How to Practice Shime Taiko - Part 2 - Accents

I think practicing shime taiko every day with a metronome can really help you improve quickly. And not only with shime taiko or taiko playing, but with music in general. In December I pulled out my violin to begin practicing for a Christmas performance at school and I could even see improvements in my violin playing, thanks to the extra shime practice I had been doing.

The last time I posted an entry about practicing shime taiko I had a positive response from several readers, so I thought I would introduce another exercise I use nearly every day to practice shime taiko. This one comes to you thanks to my brother, the drummer for Chicago's Detholz. This exercise was actually taken from a book he showed me called, "The Rudimentary Cookbook", and I believe it is intended for snare drumming, but many of the exercises are easily transferable to shime practice.

Here is a link to a PDF file of the page: Shime Taiko Accent Exercise The exercise I refer to in this post is "EXERCISE NO. 2"

This exercise focuses on accents. If you can't play shime taiko with clean and decisive accents, your shime playing will probably not be all that interesting. This is a good exercise to work on developing accents.

Before giving my own recommendations and comments, here is what the book says about this exercise:

"The purpose of No. 2 is to enable the performer to place accents when and where desired while playing a rhythmically consistent pattern. Care should be taken to be sure that unaccented notes are kept low and even while accented notes are played fairly high. Keep in mind that accent height should always be relative to the overall dynamic level of the exercise."

My personal recommendation is to practice it starting with your non-dominant hand (left in my case), use a metronome and practice it slowly. I usually set the metronome on 16th notes at around 65 or 70. If you are not used to this type of exercise, you will probably not be able to keep up the tempo at a higher speed.

What I also found when I first started doing this exercise, was that I had trouble keeping the notes even in measures 9, 10 and 11. So I had to slow down the tempo to a rate where I was able to play them evenly. Now that I am more comfortable with the exercise, I will occasionally bump up the tempo to 80 or 90 (there are weaknesses that faster tempos can bring out also), but most of the time I am still practicing at 65 or 70.

The other big thing to keep in mind with practicing accents like this is to keep the non-accented notes as quiet as possible and the accents as clear as possible. This can be a challenge, especially playing at a faster tempo, but if you are able to do it well, it can make your shime playing 10 times more interesting. I think it is better to focus on keeping the unaccented notes quieter, than to focus on making the accents louder. Otherwise you may fall into the trap of putting too much arm movement into the accented notes. Accents and volume do not come from strength, but rather from the quickness of the stroke. So be careful not to put too much arm into it.

Hope this is helpful to all the taiko players out there.

Photo Credit: Flickr

Taiko Performance on Sunday

It's our last week before the Sunday performance. All three of us have completed our final practices. All that remains is the dress rehearsal on Saturday afternoon/evening. All we really have a chance to do there is run through our piece one time. Although our final practices were not all that intense, there have been more than usual. Sunday morning was my daughter's final practice, then Sunday afternoon I had an extra 3 hour practice for Yume Mitai, Monday evening was the regular Yume Mitai practice, and yesterday we had Matto Bayashi practice. That was three days of taiko practice in a row for me. I can't say that it exhausted me, but it has taken a bit of a toll on my hands. I am developing a few new blisters that weren't there before and my fingers are a bit achey. I think it is from the continuous jarring when the stick hits the drum, especially the Odaiko (big drum) which uses big and heavy sticks. I imagine that if one is consistently practicing every day, this ache eventually goes away. For now, I have a few days to let my hands recover.

Yuko - 遊鼓

Hmm, I have only made two other entries this month. I guess I haven't felt all that inspired to write. Well, at least not inspired to write here. I was actually inspired to write music this month, and I completed a new song just this week. It's called Yuko (遊鼓）For those of you that can read Japanese, you will recognize that the two characters mean "play" and "drum", or playful drum, in more natural sounding English. Like the name, it is a fun and interactive song, which I wrote for Okedo, or Katsugi Taiko, which is a lightweight drum, that is easily carried with a shoulder strap and the heads are tightened with ropes.

I haven't had a chance to actually try it on the drum, but at this point, I am pretty pleased with it. I will ask one of our instructors to look at it and give me comments after our upcoming performance, March 16th. I am looking forward to the performance. Almost my whole family will perform at one point or another. I play in two groups, my wife plays in one, and my daughter will play in another. It's only about 3 weeks away now, which may seem like a long time, but 3 weeks means only three more practices, so we have been working extra hard lately.

And actually, there is another concert coming up, that will be sort of a big deal, but it is not a certainty until after this March 16th performance, so I will wait to give details about it.

Kaga Taiko - Ichikawa Juku School Visit

We haven't really played or practiced Kaga style taiko since our recital on December 9th. Since the course we took only ran from August to December, and won't run again until August, we don't have many opportunities to play in this style. We did always want to visit the Ichikawa Juku School, though, which I mentioned in a post last fall.

Today (10.Feb) we finally were able to observe a practice there. Our intent was to observe, but we were immediately invited to participate in the practice. After all, they knew that we were not totally inexperienced, since nearly all of them took part in the December recital as well, and Ichikawa sensei also visited our Thursday night class on several occasions. We weren't sure how well we would be able to participate because we had both of our children with us, but the practice was fairly family freindly, allowing us to participate, and watch our kids at the same time.

When I wrote about the recital, I compared the atmosphere to a jazz club. The practice also seemed to have the same, laid back type of feeling. Soon after we arrived, they began warming up, which consisted of playing the mitsu uchi base rhythm (don doko don doko ...), followed by incorporating only a few Kaga taiko patterns. This probably didn't last any longer than 30 minutes. Then everyone had a break, drank some tea, smoked a cigarette, ate snacks, talked for a bit. Our kids found some sticks and played on the drums a little bit. During the break, Ichikawa sensei talked and played with our children. He told us that he has a grandchild the same age as our daughter (4.5 years).

Following the break, students came up one at a time, played a bit, and received guidance and commentary from Ichikawa sensei. It was rather like a 15 or 20 minute private lesson for each person, except that the rest of the class is watching you receive instruction. I can see that watching others play and listening to the critiques and suggestions from the teacher is an essential part of learning this particular style of taiko.

