Goals

Been thinking about goals lately. Why do I still play taiko? Why do I still practice karate? What do I want out of each?

After karate the other night, a few of us were talking about testing and belt ranks. The advanced belts involved were eager to test for different levels of brown belt, while the black belts were talking about how things change once you hit black. Shodan, 1st-degree black, is considered the real "beginning" of your training. You've proven that you understand the basics of the art and are now ready to learn the art in earnest. Nidan, 2nd-degree black, is a bit fuzzy in definition, but it can be considered where you've learned how best to adapt your body to the art. Sandan, 3rd-degree, is the first "teaching" grade. Ideally, you should be able to teach the art at this point. Further grades really show how effective you are as a teacher and how influential your teaching gets.

I'll be testing for sandan later this year if the timing is right, but I don't know if I'll ever test again. There's really no opportunities to teach more than I already do at the dojo, plus there's not going to be any difference in what I can learn at 3rd- vs. 4th-degree black belt.

Looking over to taiko, where I'm approaching 18 years of playing, there's no belt system, no grade level in taiko (at least none I've ever heard of). The equivalent might be what songs you learn in your group - more parts learned over time and/or talent-based.

I'd guess we have an active repertoire of...20-25 songs at SJT, and of those I can play 95% of the parts. I'd say 3% of the remaining 5% are parts I will never learn due to circumstances like a song written for women to play, and the last 2% are positions in brand-new songs I haven't learned yet or something like a flute position (can't play flute!)

So here I am, in both respective arts, nearing the end of what either dojo can teach me. As far as material, the goals are going to be gone soon. New forms? Only in other styles. New songs? Only ones that haven't been written yet.

It's important here to say one thing - to my readers and to myself. I'm not saying that I need a break, or wonder if I'll continue on. I'm definitely not saying I can't learn any more in my arts, either. For taiko specifically, I know I'm going to keep playing, so...the question isn't "will I continue?", it's "why will I continue?"