5.

The number of beats in any given measure of music determines the meter. That's a simplified way to put it, but it works. Most music you listen to is in 4, though there probably are exceptions and many songs have changing meter within them.

When I started taiko, 4 was easy. 1 2 3 4, how hard is that? Okay, there were some patterns that wove around those four beats, but still, I could feel where the 1 would fall pretty easily. 2 and 8 are closely related to 4, so closely that it's often hard to tell which is which. It's still pretty easy to feel a 2 or an 8 because Western music conditions us to feel things in 4 even if its halved or doubled.

3 and 6 are not as common or as easy to feel, but still very accessible. 6 is the backbone of African percussion and 3 is a common meter in traditional Korean music. 6 is very often felt in 2, with a ONE-2-3-FOUR-5-6 pulse. 3, being an odd number, can be sometimes trickier, because it's "off balance".

Then we get the oddballs.

For the longest time, 7 was this not-quite-8 pattern to me. Ok, so you just drop off one note at the end and you get 7, meh. Why make something awkward in that that meter? But as the years went by, more and more of the random patterns I would create while walking around turned out in 7. I didn't plan them that way, either! 7 became more and more interesting to me; it had an energy that 8 was lacking.

Now I turn to 5, that little freak. Whereas 7 felt to me like "almost-8", 5 doesn't have that same relation to 6. It feels more like "4 with a tail". When I used to play in 5 for fun, I was flailing about, blindingly groping for the downbeat on the 1. It's taken some time and some tricks to understand 5 better, but I find that I'm creating patterns out of the blue in 5 like I used to do in 7.

When we did our collaboration with Abhinaya Dance Company last year, I had to play a pattern on the taiko in 5 by myself while everyone moved about. The Indian musicians were playing underneath me but I couldn't hear them until much later in the song. A few years ago, that would have worried the snot out of me, but I'm glad I put some time into making 5 familiar instead of scary.

There's no real message or moral to the story here. I guess if you want, you can see it as a progression over time, one which anyone can have if they choose to put in the effort. It is empowering! For me, I'm just glad I'm not afraid of anything under 8. 9, well that's another matter. :)