four hours of taiko
August 4, 2004
Saturday is the biggest festival of the year – this small island’s Glastonbury – and the taiko group are the headline act. Hence, four hours’ solid practice this afternoon. I think my metabolism must have adapted to the heat, because a year ago a mildly strenuous fifteen-minute bike ride in Okinawa’s August heat was enough to almost kill me (or at least to leave me flat on my back in a pool of sweat with swirling colours drifting across my vision for ten minutes or so). We’re learning a new piece, and this one is particularly tough, because the barrel-like taiko drum is on its side, so you have to virtually do the splits to get down to its level.