Let's get the drum roll... rolling?

Hello, hello, and welcome to Wai Taiko Blog!
This will predominantly be the ramblings of a junior member of Wai Taiko (that's me!), but I'd like to convince other members to write to it as well, so it'll hopefully become something of a group project.

First things first, a little introduction is in order. Wai Taiko is a Japanese drumming group based in the mighty Waikato, specifically the mighty Waikato Uni. The group was formed in 2000 by our wonderful leaders, Lianne Stephenson and Michelle Miles - who is currently in Japan going to workshops, festivals and all manner of exciting things. We're all so jealous! The group's first drums were made out of wine barrels by Barry Stephenson, who just so happens to be Lianne's multi-talented father.

Highlights over the years include performing at the premiere of The Last Samurai and The Big Day Out.

Anyway, more info on the group and taiko as a whole is on our website, so enough about the past already...

Those of you who can do math will notice that the group is nearing its 10th anniversary, and we have plans to go to Japan mid next year... More on that later.

To jump ship once more on my subject, we held a public workshop last night. We had a good turnout and everyone seemed to pick it up quickly and enjoy themselves, which is the main idea, really.
We went over basic rhythms (doko doko; san doko etc.), stance and strike, then progressed on to swing beats and a bit of minaguchi. Then miyake, which I more or less taught, with some guidance from Lianne, followed by seiryu, always the crowd-pleaser. There was an almighty "AWWW!!" when we finished that one. We warmed down, chatted and went over twirls a little too. Then it was time to put the drums to bed for another night and depart.

Well now it's done. Goodbye for now!

~Iris~