Music Improvisation Playshop in Nagoya!

After our taiko drumming experience, we took a short break and had tea and treats and then proceeded to set the room up for a music improvisation workshop, which I had offered to do for Yasuyo’s community. We had a delightful intergenerational mix of folks and spent the next two hours engaged in some fantastic and fun music improvisation with a host of instruments and plenty of vocal experiences. I cannot think of a better way to spend a day in Japan-music music and more music. Heaven on earth in my book!

Taiko Drums- We gave it a try

After a few of their original pieces, they set the drums up and gave us a taiko lesson on a few of the drums. I had the best time playing these drums and can still feel it in my arms today, a wonderful physical workout indeed!

GONNA Again-fantastic!

The movement of the players in this band completely fascinates me.

Taiko Drums: What could be more FUN!

I have long loved the movement, power and sound of the Japanese Taiko drums and I had mentioned this to my wonderful host Yasuyo and she gave me the gift of a lifetime- the chance to not only hear a group perform but to play these incredible drums myself. We arrived at the music studio where the group “Gonna” practices and this dynamic group of musicians set up the large Taiko drums and a marimba and began to play. The sheer volume of power of the Taiko drums feel like a literal “wall of sound and vibration” sending the rhythms pulsing through every cell of your body. It is an amazing feeling to be in a rather small room with these drums. POWERFUL!!

Here is a clip of the band, they were absolutely incredible!

The Bon Festival: Community Dancing

I loved watching this community dancing event, and even was invited to join in after two women noticing me trying to get the steps in my body from the sidelines. Quite a lovely experience to be a part of the slowly circling group of people, a meditation in movement shared by the community.

The Bon Festival: Dancing in the streets

After spending the afternoon in this quaint mountain village, we made our way back through the mountains as the sun was setting and the sky was lit up with periodic lightening and even a rainbow! We stopped in another small town to witness the celebration of Bon (which is a festival to celebrate the dead). In this small town people of all ages, some in traditional dress and others in modern street clothing all gather together to dance the traditional dances while musicians play in a small gazebo like building in the middle of the street.

Rice fields surrounded the village-such beauty and serenity

More village photos

These photos will give you a sense of the village, it was very beautiful and although it was fairly high in the mountains, it was still (much to my personal disappointment) incredibly hot. There has been no escaping the heat on this visit to Japan. Each time I go outside it feels like I have stepped into a blast furnace of heat and humidity. Apparently most folks carry around a handkerchief of some sort to manage the constant stream of sweat.

Ogimachi Village: Japanese style living

As we drove out of Nagoya and into the mountains I simply could not get over how different these mountains were than any I have seen before. They are peaked and pointed but full of lush green trees and the peaks are closely condensed so there is one after another after another- as we drove north we went through one tunnel after another and each time we came out of the tunnels there was a new unfolding array of gorgeous mountain peaks. We drove for over two hours and came to a most remarkable town that still held the old Japanese style of living. The village is called Ogimachi and it is a quaint village that has homes in the gassho style with thatched roofs, which resemble hands in prayer. (gassho means to “pray”)

Family road trip to the mountains

After the morning Music Together classes, the entire family (Yasuyo, her husband, and two children) Scott and I ate lunch at a little local café, ramen noodles, udon and such- and then piled into two small vehicles and headed north into the mountains.

Gotta love these great Music Together classes!! What Fun!

Music Together classes in Nagoya with Yasuyo

I was delighted to have the opportunity to attend two of my host, Yasuyo’s, Music Together classes in Nagoya. She rents a great space that, although in the city, is surrounded by peaceful rice paddies- such a lovely setting to arrive at for class. Yasuyo is a wonderful facilitator/teacher and her classes were such a joy to participate in. The Japanese mom’s and children sang, danced, played instruments and just generally had a wonderful and joyous time for 50 minutes and then a second class came in and we had the chance to see the magic happen for second time, each time is as unique as the group that attends. I was so happy to experience Yasuyo’s classes and was quite inspired by her work with these families.