The warm up was pretty relaxed, and as I mentioned, Ichikawa sensei took on a kind and grandfatherly tone during the break as he played with our children. I was, therefore very surprised to hear his comments for the first student who played after the break. After she finished her piece, he basically said, "Well, if I were to tell you where you made mistakes, I would say everywhere. I would give you some positive feedback, but there was absolutely nothing postive about your playing." ... I thought "Wow," as I reached down to pick up my jaw off the floor. He then proceeded to work with her on various aspects of her playing, giving her advice and demonstrating at times, but his comments for most of the lesson with her were not very forgiving. Still, I noticed a significant improvement in her playing by the time she was finished.

Imagine my surpise (and horror) when he then said, "So, who's next? How about you, Brian san?" Seeing how he tore apart the previous student, who was much better than me, I could only imagine what he might say about my playing. Somewhat reluctantly, but trusting that he would be fairly kind to me, as it was my first visit to his class, I got up and played what I had played for the December recital, as best as I could remember. Being two months from that performance, of course, I made plenty of mistakes, but luckily, he was kind as I had hoped. His comments to me were basically, "You've made a good start, and if you practice, I'm sure you will become a good player." Next was my wife, and his comments to here were pretty much the same, except that he added, "I think you're just a tiny bit better than your husband." Well, I had thought that since we started practicing, so it wasn't a total surprise to to hear that.

The strictness and directness of the lesson suprised me mainly because the beginning of the class had been so laid back. I actually understood that this was just his teaching method, and not meant to be mean, but rather to motivate. The first student had been practicing Kaga taiko for some time and was fairly advanced. I'm sure he was simply trying to get her to play at a higher level, since she was probably capable of it. Although he mentioned several times, "Maybe you aren't as good as I thought you were, maybe I'm pushing you too fast." I think that anyone who has worked at something, be it an art or a sport, probably has noticed that the better you get, the more your teacher's seem to criticize you. As you improve, their expectations rise, and a good teacher will hold you to those.

If you are over-sensitive, or need positive comments along with the negative, you probably wouldn't last long in this class, but if you understand the purpose of the comments, and are able to not take them personally, you'll probably be fine. I think we are fine with that, and hope that we will be able to visit the school on a regular basis to continue learning Kaga style taiko during the "off season".

How Would You Like to Learn Taiko With Kodo?

I felt honored recently to discover that one of my readers is an apprentice with Kodo. He sent me an email in response to my Hayashi Eitetsu concert post. It was very nice to know that someone like that is interested in what I am writing. Being an apprentice with Kodo, however, he does not have much time to read it, as during training, there is very little opportunity for internet use.

After receiving his email, it occurred to me that some other readers might be interested to know more about being an apprentice with the world famous Kodo drummers. Unfortunately, I cannot give first hand experience, but I will at least pass on the information that is available from their website.

It seems that application is very open to anyone who is interested, regardless of nationality. There are some general guidelines, however. You must be at least 18 years of age, and be in good health (I would even venture to suggest you should probably be in excellent health, and if you've ever seen one of their performances, you will understand why). They also require that applicants have an advanced knowledge of Japanese. I'm sure this is for one's own good, as well as so that one can understand instructions given in training. After all, apprentices are isolated on an island in the Sea of Japan for most of their training. If one couldn't communicate, the feelings of isolation would be even greater.

Most "graduates" of the two-year program appear to be Japanese. Kodo lists the graduates of the program on their website. They only have names for graduates from the last eight years of the program. The number of graduates ranges from five people to nine, most of them from Japan, but two are noted as being from the US, and one graduate from Canada.

The apprentice program runs for two years, beginning in April. The application period seems to be in October. In order to apply, one must submit a resume, a statement of health from a physician, and two essays entitled, "What I hope to accomplish at the Kodo Apprenticeship centre" and "What I hope to do upon completion of the apprenticeship program". Applicants who pass the initial selection process are then invited to Sado Island for personal interviews in January, after which the final decisions are made.

There is a cost involved if one is selected. Apprentices pay 50,000 yen a month (slightly less than $500) to cover room and board (quite reasonable, for the training one would be getting). Some scholarships are available, but only for the second year of the program.

The curriculum is also listed on the site. During the first year, all follow the same program. The general description says you will be learning to live communally (no easy task) learning basics of Japanese traditional culture, and how to develop your body for playing taiko and dance. This includes music lessons, lectures on the island’s traditional culture, such as singing, dancing, farming, tea ceremony, and more, as well as assisting Kodo during festivals (especially Earth Celebration) and workshops.

The second year curriculum continues to develop skills learned in the first year, but also splits into two courses of study, depending on whether one desires to be a stage performer with Kodo, or work as a staff member. Those wishing to become staff members will receive practical experience assisting the Kodo office. It seems that the curriculum for those wishing to become performers seeks to provide more practical performing experiences. Apparently, acceptance into the apprenticeship program is not an automatic guarantee that you will be able to complete the full two years. The website says that everyone is evaluated at the end of the first year and it is then decided whether or not you will be able to complete the second year.

I wish I could write about this firsthand, instead of just passing on information from the Kodo website. With a family to support, however, I must find other ways to study taiko drumming. But some of you may have a bit more "freedom" and if this sounds interesting, exciting, intriguing to you, don't forget about it. Look into it, write it down as a goal and pursue it. (Write it down!)

Taiko Babies

If you watched the video about Hayashi Eitetsu in my previous post (not the survey) did you notice where he mentions the babies in the audiences sleeping during the taiko performances? He talks about how the sound of the drums must be similar to the first sound we all hear in our mothers' wombs. Our mother's heartbeat. Perhaps, this is one reason that taiko drumming can be so moving to some of us.

This also reminded me of the summer of 2006, when we, along with our original members, were preparing for our first "major" performance. Our son had just been born in June, and when we practiced, we had to bring him in the basement with us. We were amazed because as soon as we would start playing the drums, he was almost immediately asleep.

Now he is one and a half and he loves the taiko. If he sees a drum, he heads straight for it. It is nearly impossible to practice with him around now, because he always wants to play too. I guess it's a good sign.

