My Practice Setup

At the risk of sounding like an advertisement, I absolutely love and recommend Kristofer Bergstrom of On Ensemble’s program 30 Days to Better Shime. I first heard about the course while attending this year’s North American Taiko Conference in Los Angeles, California. Not being one to often play the shime (a small, high-pitched drum often used to lead a taiko ensemble), I almost passed the program by without a thought. Luckily, I realized the very fact that I didn’t play the shime very much was exactly why I should sign up. 28 days in, I can safely say that in my 10-odd years of studying music, this course is one of the most singularly helpful and beneficial tools I have ever encountered.

If I had to find fault with the program, it would be that the title does not imply nearly the full scope of what it has to teach. The exercises and drills that Mr. Bergstrom has put together often focus on musical skills far more fundamental than technique for just this specific drum. The exercises in coordination, tempo control, ear training, and basic practice skills (to name a few) are so well constructed as to serve as training tools for fundamental rhythmic ability and overall musicianship. They’re broken down to their very basic forms, allowing them to easily be applied to other taiko, drum kit, percussion in general, and I’ve even used some of them in my guitar playing.

30 Days is ultimately as simple to use and to complete as it is useful. The entirety of the course can be completed with a single pair of drum sticks and a practice pad, and if you’re willing to practice in front of the computer, all of the materials can be downloaded for free. After a few weeks of practicing 15-20 minutes a day, I’ve already noticed a considerable improvement in my timing, technique, and consistency, and I would strongly recommend this program to any musician, percussionist or otherwise.

Kris composed the Taiko March based on the Algorithm March that’s become a fad in Japan and throughout the world. The Taiko March demonstrates many of the well-known traditional forms of taiko.

The Taiko March was arranged and choreographed by Kris Bergstrom. What I share here is only my imperfect understanding of it. Because Kris is a proponent of open-source everything, I expect that a more authoritative version will become available soon. I present this as my own experience with the Taiko March.

My descriptions of the march moves are far from complete and are just to give you a sense of what’s going on. If you wish to learn the more complete version, I would be happy to share what I know (which I felt would not translate well into text), or you can try contacting Kris directly.

The steps are marked in the image at the bottom of the page.

The Taiko March

I think it is rare to see such impressive musicianship and excellent teaching skills in the same person, and even more amazing to find a group of four people who work so well together in both of those respects.

They split up the job of teaching us so that each member of On Ensemble taught us something about a different aspect of playing taiko specifically, or playing rhythms in general, all in the context of learning a new song.  Some of the time they taught us as a large group, but for learning the individual parts, they broke us into smaller groups (Maz led my group).

Overall, it was really well planned.  I totally appreciated the fact that they stuck to a well organized schedule, while maintaining a relaxed atmosphere, and did their best to make sure everyone got a chance to play frequently.  When I wasn’t playing I was air drumming along, or doing my best to absorb the details of what the group that was up was doing.  I was sometimes sleepy, but never bored.

The music that we were learning was a new concept for me in more ways than one.  Shoji created something both clever (the sections followed a formula between loud and soft) and intricate, with an deep, pulsing, groove.  At the end of the day, he emphasized the fact that he’d created this as open source taiko…  meaning that we SHOULD take it home, change it up, and make it truly our own, without even crediting him for the song.  He didn’t even give it a name so it can become an entirely different thing for every group that plays it.

STI culminated in playing what we’d learned in front of an audience (whoever Kris could convince to come).  I was relieved to be in the back, playing Odaiko, where I wasn’t super visible, so I wasn’t too nervous.  Instead it was a fun way to end our lessons.

Me with Carrie Carter of All Things Taiko. OC does not mean Orange County.

I’m really sad that STI is over…  three days hardly seems enough.  However, Taiko Conference proper is just about to begin.  We still get to hang out with other players.  For example, the three of us had dinner last night with Kelvin, plus John-Paul and Matt– two of the other participants.  We also have an appointment to rehearse taiko games with Kris this evening.

I’m so glad that the end of STI is not the end of my taiko vacation, and am looking forward to being surrounded by a mob of additional players.

Another note: It was great to see some old friends from the KASA/Mix trip again, including former Kodo apprentice, Joe, as well as John-Paul, and Marinda. I was also pleased to meet fellow STI participant Carrie Carter, writer of All Things Taiko, and to discover that like me, she went to Oberlin College!

I am learning my shime part of the song.

Days one and two of Summer Taiko Institute are over and Joy, Beth and I are pleasantly exhausted. We’ve spent two days absorbing techniques on timing, articulation, form and stance, all while learning a new song written by Shoji Kameda of On Ensemble. There has been a lot packed into our 8:00 – 5:00 days and we are soaking in as much as we can – Kris, Maz, Shoji and Kelvin have been amazing teachers. Tomorrow is day three and I’m looking forward to it!

Exhaustion did not keep a group of STI participants from meeting in the lobby of our hotel tonight until 10:00 to practice the new song we are learning.

Karen arrived tonight and by Thursday eleven members of Odaiko New England will be here for the North American Taiko Conference.

We had dinner at my favorite Ramen shop.

Kelvin walked by while we were practicing in the lobby of the Miyako

Karaoke with Kelvin

Odaiko New England just concluded an awesome week hanging out with Shoji, Maz, Kris and Kelvin from On Ensemble, one of the most cutting-edge and dynamic taiko fusion groups out there. I was blown away by their speed, technique, musicality, complexity, precision– but most of all by their interpretation of what taiko performance can be… hard to imagine that such elevated and inspiring art comes from such down-to-earth and inviting people. How fantastic that our members had this opportunity to not only take workshops with them and watch a killer performance, but also to just hang out and talk to them about their own approaches to the challenges and joys of taiko. It can be difficult for a group out here on the East coast to keep its finger on the pulse of a community that is largely based on the West coast, so having the chance to interact with other taiko players with such deep roots in the art form was a real treat for all of us.

Let’s see– the full recap– we spent 6 hours soaking in Kris’s thoughtful expertise on shime technique and timing, trekked 4.5 hours out to New York City to watch their performance at Drom (en route to DC for Obama’s inauguration– crazy!), sang karaoke with Kelvin till the wee hours, debated with Shoji about everything from the pros and cons of “community” to gender roles in cult sci-fi installments (ok, so maybe Shoji leans more toward esoteric than down-to-earth), allowed ourselves to be humbled as Maz, Kelvin, and Shoji all provided feedback on one of our own concerts– I think each and every one of us walked away from that week with a totally new outlook on who we want to be as taiko players and what we aspire to as a taiko group. Come on, Shoji, there’s your answer– community ROCKS!