While we were at Summer Taiko Institute, Tanya, Beth and I had the unique opportunity to join Kris Bergstrom of On Ensemble in a demonstration of the Taiko March, a piece he had composed and choreographed as part of the Taiko Games at North American Taiko Conference. He had had everything planned out, but at the last minute he needed 3 more marchers, and we were excited to be able to join in.
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
| Lyrics (in Japanese) | Translation of lyrics | Movements | |
| 1 | Ip-po susunde Bachi Kamae |
Take a step. Get into ready pose with your bachi |
Take a step forward. Emulate a ready pose, using your index fingers as bachi. |
| 2 | Ip-po susunde Tsugi naname |
Take a step Next slant stand |
Take a step forward. Step to the side, assuming a stance for slant stand playing. |
| 3 | Ik-kun kaite Odaiko |
Turn around for the moment and Odaiko! (big drum) |
Turn around in the first two steps. Mime hitting an odaiko |
| 4 | Don! Yoku ni aruite hachijo |
Don! Take a step to the side for Hachijo |
Say “Don!”, then step to the side. Mime the motions for hana-hachijo. |
| 5 | Chotto shaga de tsugi Miyake |
Get a little low, next it’s Miyake |
Turn to the front and take a low Miyake stance. Mime hitting the Miyake drum with your left and then your right |
| 6 | Katsugi-daiko o mochi agete |
Carry the slung drum |
Mime slinging the drum over your shoulder. Turn around completely, jumping on your left foot. |
| 7 | Tsukaremashita Kyu-kei |
We’ve worked hard – break time |
Wipe the sweat off your forehead. Dip down and touch your hands to your knees. |
| 8 | Uchiwa auge, Sore! Sore! |
Wave the fan drum. Let’s go! Let’s go! |
Wave your outstretched arms in front of you. Turn around completely, waving your arms in front of you. |
| 9 | (three times) Soro soro, owari ka na? |
This has gone on a bit, Why don’t we end? |
Take a step, do a conga line move |
| Owari! | The end! | End balanced on your left foot |
