TAIKOPROJECT Study Guide

For use with TAIKOPROJECT educational programs

Steven Nguyen Mari Nakano Steven Nguyen Yuta Kato

TAIKOPROJECT
PO Box 825
Monterey Park, CA 91754
213 268-4011
info@TAIKOPROJECT.com
www.TAIKOPROJECT.com
youtube.com/TAIKOPROJECT
facebook.com/TAIKOPROJECT
twitter.com/TAIKOPROJECT

This Study Guide was initially developed as TAIKOPROJECT is represented by:

part of the Big Drum: Taiko in the United Kamstar Artist Management
States, an exhibition curated by the 415.776.5522
Japanese American National Museum. arts@kamstar.com
 INTRODUCTION
It is now more important than ever to acknowledge the need for art education.
The materials in this study guide are designed to give your class supplementary infor-
mation and activities to enhance the students appreciation of the TAIKOPROJECT
while instilling a broader base of knowledge and understanding of our societys diversity
through different cultural perspectives.

America is a country of widespread cultural diversity. Music, and drumming, is a part of

every culture, and its function in each culture is integral to its life and vitality. What is
an African dance without the drummers? What would Irish music sound like without the
dohbran (hand drum)? And what is a Japanese matsuri (festival) without the taiko?

Much can be learned about different cultural traditions and lifestyles by experiencing its
music. The TAIKOPROJECT performs contemporary Japanese American taiko drum-
ming. It is an artform drawn from our Japanese ancestry, but nurtured in America by
multi-generational Asian Americans in search of a voice for their dual-culture identity.
Through the sharing of our music and stories, we share our pride in our heritage and
culture, and encourage others to have pride in and explore their own cultural back-
grounds, and those of others.

With our school program, we hope to expand students knowledge of Japanese

American taiko. With our drumming and stories, we hope to cross cultural boundaries
and open their minds to our world of music, history, and creative expression. This
guide is designed to encourage students to explore the ideas and themes found in the
TAIKOPROJECT through individual and class activities, and to prepare them for a more
understandable viewing of the performance.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Home (2003)
choreographed by Michelle Fujii
TAIKOPROJECT:(re)generation
Origins of Japanese Taiko
photo by Robert Meyers
History of American Taiko
Many Sides (2003)
composed by Masato Baba
TAIKOPROJECT:(re)generation Musical Instrumentation
photo by Robert Meyers

Discovery of a Voice (2003) Homemade Taiko

TAIKOPROJECT:(re)generation
photo by Robert Meyers
What is Rhythm?

Kuchi Shoga

Oral Tradition

Taiko Glossary

Additional Resources
 ORIGINS OF JAPANESE TAIKO
The Japanese word taiko (tye-koh) literally means drum. The taiko has been used
in Japanese life and culture for centuries. One of its earliest known uses was to deter-
mine the boundaries of a village. A village was as large as the powerful sound of its
taiko could carry. In the 6th Century, in battle, beating the taiko was used to give
courage to samurai warriors and to intimidate the enemy. Taiko is also found in more
formalized areas of Japanese culture, such as in Kabuki and Noh theatre and the tradi-
tional Gagaku music of the Imperial Court.

Taiko also plays an important part in religious activities in Japan. In Shintoism, all natu-
ral phenomena, the mountains, fire, water, and animals are thought to contain a spirit of
a deity or god. The taiko is often used as a voice to call these gods to give thanks to
them or pray to them. They believed that their music was an offering to these deities,
which would bring them good fortune. For this reason, taiko was often at the center of
folk festivals. Farmers played the taiko believing that its thunder would bring rain for
their crops. Fishermen played the taiko to request a bountiful catch. In other festivals
the taiko is played to dispel evil spirits, ward off sickness, or give thanks for prosperity.
In Buddhism, the taiko is considered the voice of the Buddha, along with the horagai, or
conch shell.

