Back in Action for 2022!

After a month long break to wait out the recent Omicron surge, Prota resumed in-person practices. It felt great to be back in front of the drums and getting some exercise outside after hiding from the virus at home.

Though this month away from practice has felt like a long time, it's been an even longer 5 years since our last blog post here! A lot has changed since that last post, so we thought it'd be a good idea to write a quick update on what Prota's been up to.

In 2021, Prota began practicing weekly in the amazing facilities of Asano Taiko U.S., located in Torrance, CA. The mirrored and sound-proofed studio rooms are any taiko player's dream and are a big upgrade from the UCLA parking lots we previously called home. We are extremely appreciative and grateful to Asano for renting out studio time to us. Around the same time, we also welcomed in four new members: Gianna, Minami, Alex and Vivian! We're excited to have them on board, and looking forward to what new flavors they'll bring to Prota.

We were also very fortunate to perform and teach workshops virtually and in person during the pandemic. Most recently in December, Prota performed in Asano Taiko U.S.'s Art and Study of Taiko Concert in which we debuted a brand new song called "5tay Connec7ed" (read as Stay Connected), written by our own Doug Sakamoto! It featured some fun syncopated rhythms, and crazy time signatures in 5 and 7—it was an absolute blast to learn and play it!

Now, in 2022, we've had a quick online meeting to discuss some our goals for the year and reassign some of our administrative processes—we're all ready for a new year of growth! One of the goals we decided on is to share more of our individual strengths, not only with each other, but with the greater taiko community. We intend on bringing these blog posts back on a monthly basis, and filling our Instagram with high quality videos that showcase our latest adventures in taiko. Please look forward to the fun content we'll be sharing with all of y'all!

- Alex Ito