewing device with good sound and get your drink on as we #MeetTheArtist this Friday! #MarkHTaikopresents  https://www.markhrooney.com/event/meet-the-artist-ryo-shimamoto/
Our very first INTERNATIONAL “Meet the Artist” Our very first INTERNATIONAL “Meet the Artist” event features Ryo Shimamoto @jdryo , my teacher from Wakayama, Japan! I can’t BEGIN to convey how excited I am for this - Ryo is not only a talented taiko teacher and artist but is also an endlessly engaging taiko-talker! See you Feb 19, 8 PM EST (Eastern Standard Time - please check for local time). Space in LIMITED so sign up today HERE: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYld-iurj0qHdVyTh_3ufvvyD-rk9FgNtDG  #markhtaikopresents #MeetTheArtist #withryoshimamoto
THIS SATURDAY at 8 PM EST! Mark H Taiko presents a THIS SATURDAY at 8 PM EST! Mark H Taiko presents another in our virtual “Meet the Artist” series - featuring Michelle Fujii and Toru Watanabe AND Unit Souzou ensemble! #virtualMeettheArtist #MHTpresents #unitsouzou
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About Mark H

Mark H Rooney studies, performs, and teaches taiko: a dynamic form of full-body drumming based in Japanese tradition. Mark combines that traditional foundation with a modern sensibility to create performances and classes that are full of energy, endurance, and excitement!

Interested in bringing taiko to your school, organization, or event? Contact Mark H. Mark will work with you to tailor a workshop or performance to meet your needs…
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