The modern kumi-daiko (group drumming) ensemble started after World War II in
Japan. Daihachi Oguchi, a jazz drummer discovered taiko and was captivated by its
power. In the early 50s he started what is considered to be the first taiko group,
Osuwa Daiko, in Nagano, Japan. Taiko groups were formed all throughout Japan since
Gagaku/Bugaku that time, in large part to a desire to return to traditional Japanese arts and culture.
courtesy of Kinnara

Taiko skinning drawings

courtesy of Miyamoto Unosuke
Shoten
Kodo Promotional Card (1984)
courtesy of Kodo
Two other taiko groups from Japan are considered major influences on American taiko,
Tokyos O Edo Sukeroku Taiko and Ondeko-za. O Edo Sukeroku Taiko is known for
its dynamic double-drum style of taiko drumming and slant style of taiko drumming.
Ondeko-za started in 1969, by Tagayasu Den, and in 1981, the group split, giving birth
to the most internationally-known taiko group, Kodo.

2
 HISTORY OF AMERICAN TAIKO
In North America, taiko started in 1968 when Seiichi Tanaka, who recently moved from
Japan, saw the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival and noticed there wasnt any
taiko. Shortly thereafter, he started the first American taiko group, the San Francisco
Taiko Dojo, based on his studies of taiko and martial arts in Japan. In 1969, Rev.
Masao Kodani and George Abe, two sansei (third-generation Japanese American)
Buddhists were putting away the temple taiko from its once-a-year appearance at the
summer-time Senshin Obon festival, when they decided to continue playing the drum.
After hours of pounding on the taiko, they were tired, sweaty, hands bleeding, and they
decided they should play taiko more often. Thus was born the first bonafide
Japanese American taiko group. Rev. Kodani formed the taiko group without Japanese
formalities such as an established teacher or hierarchical leadership system and
formed a philosophy of playing taiko according to Jodoshinshu Buddhist philosophy.

Young Asian Americans took to taiko immediately, and with the influence of these first
two groups, taiko groups formed across North America, such as San Jose Taiko (San
Jose, CA 1973), Soh Daiko (New York City, NY 1975), and Katari Taiko (Vancouver,
Canada - 1979). There are now over 150 taiko groups throughout North America.

Taiko groups in North America are noted for their creativity and innovation in developing
a distinctively American style of playing taiko. Incorporating world rhythms, dance,
music, theatre, and storytelling, American taiko is an exciting, young artform that contin-
ues to thrive and become more and more diverse. Not only do those of Japanese
ancestry play taiko, but Asian Americans, and Americans of all ancestries play taiko--
Seiichi Tanaka (c. 1970) anyone can play!
San Francisco Taiko Dojo
courtesy the artist
However, like everything else, taiko is not without its issues. Current issues in the
Conference Booklet (1997)
1997 North American Taiko North American taiko community include the copyrighting of songs, movements, and
Conference Booklet
design by Qris Yamashita styles of taiko, the need (or not) for a governing taiko organization like in Japanese
martial arts like karate or judo, the idea of a taiko competition.
Kinnara Taiko (c. 1970)
Kinnara Taiko
courtesy the artist

