Drumming
. In this particular session, my teacher had us all start playing the same 2 beats to a measure. After feeling comfortable with that rhythm people could branch off and start playing other things (still keeping to a 4/4 beat). Some people started doing horse beats (playing twice as many with one hand as with the other); some people were syncopating, etc. As this all developed, I had an image of us as some organism, with all these different functions but all working together. It was somehow very energizing, despite all the heat and humidity.
Article on the experience of drumming
Video Clip
This video was taken of my two teachers playing at a school recently. And there's an interview with the main teacher and artistic director.
body awareness
I had my first Taiko class with the professional group Thursday night and one of the "pros" observed something about my playing which has already improved it dramatically. She told me my stance was too high in relation to the drum--that my "hara"--the center where strength and energy is supposed to originate--needed to be on a level with the drum. Changing my stance had such a huge impact on the sound I was making; it was a good reminder of how much I am my body. I like it when something interferes with that mind/body perception. Of course, now (Saturday), my gluts are still sore but I like that too. I don't mean that I like pain, but a little muscle soreness again makes me aware of where my body is.
I'm also reminded of something else--last week in Tai Chi my teacher said that there really is no Chinese word for "waist" as in the narrow band around your middle. Their word really describes the trunk of the body. That got me thinking about the Western preoccupation with the waist and making it as small as possible, especially in women (18 inches through corsetting!). Now that I'm thinking about it, that seems like it might be a move to deny women's reproductive side. I know for instance that women continuing to wear corsets or girdles into pregnancy can result in miscarriage. And now the whole obsession with a completely flat stomach seems to extend to both genders. It's not natural--look at kids running around, depending on their build they have varying degrees of flatness to roundness. Personally I like bellies . Plus they are good for blowing raspberries.
small body changes
Isn't it amazing how one little body difference can change everthing? I consider myself a pretty good swimmer, but I have a new Master Swimmer's Coach this year and after watching my butterfly, he told me one little thing to do with my hands and VIOLA! I can really fly now!
He did the same thing with my freestyle, just a difference in when I put the 'umphf' in my stroke....and its taken 5 seconds off my best 100meter time. And I can tell I'm gliding and more water dynamic....the water just feels different now running around my body.
Shelley
Pain is pleasure
I know whatcha sayin', jazzie. I used to run track and cross country in high school. And although the soreness hurt, it indeed was a "feel good" sore. Pain is weakness leaving the body. In fact, I didn't much like it when I didn't experience a sense of soreness anymore after an extrenious workout because then I knew I had to raise the bar some.
yeah, girdles... that's interesting. The reason of wearing one, to please the eyes of men... to the point where it can harm your body and that of an unborn baby is ridiculous.
Just workout like the rest of us or be proud of the meat you have!
(PS. Congrats to movin' on up on the Tai Chi!)
Hey fellow cross countryer!
Hey fellow cross countryer! Hope you're still running.
Do you think in general women wear things to please men? or more to be fashionable for other women? It seems to that men really don't notice unless you're wearing something particularly provocative. I wear coveralls alot.... I think its more intriguing to them when they don't know what's underneath.
Shelley
dressing for whom
Dressing for whom
More simply put, I think all people dress in such a way as to be accepted by the group they aspire to be included in.
I also know women that dress sexy - not to compete with other women, but because they enjoy compliments from other women.... or even just because they like the way they look in those clothes - a kind of "self acceptance", so to speak. The types of clothes someone chooses to wear can really tell you about what a person may be struggling with or what they know and understand about the society that they are in.
I think that's how customs began - such as interview dress "rules", perhaps even as a way to theoretically lessen the competition - a way to put people on a sort of "level ground" to consider the rest of the applicant's qualifications. The situation or place dictates what society accepts as "appropriate".
The whole competition thing gets really ugly when one person perceives that another person is using their dress for an unfair advantage - such as when a female businesswoman wears a low cut blouse - or someone dressing "inappropriately". People are threatened when you challenge social norms - even when it's not related to sex.
It's really a double edged sword though... time and time again it's been shown you can't judge a book by it's cover, and the perfect job candidate is not always the one decked out in a suit. The millionaire in the crowd isn't always the one driving a Jag. When people forget why the "rules" were made in the first place - or forget that they were only guidelines and not the ultimate judge of the truth - that's when the trouble begins. I think that's why there has been less emphasis on dress formality in this day and age - which is a good thing if you ask me.
I look at what we choose to wear as a form of speech. Freedom to wear what we want, is to me freedom of speech.
Well saidShelley
Well said
Shelley
Well Said DL
Boy that title came out wrong (the webpage put it in) I should be Well Said, DL
Shelley
clothing as speech
Racial Profiling???
Crackdown! (article) Cities begin to belt wearers of saggy pants — but do laws violate rights?
Shop owner Mack Murray said Trenton's proposed ordinance unfairly targets blacks.
"Are they going to go after construction workers and plumbers, because their pants sag, too?" Murray asked. "They're stereotyping us."
The American Civil Liberties Union agrees.
"In Atlanta, we see this as racial profiling," said Benetta Standly, statewide organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. "It's going to target African-American male youths. There's a fear with people associating the way you dress with crimes being committed."
Really - racial profiling and stereotyping??? Wouldn't that depend on how the law was enforced?
I wonder ... I think I would have to disagree... oddly enough. I'm not saying I support laws like this in general... But for places that have laws against indecent exposure... wouldn't this just follow suit? ...and wouldn't it be applied to every color, gender etc?
Ahem.. well, I guess I get
Ahem.. well, I guess I get my opinion because I do have mostly male friends. I know that women are looked at no matter what they're wearing. But when a female is wearing something provocative, they tend to look twice.