Japanese style hotel in Nagoya

In Nagoya Yasuyo had helped me make reservations for a Japanese style hotel which included sleeping on mats on the floor, shared bathrooms and a traditional Japanese bath house which has a place to rinse and wash yourself and then a deep community soaking tub. It brought back memories of the hammam in Morocco, but this was a much more relaxed version and you were on your own here, unlike the Moroccan hammam.

Somehow I got a room next to the dorm room (kind of like a youth hostile) and ended up in what has to have been the noisiest place in all of Japan. On the street people are very quiet, but this group of young people were anything but and partied late into the night. Luckily I was tired enough to sleep anyway.

Visit to Nardan harp shop and Sports Bar

Yasuyo took us over to an instrument maker that makes a fascinating version of the koto that is much smaller than a koto and has buttons that push down on the strings somewhat like an auto harp- it is called the nardan harp. I loved the sound and would have purchased one if they had been somewhat less in price.
Here is a link to a you tube about it- very cool: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgBwGlgjNB4

That night Scott, Yasuyo, and her husband and two children ate at a Japanese sports bar and had good ol’ familiar hamburgers, chicken wings and beer, it was good for me since I was suffering a bit from too many unfamiliar foods which included a hefty percentage of raw fish and unknown gelatinous items.

Never good to miss your stop on a bullet train!

After exploring the Palace ground in Tokyo with my host Takeshi, I boarded the “bullet” train toward the city of Nagoya where I had planned to meet my second host, Yasuyo. Yasuyo is a Music Together teacher as well as a drum circle facilitator and she had invited me to visit her city of Nagoya some months back so I decided this would be a wonderful way to get the chance to travel a bit while in Japan. As you might imagine, the bullet train moves very fast, so fast in fact it is difficult to focus on anything that isn’t quite far away out of the window, so I found myself closing my eyes so as not to feel dizzy. The next thing I knew I heard the announcer call a stop and I gathered my things and headed for the door, then I heard Kyoto over the loud speaker, yikes, had I missed my stop? I asked a young woman who had been sitting in front of me if this was Nagoya, and she made the sign of sleeping and a sad face and pointed to the stop and said Kyoto. Yes indeed I slept right through Nagoya and was 1 hour beyond my stop. (which is pretty far considering it was the bullet train and all). Just as I got off the train and was going into a mild panic state, my cell phone rang- no one has called for days and I am really not using it while overseas, but I answered and an American male voice was on the other end asking if I had missed my stop in Nagoya. It was Yasuyo’s American friend Scott who was helping her try to figure out what had happened to me. Turns out I could slip back through the gate to the other train track and catch the next train back to Nagoya, which I did. So it all turned out ok apart from the fact that dear Yasuyo had to wait around the train station much longer than she had planned.

Tokyo - the Palace

On Monday morning Tak and I visited the palace in Tokyo, one can only walk around the outside but you can get a sense from the pictures of the area. What I loved the most was that all of the trees had been shaped into bonsai like trees- a little forest of them. Takeshi loved the fact that you had a little forest of trees and right behind them stands the city. Such contrast in images!

The Fun Loving Staff at DCFT!!

The Healing Power of Music: A Profound Experience for me

The final session of the conference was what is fondly called "jump time" in the drum circle world. It is a time for co-facilitated leading by the conference participants and anyone who wishes may come in and lead the group toward a new music making direction. This session was filled with humor, energy and great enthusiasm from both the people that stepped in to lead and the participants.

Tak had asked me to lead a closing with the intention of healing those reeling from the disaster and peace to those that lost their lives.

