Lesson video

Hello, welcome to today's lesson entitled "Context and terminology of taiko." My name is Mr. Norris.

Today, we're going to be starting to delve into the fascinating world of taiko drumming, exploring some of the typical rhythms, the culture, and the context around it, and having a go at learning some basic rhythms. Our outcome for today's lesson is I can perform a short taiko structure using don and doko and can explain the origins of taiko.

Some keywords.

Firstly, taiko, and this is a Japanese word for drum or the art of drumming.

Kumi daiko.

This is a form of ensemble drumming, originating in Japan.

Bachi.

These are the sticks used to play the drums. Kuchi shoga.

This is phonetic notation used to describe rhythms, dynamics and pitch.

And finally, honji, which is an eight-beat pattern.

The first part of today's lesson is looking at the origins of taiko.

Taiko is the Japanese word for drum or the art of drumming.

Taiko was originally used as a battlefield instrument to scare the enemy, communicate with troops, and signal troop movement.

And a lot of musical traditions, similarly around the world, date back to war and battles.

Its loud dynamics meant it was particularly effective, as it could be heard from far away.

So it was a really effective way of communicating on the battlefield.

Taiko is also used in temples for religious purposes.

Now traditionally, only holy men were allowed to beat the taiko, and as the Shinto and Buddhist religions developed in Japan, this custom remained.

So traditionally, it would be the men who were particularly associated with religious roles.

Simple taiko beats would also be used in daily life for things like signaling that hunters were setting out or to signal that a storm was coming and that the women needed to bring in the meat and the fruits they were drying.

That's just two examples of the ways that these drums were used to communicate amongst communities.

Now taiko has since become the global name for kumi daiko, which is Japanese ensemble drumming.

So traditional taiko had these roles that we were talking about, in the battlefield and in daily life in traditional society.

And now it's the word that is used to refer to kumi daiko, which is the specific type of ensemble drumming from Japan.

Now the drums in kumi daiko are different sizes with a low-pitched resonant sound.

And taiko is not just drumming.

A really key part of it is the movement, the synchronized movement between performance.

And this mix of those powerful rhythms with dynamic movements creates really great energy.

It's a really high-energy, intense type of performance.

So now we're going to watch a video of some taiko and I'd like you to answer the following question.

What do you notice about the movement and the tempo in this clip? Pause my video and have a look.

So hopefully there, you noticed that everyone was synchronized together in their movements and the tempo.

And in kumi daiko, the key is that everyone moves and feels the rhythmic changes together.

So it's synchronized in movement and in sound.

Now the tempo does not always stay the same.

It often starts slow and gets faster.

And it's these changes in tempo as well as dynamics in different sections that help to build excitement in the music.

Taiko also has links to martial arts, so it integrates some choreographed routines and expressive shouts.

Similar to some of the things you might see in martial arts routines.

These choreographed movements are known as the kata.

Let's check your understanding.

True or false? The word taiko means drum.

I'll give you a few seconds to answer this one.

And the correct answer here is true.

And why? Because taiko is the global name for the style of kumi daiko.

So it's the word that is generally used to mean kumi daiko now, but the actual meaning of the word is drum or the art of drumming.

So kumi daiko can include one rhythm played together.

We call that monorhythmic.

Mono meaning one, so one rhythm.

Or it can include different rhythms played at the same time.

And we call that polyrhythmic.

Poly meaning more than one.

So it can either be one rhythm altogether or different rhythms at the same time.

The taiko are played with thick wooden sticks called bachi.

You can see an example in that photo there.

They're thicker than normal drum sticks.

And they can be played either on the head, called the hara, or the edge of the drum, called the fuchi.

So the wooden rim and that creates quite a different sound.

Performers often wear a traditional outfit as well.

We can see that demonstrated in that photo there.

It consists of a happi, which is the coat, tekkou, which are the wristbands, and a hachimaki, which is the headband you can see performers wearing there.

So there's these three key aspects of the traditional taiko outfit.

Part of the reason that we have this uniform is because uniformity is important in taiko performance, showing solidarity and teamwork.

This is not a series of individuals performing.

It's a real ensemble performance, and the uniform helps to give that feeling of togetherness and uniformity as well.

And this aligns with the musical approach which demands that everyone in the ensemble moves together and feels the rhythmic changes together.