3
 ARTICLE ONE
The following article from the Los Angeles Times contains a
good retelling of the history of American taiko by Teresa
Watanabe. She wrote this article as a feature on the 1999
North American Taiko Conference.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
A Taiko Tradition: Bang the Drum
Loudly
by Teresa Watanabe,
Staff Writer
July 30, 1999
Thirty years ago, two people fell
prey to the lure of the Japanese
big drum.
In San Francisco, a martial artist
from Japan attending a local cher-
ry blossom festival noted the stark
absence of the taiko, the thunder-
ous drum that is a fixture at most
every Japanese community cele-
bration.
In Los Angeles, a Japanese
American Buddhist priest putting
away the temple taiko after an
annual Bon Odori summer festival
wondered why this glorious instru-
ment should stay shuttered away
but for a few nights a year.
Within months of each other,
Seiichi Tanaka and the Rev.
Seiichi Tanaka Masao Kodani had formed taiko
San Francisco Taiko Dojo performance groups at opposite
courtesy of The Rafu Shimpo ends of the stateand pioneered
a Japanese American art form
Jeanne Mercer that has exploded in popularity
Shasta Taiko today and will be featured at the
courtesy of the Los Angeles
North American Taiko Conference,
Times
which begins today in Little Tokyo.
Johnny Mori
Kinnara Taiko The conference, which is expect-
courtesy of the Los Angeles ed to draw more than 500 taiko
Times drummers, manufacturers, and
fans from the United States,
Canada and Japan, willfeature a
variety of workshops, demonstra-
tions, and discussions. Two con-
certs will be held Saturday and
Sunday at the Japan America
Theatre.
As Japanese Americans, we did-
nt have any arts that were pas-
sionate and physical, said Bryan
Yamami, a conference organizer
with the Japanese American
Cultural and Community Center.
We have classical dance and tea
ceremony, things that are very
precise and proper. But taiko is
exciting and dynamic; its musical
but also visceral.
Today, the appeal of taikos raw
power and commanding roar,
mesmerizing choreography and
colorful costuming has moved far
beyond the Japanese American
community.
Taiko groups now consist of drum-
mers of all races, who perform at
venues from public schools to
Carnegie Hall. The distinctive
taiko drumbeat is now featured in
Hollywood commercials and
movie soundtracks, including
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
and The Thin Red Line. A
plethora of taiko styles now mix
dance and theater, salsa and jazz,
with the traditional Japanese
drum.
The proliferation of taiko groups
has even sparked an emerging
set of issues that will be
addressed at the conference.
They include the ethics of imitat-
ing styles and songs, whether a
formal organization should govern
the burgeoning number of groups
and how to safeguard the tradi-
tions Japanese roots as the art
moves into the mainstream.
How do you copyright a particular
movement? Is this going to stay
a Japanese American cultural
thing? These are all questions
people need to talk about, said
Johnny Mori, a taiko pioneer who
plays for the jazz group Hiroshima
and Kinnara, the group based at
Kodanis Senshin Buddhist
Temple.
Shrouded in folklore and myth,
taiko is said to have been brought
to Japan from China thousands of
years ago as a Buddhist ritual
tool, an instrument of court music
and a means for villagers to com-
municate with one another. In
Japanese folk tradition, Kodani
said, taiko also represents regen-
eration, with the drumsticks as a
male symbol and the drum,
female.
It was not until the 1950s, howev-
er that taiko began to develop as
a performing art in Japan, and
then independently in the United
States a decade later.
Kodanis Senshin Buddhist
Temple, near USC, was central in
popularizing taiko by inventing a
way to make drums inexpensively
from wine barrels, rather than the
traditional method of carving out
whole pieces of wood. The inno-
vation allowed groups to make
taikos for about $400, rather than
the Japanese price of a couple
thousand dollars for a small drum
to $70,000 for a huge one,
Yamami said.
Many Groups, Many
Interpretations
For the nearly 100 groups that
now flourish in North America,
taiko variously represents an art
form, a spiritual path, a cultural
expression and a political state-
ment.
Most taiko groups in America are
searching for some kind of root in
their ancestry, said Mt. Shasta
musician Russel Baba, who,
along with his wife, Jeanne
Mercer, has played taiko for 27
years and is leading a pilot train-
ing program for young drummers
this week in Los Angeles.
The development of taiko as a
community art paralleled the civil
rights movement and the quest for
ethnic identity. For many, Mori
said, taiko was one way to re-
embrace a cultural heritage that
many cast aside in shame follow-
ing the internment of Japanese
4
ARTICLE ONE continued
Americans during World War II.
But Mori and other members of
Kinnara (which translates as
Buddhist celestial music) see
taiko performance primarily as a
way to practice Buddhist princi-
ples of interdependence, of rec-
ognizing the ego and moving
beyond it. Kinnara members do
not strive for musical perfection;
talented showboats are nudged
aside in favor of those with fewer
skills but greater humility, Kodani
said.
What we play, how we play it,
when we play it, is all decided
communally, Kodani said.
Many of the groups pieces carry
Buddhist themes. Samsara,
which Kinnara will perform this
weekend at the Taiko Jam 99
concerts, expresses the experi-
