Taiko Drill Part 47, Understanding Rhythms

I’m still without a taiko group at the moment, so when I found a cheap plane ticket, I thought I’d jump over to Boston to practice with Odaiko New England. Anything for a chance to hit drums! Actually, I got to know 3 of the members of ONE during STI this year, Joy, Beth and Tanya. The leader of ONE, Mark H. Rooney actually lived and studied taiko in Wakayama with some of the same people I did. It was great to meet the rest of the group, too! So, besides good taiko in Boston, I also have good friends.

Practice last night was very fun. Mark actually set aside a small amount of practice for those of us who attended STI to re-visit some of what we learned and give a small demonstration. I think I could use some more practice pulling the song apart and applying the 1234 Drill (explained in the Extension to last week’s drill). The great thing about timing drills is that they shouldn’t ever get old–we can always get better at timing.

Shoji Kameda talked about understanding rhythms at STI and I’ll post the video below as today’s drill. Have you ever heard yourself say something like “I can only play it if I think of it in 3 even though it’s played in 4”? I think moments like that are exciting because it means the chance to try to get your brain to understand a rhythm or pattern in a new way. This drill helps with just that.

Focus: Timing, Counting