Taiko

Taiko Dan, Representing the Japanese Culture

Taiko is Japanese for “big, fat drum” and it generally means a Japanese drum ensemble. This is considered a form of visual art, music, and performance that have brought great entertainment as well as promoted Japanese cultural values to audience worldwide. I was fortunate to be able to attend one of the Taiko drums performance by the Sacramento Taiko Dan group. This experience enabled me to use my critical thinking skills and left me with nothing but positive impression. It certainly had proven my initial stereotype of campus event as being boring very wrong.

On my way walking to class one day, a banner about the Taiko Dan caught my attention. Not only was the performance free but it was also very conveniently situated in the Union. During my childhood, I have immersed myself with Japanese manga, animes, cosplay and movies and that have encouraged me to want to learn more about the culture and the people. From my perspective, I saw the Japanese as strong, independent and very proud people. I thought this would not be a bad idea to attend this event and went in without much expectation as I have never seen an art performance on campus before. The Taiko Dan performance was in a fairly small room and the spotlight was focused on the main stage. There were various drums sitting in a line position and moving in between them were busy drummers. They were wearing colorful Japanese clothing and accessories. I sat with my friend and the performance started. The group positioned themselves behind their drums and one member would introduce the piece while the others get into position. The Taiko drum performance went on for approximately one hour and in between pieces, the drummers would change th...

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...I would think critically without even trying. With such a positive experience from attending the Taiko Dan, I would definitely try out other events on campus.

The Taiko Dan performance had introduced me to the world of cultural art that Sacramento State is offering its students. The performance allowed me to learn new information and to exchange ideas and views with others. Most importantly, this performance has enabled me to put my critical thinking skills to use and really connect to what I have learned in EDUC 10H. In particularly, it brought attention to the tools that helped me in analyzing this performance such as having curiosity, an open mind, skepticism, analytic skills, communication, and collaborative learning. They allowed me to form my opinion about the performance and to decide on whether I would want to further participate in future event on campus.