Thursday, March 21, 2013

Playing taiko without bachi?

Going to keep this brief, as I'm in an Alaskan hotel with spotty connection...

Today we did a workshop for a High School taiko group here and explored ma (space) to get them away from playing so many notes and forcing them to experience movement.  Some SJT members demonstrated possibilities of movement during solos, and in one of my sections I placed both bachi on the floor and did some freestyle movements.  Nothing fancy, just being bachi-less.

There's another song we play in a lot of our sets where I start my solo by putting both bachi down with a *splat*, then "waving" to the audience.

It might sound impossible to play taiko without bachi, but that's what I'm doing in those short moments.  So ask yourself, how can you break past things you think aren't possible?  How can you be creative and go past risks, past limitations?

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