kaDON Classroom: Yataibayashi with Coach Diana Wu

Have you been thinking about subscribing to kaDON, but you’re just not sure when you’d use it? Or are you subscribed to kaDON, but just can’t seem to find the motivation to go through some of the great courses on there? Well then, this is for you!

Introducing a new resource called “kaDON Classroom” with this first round led by course coach Diana Wu!

How It Works

The goal is to complete a kaDON course together by spreading out the course lessons into manageable chunks, so as not to feel overwhelmed. Participants will tackle one lesson a week where basically each person will watch the assigned lesson on their own time. Then, we will meet once that same week for a focused practice on whatever was taught in that lesson.

Diana will lead rounds of practice of the content (with variations for those wanting to focus on basics or variations for those who need more of a challenge), clarify any questions from the course, and often point out some useful timestamps for portions of the lessons that are good to focus on. In addition, people can also trade study and practice tips with each other. If you need to miss a practice that week, a recording of the practice and drill sets will be sent out to practice on your own time.

This will be an excellent way to really absorb and appreciate the valuable information taught by our kaDON instructors without the stress of figuring out when you’ll squeeze it in. Let’s just go for it!

Course Study for This Round: kaDON’s Yataibayashi course taught by Kaoru Watanabe
Course Page: https://kadon.com/course/yataibayashi/

To learn more about Kaoru and explore the other courses he teaches on kaDON.com, visit this page: https://kadon.com/instructor/kaoru-watanabe/

“Yataibayashi” is an excellent course for any taiko player, as you will:

– Delve into the importance of understanding the roots of taiko pieces

– Practice patterns and rhythms that will help develop dexterity, speed, and musical rudiments

– Connect core power with body which leads to stronger yet efficient movements

– Grasp the effect of nuance

– Build endurance!

You do not necessarily need a taiko or even to sit in the usual Yataibayashi position in order to enjoy and learn aspects of this course. There are still plenty of concepts and materials to cover and practice together. This practice is open to all, but a general understanding of basic terminology can be helpful.

kaDON Course Coach: Diana Wu

Diana is the founder and director of Naruwan Taiko based in San Diego. She has taught taiko for 14 years and has passionately refined a teaching style from a student perspective thus making materials approachable, fun, and still focused on the details. Her main goal is that people come and leave from her sessions with a good laugh and yet with an eagerness to keep tackling the material. She has taught and led taiko practices via Zoom since last year and has developed a strong comfortability with engaging and communicating clearly on-line, both visually and audibly, especially through the use of her trusty TimbreTaiko.

Diana’s taiko background involves starting with UC Berkeley’s Raijin Taiko in 2006, spending some time on Sado Island as a selected participant of Roots of Kodo (a deep immersion apprenticeship-like program for people outside of Japan, spearheaded by Eri Uchida), and being a featured artist at HERbeat, the first taiko concert production starring women taiko artists from all over the world. In the taiko community, she has served as the Chair of the Host Committee for North American Taiko Conference 2017 in San Diego.

Find out more and follow Diana at:
Web Site: http://naruwantaiko.com/
Naruwan Taiko: Facebook | Instagram

A Personal Message from Diana

“If you’re like me, you really truly want to learn something, but with everything else going on in your life, it would be helpful if someone else just planned and set that schedule for you. Plus, you enjoy having enthusiastic folks to practice with and keep you motivated. If that’s the case, then this is for you! My hope is that this will help people explore the amazing content on our site and make good use of their subscription. I will give every ounce of energy that I have to make this very fun, entertaining and educational, and very useful for utilizing the great courses on kaDON. Let’s do this!”

Schedule

Wednesdays weekly starting May 5th for no more than an hour
10:00 a.m. Los Angeles
12:00 p.m Chicago
1:00 p.m. New York
6:00 p.m. London
7:00 p.m. Italy/Germany
Ending roughly by the end of June

A tentative practice plan and lesson watch schedule will be sent out before the first meetup. This schedule could alter through the weeks depending on how everyone is doing with the course so far.

Can’t make them all? No problem, a recording of the practice sets will be sent so you can practice along on your own time, and we can possibly plan for spontaneous extra meets on weekends every two weeks for those who can’t make it the regular Wednesday time.

What do I need?

• kaDON Subscription (monthly or annual) in order to watch the course lesson before the meet
• Space to move your body, if needed
• Hitting surface (drum pad, kaDON TimbreTaiko, pillow, bed, sofa, your lap, etc.) and something to hit with (bachi, chopsticks, pens, your hands, pool noodles, foam rolls etc)
• Water
• Pen and paper for note-taking.