A Brief Odaiko Lesson

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Last night we had an extra practice for Yume Mitai. We have a performance coming up next Friday evening and need the additional practice. One of the songs we will play is called "Daichi no Arashi" (大地の嵐) which is a loud, fast and exciting song.  It starts with an Odaiko intro, which I and another member will play.  At last night's practice, Yamada sensei focused on the Odaiko part for 20 minutes or so, so it was like a mini-private lesson.  Anyway, I thought what she did with us was most helpful, so I thought I might share it with anyone who is interested. 

At the last practice on Monday, she had asked us to change the opening a little bit, so she wanted to see how it was going. We played it and she said, "Wow, you guys are just sprinting right out of the gate! You guys are a little stiff, though. Try it again and relax a little more." 

Getting rid of stiffness when you play taiko is a lifelong challenge, I think. I'm 10 times looser than I was two years ago, but I still have a long ways to go before I am as flexible as Yamada sensei and the other Hono Taiko players. Still, I have heard them after impressive performances say things like, "Oh, I'm still playing to stiff, I've got to relax more."

Anyhow, after Yamada sensei showed us how she wanted us to play it, we tried again. "Hmmm," she said. "A little better, but not quite there yet. Let's try slowing it down a bit."  She started clicking a tempo with her sticks significantly under tempo. We played, but there were a couple spots where we weren't quite together with the clicks, or each other.

Playing a piece under tempo was a technique first introduced to me by my brother (a professional percussionist) last year. He said that it was a good way to become aware of spots in the music where you might be speeding up or slowing down. But Last night, Yamada sensei added another reason to practice under tempo. After we played at the slower pace and were not really together that well, she told us, "If you can't play the part easily at the slower tempo, then it means that you are too stiff. If you're arms and body are relaxed, it should be very easy to play the piece slowly, or quickly."

 The next ten or fifteen minutes were spent trying to help us relax our arms and body and improve our Odaiko playing style.  Of course, one thing to do is to make sure your arm movements are as large as possible. You should be swinging from the shoulders, not from the wrists or elbows. When you swing back, bring your upper arm at least even with your ears, keeping the stick pointing up. Remember that it's not the force with which you hit the drum, but rather the speed of your stick, that produces the really big sounds. And don't forget to flex your stomach as you hit the drum.

Of course, you can hear all this advice and then go to play the piece and you're thinking about the notes, the accents, the dynamics, your stance and the advice you just got, and it ends up the same as before, or maybe even worse. In order to make the advice effective, you need to take out some of these variables.

First Yamada sensei had us get rid of the stance.  Normally, you would lower your center of gravity, putting your left foot forward, with the knee bent, and the right foot stretched out behind you. She had us stand up with our feet shoulder width apart and play without worrying about volume or dynamics and at the same slow tempo as before.

As we got more and more relaxed, she gradually picked up the tempo, clicking her sticks the whole time, and had us gradually spread out our feet until we were back to the original tempo and a regular stance.

Playing Odaiko, it is difficult to watch yourself in the mirror and now one was there to take video, so I couldn't see the change myself, but Yamada sensei, and everyone else, said that the two of us looked much more relaxed by the end of our mini-lesson.

So in the end, I guess I was reminded that when playing taiko we need to constantly remember to tell ourselves to relax and also, if you want to check out how relaxed you are, set the metronome at a slow tempo and see how easily you can play your part along with it.