Metronome love, pt. 2

Continuing the series, I want to take a look at working on triplets!

Triplets are very under-utilized in taiko. As a drilling device, they make you work on how to differentiate between loud and soft, how to keep an even tempo, and balance between the right and left hand. Even the commonly-practiced doro suku (loud loud soft soft) drill favors one hand over the other, depending on which hand starts.

1. Get your metronome at 70bpm and play three evenly-spaced notes per click.
2. Play each note at the same volume (comfortably; no need to be loud here).
3. Feel the groove of the phrasing; get the feel of the three
4. Accent the hit that falls on the click

That's the basic triplet - but there are more things you can do:

• Increase the tempo slowly, in small increments to challenge yourself
• Accent louder while making the other notes quieter

Personally, I feel mastering the triplet is mandatory to developing good chops. To be able to do it well on any drum at speeds both fast AND slow is a skill any serious taiko player should be pursuing!