25 March 2009

Japanese Taiko Drum Summer Class at IPC

Drum Team Members Teach the Popular Art of Taiko to the Locals

Translated by Shirley Ghozalli. Edited by Moira Blake.

A warm-up session before the start of the lesson

The Drum Team Captain Rei Fujimoto, front left, demonstrating

On Wednesday, 4th March, IPC Taiko Drum Team started a Japanese Taiko Drum Summer Class. Since there were many inquiries from the locals about joining the Drum Team, it had always been on the mind of the Drum Team Captain, Rei Fujimoto (a 2006 student), and one of its members, Keiko Oguma (a 2005 student), to hold a class for the public. To get started, they put ads in the newspapers and notices on announcement boards in the local supermarket. As a result 7 people, of different ages, came to register. So once a week for a month, the Taiko Drum Team members were teaching these new trainees at the IPC Recreation Centre.

In the first session, they learnt the basics such as how to beat the base rhythm and how to stand in front of the taiko drum. Then in the following session, the song "Gaina" was introduced. This is an original piece created by previous students of IPC. As well as the song, the rhythm and movements have to be memorized. This song was chosen because it was popular with New Zealanders, and as it includes various movements it fitted the purpose of helping the new trainees to remember the basics. They followed the captain's movements and practised over and over again until the movements became ingrained.

Rei admitted that she was surprised by how fast the trainees improved. When she was doing a demonstration before the lesson began, she thought some movements were too complicated to follow. However, after several practices, they could do the movements well. Keiko said that she felt very pleased when she saw their expressions changing from lacking confidence into brimming with it.

One of the trainees, Eps Eparaima, commented that beating a Taiko was hard physical work but because the teachers (Drum Team members) taught well, he enjoyed the lesson. His 9-year-old son, Tamati, always looked forward to Wednesday practices. Another trainee, Ian Bartlett, said that since he saw one of the Taiko Drum Team's performances, he wanted to try playing the drum himself. Although it was not easy to remember all the movements, he considered the whole experience as a good exercise and he felt grateful for the opportunity.

The Drum Team plan to hold the next lesson in the winter break period.

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