kaDON LIVE Community: Skills, Drills and a Little Bit of Lunacy with Lucy Thomas

Lucy has been playing taiko for 10 years and is an instructor at Kagemusha Taiko’s Taiko Centre in Devon, England where she teaches regular classes and workshops. Lucy is also a performing member of Tano Taiko and Kagemusha Taiko.

Over the last decade, Lucy has made the most of what the amazing taiko community has to offer and participated in events, workshops and intensives all over the world including the World Taiko Gathering in 2014, several North American Taiko Conferences, as well as European Taiko Concert Nights in Dusseldorf, Germany. In September 2018, Lucy was one of only six taiko artists who participated in the pilot programme “Roots of Kodo” (organised by Eri Uchida). She spent over two weeks on Sado Island, Japan and trained in methods and philosophy drawn from the Kodo apprenticeship program…a true taiko challenge!  

Known for helping organise and run events such as the European Taiko Conference since its inception, as well as the past four UK Taiko Festivals, Lucy’s attention to detail and clear communication has transferred over to developing effective and engaging teaching skills, particularly online due to the past 12 months. Lucy developed exciting and challenging drills and created new taiko pieces that are well and truly unique to Lucy and her style of teaching.

Workshop Description

The last year has driven everyone a little crazy. As a result, throughout the various lockdowns, Lucy has taken some of that crazy and composed a brand new taiko piece called Lunacy.

This course will look at all the nagado elements of the piece, as well as a couple of the shime parts. Lunacy is fun, uplifting, and includes some interesting kata, as well as some cheeky rhythm patterns to keep participants on their toes.

In addition to introducing Lunacy, Lucy will also share some interesting brain gym taiko drills that will provide a fun challenge for all taiko players.

A Personal Message from Lucy Thomas

“I’m very excited about sharing Lunacy with the world, as well as some of my fun taiko drills. Thank you to kaDON for giving me this opportunity. I’ll be teaching live from the Taiko Centre, in ‘sunny’ England and look forward to you joining me online!”

Schedule

Class 1: Thursday 15th April – Welcome to Lunacy
Class 2: Thursday 22nd April – A, B, C, D Let’s Play Lunacy
Class 3: Thursday 29th April – Take It to the Lunacy Bridge
Class 4: Thursday 06th May – Lunacy is Leaving the Building

All classes are one hour in duration (with optional 30-minute community hangout afterwards) starting at:

10:30 a.m. (Los Angeles)
11:30 a.m.  (Denver)
12:30 p.m. (Chicago)
1:30 p.m. (Toronto/New York)
6:30 p.m. (London)
7:30 p.m. (Paris/Madrid/Germany/Italy) 

What do I need?
  • Some space to move your body
  • Hitting surface (drum pad, kaDON TimbreTaiko, pillow, etc) and something to hit with (bachi, chopsticks, pens, or air-bachi with your hands)
  • Water
  • Pen and paper for note taking (optional)
Important Notes
  • Each live class is recorded (instructor view only) and is shared with the registrants
  • Each live class is followed by an optional 30-minute community hangout and Q&A time
Registration

Registration is closed.