ence of being caught in the world
of self-delusion, while
Prapancha captures the
Buddhist view that most of
human speech is meaningless.
Similarly, Centenary Methodist
Church sees its taiko group as a
religious path, with the Bible
incorporated in its mission state-
ment and such compositions as
Bringing Down the Walls of
Jericho. Tanaka, in contrast,
developed what he calls power
taikoa musical expression of
his martial arts combining disci-
pline and strength with the rustic
spirit of Japanese village festi-
vals. In an effort to hone his
craft, he shuttled back and forth
from Japan to study with preemi-
nent groups there, including
Osuwa Taiko and O Edo
Sukeroku Taiko.
Tanakas demanding approach,
both controversial and respected,
re-creates the feudalistic, hierar-
chical relationship between mas-
ter and student that character-
izes sumo wrestling, tea ceremo-
ny, and other Japanese arts. He
also requires a rigorous physical
regimen of up to four miles of
running, 400 push-ups, and 400
sit-ups before every practice, and
he employs tough love, whack-
ing with his hand the students
who dont measure up. seems to give many practition-
ers, however, one of the men
In recent years, however, Tanaka who started it all warns against
has added meditation and the taiking it all too seriously.
Chinese art of energy movement
known as qigong to his curricu- Its just a cow skin sheet over a
lum. He now sees drumming as wine barrel, Kodani said with a
a path to a healthy life, deriving laugh.
power from the inner forces
rather than raw physical strength.
Although his San Francisco Taiko
Dojo will not be performing this
weekend, Tanaka will be leading
two workshops today and
Saturday.
These days I am as soft as tofu,
but I still have my spirit behind
me, Tanaka said.
For Generation X-er Ann
Ishimaru, taiko has been a way
to reconnect with her roots.
Raised in white suburban com-
munities around the United
States, Ishimaru says she was
ashamed of her heritage, proud
she could not speak Japanese
and pretended she hated sushi.
When she was about 12, she
saw her first taiko performance in
Seattle and was secretly thrilled
that a Japanese American art
could be so powerful and com-
pellingand performed by
women as well.
Years later, as a freshman at
Stanford University, she signed
up for a class that linked the
loud, steady sound of the drum
and the vocal political movement
to gain reparations for the intern-
ment of Japanese Americans.
Ishimaru was hooked. She start-
ed Stanford Taiko, and is now a
founding members of Portland
Taiko. The group, which includes
members of Korean, Chinese,
Filipino, Laotian, and European
ancestry, is aimed at promoting
cultural diversity and social jus-
tice, she said.
Still others pursue taiko purely as
an end in itself. I joined
because of the art, the music
and performing, said San Jose
Taiko member Wisa Uemura.
Despite the deep meaning taiko 5
 MUSICAL INSTRUMENTATION
Odaiko
The Odaiko is the largest drum in the taiko
family. When O- is added to the beginning
of words in Japanese, it often means
Great. The Odaiko is considered the
Great Drum, and although they vary in
size, it is usually the largest drum in a set,
and can be as large as 12 feet in diameter.
The TAIKOPROJECTs Odaiko is 5 feet in
diameter.
Chudaiko
The Chudaiko is considered the medium
drum of a taiko set, and is usually around 1
1/2 - 2 feet in diameter. The Chudaiko and
Odaiko are considered Nagado-taiko, their
wooden bodies carved from a single tree
trunk and the cowskin drumheads stretched
and secured with metal tacks.
Okedo
The Okedo is a lighter drum made from
wooden staves put together like a bucket.
The drumheads are stretched over metal
rings and sewn together, and then stretched
over the wooden bodies with ropes and a
special tying method. Its lighter weight
makes it easier for taiko players to carry it
while playing, often with an over-the-shoul-
der strap.
Shimedaiko
The Shimedaiko is made from a wooden
body, stretched with rope or with metal bolts.
It is tightened higher than any other taiko,
From top: Odaiko
and its piercing tone cuts through the low
Chudaiko
Okedo pitches of the other taiko drums.
Shimedaiko
Uchiwadaiko
Bachi
Uchiwadaiko
Photos provided by The Uchiwadaiko is a drumhead stretched
Asano Taiko Company, Ltd.
over a metal ring, like the shimedaiko, but
then the ring is attached to a wooden han-
dle. It is often used in dances where the
dancer plays the drum with one stick but is
freed up to move around easily. Uchiwa
means fan in Japanese, as the uchi-
wadaiko looks like a Japanese fan.
Bachi
Bachi are drumsticks used for playing taiko.
They are made from a variety of soft and
hardwoods, such as hinoki (Japanese
cedar) and hou (magnolia), softwoods, and
kashi (Japanese white oak) and maple,
hardwoods. They are also made in different
sizeswith larger bachi for larger drums,
and smaller bachi for smaller drums.
Chappa
Small brass Japanese hand cymbals
Atarigane
Brass gong struck with a small mallet in dif-
ferent places to make different sounds.
Yokobue
Bamboo side flute often played in accompa-
niment to taiko, especially in matsuri, festi-
vals.
From top: Chappa
and Atarigane
Yokobue
6
Homemade Taiko
When taiko first began in the United States, many groups had to make their own drums
due to the high expense of purchasing a taiko from Japan. Thus the invention of the
American-style wine barrel taiko came into being. In addition to being a necessity,
making ones own drum taught the taiko player their first important lesson to respect
the instrument.

