Ensemble

Kumidaiko, or ensemble drumming, is pretty much what made taiko so popular in these last 50-ish years.  Multiple drums playing at the same time is pretty powerful stuff!  Sometimes I forget how powerful it is, though.

This past weekend, I was leading one of our Public Workshops, where we give a 3-hour taste of SJT to interested people.  We normally start with one of our songs to get people energized and also to see SJT play if they haven't before.  We have 2-3 people teaching any given workshop, and so the song is on the smaller side.

This time, however, there was a group of performing members coming back from a gig right as we started, and they volunteered to stay for the opening song.  What would have been 3 became 11.  And even though the song is the first song any of us learn, it felt amazing to play it with so many more people.

If I had known it would be 11 players at first, maybe I wouldn't have felt it as much, but the surprise of the additional instruments and ki was pretty powerful stuff for me.  It reminded me that even though I consider myself pretty aware of the stuff I could take for granted, having other performers that I can play with is something I shouldn't overlook.

Next time you're playing with your group, think about what it would be like to have less than half of the people there.  Enjoy the energy and sound that a larger group of people can make!