Here is a picture of him and his older sister playing "odaiko" last weekend:

How about a little survey?

Would anyone mind taking a little survey? I'm curious about my readers.

Hayashi Eitetsu

Sunday we saw a concert featuring Hayashi Eitetsu. If you are into taiko at all, you may recognize the name. If not, you probably won't. To be honest, I hadn't heard of him until a colleague, who learned of my taiko interest, introduced him to me. From that point, I heard quite a bit about him, and learned that he is one of the big names in taiko.

Here's a bit of background information, for those who do not know him. (I am taking this info from the Japanese program we received yesterday, so if there are inaccuracies, it is likely due to my translation mistakes, sorry.)

From what I can understand, he was one of the founding members of Kodo, and remained with them for 11 years. He made his solo debut at Carnegie Hall in 1984. Since then, he has become well known as an Odaiko soloist, and a pioneer with collaborations between taiko and many other musical genre, such as jazz and classical music.

The concert was put on by the Orchestra Ensemble of Kanazawa, and the whole program featured traditional Japanese music and instruments combined with a western orchestra. The flyer for the concert featured a large photo of Hayashi Eitetsu, so I was slightly disappointed when I opened the program and saw that he was only playing for one song out of the five that would be performed. As it turned out, though, his performance was still satisfying. It was clearly the climax of the program.

Before I talk more about his performance, let me briefly give an idea of what the other pieces were like. The first piece featured about 50 koto (Japanese harp) players, accompanied by orchestra. The front of the stage was so tightly packed with koto, I didn't think there would be any room for the performers to sit and play. As it turns out, very little space is required to play the koto, and everyone squeezed in without a problem.

The second piece featured a father and son shakuhachi combination, again, accompanied by the orchestra. The shakuhachi is a flute crafted from a single piece of bamboo. There are cheaper models, which can be taken apart, and are made of wood, but the best quality shakuhachi are made from a single piece of bamboo. (Just as the best taiko are made from a single tree trunk.) It is also very difficult to play this type of flute. For some, it takes 3 months of practice before they can even get a sound out of it.

The shakuhachi piece was followed by a shamisen solo with orchestra accompaniment. Up till this point, all the performers had worn traditional Japanese clothing, such as kimono or hakama. The woman who played the shamisen wore a pure white, wispy dress, which brought to mind images of Greek goddesses. My first impression of her was that she was maybe in her early 30s, but looking in the program, she is actually in her late 50s!

Hayashi Eitetsu's piece was next, followed by a finale, including the koto players, a shakuhachi player, and a women's chorus, singing a medly of Japanese folk songs, like "Sakura". Unfortunately, the arrangement of this last song reminded me of one of those hymns arranged for church orchestras, designed mainly to evoke shallow emotions, you know, lots of brass and timpani. It is more like a cheap thrill, than a meaningful experience. I know some of you know what I'm talking about.

I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy the piece with Hayashi Eitetsu. I was skeptical at first. When people think of Odaiko, most people probably think of the famous solos that can be seen at nearly every Kodo performance. A large drum, elevated above the stage on a cart, played by an extremely healthy male, wearing very little, for maybe 15 minutes straight. It's very impressive. The first half of Sunday's piece, however, only featured minimal notes, played very slowly on the odaiko. Although the piece was interesting musically, I was hoping to see a bit more "chops" from Mr. Hayashi, some sort of cadenza, or something. In the end, I was not disappointed. The piece ended with an impressive odaiko solo lasting several minutes.

The name of the piece was Fujin, Raijin. These are the names of two gods in Japan. Fujin is the god of wind and Raijin is the god of thunder and lightning. Obviously, the taiko is meant to represent Raijin. The organ was symbolic of the wind. Were I to write a song meant to symbolize wind, I guess pipe organ is not the first instrument that would jump to mind. Perhaps I associated it too much with churches and cathedrals. After hearing the piece, and why the composer chose pipe organ to represent the wind, it makes perfect sense to me. Most of you probably know that a pipe organ requires rather a large amount of wind in order to produce sounds. This was the reason the composer gave for choosing this instrument as a symbol for the wind. Also, I guess I haven't heard many non-traditional organ pieces, for I did not realize how much an organ could imitate the sounds of wind whistling and blowing around. I would say that the overall piece was quite interesting, and enjoyable to listen to. The connections with wind and thunder were easy to see, and Hayashi Eitetsu's playing was certainly impressive.

I did enjoy the concert, but on a scale of 1 to 10, I would probably give it a 5, overall. This is in no way because of a poor performance of any of the players, but rather just because of personal music tastes. In general, I'm not a fan of "fusion" or collaborations between extremely different types of music. I honestly prefer to hear these traditional Japanese instruments, as traditional Japanese instruments, rather than hearing them trying to fit in with western instruments, or hearing a western orchestra trying easternize itself to fit with the Japanese instruments. At the same time, I suppose many genres of music we have today, likely began as collaborations or fusions of two different types of music. And of course, they were probably met with strong criticism, or little popularity when they first started out. Some of them stuck around and developed into their own genere, and others faded away, never to be heard from again. I guess only time will tell if shakuhachi or shamisen solo accompanied by western orchestra is something that will catch on, or fade away.

On a closing note, I was able to locate an interesting youtube video about a project Hayashi Eitetsu participated in with an arts school in Cleveland. If you watch it, I think you can learn a little more about Mr. Hayashi, more about taiko, and get an idea of some of things we, also, would like to accomplish in Michigan.

Shin nen kai - New Year Party - Matto Bayashi

This past weekend we had a shin nen kai with the members of Matto Bayashi. Shin nen kai is a new year party. Not New Year's Eve party, but rather a party held sometime in January to kick off the new year. We went to a spa hotel type of place. It is basically a hotel with really soft rugs, because everyone walks around barefoot, and they have large, Japanese style baths, restaurants, massage parlors, etc. When you get there, they give you a set of pajamas, which almost everyone wears around the hotel as long as they are there, and you take a bath, eat dinner, relax, and so on. It's quite enjoyable, although we didn't spend the night. It was a nice opportunity to spend some time with the other members outside of practice time and get to know them a little bit.

