TGIF, Part 20 (taiko drills)

It's Friday again! Let's get started.

Focus: Balance
Watch for:
1. Two hands, one sound.
2. Really work toward increasing speed with this drill, but make sure you do not sacrifice form to do so!

Okay, back to focusing on balancing out the weak and strong hands. Ryou-te, hitting with both hands simultaneously, is a great way to continue with this. Today's pattern is simple for two reasons: 1) it allows you to jump right into it, repeating it again and again for maximum improvement, 2) it allows you to free your mind from trying to play the pattern right--you can focus on being consistent with form and sound.

Here you go:

Don tsu
Don tsu
Don tsu
Don tsu
Don tsu
Don tsu
Don tsu
Don tsu

The part in bold is emphasized. Be sure to raise your hands up and snap down quickly to accomplish this. "Tsu" is accomplished with a quick press of the three fingers placed on the underside of your bachi. (Review this by visiting the photos in Part 9 )

If you have a video camera or mirror available, turn so you can see your profile, weak hand closest to the camera or mirror. If your hands are not balanced, you'll probably notice that the kata, or form, is different.

Perhaps your weak hand doesn't come up as high as the strong one? Do your hands rock back and forth, arms pulling in after "don" and moving away for "tsu"? This means both hands are regularly inconsistent--try to eliminate this.

Make sure to take a look at your hands from your point of view as well. Is the path to the drum straight, without curving or angling? If you feel you have good control with the grip, but hear inconsistencies with your sound, this is possibly the culprit. Relax, slow down, and focus on making a direct strike.

Okay, you know how it goes, but I've gotta say it anyway: 15 minutes a day--Loop it! Enjoy:)

Extension

If you find that by day 4 or so that you're pretty comfortable with the drill above (let's say, 132 bpm, 1 don tsu per beat) you can challenge yourself by switching back and forth between "Don tsu" and "Tsu don". Here's one example, but feel free to create your own:

Don tsu
Don tsu
Tsu don
Tsu don
Don tsu
Don tsu
Tsu don
Tsu don

Make sure all your tsu's are equal in volume and your don's are equal in volume.