09 Coach

Aisatsu

Stretches

4-8-16-32
Play as warm-up
Focus on timing and listening to play together

Lec/Demo Leader: Nozomi

• Warm-up used to practice form/kata and timing
• Each pattern practices certain techniques:
  • 4 - relaxed strike focused on efficiently (elbow first!) building speed toward the drum one arm at a time
  • 8 - As above, but arms move simultaneously
  • 16 - same technique concept, but elbows only
  • 32 - as above, wrists only
• Arrangement: Play through three times

Renshuu
Practice playing two- and one-beat offsets
Practice playing with swing jiuchi

Lec/Demo Leader: Wendy

• Practice piece composed by Seiichi Tanaka of San Francisco Taiko Dojo (est. 1968)
• Renshuu means "practice" in Japanese
• Each line contains one or more of the most basic sounds that a player should learn to play taiko music
• There are five total patterns and each is repeated once
• Arrangement: play in straight, play in swing, end with oroshi!
• Video here: Renshuu Taiko

Don tsuku DoRo tsuku
Play both unison and offset versions
- Offset version is in two groups and offset by 1/2 beat

Lec/Demo Leader: Mike

• Drill used to practice dynamics (loud vs. soft) and bachi control
• Name of the drill is the kuchishoga for the main pattern
• Kuchishoga is how we learn taiko pieces, for example...:
  • Don - one loud hit in the center
  • Doko/dogo/doro - two loud hits in the center
  • tsuku - two quiet hits in the center
  • kara - two hits on the rim
• Have someone demonstrate each of the above as you explain
• Arrangement: twice unison, twice offset (regular group ends on next downbeat to join the offset group)

Oroshi
Practice ending our Renshuu arrangement with Oroshi after pattern E

Lec/Demo Leader: Evelyn

• The word oroshi is commonly used to refer to making something smaller
• In taiko, we take the space between our hits, which starts off very large, and gradually make it smaller until...
• ...we're playing as fast as we can and we choose how we want to end our oroshi
• Here, you could say something like, "Listen for oroshi at the end of our Renshuu arrangement!"
• Arrangement: use to end Renshuu!

Clean

Aisatsu