Well, last Tuesday night, I went to a Taiko drum orientation. I mainly wanted to learn about it before I decided to join.

Taiko drums are retired/reused wine barrels covered on both ends with stretched and bleached cowskins.

The drumming tradition is fairly old in Japan. 26 yrs ago, my instructor, Koji Nakamura, came from Japan to start a taiko project.

At that time, there were only 2 organizations in the U.S. Today there are approximately 10,000.

If you have ever seen a taiko show, it is compelling and fun. I've seen women and children play, which is why I was interested in the first place. Well, that, and my son is a drummer (however, not taiko).

Koji explained the philosophy behind any Japanese art, which is to respect one's fellow man, respect the art and the materials used within the art.

He then had us (there were 8 new recruits) do warm-up exercises to loosen our upper extremities and legs. We had about a 3 minute quiet-time (meditation) and he had each of us stand at our own drums.

The sticks are made out of virgin oak. The point is to hit the drum right in the middle (v. on or near the rim) and let the sticks bounce.

There's a particular way to hold the sticks so that your hands, wrist, forearm, and upper arm are flexed and not tight. This affects the sound but also could harm your body parts.

We learned the first song, which is a series of slow syncopations to quick ones.

Part of the beauty of this class was the inclusion of people who'd ordinarily not be able to participate together:
-a father and his 8 y/o son
-a man who owned the gym next door
-3 middle-aged women
-2 twentysomething women

When we were done w/class, we all felt good. We learned a song on the first night!

I came home all happy and excited and told hubs about it. He wants to join next week!

Here's what a performance looks like: