The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Below are the meanings of some musical terms you will hear throughout this unit.

Glossary words are written in bold throughout this unit. When you see a word in bold that you don’t know the meaning of, check this glossary.

You can add to these useful terms throughout this unit as you learn a new word and its meaning.

Glossary

beat The basic unit of rhythm in a piece of music.classical ¶(OHJDQW·�� ¶JUDFHIXO·�� DQG� ¶UHÀQHG·� DUH� ZRUGV�

which describe classical music; it is ‘serious’ music rather than simpler pop or folk music.

folk A simple kind of traditional music, usually passed on from person to person and generation to generation by singing and/or playing it.

pitch Refers to high and low sounds. For example, a bird chirping has a high pitch and rumbling thunder has a low pitch.

melody A series of notes arranged in a pattern of pitch and rhythm.

rhythm A regular repeated pattern of beats.syllable One sound or note of an instrument.

taiko An ancient Japanese form of percussion using large drums.

tempo The speed of the music.traditional Refers to music that has no known composer;

often passed on by people singing or playing it rather than by writing it down.

Taiko Music

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Activity 1

Looking at the instruments

Each country in the world has its own unique music.

Often when we hear a particular piece of music we think immediately about the country that music comes from and its people. We can picture them playing or singing and maybe even dancing to the tune we are hearing.

In SDEPS music units you will hear music from many different parts of the world. You will learn about the instruments the musicians use, have an opportunity to play along with them and make up your own music for others to hear.

Play Track 1 to hear an introduction to this unit.

Look at the pictures of the instruments pictured below and on the next two pages.

If you know an instrument, write the name of each instrument under its picture. If you don’t know what all these instruments are, it’s okay. <RX·OO�ÀQG�RXW�DERXW�WKHP�E\�FRPSOHWLQJ�WKLV�XQLW�

Instrument 1 _____________________________________

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Taiko

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

BookletInstrument 4 _____________________________________

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Instrument 2 _____________________________________

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Instrument 3 _____________________________________

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Answer the following questions about the instruments in the pictures.

1. Which drum do you think would sound the lowest and which would sound the highest? Why?

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2. Which country do you think these instruments come from? ___________________________________________________

3. What sorts of music do you think might be played on them? (music for dancing, singing, listening, pop music, folk music, traditional music, classical music, rock ‘n’ roll, jazz ... some other kind)

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4. How important do you think the performers’ movements would be to the performance? Why?

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Play Track 2 to hear a taiko performance.

Instrument 5 _____________________________________

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https://youtu.be/Cd0sUnTXZhQ?t=2878 4

The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Activity 2

Listening for the instruments

In this activity, you will be answering questions while you are listening to more of the performance by the Australian taiko drumming group TaikOz.

The name and a brief description of each instrument are written below.

shakuhachi Large wind instrumenttakebue 6PDOO�EDPERR�ÁXWH

taiko drums High, middle and lowatarigane A hand gong. Often used to keep

time. It is played held in the hand or suspended by a cord. Often decorated with tassels. Struck with a deer horn mallet.

1. ,V�LW�SRVVLEOH�WR�WDS�DQG�ÀQG�WKH�beat?

2. Is there a regular beat?

3. Is the tempo fast, medium or slow while the ‘shakuhachi’ plays?

4. Is the beat regular or irregular after the drums enter (02:00)?

Play Track 3. As you listen, answer the following questions.

yes no

yes no

fast medium slow

regular irregular

47:58

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1

The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

5. Do you hear any repeated rhythms?

6. Is the tempo fast, medium or slow when the drums play?

7. Do all of the drums play at the same time throughout the piece?

8. Is there a melody?

9. Listen a little more. Is there a melody now (06:13)?

10. Occasionally a voice is heard. What do you think the voice call is for?

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11. Do you think the musicians play the music from notes that they read? Why/Why not?

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12. What makes this music interesting? Think about the ways in which the music varies, even though there is a lot of repetition.

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13. Does this music sound like any you’ve heard before? Why/Why not?

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yes no

yes no

yes no

yes no

fast medium slow

48:22

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Activity 3

Locating the source

The drums you see in this booklet are important instruments in Japanese festival drumming. The ‘shakuhachi’ and the ‘takebue’ are also important Japanese instruments.

8VLQJ�\RXU�DWODV�RU�DQ�DSS��ÀQG�-DSDQ��&RORXU�DQG�ODEHO�LW�RQ�WKLV�map.

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Activity 4

Making your own drum

For the next activities you will need a drum of some kind, which you will use until the end of this unit. You could use an empty bin, an upturned chair played with your hands, a large empty water container or a large or small empty metal drum. Another suggestion is to cover the opening of a large plastic garbage bin or old car tyre with some thick cloth held in place with strong tape.

You will need to experiment with beaters too. Try wrapping the end of a wooden spoon with a bandage or creating a beater from masking tape on the end of a chopstick or some other kind of stick.