Age discrimination, Encouragement and the best taiko group in the world

Maybe I'm just easily pleased, but yesterday I received a compliment/encouragement from Hono Taiko's Yamada-san. Asano Taiko sponsors several taiko groups, their top group, and most well-known, being Hono Taiko. At this weeks practice, we learned that one of the sponsored groups is soon going out of existence and they would like to make a new group to replace it. They are looking for people with experience between the ages of 14 to 30 to make up this amateur/semi-pro level group. Although I am extremely interested in being a part of this group, I was born nearly 3 years too early to be considered for it, so I did not bother to try out for it. Still, last night I saw Yamada san and she asked how old I was because she had thought of me for that group. I told her, and asked if they couldn't possibly extend the age limit to 35. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has asked that. Anyway, I was encouraged to be even considered. I don't mean to say that I have become a taiko virtuoso (if there's such a thing) in 6 months of practice, but I feel validated that I am doing well, showing dedication and potential.

On the other hand, I watch a performance like Yamato's last Sunday and, although it is not discouraging, it also gives me a feeling for the gap between us and becoming a truly professional level performing group. Yamato's concert was truly a moving experience. From the first note of the concert, a chill went through my body, and I was moved to the very last. I have seen Yamato perform on 5 separate occasions now: twice in the US, once in Austria, once in Germany and now in Japan. I am pretty sure that this was the best performance out of the 5 that I've seen.

Yamato now has 18 members, of which I think four are trainees, but they still perform in the shows, just in lesser roles than the full members. Also, I think their touring is more limited. When I first saw Yamato, I think they had about 10 members. 10 people is actually a nice sized taiko team, and when you see 10 people on the stage at once, beating all different sized drums with all their body, mind, heart at the same time, it is quite moving. But add eight more people, and it is even more moving. Also Yamato does not change their program all that much. I first saw them in 1999 and when I opened the program at the concert last Sunday, there was only one song that I hadn't heard. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that I've seen the same concert 5 times either. Yamato's leader, Ogawa san, is constantly making adjustments and changes to improve the songs and the presentation. One of my favorite changes was for the song, Hayate, which has always been one of my favorites. The song features 3 of the girls playing shamisen, accompanied by two other members playing kumi taiko (like a taiko drum set). Miyazaki Mika, the lead shamisen player, has always had an excellent stage presence for this piece, and is probably one of the reasons it is my favorite. Anyhow, this time, there weren't three shamisen players, but about seven. I thought it made the song even better.
Several other songs also included an increased number of performers, and others, the music itself had been changed. And some songs, I think, were just performed even better than before.

This Yamato's 15th year (I think) and at one point in the concert, Ogawa san shared a little bit about how the group was started back in 1993. He had already had experience playing taiko with another group, but was working as a glass blower. There was a festival coming up at a nearby shrine and his mother suggested/encouraged him to put together a few songs with a couple other people and perform at the festival. He, and two other friends wrote a few songs, practiced intensively for maybe two weeks and performed. Their performance was well received and after that, they had many inquiries about joining their group, or doing more performances. I guess there was enough interest, that they decided to try to create a more serious performing group.

In some ways, I thought there were some similarities to our own beginning (although there are many differences as well). We, also, kind of started out without any clear goals, or expectations and following our first we also received an unexpected amount of interest and requests for future performances, enough to encourage us to actually try to create a serious taiko group as well. Although we have no plans to become a world touring group, spending 11 out of 12 months in other countries, I hope that we can attempt to practice and perform the drums with the same passion and dedication that Yamato does.

After the concert there was a reception for Yamato and their friends, to which we were invited. There were quite a few people in a rather small space, so unfortunately, there was not a lot of time for one on one interaction and talking. We did get some pictures with some of the members, though, which I will post below. But first, there was, I guess a notable celebrity in attendance at the concert and the reception, but I did not realize it. I noticed him at the reception because he had very unique clothing. I cannot describe it very well, but he had a brimmed hat, and a sort of patchwork shirt and was also wearing a patchwork type of apron, possibly made of leather. I kept wondering what country he had come from. I thought possibly Mongolia or far eastern Russia. I realized that I was probably staring too much, and was just thinking that I should go and talk to him, instead of staring when my wife told me that he was Kansai Yamamoto, a internationally recognized fashion designer and big fan of taiko.

Anyhow, here are some pictures from the reception, but first, as the concert was held in Nara, some Nara-esque photos:
Me with one of Nara's famed, tame "sacred" deer:


And Mayumi in front of a "Sharp Pagoda":



Me and my wife with Takeru Matsushita, one of Yamato's assistant leaders.


Me with Midori Tamai. He is one of Yamato's most recognizable players because of his hair, which is unfortunately not visible in this picture.


Mayumi with current member, Mika Miyazaki (left, the lead shamisen player) and former member, Shoko Kodera (middle).

Old Year, New Year

Happy New Year. I have been sick since December 21st and I am still fighting off the last remnants of this stubborn cold, but now I am mostly healthy and was even able to practice a little bit yesterday. Unfortunately, however, partially because of the holidays, and partially because of being sick, our taiko related activities over the past few weeks have been rather limited. Monday, Jan 7, Yume Mitai practices will start again and the following Tuesday, Jan 15, Matto Bayashi will begin again. I am looking forward to getting back to regular taiko practice. I have been practicing my parts nearly every day, but playing the rhythms on your knees is much different that actually playing it on a drum. My goal was to have my parts memorized by the time the break was over. I still have some work to do before Monday.