The intention of this activity is to create your own instruments in order to form your own
taiko ensemble. While doing this process, the students will also potentially feel a
sense of pride and respect towards their own personal taiko.

Activity 1: Newspaper bachi (drumsticks)

Items needed: newspaper, duct tape
Take 6-8 layers of newspaper and roll them. The diameter should be about 1 1/2 2
inches. Fasten the ends with duct tape. If possible, tape the entire newspaper
surface so as not to get ones hands and/or the classroom dirty from the newspaper
print.

Activity 2: Coffee Can Taiko (drum)

Items needed: emptied coffee cans, clear packing tape
Remove the lid from the coffee can. Cover the entire top with clear packing tape.
Refer to the pictures on the left. Although any taping style will work, the recommended
way is to first start by taping a cross (horizontal, vertical). Then proceed to tape an "X".
After this is done, proceed to tape

Student Outcomes:
Create your own drumsticks and drum
Learn about the process of making an instrument
Learn how to respect your own instrument

Conclusion: After this activity, your class will be ready to create your own taiko ensem-
ble! Proceed to the following exercises.

7
WHAT IS RHYTHM?
Rhythm is something that repeats itself, aurally, visually, or physically. You can hear
rhythms everywhere---when it rains, you hear the rhythms of rain hitting roofs of build-
ings, when you pass a construction site, you hear the rhythms of the jackhammer hit-
ting the ground, and when the telephone rings.

When you can see rhythms, they are called patterns. You can see a pattern in a suc-
cession of traffic lights down the street, in rows of windows of a wide building, and even
in the pages of a book when you flip them from back to front.

Finally, you can make rhythms with movement. Almost anything you do creates
rhythm. Walking creates rhythms with your arms, your legs, and your whole body.
When you eat something, your chewing creates a rhythm (and a tasty one, at that!).
Put your hand over your heart. This is your own unique, personal rhythm!

Musically, rhythm is defined as organized beats greouped in patterns which are repeat-
ed. Rhythm is one of the basic elements of music.

Are you ready to try it out? Here we go!

Exercise 1: Finding Rhythm Together

Student Outcomes: Students will be able to:

Demonstrate steady tempo. Rhythms, hand/feet coordination, and group listening
Understand the three ways we encounter rhythms in our daily lives
Make up their own short, improvisational rhythms

Anticipatory Set: Go over the three types of rhythms and have students identify rhythms
that they have experienced.

