Drumming for Rainbow runners in support of Ty-Hafan

For the second year now we brought our drums to Swansea bay – to the beach near the 360 café.  We drummed  in support of the rainbow runners as they completed a 5 km run on the sand. Not only do they get covered in sand, they pass through several paint stations where they get sprayed with paint. They end up tired and very colourful!

 

The event is done to raise funds for Ty-Hafan, the Welsh children’s Hospice. We couldn’t think of a better cause to help!

Our drumming motivated the runners in the final lap of the trail and we were really inspired by the big effort the runners made to arrive at the finish line.

We played until the last runners arrived at the finish line, a total of 2 hours. We were quite tired but happy at the end of the day. Playing on the beach with the sea and the Mumbles in front of us is one of our favourite things to do!

Hiryu San Dan Gaeshi with Ting-Chi Li

We started learning the piece ‘Hiryu San Dan Gaeshi’ originally written by Grandmaster Daihachi Oguchi in the first beginner’s course that we ran. I learnt it from several online videos such as the Hiryu Project and taught the group. However, the subtlety of any song is hard to realise from a video and so I seeked some guidance from Ting-Chi Li.

I knew that Ting-Chi had played this song while at the San Franscisco Taiko Dojo, under Tanaka sensei. And after a few email exchanges we decided it’s so much better if Ting-Chi came over and taught us herself. And so, on the 11th March, we had a full day of detailed study of the SFTD version of Hiryu and Isami Goma combined. We learnt from Ting-Chi not only the rhythms, but also the movements and most importantly, the meaning of the song and the spirit in which to play it. Ting-Chi is a fabulous teacher – she is clear, energetic and very supportive. She got us playing at the top of our ability with the most energy and happiness we could master. She helped us improve our kata (form) and our musicality. Her energy and love for this song was very catchy! And we got a little taste of how it is to play in the SFTD. She came with her long time friend and Taiko collaborator – Xun Dong, who helped during the day and took some beautiful photos that really captured the essence of the day we had.

Busking for the Great Daffodil Appeal

One sunny Saturday we headed down to Swansea city centre to help fundraise for the Marie Curie Nurses organisation.

It was another opportunity to share our love of Taiko and  improve our performance skills:

Aber Taiko supporting Marie Curie's Swansea collection

Our volunteers, including the Lord Mayor and Mayoress of Dinas a Sir Abertawe – City and County of Swansea had a great time collecting for our Great Daffodil Appeal in Swansea city centre at the weekend. We were also joined by the Aber Taiko Japanese Drumming group, who performed in aid of Marie Curie and drew quite a crowd! Thank you for your support.This weekend, Carmarthen collectors will be out in force as part of the Daffodils and Dragons festival – which will be followed with a special event on Wednesday, March 1 at St. Catherine's Walk / Rhodfa Santes Catrin.Can you help the Great Daffodil Appeal? Sign up here: https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/daffodil

Posted by Marie Curie – Wales on Friday, 24 February 2017