We did manage to get a little vacation in even though I was sick. We traveled to Osaka to visit some friends I met in college in Chicago. They took us to a large shrine in Osaka, called Sumiyoshi Taisha. Aside from its large size, another one of its famous points is a rather unique bridge, called "Taiko Bashi" ("bashi" means bridge). It is called this because it has a rather steep curvature and when it is viewed from the side, it looks like nearly half a circle. I guess this invokes thoughts of a taiko. Well, you can decide for yourself, here is a picture:


Hmm, I guess it isn't quite half a circle, but it is at least more of a circle than most bridges. Our second day there, we went to Nara to visit our friends in Wadaiko Yamato. They had just returned from nearly a year of touring Europe and North America and that evening, or the next day they would each return to their hometowns for a week or two before returning to Nara to prepare for another year of touring. They also run a taiko school for children in the founder's hometown of Asukamura. It just happened that on that day, they were holding the final event of the year for the students in the school. The event was a mochi zuki taikai. Mochi is a sort of rice cake and you make it by first cooking a special type of rice, and then it is placed in a large wooden or stone bowl and beaten over and over with large wooden hammers until it reaches the right consistency. It is a popular activity in Japan in the fall and winter. Here is a picture of my daughter hammering the rice.

Many of their students and parents were also there. It all took place at their fairly new facility. It is their house, but it is also their practice space. I believe they had the house built to their specifications, and in the basement (a rarity in Japan) is a nice and large practice space, mainly used for the school.

Once the school event was over, the members of the group had one last meal together before going their separate ways. It was a Japanese/Korean style barbecue. (Luckily we had mild weather). But what did they use for fuel/charcoal? Well, since it was the end of the year, it was time to do some house cleaning, so they used all of their old bachi (sticks) which had broken, or been cracked, or were simply in too poor condition to use. This was actually A LOT of sticks. There were several boxes full.
Here are two members just getting started with the stick burning.

Here is something interesting about Yamato. They all make their own sticks. They will take a long, square piece of wood and shave it down until it is the size they want. Right now, for us, when we need a new pair of sticks, we can easily go to Asano Taiko and pick out whatever we need, but I suppose, since Yamato is touring around the world for most of the year, it is a little harder to come by taiko sticks, so it is just easier, or it is more practical to learn to make their own. I think it is something we should also consider doing when we return to Michigan, seeing how there are not any taiko shops in our area.

Other than our trip to Kansai, I have been trying to recover from my cold, and work on my song little by little. We have one more event to look forward to on my last day of vacation before returning to work. We will return to Nara to see Yamato's concert, before they leave again to travel the world. They are already scheduled in Paris from January 15th. So, next week, look forward to a report of the Yamato concert.

A Cool Song

If you have been following my journal, you may remember a month back or so I mentioned that I had started working on writing a song. About two weeks ago, I finished writing it. I mean, I finished it in the sense that it had a beginning, a middle and an end, but by no means is it any where near "final copy" quality. It is a first draft. Besides, I wrote it all from my head, or by beating out the rhythms on a table. I haven't actually tried to play it on drums yet. That always brings up new issues, and produces changes in the music. Anyhow, with my limited experience writing taiko music, and limited access to drums to actually try out the song, I decided to ask for some outside opinions. I first thought of Yamada san, of Hono Taiko, who leads the two groups I am a member of, but I thought, instead of going straight for a professional's opinion, maybe I should show it to someone else first. If they had some suggestions for improvements, I could fix it up a little bit before asking Yamada san for help. I was thrilled to learn recently that one of my students is actually a member of Koshu Taiko, the group the played at our school festival. (I also posted videos of their performance.)
So I decided I would ask this girl to take a quick look at the song. I told her, "Teacher needs to see her after school", so she stopped by and I showed her the song. She looked through it and said that she thought it was great. She even said we should play it for a senior graduation assembly coming up in February (Japanese graduate in March). Unfortunately we don't have a place to practice, nor the right drums to practice on at the moment.

My song passed the first test, so I thought I would make a copy of it and give it to Yamada san at the next opportunity, asking her to just look it over when she had time and to give me her overall opinion, maybe tell me some good parts and bad parts. Since giving her a copy, I actually haven't had a chance to go to taiko practice. This week was cancelled, last week I was throwing up and in bed. With the holidays, there wasn't going to be a practice again until January 14! Ahhh! Luckily, Yume-mitai added a practice on the morning of Dec. 24, and the hozonkai added a practice last night. I wasn't able to go last night, but my wife could go. We actually wrote the song together, so when she met Yamada san at last night's practice, she spoke with her about the song. Yamada san didn't say a whole lot about the song, but what she said was a big encouragement to me. Apparently, she thinks it's a really cool song, and she said she will help me make it even cooler! What a boost for my confidence. Well, I mean, "I'll help you make it even cooler" could translate to "I'll help you fix the bad parts", but even if that is the case, if it wasn't any good at all, I doubt she would have offered the assistance. So, I will probably see her at Monday's Yume-mitai practice and perhaps I will be able to set up a meeting time with her to work on it a little bit. I am very excited!

Taiko Jazz - Kaga Taiko Recital

For my birthday this year, my brother, Andrew, took me to the Green Mill Jazz club in Chicago for a jam session. As I am used a father's and a high school teacher's schedule (waking up around 5 AM) the 1 AM start time was a bit rough, but I managed to make it there, and once the music started, I got a second wind and was able to stay awake through the whole session. It was an enjoyable, relaxed evening (morning). After a few songs, the regulars called several musicians up from the audience (including my brother) to sit in for a few tunes. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly. The audience was enjoying their drinks, or talking with friends, or listening to the music. I think I would describe the feeling at our Kaga Taiko recital in exactly the same way. Not only because it was held at a restaurant, but the way the music was peformed also reminded me of a jazz club atmosphere.

As our teacher reminded the audience before we began, mitsu uchi style drumming (on which Kaga taiko is based) is several hundred years old and many of the traditional drumming in the Hokkuriku area (Fukui, Ishikawa, Toyama) has developed out of this style. Having been around for so long, many different styles have emerged and each person even seems to have their own signature style when they play. This actually adds a certain degree of difficulty to learning the style. We talked to one of our class members who has been studying for three years, and attends the Kaga taiko school in Komatsu. He said sometimes you are instructed in a certain way by one of the senior members, and then later, a more senior member comes along and gives you instruction that contradicts what you were just told, and later, yet again, another, even more senior member will come along and give you more instruction that contradicts both. So it is very difficult to know what is "correct". But my guess is that none of the instruction he received is wrong, but more because of the individual drummers different personal styles. Eventually, after enough contradictory instruction, you can develop your own personal style.

