In looking at San Jose Taiko over the years, we've had at least a slight female majority, nearing 50/50 these days. Next year however, taking attrition and the Audition Process (five men and one woman) into account, the balance may shift to a large male majority, the first since I've been with the group.
There's no way to know how many people will make it through the year-long Audition Process and make it into Apprenticeship, and I can only guess at who will and won't stay in the current group but can't know for sure.
Assuming it goes the way I predict, I can't help but wonder what sort of changes will come about. No, I'm not worried that there will be a lot more burping and grunting, I'm talking more subtle that that! ;)
A little over a year ago we had a festival gig with only the men performing. It started out as a coincidence and turned out to be amusing, with the female members in the audience cheering us on. We called it "dude-tsuri", a take on matsuri, or festival. The feeling on stage was a bit different, I must admit.
For one, there did seem to be a "heaviness" in the playing. Maybe it was a physical thing, from the larger size of the men? Maybe it was the feeling like we were "representing" men and subconsciously over-hit? The kiai too, were lower in pitch overall, adding to the effect. Also, we have a tendency in the group for the men to focus more on musical technique instead of kata, so solos were more about rhythms than movement, which also flavored the gig somewhat.
Mind you, that's just one gig, and a fluke to boot! The real question is what happens to the group in time with so many men in it. Will the group change? Is the infrastructure such that it really doesn't matter what the gender balance is, or can it not help but change? Will having more men in the group attract more men to try out for the group?
Early NA taiko had been dominated by female performers. It was empowering and the feeling you got doing it had nothing do to with gender or race or background. It could be powerful, it could incorporate dance, it could help you connect with who you were. Over the years, more men got involved and the ratio balanced out. There are women-only groups in NA, but I can't say I know of any men-only (or groups that just happen to have only male players at the moment). With taiko in Japan, it was heavily male-dominated, but there's a lot more balance nowadays. Still, male-only groups in Japan are not uncommon.
This post isn't to stereotype or say one gender plays differently than another. In my festival example, it was a one-time thing that had some unique attributes. Here, I'm just indulging in a bit of active pondering. How does a shift in gender ratio change a group? How do men approach taiko compared to women? How do male audiences see taiko different from female audiences?
I'm no scholar on this subject, but maybe I'll develop more insights now that my initial thoughts are down. What are your thoughts?
When there is so much female participation, why is it that, at least as a beginner in North America, all the big names I hear about most frequently, in terms of community leadership and teaching, are men?
ReplyDeleteDaihachi Oguchi, Seiichi Tanaka, Kenny Endo, Kaoru Watanabe, Shoji Kameda, Art Lee, Yuta Kato.
Obviously there are a lot of great female players, but I know many of them teach as well. I just don't hear about them much.
Dave, I agree with you for the most part. It also depends on when you started and where you played, I think.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I immediately think of PJ Hirabayashi, since she's been my teacher for 17 years. But other names come to mind: Tiffany Tamaribuchi, Pam Okano, Janet Koike, and Donna Ebata to name a few.
One of the other thing I've noticed about really good female players (I'm thinking PJ, Iris, etc...people that make you think of a benevolent taiko mom) is that they look very deeply into what taiko means. I haven't seen this as much with any of the male players I've talked to. For example PJ's interest in the spirituality of taiko. I can't really imagine a man talking in quite the same way about the connective power of taiko. I think that an all male group can be amazing musically, as far as kata is concerned, etc. etc. but they might lack something in how they emotionally connect with the audience. Not to be horrendously sexist (because there is some scientific evidence for this) but women do tend to emote more and feed off of the emotions of other people more readily than men do...
ReplyDeleteI also agree that when a group is more masculine taiko could become more aggressive (harder hits, lower kiai). Personally I think having both feminine and masculine elements is best. And it is possible to incorporate both without having both men and women...