In general, I'd say women are both trying to please men and women. The weightier balance is to please men, of course. I've generally never cared to impress any woman with what I wear. Give me some jeans and a tshirt and I'll make it work. School is a perfect example of how impressing men and women go hand in hand. Comparing clothing styles, makeup, jewelry, etc. By observance, it gave me the impression they are out to please their girlfriends, so they build high standards on what's cool, which in turn pleases the guys. I guess if I were more of a girly girl, I'd care... so thank God I'm not! 
Once you're out of school, there is no "cool" anyway. It's all just an act to fit in with society. And the sad thing... what happens when a girl decides she doesn't want to be part of the crowd anymore and shops at Ross instead of Abercrombie and Fitch? She might learn what associates are.
Your last point. Totally agree. It leaves room for the imagination, which can be just as gratifying. I think the difference is the impression left on the guy. A girl wearing something more provocative may entice the males to be more aggressive. They feel welcomed. But that doesn't mean they aren't looking at the girl wearing overalls or loose clothing. It may just give a less welcoming impression.
Or something like that. 
coveralls vs overalls
Coveralls cover more. I think overalls don't cover your shoulders but have just straps. I have overalls too but there're insulated....envision stay-puff marshmellow man. Sometimes my coveralls are long sleeved (the sleeves zip off) and sometimes my coveralls are shortsleeve.
Shelley
Taiko
Awesome. Had no idea about Japanese drumming, verry cool jaz.
Do you rarely produce these images with those lessons? Or spontaneously? Or is it every time, etc?
taiko
youtube--snippet of recent concert
here's a little bit of a recent concert that someone put up on youtube (I'm in the back to the left)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6AogR9FhXw
just had another concert Thursday and someone taped it. I'll let you know if it gets posted.
Youtube-concert
taiko
Awesome
Heh, I know a little teenager boy that's half Chinese and half.. something... he's got the punk rock look, red streaks in his semi long black hair... he's a cool kid.
Man, I wish they had things like that where I live... lame Texas. And I ain't joining no banjo classes! I WON'T DO IT!!
banjo
I dunno--I think banjos are pretty cool too
And not that far removed from traditional drums--someone prolly just attached a handle and some strings to a drum head!
You know there might be taiko in Texas too--and even if there isn't, man there's got to be some Native American drumming going on.
Banjos... not for me
Banjos... not for me actually... I went through a small town about 15 minutes from where I live... on the side of the road there were these horses, and they were selling and playing banjos on the side of the street... I'm gonna regret saying that. I personally hate the stereotype Texas gets.
"So, how is it riding horses to work and school?" eh, grrrr....
Native American drumming... hmm.. I might have to go a little further south for that!
Taiko History
I went to a taiko retreat this morning that began with some people talking more about the history of American taiko and how our group fits into that history and lots of interesting stuff came up about identity and connection and...well...stuff...(the stuff I usually hear through my filter :-)
A couple of people talked about how taiko in both the US and Japan comes out of the history of WWII. I heard a little of this earlier from some one who had gone to the taiko conference and was talking about the keynote speech given by Rev. Masao Kodani who is one of the founders of one of the three original taiko groups in the US forty years ago. I heard that Rev. Kodani talked about how it was important in the taiko experience to lose the sense of self and self-consciousness and play for the joy of playing and that this had been difficult for adult Japanese-Americans in the period after WWII because of the shame and stigma that lingered from internment--so there was a period in which only children performed in temple services.
Then in the 60s as part of the whole hippie West Coast and political activism spirit of the time, Taiko groups emerged as ways in which Japanese-Americans sought to reclaim their culture. In Japan it was also emerging out of a way to establish a Japanese music form in contrast to Jazz and Rock and Roll and to reestablish village identities after the war.
More recently, the people who are playing who are in their twenties or thirties and are Japanese-American--if they are coming from the West coast (as two of our members are)--they don't have direct experience from WWII, but their parents were in camps as children. Their parents distanced them some from Japanese culture, but their grandparents or greatgrandparents are asking, hey how come you can't speak Japanese? They wound up reconnecting with taiko but also bringing in other west coast influences like hip hop. And in Japan--it went from being an old fashioned tradition to now being thought of as something integrated with other things like ecological activism.
So we were all talking about what this means for us--we have some Japanese-American members, one member who is originally Japanese, and a bunch of people who are not. We use some aspects of Japanese culture like the Sempei-Kohai (hierarchy of master-student), but it is talked about explicitly (which is very un-Japanese). Many of us feel it's important to keep that connection to the culture going, but one person said she thought it important to acknowledge that she is neither Japanese, nor Japanese-American. I think I know what she was trying to get at--there is that way in which the dominant culture can almost take over marginal culture rituals and traditions. But I think one can respect the difference and identity--my ancestors were not in internment camps, my ancestors were not slaves, my ancestors were not placed on reservations--but respect that history through those traditions. And also I think there are things in individual traditions that transcend these particular histories--as in the way in which the buddhist tradition of letting go of ego that is part of the taiko tradition is important to me (and would be regardless of any particular ethnic background).
Anyway...it was really an interesting conversation...
And just a footnote as far as the experience of playing :-)
We were supposed to play yesterday--an outdoor gig--it got cancelled at the last minute because there was a tornado warning! We had been setting up and spiking and doing a cue to cue run through for three hours so that was disappointing. But then smoeone said, what the heck...let's play the last song (a festival party song)--so set up the drums and jammed just for ourselves (and the lighting crew and security guy :-). And it was a blast...There's a bit of it on youtube that the security guy got on his phone. It's on our private channel which I think I've given the password out to for folks, but if you don't have it just email me.
Shinen