More recently, perhaps in the last 50 years or so, the mitsu uchi style became popular and was performed not only at festivals and community events, but in restaurants also. In fact, I heard that there was a player who even opened a taiko restaurant. Sort of like a dinner theater, but dinner taiko. As I mentioned, yesterday's recital was at a small cafe style restaurant. The setting was even dramatic. It was right on the Sea of Japan, on a day when the weather was changing every 15 minutes or so. It was quite windy, so the waves were crashing into the rocks, throwing spray up into the air. The clouds were moving quickly across the sky, sometimes letting rays of sun through, and other times blocking it out completely. At times there was rain, and other times hail, and at one point, to my daughters delight, there was a bright and clear rainbow out over the ocean.

The atmosphere was very relaxed. I think most of the people in attendance were also drummers of the mitsu uchi style. There was friendly banter between the MCs and the audience, and unexpected "challenges", like dropping a stick in the middle of a performance, or a performer being in the bathroom or something at the time he was supposed to perform, were easily laughed off and remedied.

Our recital was the first part of the afternoon. Our instructor, Matsuya sensei, began by giving a little background about the class. (He actually seemed to be a little more nervous than some of us) This is the third year the Ishikawa Taiko Association has offered this course. They hold it each year from August to December. There were nine of us in the class. Two had take the class all three years, four were in their second time, and for three of us, it was the first time. He shared that several years ago, at an event featuring Kaga Taiko, he noticed the average age of the performers was rather old. Worried that this style of drumming in danger of slowly dying out, they started the class, in hopes of sparking some new interest. It's certainly worth saving, and we hope to be able to study it enough to bring it back with us and incorporate it into our own program.

We each received a short intro from Matsuya sensei, and then performed our own Kaga taiko improvisations one at a time. It is actually two people, but the other person is really only an accompanist. So it is like you are playing a solo. I suppose it could have been quite intimidating (which maybe it was for some) to play an improvised solo, in difficult style of drumming, in front of a lot of people who are all fairly advanced players, after only studying for about 4 months. For me, though, it wasn't so bad. I had just that slight bit of nervousness that actually makes you play better, but not so much that you cannot concentrate. I think the relaxed atmosphere played a large role in it. You could tell that the audience was not watching with critical eyes, even though there were many very high level players there. They all seemed to be happy to see new people with a growing interest in Kaga taiko, and they wanted us to do well. Besides that, my daughter sat right down in front and smiled at us the whole time we played.

We all made it through our "solos" without any major mistakes, and then we could sit down and enjoy the rest of the afternoon, featuring players from Kaga and Fukui (the next prefecture just south west of Ishikawa. As I said, it was a fun and relaxed program. It didn't seem to have a set order. Most of the performers did not have any type of costume. There was an MC and he would announce, or ask someone to play next. Sometimes they came right up, other times they resisted at first, but were eventually persuaded to play, and other times they were in the bathroom. We really got a good feel for some of the different styles of drumming within Kaga taiko, and between Fukui and Ishikawa.

We did take video of our own performances, as well as about 5 or 6 of the other, more professional players before our battery ran out. I wanted to post them along with this entry, but my fear is that it will take me some time to do the editing and get them uploaded, so before I forget the details of the recital, I wanted to get them written down. As soon as I have a chance, I will put them up, with short explanations when I can. In the meantime, here is a picture of me, our instructor, Matsuya sensei, and another class member, Jingu san. If you're wondering what is sticking out of the back of his neck, well, he nearly died in a bizarre gardening accident last year... just kidding. It is his flute. You'll notice when the videos are posted, that nearly all the performances are accompanied by flute. I guess that's just where he wanted to carry it.

Bloody Bachi!

Look at my bachi!



Yes, it's my blood. I wish I could honestly say it is there because I practiced until my palms bled. Well, I guess that's what I did, but it wasn't necessarily a particularly intense practice. Several weeks ago, I think I posted a picture of the blisters on my hands, that had been growing as I practiced more and more. Those blisters had built up to be fairly tough and calloused. Unfortunately, because of a combination of my busy schedule and a couple canceled practices, the past two weeks, I was unable to really play the taiko much at all. As a result, those callouses which had built up, quickly returned to their previous tender state. When I finally was able to practice again on Monday night, about half way through the practice, I had developed new blisters and it didn't take much longer for the skin to break and for it to start bleeding.

I think that after awhile, even a two week interval without practice, will not produce such a result. I used to get blisters on my feet all the time from practicing kendo, but for the last couple years, I haven't had any, even when I return to practice after fairly long intervals. I suppose some might say that in the past, when my feet were getting blisters, I just had bad foot technique, and the reason I no longer get blisters is because I have corrected whatever was wrong with my feet. That could be true. Some say the same about taiko drumming. I've heard it said that if your drumming technique is proper, you won't get blisters. Every serious taiko drummer I know (and that's quite a bit more than a few, by the way) has fairly calloused hands, meaning that they also get blisters from playing.

I'm sorry if I have sickened any of my readers who have weak stomachs with all this talk about blisters and blood. Next time, I will write about something easier to stomach. Until then...

Just an Update

It seems like it's been quite a while since I was last able to update this. Maybe it hasn't been all that long, however. Anyhow, I apologize to any of my regular readers (if there are any out there) if you have been anxiously awaiting an update. Let me apologize a second time, because I will soon begin listing excuses of why I haven't written and why it will be difficult for me to write for a couple months. My goal is to make at least a weekly entry, which I have actually exceeded in the first few months. Now, however, we have entered one of the busy seasons in Japan and everyone seems to have a lot going on. For the last two weeks, I have been at work from around 7 am to 7 or 8 pm every day. I also joined a new taiko group (Yume Mitai) starting last night, so that adds another thing to my schedule. I will have a "business" trip to Tokyo next week for 4 days, and then when I return, it will be time for final exams at the school. Furthermore, our school puts on a huge Christmas pageant every year, which we have now begun the preparations for, and that also means some late nights at work. To sum it all up, I will probably be rather busy until January, and then things will settle down probably until April or May.

