Matthew Erba
MUS-101-003
Prof. Giannattasio
Oct 17 2017
Japanese Taiko Drumming
The musical culture event I chose to base my research around for this project is the Japanese art of taiko drumming, along with the musical ensembles that create it. I have always had a natural interest in percussion instruments and upon searching up taiko drumming, I very quickly fell in love with the art form. Like the Japanese culture, their instruments are graceful, traditional yet modern, cultural, and of course, beautiful. Taiko is a term used to describe an ancient Japanese drum, which has been in their culture for centuries. It is used to name a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments, the term referring to most any kind of drum. Taiko
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The style was invented by a single person, although taiko itself has a long history dating back centuries. The kumi-daiko style that we all know today was created by a man named Daihachi Oguchi, the founder of Osuwa Daiko, a large percussion group that originated in Japan. He was actually known mostly for his original style and take on jazz drumming. He was determined to fuse traditional Japanese drums into a modern ensemble format, thus creating “kumi-daiko”. Most modern taiko performances always involve a large group of performers, often with a wide variety of drum types and sizes. Other instruments such as the flute, chappa, and tetsu-zutsu also frequently accompany the drums. This mesh of instruments has a way of creating an amazing range of rhythm and melody throughout the performance. By taking taiko of various sizes, Daihachi created a variety of sounds between the different drums. This gave these basic drums more life and a certain sense of harmony when arranged together. The smallest drum, called the shime-daiko gave a high pitched sound, creating a backing rhythm. The odaiko, which was most commonly the largest drum in the ensemble created a deep, simple rhythm. The rest of the ensemble was filled with a variety of smaller to medium sized drums called nagado-daikos, which carried the beat through the music. Topping these off were an arrange of metallic sounds created by the …show more content…
The most popular including kabuki and noh theatres and as part of social activities and local communities. Some examples include local celebration events, customs and stories, and especially festivals. Almost every region in Japan has a festival or ‘matsuri’ that is unique to its area. During these annual festivals it is common to have a lot of singing and dancing, as well as playing taiko. These events are always vibrant and full of color and involve the whole community. The larger festivals attract people from all over the world and is certainly a once in a lifetime experience. While most taiko performances in traditional Japanese culture are usually confined to theatres, small shrines and temples, and festivals, it is branching out more and more every year. The modern, popular style of taiko that we see today include very large ensembles taking up concert hall stages and much
Percussion instruments are by far the most dominant of the four major instrument families. There are many different types of cymbals and drums, which are ...
The orchestration comprises of a standard set of instruments, including two flutes, two clarinets, two oboes, two bassoons, two trumpets, three trombones, four horns, timpani, bass drum, cymbals and strings. An additional instrument is the tuba (Chung 22). Moreover, it appears that the piano is not the only soloist; rather other instruments such as flutes, clarinets and horns make minor appearances for similar purposes.
The steel drum instrument holds the spirit of Trinidad and Tobago’s musical tradition. Even though the steel drums are not widely known, the instrument is rapidly growing in popularity throughout the world. This unique instrument has an interesting history; as well as a huge impact on Caribbean music today. Trinidad and Tobago made the steel drum their national instrument because it embodies the essence of ancient African roots with national heritage. The steel drums allow the natives of the island nation to connect with national tradition and to spread national pride.
“The term "gamelan" refers to various indigenous music ensembles of Java and Bali, the core instruments of which are usually drums, variously tuned bronze gongs, different sets of bronze metallophones, cymbals, and flutes. The bas-reliefs of some of the ancient Hindu and Buddhist temples in Central and East Java, dating from the eighth to fourteenth centuries CE,” (Ramstedt).
As studies have shown: “The ancient practice of placing or suspending votive objects in the interior of drums has been suggested as a possible origin for these curious instruments, whose history can be traced to the Shang
“Oceanic musical instruments include the broad categories familiar in the West, such as percussion, wind and string instruments, as well as forms that are distinctive to the religion. These vary from familiar types such as drums, flutes and the Hawaiian ukulele to unusual forms such as slit gongs and bullroarers” (Kjellegren 2010). The type of music Polynesian’s create and listen to is made from different instruments that we are familiar with. For example, an instrument they use is the drums. “In addition to drums with heads, Pacific people create a variety of other drum like percussion instruments, such as the water drums of the Sepik region of New Guinea and the ground drums of Hawai’i, to provide rhythmical accompaniment in a diversity of contexts” (Kjellgren 2010).
Marching bands became extensively throughout the nineteenth century due to the surplus drums and brass instruments formerly used by the military after the civil war, especially amongst black and Creole musicians. Thus, the syncopated polyrhythm of African music was mixed with traditional marching music and other popular musical styles, and became...
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.
Mainly the West Africans used percussive instruments. These drums came in all sizes ranging from ten to twelve inches to ten to twelve feet. Their drums were made out of hollowed out logs and gourds with a tight skin over the hollow. They also used idiophones to make music. They used a variety of bells, castanets, gongs, and sometimes they made small xylophones or small pianos. Aerophones weren't as prevalent as the percussions or idiophones. Some explorers made small flutes, horns and trumpets from elephant tusks.
Concert Report #2 - World Percussion Steel Drum Orchestra On the evening of October 24, 2014 at the Daniel Recital Hall, I attended the World Percussion Steel Drum Orchestra Concert at eight o' clock. The atmosphere surrounding the recital hall was relaxed, comfortable, and had a light feeling to it. When the actual concert began the atmosphere changed immediately to very upbeat and jubilant. In the World Percussion Steel Drum Orchestra, the piece that I liked the most is Fall From Grace composed by Darren Dyke while the piece that I liked the least was Agbekor which is Traditional Music from Ghana.
The tabla is the most famous percussion instrument in Northern India. The tabla consists of two drums that appear to be of varying sizes: one small and one big. Tablas are almost completely played just by the use of the fingers. Each drum has one head that is tapped or hit to make a sound. The heads are usually made from goat leather skin.This skin can tend to wear over time; however, it can be replaced by new skin over the wood or metal part. It can practically become a brand new instrument this way. The job should be done by an expert though. Each drum also has some sort of black dot in the center. This black dot is actually a paste; typically, made out of iron, gum, soot and/or rice. This paste allows for a variety of special sounds. Both drums each have individu...
The Invader style of drum was created by Ellie Mannette, and was the first chromatic pan, and also the first sunken drum. The Spider Web style of drum was created by Tony Williams. The notes of the steelpan range from bass, all the way to tenor voice, and a complete steel band typically covers about 5 octaves. The steelpan is played using rubber mallets which are used to strike the notes in the pan. Depending on the song, the movements of the hands, and the force applied to each note is crucial, and takes quite a bit of practice.
Kabuki started out as a style of dance in the early sixteenth century, also known as the Edo period. Kabuki is an exclusive type of theater in which only males can act on stage. For over 400 years, women have only been allowed in the audience and not on stage. But ironically, a woman named Izumo Okuni along with her female troupe originally created the theatre. Okuni, who may have come from the shrine of Izumo, set up a temporary stage in Kyoto around 1603 where she and her troupe acted out slightly suggestive dances and skits (www.artelino.com).
The Russian Dance which features a toccata-like character is dominated by the percussion instruments and the "percussive intonations of the piano"
...ncing to drums, which must have been done in secret” (Epstein 2006). Djembe was thus created with materials that were available or enslaved Africans used their bodies like a drum, clapping and stomping with feet and sticks (Wilson 1992).