So everything in this performance is about togetherness and synchronization, from the uniform to the rhythms to the movement and everything else.

Which is the correct term for the drum sticks? Is it kumi daiko, hara, bachi, or fuchi? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer is bachi.

Those are the sticks.

Which is the more accurate description of the traditional outfit? Is it, "In the traditional performing outfit, the happi is the headband, the tekkou is the coat, and the hachimaki are the wristbands"? Or is it, "In the traditional performing outfit, the happi is the coat, the tekkou are the wristbands, and the hachimaki is the headband"? You can pause my video while you compare these two and choose the best description of the outfit.

And the correct answer here then is the second one there.

"In the traditional performing outfit, the happi is the coat, the tekkou are the wristbands, and the hachimaki is the headband." So well done if you picked that one.

And there's a lot of terminology in this lesson that you might not have come across before.

So well done if you're starting to get your head around some of these terms. True or false? The hara refers to the edge of the drum.

I'll give you a few seconds to choose your answer.

And the correct answer here is false.

And that's because the hara is the head of the drum.

The fuchi is the edge of the drum.

Again, there's some new terminology here, so well done if you got that one correct.

For Task A, you're going to answer the following questions about taiko.

What does the word taiko mean? What was traditional taiko used for? What is kumi daiko? List three features that give energy to a taiko performance.

What is the traditional outfit worn in taiko performances? And why is the uniform important? And finally, match up the following words with their correct meaning.

We've got hara, fuchi, and bachi.

And we've got sticks, drum head, and drum edge.

So you can pause my video now and give these questions your best shot.

Okay, let's go through these answers.

So the word taiko means drum or the art of drumming.

Well done if you got either of those.

Traditional taiko was originally used as a battlefield instrument to scare the enemy, communicate with troops, and signal troop movement.

Kumi daiko is Japanese ensemble drumming, and it's now globally known as taiko.

So it's taken the word of that more traditional form of music.

And there's three features that give energy to a taiko performance.

Well, you could have mentioned the tempo changes.

Often, it speeds up.

The changes in dynamics.

The choreographed martial arts movement.

And the shouting.

For question five, the traditional outfit consists of a happi, which is the coat, tekkou, which are wristbands, and a hachimaki, which is the headband.

And it's important because it shows unity, solidarity and teamwork in performance.

So it creates a sense of togetherness.

And we've got the following meanings for these words.

So the hara is the drum head, the fuchi is the drum edge, and the bachi are the sticks.

Well done if you got those the correct way around.

Now we're going to apply some of that knowledge and we're going to look at performing taiko.

Like in many other musical traditions around the world, taiko is learned aurally.

This is where musicians learn by listening or watching.

So copying and learning by ear, rather than reading notation, for example.

We're going to learn this style, using a mixture of watching and listening.

And we're also going to use something called kuchi shoga and grid notation.

Now kuchi shoga is a phonetic way of expressing rhythm, pitch and dynamics.

The syllables reflect the way that you play the rhythm.

So it uses different verbal sounds to simulate and imitate the drum sounds and to learn the rhythms that way.

Now there are a variety of different strikes and kakegoe, which is the word for shouts, in taiko.

A strike is where we hit the drum.

So on the head or on the rim, and the sound it produces.

And the kakegoe is a shout which is used to cue a change in the music or to show emotion.

Don is a single loud tap on the hara, which is the head of the drum, with the right hand.

Doko is two quick medium taps of the hara with the right and then the left hands.

So don is one hit and there's one syllable that matches that.

And doko is two hits of two syllables and it's twice as fast as a don.

Now beats in taiko are played in eight-beat patterns, and these are known as honji.

This is an example of a honji with eight don.

So we've got eight single strikes with the right hand.

Let's have a listen.

(performer speaking in Japanese) (taiko music) <v ->So there, you could hear the eight single strikes,</v> the eight (speaks Japanese).

That's how we'd verbalize that.

That's the kakegoe for that.

This next honji uses eight doko.

You can see it there.

(Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) Let's hear that.

(performer speaking in Japanese) (taiko music) <v ->So when you learn patterns in taiko,</v> you learn them by verbalizing them using words like don and doko.

Let's have a look at this next honji that has a mix of don and doko.

If we look there.

(Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) Let's hear it.

(performer speaking in Japanese) (taiko music) <v ->And we could also hear that played twice as fast,</v> with the same pattern but twice the tempo.

(performer speaking in Japanese) (fast taiko music) <v ->Now you might be wondering there,</v> what the words at the beginning of each of those clips was.

And that's the count-in.

Performances begin with a four-beat count-in.

And this is spoken and said phonetically.

We'd say.

(Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) (Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) And that's counted one and two, three, four.

(Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) And then we'd begin.

And the (speaks Japanese) works as a "ready go" signal.

It translates roughly as "ready to go." Let's just have a look at a video of that count-in.

And what I'd like to focus on here is the movement of the bachi, that's the sticks, and where they fit with the count-in.

Let's have a look.

(performer speaking in Japanese) (performer speaking in Japanese) <v ->So hopefully, you noticed there</v> that on the (speaks Japanese), the right hand moves down and then up.

And that's sort of a physical signal that you're about to start, as well as the verbal one.

So if we put all that together, to start our performance, we go (speaks Japanese) and then we'd play our eight-beat honji, whether that's don, doko, or a combination of both.

So it might go (Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) for example.

Let's check your understanding.

How many beats are in a honji? Is it two, four, eight, or 16? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is eight beats.

A honji consists of eight beats.

What is a don? Is it a single loud tap on the hara? Which is the head of the drum.

Two quick medium taps on the hara, which is the head of the drum.

A single loud tap on the fuchi, which is the edge of the drum.

Or two quick medium taps on the fuchi, which is the edge of the drum.

I'll give you a few seconds to work that one out.

And the correct answer here is, a don is a single loud tap on the hara, which is the head of the drum.

Remember that don syllable matches the sound that you're creating, don.

So it's one sound, one note.

What is a doko? You got the same four options.

You can pause my video while you work this one out.

And the correct answer here is that doko is two quick medium taps on the hara, which is the head of the drum, again.

There's two syllables, doko, so that's imitating the sound that's produced of the two notes.

For Task B, you perform a short taiko structure verbally or with body percussion.

So you can do it using the kuchi shoga, which is a don and doko.

Or you can use body percussion.

Here's some success criteria.

You start with the count-in.

(Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) You then include two honji of eight don and eight doko.

So eight don is (speaks Japanese).

And doko is (speaks Japanese).

You create two more honji with your own mix of don and doko syllables.

So you can mix up don and doko as you wish to create your own unique honji.

And you could include the dons and the dokos at double speed as well.

So you could try playing them at twice as fast a tempo.

Here's your overall structure.

So we've got our first honji at the top, which is eight dons.

(Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) And then we've got our next honji, eight dokos.

(Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) And then we've got two blank honji there where you can make up your own honji using don and doko.

And there's a suggested pattern you could use if you want to at the bottom there as well.

Remembering before you start your first doko, you're counting in with (speaks Japanese).

So you can get started on this task now.

Give it your best shot.

To finish off this lesson, we're going to watch the following video.

This is a performance of the task that we were just doing.

Does this performance include the correct verbal count-in and the correct rhythms for the first two sections, for the first two honji? Let's have a look.

(performer speaking in Japanese) (performer speaking in Japanese) (taiko music) <v ->So pause my video while you're finishing your answer.

</v> Okay, let's go through this.

So the count-in is correct, with the correct words and a clear pulse.

(Mr. Norris speaking in Japanese) The rhythms in the first two sections are correct, with a clear difference between the don and the doko patterns.

So well done if you identified the difference between the two and you correctly identified the count-in was correct.

Let's summarize today's lesson.

Taiko means drum or the art of drumming and has become the global name for kumi daiko, which is Japanese ensemble drumming.

Performers wear traditional outfits and use bachi, which are the sticks, to play the drums on either the hara, which is the head, or the fuchi, which is the edge.

Taiko is learned aurally and can be understood by using the kuchi shoga phonetic method.

And we've performed honji, which are eight-beat patterns, using don and doko sounds.

So that's the end of today's lesson.

I hope you've enjoyed dipping your toes into taiko and found some interesting new terminology, a bit about a musical culture that maybe you've not come across before, and hopefully, you're feeling inspired to explore this style of music a little bit more.

Thanks for taking part, and I'll see you in another lesson.