As I mentioned, I have joined a new group, Yume Mitai. I went to the first practice last night. In this group, instead of the O-daiko (large drum) I will play Nagado Taiko, which is probably what most people think of when they think of taiko. It is a barrel shaped taiko. It sits on the floor and probably comes up to around my thighs or knee height. I haven't had much experience playing this type of drum, actually. We do play it in Kaga taiko, but the stance, style and feeling are much different. I, therefore have a lot to learn about playing it. I think I will catch on quickly, but I noticed many problems last night. The music is not difficult, though, and by the end of the 90 minute practice, I think I had about half of the song memorized.

As far as Raion Taiko (that's me and my wife) are concerned, we haven't had many opportunities to practice on our own lately. We can only practice on Sunday afternoons, but for the past month or so, we have had events going on, or one of us was sick, or the children were sick and we couldn't practice. We have been working, though. We are working on writing our first original song. Up till now, we have only attempted to learn traditional taiko pieces, or songs that we could find on the internet, or from taiko books. My wife kept telling me that we have to write our own music and wanted me to try to write something. I tried once a while back, but I couldn't think of more than a few measures of music, and when I put it together, it was rather disappointing. I decided to just wait and as I learned and practiced more and more, I figured writing songs would start to come more easily. Last week inspiration arrived, and we have a strong start to our own original song. It's actually kind of exciting to see it all come together as I think of knew parts. Our goal is to have it done within a couple weeks, and then I will try to ask Yamada-san of Hono Taiko to look at it and give us suggestions.

That's all I have time for today. Hopefully it will not be too long before I can make an update again.

A quick update

My schedule is finally beginning to get a bit busier. I have been wanting to make several entries lately, but amazingly have not had the time to write all that I would like to. The schedule of working, training, and attending taiko classes three times a week, seems to be catching up with me. By the time I get home in the evenings, the first thing on my mind is usually sleeping. I am also finding it harder and harder to wake up to go jogging in the morning. But I am pleased that I have been able to keep up a regular jogging schedule for about a month now. I have tried in the past, but I think I always lost interest within a couple weeks. This time, though, I have a goal to motivate me to continue. At any rate, since my schedule is getting tighter, I may have to resign myself to making briefer entries in the journal.

So here is my quick update:

After worrying that we might have to stop attending our Tuesday evening taiko class (Kaga style drumming) because of work. We have actually been able to attend all but one of the classes this month. Next month also looks like we will be able to attend most of the classes.

The practices for the Shin-Matto-Bayashi Hozonkai have been getting more intense every week, mainly because there are two performances approaching. One this Sunday (9/30) and another October 7^th. In fact, this week, practice was led by one of the members of Hono Taiko, Ms. Yamada (I do not know her first name). Needless to say, she made us work twice as hard as usual, which I think you notice twice as much when you are playing the Odaiko. The Odaiko is one of the more strenuous drums to play because, first of all you must use much larger and heavier sticks than the average size drums, and the stance requires your arms to always be in a raised position. An untrained person (that would be me) will likely be nearly exhausted after only a couple minutes of playing. Anyhow, here is picture of the blisters I developed at the practice:

The Hozonkai song is quite long, and I have actually only learned one section of it. When I say “learned”, I only mean the sticking and the rhythms, the technique is a completely different story. Therefore, it has not yet been decided whether or not I will be able to join the group for these next two performances or not. Either way, I will be in attendance at both concerts and if there is opportunity to take video, I will definitely post it for all of you to watch.

A Bit more about Children's Taiko

I recently received a comment from a reader who enjoyed reading the “Children’s Taiko” entry, so I thought that I could write a bit more about it.

I can’t say that I’ve been in Japan long enough to make a judgment like this, but it seems that taiko has become more and more popular over the last 10 years or so, and I am becoming aware of new children’s taiko classes all the time. Of course this could also simply be that as I travel further along the taiko journey, I am just becoming exposed to more of these groups. In any case, children’s taiko classes are certainly prevalent in Japan. My daughter is enrolled in two different classes, each meeting once a week. Many children also have exposure to playing the taiko in their kindergarten and preschool classes. To start my daughter’s first class at Asano Taiko, the teacher asked the parents to share their reason for signing up for the class. There were quite a few parents who mentioned that their children had started learning taiko at preschool/kindergarten and wanted to learn more.

So far, I haven’t come across any groups for children younger than 4 years old. From what I have seen, it is quite an accomplishment to get 4 year olds all playing the drum together. This week will only be our third week in the Asano class, but the teacher has not asked the children to play anything more than single notes so far. The notes are not even part of a rhythm; they are just working on having the correct stance and hand/arm motions. The other class, a neighborhood class, has also not moved beyond very basic rhythms, such as 4 quarter notes, or 4 quarters followed by 5 eighth notes. I am anxious to see what type of song they end up learning.

I have come across children’s groups, which are actually performing groups. Although the average age tends to be a bit older than 4 years old, the members do range in age from early elementary school through high school. One of these groups I saw at Exstasia this year. They were an all girl group from in Island somewhere in Western Japan. It was one of my favorite groups from the Exstasia concert; one of the ones that nearly moved me to tears. They were really incredible. The other group I saw more recently, but they also performed at Exstasia several years ago. They are called Koshu Taiko, or in Japanese writing:高州太鼓. I did not see them at their Exstasia performance, but just last week they performed at the festival of the school where I am working. Their members are also quite young, ranging from around 3^rd grade through high school. I got to talk with them for a bit after their performance and we took a photo together.

I was also able to get a video of their performance. The file was too big to upload to youtube in one movie, so there are two parts to it. Please enjoy it.
Part 1

Part 2

Children's Taiko

My daughter is part of two children’s taiko groups. One is a neighborhood group; the other is a class at Asano Taiko for children. Although we are not part of these groups, (we are too old) watching the lessons can be very enlightening, particularly the Asano Taiko class. Here are two things I have learned from observing the lessons:

1. The switch to turn on the taiko – The teacher of the class at Asano began the class by asking the children (mostly between 4 and 6 years old) if they knew where the switch to turn on the taiko is. The kids had a lot of ideas, such as a certain screw on the side of the drum, or turning one of the handles in a certain way. Of course, the switch is not on the drum. After allowing them to make several guesses she told them that the switch to make the taiko play was their heart. I try to think of that now every time I pick up the sticks to play the taiko.

