Well, it’s been a crazy week of transition, and I’m writing to you today from my temporary location of Cleveland, Ohio!
K, let’s get back to taiko set.
Focus: Form, Dexterity
Watch For:
1. Keep elbows out and arms lifted, even when you move between drums.
2. Remember to begin movement from your core before it’s time to initiate a strike on the other drum. This is important for good timing when playing faster.
Okay, let’s start with today’s basic rhythm:
| 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & | 5 | & | 6 | & | 7 | & | 8 | & |
| don | tsu | ku | do | ko | do | ko | don | tsu | ku | do | ko | do | ko | ||
| don | tsu | ku | don | tsu | ku | don | tsu | ku | ko | ko | do | ko |
Try this rhythm on a single drum to start. Make sure your hits are consistently in the same spot, at or near the center. This will reduce the chance of “clicking” the rim when we add another drum. When you’re ready, let’s play it on taiko set.
Set up 2 drums, like last week, higher pitch on the right. Check your stance, as we did 2 weeks ago.
For the first pattern in this series, play every “don” on your high-pitched, or right drum. All other beats are played on your low-pitched, or left drum.
Remember that “don tsu ku” has a rather cyclical feeling. “don” should be the loudest, “tsu” the quietest, and “ku” right in the middle. Be sure that “tsu” doesn’t get lost in the shuffle–we still want to hear it! You can review “don tsu ku” here.
Gambarimasu! Grab your metronome and get started. We’ll continue with a variation on this pattern next week.
NOTE: Next week’s drill may be a little bit late (Saturday or Sunday) because I won’t have access to a computer, but it’s all written and ready to go!
Extension:
Make it fun with dynamics!
Keep the don tsu ku dynamics the same, as described above. But, let’s change up the “do ko do ko”. First time through, play do ko do ko as a crescendo, going from quiet to loud. Second time, do the opposite, with a decrescendo. Alternate, and loop it!