Ha, I SO called this one! I knew watching the inauguration Tuesday that there was no way in 20 degree, windy weather that they could be playing that perfectly. They pre-recorded the music on Sunday and then played along to it, with some tricks applied to their instruments to keep them silent. Rather clever, really ( Read more... )

So I've been playing koto for almost three years now, I'm getting to be something of a competent player, at least until I take away the student koto "crutch"...having numbers on the strings. My koto came with a numbered strip on it, rather useful as there are 13 strings and it can be hard to keep track. This is a page of the music for Taka:


( Read more... )

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All right some videos, as promised! The videos themselves aren't all that exciting since there was no actual cameraperson (aside from my teacher's husband, who was kind enough to hit "record" for me), but hopefully the music makes up for it :) This first one's "Taka" (Hawk) my favorite koto piece EVER.

Also:

Sakura Sakura

And a piece I need to ( Read more... )

They really don't. I'm serious. Okay, Saturday night I went to my friend Gavin's symphony concert at the Saga Cultural Hall (which is a really beautiful place, I'll post pictures sometime). Gavin has a Master's degree in Tuba and through Mama-san he got connections to the orchestra and now plays with them (did I mention this woman was cool?) I've ( Read more... )