2. Stretching is very important – The teacher spent about half of the class (30 min) doing stretching exercises with the children. Perhaps it took a little longer than usual because it was only the second class and the children are still learning how to do the stretches. Nevertheless, she did mention at one point that it was very important to be as flexible as possible when you play the taiko. I believe she literally said, “People who are flexible when they play the taiko get an incredible sound.” Stiffness is an enemy to taiko playing, but for many beginners (myself included), it seems to be what your body “naturally” does. In fact, it is probably not natural, but unless you consciously think about relaxing, you tend to stiffen up. From playing various sports and learning various instruments, I think it is perhaps a result of nerves and having to think about many different things all at the same time, such as how to stand, how to hold your sticks, the music, etc.

As many wise people have observed, we can learn a great deal from children.

Videos added to Kodo Earth Celebration entries

Just a quick note to say that videos have been added to three of the Kodo Earth Celebration entries. If you would like to see them in context, please scroll back to the previous three entries. Or you can view them in this entry, without the intro.

Miyakejima Hozonkai


Kodo Friday Night Concert - Pre-concert fun


Friday morning performance of Okinawan music and dance

The Miyakejima Hozonkai at Earth Celebration

Part of Friday evening's concert, and Saturday morning’s fringe festival was the Miyake-Jima Hozonkai. If you have ever seen a Kodo performance, live, or on video, it is likely you have seen this piece performed. It is one of Kodo’s old standby numbers, like the Odaiko solo, and Yataibayashi. I believe that Kodo’s continuing performance of this piece has perhaps been a large reason for the widespread popularity of this piece in the taiko world. If you search for Miyake Taiko on Youtube, you will probably find several videos of the song, all performed by different groups.

Although Kodo has helped make this song one of Taiko’s most recognizable, they did not compose it themselves. Miyake Taiko is one of many traditional taiko pieces “kept” and performed by a hozonkai. A hozonkai is a type of cultural preservation group. They seem to be usually dedicated only to a very specific part of culture. For example, the Miyake-Jima hozonkai dedicates itself to the performance and preservation of this single piece of music, which is actually only a few measures of music repeated over and over again. There is also a vocal part which is inserted into the drumming from time to time, but this is also merely a few lines of music.

Perhaps, dear reader, you know the song, “Dueling Banjos”. Imagine a group of people who simply focused on the learning, teaching and performing of this song. If you wanted to learn to play “Dueling Banjos”, you would join this group. The group is dedicated to preserving the folk art of this one piece. From my understanding, this is what a hozonkai does. We have actually joined a hozonkai here, for the song, “Shin Matto Bayashi”. I will write more about that very soon, I hope.

We were able to see the Miyake Hozonkai twice at the Earth Festival. Once during the Friday evening concert with Kodo, and then again, at the Fringe Festival at Kisaki Shrine the next morning. Although the performance at the concert was impressive and enjoyable to watch, the Fringe performance was less restricted, involved more members of the group and lasted nearly 45 minutes. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy the concert, but regarding the Miyake Hozonkai performance, we got a much bigger taste of it the following morning.

I am not good at estimating numbers of people, but I would guess the hozonkai probably had about 50 members with them that morning. They set up one drum on stage, and three more drums on the ground in front of the stage. If you have seen Miyake performed, you know the stance used is very low to the ground and is one of taiko’s most physically demanding positions. Those of you who knew this already may have been surprised when I said they played for nearly 45 minutes. Obviously, with 50 members and only 4 drums, they were not all playing at the same time. Each drum has two people; one is playing the base rhythm (kind of like swing eighth notes - doo ba doo ba doo ba doo) and the other is playing the “melody”. I would say that they switched out players every minute to two minutes. In spite of the short playing time, it was still quite strenuous.

After seeing both Kodo’s performance and the hozonkai’s, I noticed some differences in the music and performance styles.

1. The placement of the drums. Kodo, and most groups that perform this piece, place the drums on a horizontal stand, which is close to the ground. The hozonkai placed all their drums except two directly on the ground. This makes the drum lower to the ground and forces the performer to take on an even lower, more physically demanding stance when playing.

2. Kodo will usually play this song with about 5 drums set up in a V shape. The two performers at the front/center both face the audience, forcing them to mirror each other’s movements. So when one player is hitting the drum with the left hand, the other player is hitting with the right hand. (We tried practicing like this on Sunday, and it takes some getting used to.) The hozonkai did not mirror the person on the other side of the drum. On each drum, one person was facing the audience, and the other had his/her back to the audience.

3. The stance of the person playing the jiuchi (base) rhythm was different. The Kodo players will usually play the jiuchi part with one knee on the ground, while the hozonkai remained on both feet, with their legs spread apart and bent about 90 degrees at the knees. I think they both have advantages/disadvantages. While it is easier for the hozonkai to transition back and forth between the jiuchi and the melody, it seems to be very strenuous for the legs to hold that position for so long. Whereas Kodo’s style of kneeling gives the legs a brief rest, it is more difficult to jump back into the playing stance for the melody and it takes a lot of practice to do it smoothly. It is impressive, though, to see how cleanly they can transition.

4. The hozonkai only played a rhythm of a few measures over and over, whereas Kodo seems to have added different sections in between this “chorus”. They often appear to be improvisations, but I have been told that improvisation is not really a part of taiko playing. Just about every note and movement during a song is planned out.

5. There was also some slight variation in the position of the sticks as they played, but I will not bother to explain that here because it is probably too difficult to illustrate without having a visual aid.

With all their differences, the two playing styles of this piece which we saw were both extremely enjoyable to observe. My wife and I have performed a version of this piece on a few occasions, and we hope to continue to perform it, but after seeing the performances at the Earth Celebration, we could see many areas in which we need to improve. We will continue to work hard and hopefully reach an acceptable level for performance.

Please enjoy this video of the Fringe Festival performance.