I must say that this closing was one of the most profoundly powerful music making experiences I have had, bringing me back to the music making around the time my Mom was dying. One of the facilitators in the final jump time activities had invited participants to leave their drums and play the chime bars, these are the kind of instruments played in bell choirs- and the sound of each note is sustained and pure- just heavenly- this is when Tak and I stepped in to close the group- Tak set the intention for healing and I invited Mr Pecker to play the didgeridoo, sharing that this is a healing sounds from Australia, then we moved to a very quiet heartbeat on the drums in honor of the Native American healing pulse and then we added piano and long vocal tones over this as a personal way in which each person heals from the vibration of sound- from there the music, chanting, and drumming took on a life of it's own and even now as I write about this I am in awe of the power of this moment for me- through the music making I could feel the pain of the past months for these people and the profound love and support that they have for another- and there were moments that the voices would rise with this feeling of hope and then fall to a hushed whisper...the group facilitated itself through this most profound musical journey and as it began to find it's natural ending, I invited people to leave their instruments and step into the center and stand closely, while sounding long tones. There was this moment for me, eyes closed, engulfed in the sheer magnificence of the human experience in sound and vibration, as it rose and fell of it's own accord, changing with each breath- that I felt what Jill Bolte Taylor describes in her book "My Stroke of Insight" the complete connection of everything and everyone, that we share this planet , both it's joy and it's pain, and even though we may live half way around the earth- we are all completely connected to one another and can most profoundly effect one another's lives by the vibrations that we sent forth, take in and share.

This was a moment I will never forget and will be ever grateful to this amazing group of people for inviting me to share it with them. It is why I do what I do in my life.

Later I heard that our participant from the disaster region, a man, had left during the middle of this final session- overcome by the experience. Later that evening he emailed the staff and told them that during this music making experience, he was overcome by the love and support that poured out in sound from the group and that he felt, for the first time in a long while, a sense hope and joy returning to his life. He had written to express his gratitude to the group.
Truly the healing power of music in action.

Life After the Sunami

The second day of this conference was most remarkable to me. On Saturday evening at a casual dinner on campus I had to chance to hear these folks talk about the past few months here in Japan, the earthquake and sunami and the slow movement toward clean up and restoration of their northern region. One of our participants was from the hardest hit region and many others had relatives that they had lost during the disaster. And then there seems to be the unanswered questions about the nuclear situation. It seems that they are closing the power plant and searching for other viable power alternatives. Until then they have severely limited the use air conditioning (and this has been a particularly hot and humid summer for them).

Mr Pecker, one of the leading facilitators here, is creating a non profit organization to bring music back into the lives of the most devestated areas of the disaster. He wants to support the region by donating musical instruments to the children and schools as a way to promote joy and healing into their lives. Takeshi told me about his cousin who lives in one of the areas that was hardest hit by the sunami. He said that after the sunami there was no power and therefore no form of entertainment by any means. He said that after a few weeks his cousin called him up and asked him to send an MP3 player or something that could be battery operated as he felt that music might bring back the joy of life. Tak sent along the player and then shortly after that, his cousin called again and said that he had acquired a ukelele and wondered if Tak could send some books so he could learn to play. It seems that his cousins and others in the region found that through music making they could tap into a feeling of hope and joy. I was particualrly happy to hear it was a uke that he was learning, there is something inherently happy about the uke and it's sound!


Mr Pecker thanked me time and time again for coming to do this conference, as he said many people had decided to cancel their trips to Japan in the wake of the disaster. I understand this as I also had to really consider if it made sense to come at this time. But what I know from our past journeys is that our news media neglects to paint the full picture of any given situation and chooses to target the most sensational elements of world affairs. Life goes on in Tokyo with a fairly normal feel they tell me and I see this as I am here. The northern region is about ten hours drive from here and this is the area that was hit the hardest.

I am struck by the great heart of the people I have met here.

Ah, the Joy of Drum Circles!

I was honored to open this conference of about 70 participants with a drum circle, where I of course had to try out a few of my new Japanese phrases : )
The participants were a mix of teachers, musicians, therapists, school principals, and drum circle facilitators and they were all interested in finding ways to create community through drum circle activities. These people were delightful to work with- there was great energy and joy in their music making.
In the afternoon I had the chance to work with some of the more experienced drum circle facilitators and it was such fun to see all of the unique, personable, and energetic variations of facilitaton they shared!
Later in the afternoon two teachers shared their work with drumming in the classroom. We watched some video footage of their wonderful work in the schools here and I was struck by the fact that kids are kids everywhere and I loved seeing the sheer delight on the students faces as they explored the drums. It seems that schools everywhere are in great need of activities that create community, reduce stress and that are just darn right FUN!!