Now that you have a drum and beater, experiment with the sounds that can be created. You will need to be able to make a sound by striking the edge of the drum, called the ‘fuchi’. Contrast this with the sound made by hitting the centre of the drum, called the ‘hara’. 8

The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Parts of the drum

There are many kinds of taiko drums in Japan, but they are divided into two categories: taiko with a nailed head (‘byoudaiko’) and taiko with heads stretched over a hoop and tensioned with ropes (‘shimedaiko’).

Hara (centre of the drum)

Fuchi (edge of the drum)

Byoudaiko Shimedaiko

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Write down three new things you’ve learnt about TaikOz or taiko drums from the websites.

1. _____________________________________________________________

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2. _____________________________________________________________

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3. _____________________________________________________________

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Find out more about taiko drums or TaikOz by going to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiko

www.taikoz.com

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Activity 5

Learning to play taiko

Rhythms to practise

To learn how to play taiko, players are taught to say as well as play rhythms. You will be learning some simple taiko syllables, sounds and rhythms in this activity.

‘don’ (on taiko)‘ten’ (on shimedaiko)

A beat to the hara (centre of the drum).

‘do-ko’ or ‘do-ro’ (on taiko)‘te-ke’ (on shimedaiko)

Two alternating beats to the hara, starting with the strong hand, played twice as quickly as a single don.

‘ka’ A beat on the fuchi (edge of the drum). Same time value as don.

‘ka-ta’, ‘ka-ka’ ‘ka-ra’ Two beats on the fuchi. Same time value as do-ko or te-ke.

‘i-ya’(pronounced ‘ee-yah’)

A rest, or a pause (pronounced ‘ee-yah’). Play nothing for the same time value as don.

Practise playing the four rhythms above over and over using your drum. Remember, the tempo is fairly fast.

Movement is very important in taiko drumming. An arm held up straight during the playing of a rhythm would be quite common. Of course, you need to use the arm that is not playing at that moment. Try it where you see the * as you practise the rhythms.

Record yourself playing the rhythms. Repeat each one at least four times.

Play Track 4.

1. don don do-ko don*2. don don ka-ta don*3. ka-ta ka-ta do-ko don*4. don* ka-ta i-ya don*

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Activity 6

Creating your own rhythms

Cut out the syllables on the next page into separate boxes. Practise putting the syllables together in different ways to make up rhythms that you like. Write more if you need them.

One box is the same as one beat. Try putting together and playing rhythms made up of four beats (four boxes). If you are feeling FRQÀGHQW��WU\�FUHDWLQJ�DQG�SOD\LQJ�rhythms made up of eight beats.

Once you’re happy, stick three of your four or eight-beat rhythms onto the blank page marked My own taiko rhythms.

Practise saying and playing your rhythms over and over. Can you make them more interesting by changing the speed or the volume level, or by accenting (making louder) certain beats? Perhaps you may have someone who can play along too. Teach the rhythms to that person.

When you’re ready, record yourself and your partner saying and then playing the rhythms over and over.

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Syllables for creating taiko rhythms

don don don don

don don don don

ka-ta ka-ta ka-ta ka-ta

do-ko do-ko do-ko do-ko

i-ya i-ya i-ya i-ya

ka ka ka ka

te-ke te-ke te-ke te-ke

ten ten ten ten

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

My own taiko rhythms

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Activity 7

Combining rhythms

Rhythm 1Low sounding drum

do-ko do-ko do-ko do-koHigh sounding drum

te-ke ten te-ke ten

Rhythm 2Low sounding drum

do-ko do-ko do-ko do-koHigh sounding drum

ka-ta ka-ta te-ke ten

Rhythm 3High sounding drum

te-kete-ke

te-ke ten

te-kete-ke

te-keten

In this activity you will create longer rhythms and combine rhythms to create a more complex sound.

Play along to Track 5.

Record yourself playing your rhythms from Activity 6 with do-ko or te-ke in between. To build a more complex sound, rhythms

are played together.

Play Track 6 to hear these rhythms and how they are made more complex.

Play Track 7. Practise performing your rhythms against the repeated do-ko rhythm.

Play Track 8. Try playing along with the repeated te-ke rhythm. Practise and improve.

When you’re ready, record your performance – either with your supervisor or with the rhythm on the audio.

Record yourself playing and saying Rhythm 1, 2 and 3 below.

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The Taiko Tradition

Student and Supervisor

Booklet

Activity 8

Talking about taiko

1RZ�WKDW�\RX·YH�ÀQLVKHG�UHFRUGLQJ�\RXU�PXVLF��OLVWHQ�WR�LW�DQG�VHH�what you think. Play your recording to someone else and see what they think.

Record your answers to these questions.

1. Is your instrument too loud/soft?2. Is the beat regular?3. Have you used the instrument in interesting ways?4. What parts of your rhythms do you like best?5. Is there anything that could be improved? If so, how?

Finally, think about the new things you have learnt in this unit and ÀOO�LQ�WKH�Student feedback sheet.

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Student feedback sheet Answer the questions below about the unit of work.

My favourite activity was:

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Because.....

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This is what I have learnt that I did not know before:

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This is how I feel about what I learnt in this unit:

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