Introducing our new trainees!

October 18, 2023 • Membership News

Coming out of our recruitment workshops, we are excited to welcome eleven trainees for our 2023-2024 trainee class! Many, but not all, of our new recruits have played taiko previously, with experience in collegiate groups like Gendo Taiko, Swarthmore Taiko, Cal Raijin Taiko, and Bakuhatsu Taiko Dan, youth taiko groups like San Jose Junior Taiko, and even Asaka Daikol, a performing group in Japan!

But most important, all of our trainees show a great passion for taiko, learning, and performing. Over the next three months, they will join us for weekly rehearsals and learn Soh Daiko’s way through observation, drills, and dedicated trainee hours, honing in on Soh Daiko’s unique techniques and repertoire.

This is the biggest group of trainees we’ve taken on in years, and we can hardly wait to see what they accomplish!

Soh Much Fun at the Soh Daiko Recruitment Workshops!

October 2, 2023 • News Recap Workshop

On Sept 23rd and 30th, Soh Daiko held our two recruitment workshops of the season, and we had a great turn out despite the rain! We were joined in the dojo by a diverse group of participants, including many who have played taiko in collegiate or community groups prior and several who were completely new to taiko. We worked with them through the basics of taiko, demonstrating our style and repertoire, and sent them home with an appreciation for taiko and Soh Daiko, and likely some blisters and sore muscles, too!

Workshop participants learned and demonstrated their skills in both beta (downstand) and yokouchi (upstand) styles, as well as joined us for vigorous warm up exercises and drills. At the end of each workshop, we circled up for a jam session to allow each participant to shine and to share our love for taiko with one another.

Thank you to all our participants for joining us! While we hope everyone learned a lot about our form of taiko, we also learned a lot from having new players and personalities join us in the dojo over the past two Saturdays, and soon we will be excited to announce our 2023 Trainee Group!

Announcing Soh Daiko’s 2023 Recruitment Workshops!

September 1, 2023 • Coming Up Workshop

September 23rd, 2023 & September 30th, 2023

Update: Registration is FULL!

Do you love taiko? Have you always wanted to try playing taiko? Have you played taiko and want to join Soh Daiko, the first taiko group on the East Coast?

Learn to play taiko and try out to be a member of the group! No experience is necessary. We will provide everything you need to play.

This program is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

A Trip to LA for EXTASIA!

July 29, 2023 • News Recap

That’s a wrap on our 2022-2023 season!

We ended our season with a trip to Los Angeles for a performance in Asano Taiko U.S.’s EXTASIA! In mid-July we boarded our New York and New Jersey flights and arrived to a warm welcome in Torrance, California. On Thursday, we arrived in LA with bachi and suitcases in hand and made our way to Asano Taiko U.S, a full-service taiko facility selling taiko related products and offering taiko classes for all levels.

We spent the weekend rehearsing, catching up with new and old taiko friends, and getting to know the area. On Friday, we rehearsed with Asano Taiko U.S.’s drums for the first time, running through our program of Soh Daiko signature pieces Yuudachi and Hachidan. Then on Saturday, we joined the other taiko groups at the venue for a technical and dress rehearsal.

Sunday, July 16 was the big day – we arrived at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Cente bright and early and got ready to start the show! We shared the stage with Miyakejima Geinou Doushikai from Japan, World Miyake Kai, Honoo Daiko from Japan, San Francisco Taiko Dojo, and Asano Taiko U.S.’s own performing groups, LATI-Gumi, UnitOne, UnitTwo, and the Asano Taiko U.S. Youth Groups, for an unforgettable celebration of Asano Taiko U.S.’s 10th anniversary. In addition to our two signature pieces, two Soh Daiko members joined representatives from the other groups for a combined piece called Summer Reprise to close the show.

Asano Taiko U.S. ended the weekend with a celebration banquet to commemorate 10 years in business. We heard stories from the company’s founders, from their students, from taiko groups who’ve been generously supported by Asano Taiko U.S., and our very own Alan Okada. Good food and the comradery of the taiko community made it the perfect conclusion to a long weekend!

We are so thankful to Asano Taiko U.S. for giving us this opportunity–it was an incredible experience meeting and playing with this incredible group of taiko players, and we’re glad we could bring some East Coast energy to LA. A big thank you also goes out to founding Soh Daiko members Alan Okada and Merle Mieko Okada and former members Nick Loh and Yue Qiu for returning to join us for this concert–we couldn’t have done it without you!

For the rest of the summer, our members will be enjoying a much-deserved break from rehearsals. But we’ll be back at it again in September, starting with our annual recruitment on September 23rd and 30th. Save the date now and check back here for more info in September–we hope to see you there!