TAIKO PRACTICE AT THE UNIVERSITY

October 16, 2007

Last night, I attended a taiko practice at the University of Kyoto of Art & Design. Noriko Fuku, my primary contact in Kyoto, introduced me to Yoshimi Takagi, the director of the taiko program at the university. Professor Takagi is a celebrated taiko performer herself: after watching she indeed is a fantastic player. In the past, she has taught several of Kodo drummers. Interestingly enough, next April, Professor Takagi and her sister are performing a duet of taiko and classical piano: this has never been done before. I’m sorry I will miss it!

For almost three hours, I watched the taiko practice. There were three distinctive parts: first, the students performed about seven or eight pieces; second, Professor Takagi and her assistant gave various instruction and performance tips to the students; and lastly, the professor and her taiko group, Shien, rehearsed for an upcoming show next week.

The student performances were really great: the students have been studying taiko from anywhere from six months to four years. There were about 35 students in all. At least half of the students were female. The number of participants in each performance varied, ranging from five to twenty-five students playing at a time.



There were several different kinds of taiko drums used: nagado taiko, shimetaiko and oketaiko. Below are pictures to distinguish these three drums. The nagado taiko is the classical sounding drum; a very full sound indeed. The shimetaiko is almost like a tightly-tuned snared drum: it has a distinctive high-pitched sound. (It’s probably the drum you can here the clearest in the videos). There are two types of shimetaiko drums; one that is tuned with ropes, and another that is tuned with thick metal lugs and bolts. The shimetaiko drums with the metal lugs is much easier to tune, but makes the drum very heavy and less aesthetically pleasing. The oketaiko almost looks like a marching drum: it has a strap so the perform can move around with ease. In the videos, it is the glossy black drum with purple roots. In addition to the drums, for some of the performances, there was the occasional hand cymbal player and flutist.


Watching the almost-flawless technique of the performers was a very special experience.
Because the auditorium was solid concrete, the whole room would shake with the booming of the drums. While I was attending a practice and not a formal performance, the quality of the music was still very excellent. The perfection of the motions of the drummers was remarkable: they were always in unison, in perfect posture. I also thoroughly enjoyed watching the “dancing” element of the performances. Taiko drumming is an art that exerts the entire body.

After the class was over, Professor Tagaki performed with several of the more accomplished students. (It is the third video). The highlight of the evening was when the professor, her assistant and one other player performed on the oketaiko drums. (There are two videos of this; the trio of drummers). It should be noted that they were performing original music. In regards the spiritual element of her music, Professor Tagaski said, “One soul [is very] small; but three souls [can make a] big sound.”


I took many pictures and videos; below this post some of my favorite videos I shot. Unfortunately, because the music was so loud, the sound quality is pretty poor. I also recorded some audio clips, and will post those as soon as possible.






The two different types of shimetaiko drums.