It wasn’t even a year ago that I was stood on a bus in Hawaii on my way to Obon, talking to Peter Brown and Joan Froelich about the potential of visiting them, and here I am…Bergenfield Taiko Club!
Today was the first time I had time on the drums with Bergenfield High School Taiko Club. It’s usually a fairly relaxed club where students’ different schedules make a clear start tricky to pick out but Jeff Brown and Joan Froehlich have clearly done a brilliant job not only teaching taiko but organizing everything from rehearsal space to performance schedules, not to mentions finding drums with zero budget, and of course, this is off salaried time – it’s a common story of love for taiko that has made this incredible club happen.
We were joined by Peter Brown, director of Manhattan Taiko and Taiko Aiko Kai who would be with us for all my time here – the man I had met on a bus in Hawaii, it still makes me smile that I was here after all! After the session had ended in such high spirits the three of us headed to Tommy Fox’s the local pub for food and catching up…it was a great start to the week.
The taiko session went so well, starting work on Tai Ya Sa, written by Kagemusha Junior Taiko, which I hope to become a connection between groups in the future. The song really suits the personality of the club, and uses the physicality of taiko much more than they have been used to previously. We had so much fun learning it, and progress was really strong. Jeff Brown was kind enough to ask some students from photography and film
class to come by and record parts of the session, which saved me from stopping the flow just to take pictures to show people…I’m waiting to get them through, as the Principle was so kind in getting all the permission slips in place so I could share those photos here on-line. It’s been a pretty busy day but it really is an amazing school environment to be in, and I can’t quite believe that I’m here, being so welcomed by students and teachers.
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