After learning to drum with Yamatai a few weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to see them perform at their annual show. I went to see them at Bailey hall, and I’m not going to lie I was a little jealous at how many people came. I wish my shows got that many people. But I definitely understand why so many people came. They were really good, as always. I was surprised at how much humor was in the show, which I hadn’t expected given that the taiko drumming is from my understanding, a fairly serious art form. And of course the performance was even more physically demanding that I had imagined. There was one song where the drummers were basically doing one crunch for the entire song. And another, that was my favorite, where a girl was playing a drum twice as big as she was. The only thing that confused me was when Big Red Raas came out and started dancing and drumming with no mention of it in the program or anything. But overall it was really engaging, it was two hours long, but didn’t feel like it.
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It a good thing I never became a drummer
I saw that Yamatai was going to be having a lesson at Rose, and I thought it would be fun to learn. I’ve seen them perform at lots of different events before, and I always thought it looked physically draining, but not that hard. I was very mistaken. In the course of trying to learn how to drum, I realized that I am not good at non-4-count rhythms. It’s a really good thing I didn’t try to peruse drumming like I’ve thought about doing in the past. I was right though about it being physically taxing. The stance and way you move the sticks is exhausting. It only solidified by respect for the people in Yamatai. Even though I wasn’t very good at it, I did have a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed playing the big, deep drum. Something about it was just a lot more satisfying than on the tiny drums.