TAIKO DRUMMING INCURSION 

Taiko Drumming was a unique activity. You had to be selected to enter, and it also was not your stock-standard drum kit. However, despite the uniqueness (and loudness) of taiko, it was very much fun. 

To be part of the experience you had to have been learning Japanese as your language. For Year 7s, you had to make a 20 second video or a 180-character message, explaining why learning Japanese is lots of fun, while Year 8s had an Education Perfect competition to enter. 

Taiko is like normal drums, but with the exception of only one drum.  

Key takeaways: 

• Do not touch the drum. Sweat and other chemicals can damage the fabric covering the drum. 
• Stand at a 1m distance and point your “bachi” (drumsticks in Japanese) at a 45-degree angle towards the center of the taiko. 
• Loose hands make it easier. By making them relaxed, you can control your volume and tempo 
• Your left foot should be in front of the right. 

Afterwards we had to wipe the bachi clean. The bachi all had numbers and we had to pair them up, according to those numbers, then put them in designated bags having bachi like ones with numbers 1-10 for example. 

Taiko drumming can be very fun, as creating a loud noise, while trying to synchronize with other drummers, is challenging, but funny, as we hear the incoherent mess of drumbeats. 

We messed up a lot, but it was lots of fun and we learnt lots. 

Would we recommend this to someone? Yes. Definitely, unless they don’t like loud noises.  

By Thomas Nguyen and Josh Jackson 7S