Activity: Have the students stand up and form a circle. Explain that you are all going to
play a rhythm together, starting with a basic stomp walk. In an easy tempo, guide stu-
dents to walk in unison, right, left, right, left until they are all together. Once they
have the stomp walk together, then have everyone clap on each step. Then clap
every other stepthen every third stepand finally every fourth step. Once theyve
tried all of these, try this simple pattern with clapping while still doing the basic stomp
walk:
clap once every four steps four times
clap once every three steps four time
clap once every two steps four times
clap once every step four times
and repeat!

8
WHAT IS RHYTHM? continued
Once they have mastered this, then have them try passing around a pulse in the cir-
clebegin with the stomp walk in place, then once your basebeat is set, designate a
student to start the pulse and the direction (clockwise or counter-clockwise), and start
with one clap and send it around, keeping in time with the stomp walk. Be sure they
do not speed it up and explain that if even if the person in front of them doesnt get it,
try to keep the rhythm going. If this goes well, you can try two variations:

sending around two pulses (after one is set and traveling around, have the same stu-
dent or yourself send around a second pulse)

change direction of the pulse with a triple clap (you facilitate this, once the pulse is
traveling, after a clap, clap three times fast, with the third clap ending on the next per-
sons clap, upon which the pulse will change direction)

If they master this, you can take the next step and have students do a four
count improvisational call-and-response. Start this the same way, with the
stomp and then, one by one each student has four counts to clap any rhythm,
and then the class tries to repeat with the same rhythm. Immediately after the
class is done repeating, the next student gives the four-count call and the class
responds.

Conclusion: After the activity, go over learning points and encourage students to come
up with new rhythm patterns with stomping and clapping and prep them for Activity 2.

9
 KUCHI SHOGA
Most taiko players learn songs through kuchi shoga. Kuchi means mouth and
shoga means to sing. Literally, taiko players learn how to sing the taiko songs and
then transfer that song into playing it on the drum. It is one of many styles of learning
music and can be notated verbally and written. Each verbal sound represents a sound
made by the drum and a time value.

Don (dohn) Hard right hand strike to the drum head (1/4 note)

Dogo (doh-goh) Hard right/left strikes to the drum head (2 1/4 notes)

Tsu (tsoo) Soft right hand strike to the drum head (1/4 note)

Tsuku (tsoo-koo) Soft right/left strikes to the drum head (2 1/4 notes)

Ka (kah) Hard right hand strike to the drum rim (1/4 note)

Kara (kah-rah) Hard right/left strikes to the drum rim (2 1/4 notes)

Su (soo) A Rest dont play (1/4 note)

Eii-yess-SA!! A Kiai instead of playing the drum, yell!!

(aaaayyy like day, yessSAW!!)

Bryan Yamami RENSHU Song Patterns

photo by Robert Meyers
Renshu means practice in Japanese and is also a taiko song that almost all
Michelle Fujii, Tiffany Furuta, American taiko players have learned as their first taiko song. It was written by Seiichi
Shoji Kameda
photo by Edward Ikuta Tanaka, the founder of San Francisco Taiko Dojo.
TAIKOPROJECT Here are Renshu patterns one and two:
Arizona workshop
photo by Alan Tang Pattern One
Don Don Don Don Dondondondon Dorotsuku Don Don
R L R L R L R L RL R L R L
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Pattern Two
Don Kara Don Kara Don Kara Kara Kara
R R L R R L R R L R L R L
1 2 3 4

10
Exercise 2: Learning Kuchi Shoga!

Student Outcomes: Students will be able to:

Sing Renshu Patterns One and Two
Play Renshu Patterns One and Two on their laps
Develop their own kuchi shoga ideas and rhythm patterns

Anticipatory Set: Go over definition of kuchi shoga and vocalize with students the
vocabulary of taiko kuchi shoga.

