So I just got back from playing a show at a festival at a Kyoto Temple. It was my first time playing a song called Sato no Uta, and we placed two songs that I've played before, Miyake and Kassen. I believe Kassen and Sato no Uta are original Wadayama Torafusujindaiko pieces, but Miyake is a song that's played in various forms by groups all over the world.
Miyake is played with the drum placed horizontally and struck from the side. You spread your feet, keep your back straight and bend you knees so your weight is supported by your thigh muscles. When the inside hand closest to the drum strikes the head, your weight is shifted over your outside leg. When you use your outside hand, you shift your weight over your inside leg to allow your bachi to reach the drum. Solos and the basic rhythm require a great deal of shifting back and forth, which means lots of work for your quads. A ton of fun, but for it to look really cool, you've got to get down low and stay there the whole time...tough for someone as inflexible as me.
For Kassen, I play the odaiko or large drum. It's got a drum head about 3 feet wide and is placed on a stand at about chest height. Playing is done with your elbows at shoulder level and your elbow acting as the only pivot. It kills my triceps, but is maybe the funnest one I've played so far.
The song I learned most recently is Sato no Uta, and it's got a combination of choreography and complicated sticking that took me forever to get down, but looks really cool when everyone is playing in rhythm.
I'll try to get some video up at some point, but here's some pics of our group.
2 comments:
aww..hearing about your taiko experiences is so fun! it makes me want to play :P i don't think i could count my meager months in college with the japanese club as taiko experience haha...bottom line: i'm jealous! so cool!!!!
Yeah, I've got another show on the 18th, am missing 2 more in July, and have 2 more in August. That's if I can get the new song down anyway :)
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