Miyake and Odaiko practice

People who play taiko know this: the more you play, the more you want to play! so now we have added an extra monthly practice night. This one is devoted to practicing Miyake and starting on a journey with our new Odaiko which is actually a big okedo.

Miyake is quite strenuous as the drums are low and the players need to squat while playing. We kept playing for a few runs of 15 minutes. Uchikomimas!

Then it was Odaiko time. First ever practice of Odaiko for us. This time it wasn’t so much about technique, but improvisation – we all wanted to just go for it! so we had a person on the one side playing straight Ji uchi (back beat) while the other side improvised. Then change sides and so on until time was up. Never enough time…

Till next month!

“Swansea Year of Taiko” Celebration Concert 28th January 2017

Our “Swansea Year of Taiko” project is nearing its end – one last day of adult and family workshops to go…

We have learnt so much this year and we love playing taiko even more. We want to celebrate this feeling, celebrate the things we learnt and the new people we met, the new connections we made and the effort we have all put in.

And what better way to celebrate than to simply play the drums? So we decided to show what we have learnt so far in a concert. We chose the Volcano Theatre as our venue: it is a rugged and friendly place, fit for a community group at the start of our way.

Concert flyer We have invited some of our friends to play with us. They are our friends, our teachers, our collaborators. James Barrow, Taiko Mynydd Du and Alison Roe. The concert will feature many of the elements of taiko that we have learnt from our guest teachers this year. It will contain traditional pieces such as Miyake and Buchi Awase. We will also play more modern pieces inspired by different styles of taiko whose origins are in different parts of Japan such as Hokuriku, Hachijo and Hiroshima. There will also be some original pieces written here in Wales.

This concert is also partly funded by the Arts Council of Wales.

Miyake Taiko Day

Ah, what a wonderful day we had! Pete Goodman taught us the ins and outs of the original Miyake style. Theme, Ji-uchi, change overs. We learnt also the ka-gu-re which is the intro to the piece.  We were happy to welcome 2 kagemusha / Tano taiko players from Exeter who drove all the way down here to study with Pete. And we have a couple of new enthusiasts who are totally hooked. The children’s session was full house!! and some of them are also hooked we believe. Thanks so much Pete! you are truly inspirational and a great teacher.

The day was also marked with a lovely collaborative spirit – which is a must where taiko is concerned as we all had to pitch in with getting the drums in place, welcoming people in, helping each other with the counting and the rhythms. Markedly two of us – Sarah and Ari – made the Miyake stands without which this day wouldn’t have been such a success. Sam took care of sanding the dowel tips and surprised us with a wonderful banner.  Wigmore High School provided two drums and stands. Ursula from TMD provided us with another drum / stand. Leanne Clulee took photos of the children’s  session and shared them with uspetes-kids-miyake-workshop

After the formal day finished we headed down the beach for a last bash. How lucky we were today with the sunshine.20160917_180200 20160917_175639

This day would not have come to life without funding from the Arts Council of Wales, to whom we are very grateful.