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October 28, 2004I'm having a bachi ball!
I just flew in from my second evening of drumming with Senryu Taiko, and boy, are my arms tired!
No, really—they are.
What has passed from the realm of fatigue into the realm of actual pain, though, is the muscle group halfway between my left knee and where that leg meets my body. Just like anybody else faced with the prospect of doing an inordinate amount of the work in a group project, it ain't happy. Luckily, one of the other new members runs marathons (for fun, no less), so she shared one of those helpful, excruciating stretches with me. It hurt like two-term Bush, but I think I'd be in more pain now if I hadn’t done it.
Pain aside, however, I'm still loving Taiko drumming. The newbies all received their very own pair of bachi (drumsticks) today, and we spend maybe about half an hour giving them a rudimentary sanding down with pieces of sandpaper. The bachi are each 16 inches long, and just shy of an inch thick. I feel that I’ve forged a bond with them already, and why not? As has been stressed to us a few times now, they are (or should at least be considered) extensions of our hands.
My first though upon plucking my bachi out of the bag was, "Hey, I’m gonna name these!" I'm too lazy to look it up online, but I wonder how many early cultures had their equivalent of the Judeo-Christian Adam naming of the animals. There’s a very satisfying, effortless sort of magic in the act of naming something—inanimate object, pet, or otherwise. In naming it and not having it refuse its new moniker, you've bonded it (or them, in the case of my bachi) to yourself—and established who's boss.
Okay, guys. Any suggestions as to what I should name them?
Posted by patrick at October 28, 2004 03:43 AM
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