Activity Part One: Starting with Renshu Pattern One, sing the patterns out with
the students. Clap on the numbered beats to help keep them together, remind
them to listen to each other and to sing the patterns strongly and in time.
Once they can sing Renshu Pattern One, go over the hand movements, which
are just right-left through the pattern. See notation for R & L denoted beats.
Have students sing and play patterns simultaneously. Repeat process for
Pattern Two, which is a little trickier. If they get through both, try splitting
them into two groups and going back and forth, and then even further, to have
one group sing/play Pattern One, while the other sing/plays Pattern Two twice
(since Pattern one is twice as long). If they get this, then try speeding up the
tempo!

Conclusion: After this activity, you can go into two directions. If the students have
homemade instruments, they can create sounds and songs on them. If you are pro-
ceeding to the next exercise without homemade instruments, you can run the exercises
with just vocal drumming/soings, or use found instruments to create songs and rhyth-
mic patterns.

11
ORAL TRADITION
In many folk music traditions throughout the world like Africa, India, Japan, etc., learn-
ing music was transmitted orally. The music was taught by using a verbal vocabulary,
which represented the sounds of the instrument. In the previous kuchi shouga lesson,
you were introduced to this vocabulary used for taiko.

Within this activity, your class will create your own oral vocabulary. Then you can cre-
ate your own taiko songs!

Activity 1: Create your own Vocabulary of Sound

You or one student designated as the leader will play one sound at a time on the taiko.
The leader can strike the center of the drum loudly, softly, hit the side or the rim. Be
creative and find different places on your taiko that could create a variety of sounds.
As the leader makes one sound, the class will come up with a syllable or word to
descrbe what they heard. This will create your rhythmic vocabulary.

Activity 2: Create your own rhythms

Put 4 of those vocabulary words together which forms a rhythm. Slowly begin by say-
ing 4 sounds. Then have the students repeat after you. Finish by playing those
sounds on the taiko.

Slowly create longer rhythms. If adventurous, begin to join some of these rhythms.
This will create a song. Some easy formats are AABA, ABA, ABCD, and ABACA

Student Outcomes
Students will create their own vocabulary for sounds
Students will create their own taiko songs.

Conclusion: By now, students have learned the origins of Japanese taiko, the history of
American taiko, they have experienced rhythm patterns first-hand, and have
created their own sounds, and arranged them into short song patterns! Now, they are
ready to see the show! Encourage them to try to pick out aspects of previous
lessons in the show and musical patterns in the taiko songs and to relate their own cul-
tural origins to the stories and music of our Japanese American style of taiko drum-
ming!

12
 GLOSSARY

Bachi Drumsticks used to play taiko

Kama-ete Get ready command for preparing to play taiko
Kata The movement, discipline, and form when playing taiko
Kiai Spirited yelling and vocals while playing taiko
Kuchi Shoga Vocal notation for translating taiko into songs/sounds
Kumidaiko The artform of contemporary group taiko drumming
Narimono Percussion and other instruments used with taiko
Odaiko The Great Drum
Sensei Teacher, calling someone sensei is also a sign of
respect (your teacher at school, your coach in sports,
are all your senseis!)
Taiko Drum Americans have taken to calling group drumming
Taiko.
Wadaiko Japanese Drumming Japanese call group drumming
Wadaiko while Taiko to them, just means Drum.

RESOURCES

www.taiko.com Rolling Thunder Taiko Resource website

Good source for general taiko information
www.taikoinfo.org More information on taiko drums and music.

TAIKOPROJECT
School Show, Kyrene Pueblo TAIKO GROUP WEBSITES
Elementary School, Arizona

Bombu Taiko www.TAIKOPROJECT.com The TAIKOPROJECTs website! Check it out!

Japanese Village Plaza,
Los Angeles www.taikodojo.org San Francisco Taiko Dojo, first group to form in the U.S.
www.taiko.org San Jose Taiko, third group to form in the U.S.
TAIKOPROJECT cast
photo by Edward Ikuta www.taikoarts.com Kenny Endos website, one of Americas leading
taiko drummers
www.onensemble.org Contemporary taiko ensemble that Shoji, Michelle,
and Masato are also members of!
www.senshintemple.org The Buddhist temple where American taiko began!

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