Welcome back!
I hope you’re enjoying the spring season wherever you are. It’s a great time to practice taiko! (Okay–anytime is, really.)
Let’s get back to rolls and timing–
Focus: Timing, Balance
Watch for:
1. Keep those elbows up and out! Don’t let your elbows drop–this will force you to bend your wrists in order to hit the drum and we don’t want that. Check out the video from 3 weeks ago for a refresher: Part 30
2. If you’ve gotten lazy about the metronome, you’ll need it for this drill.
Okay, this drill is basic to do, so let’s take the opportunity to be picky about a few things. Make sure the sound of the right and left hand are the same. I think I’ve said this a few times before, but the first step to fix this is to check to make sure your form is the same. If they’re not, slow down the drill to focus on this, and do everything twice as long for the “wrong” hand. Keep in mind that sometimes when it sounds like your timing is off, it could be the balance!
I’ve written out the rhythms below, Red is right Black is left. Note that Lines 1 and 2 are played twice. Line 3, which is twice as long, is played just once.
| 1 | & | 2 | & | 3 | & | 4 | & | 5 | & | 6 | & | 7 | & | 8 | & | |
| Line 1(twice) | don | do | ko | don | don | don | do | ko | don | don | ||||||
| Line 2(twice) | don | do | ko | don | do | ko | don | do | ko | don | don | ko | ||||
| Line 3 | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko |
| Line 3 | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | do | ko | don | don |
If you know my style, you know why there’s a double right at the end–repeat again from the beginning, starting with the LEFT hand!
K, loop it! 10-15 minutes daily, gradually increasing speed but never going faster than is comfortable. Gambatte!
Here’s a bit of audio help:
(These clips are to aid in understanding the rhythm and are not representative of what your actual playing should sound like.)