National Marathon 2010

My recent frustrations with trying to find a practice space in DC have often led to suggestions by friends that I just go play outside somewhere, maybe at Dupont Circle. I've never really had the guts to do it myself, but there is strength in numbers--besides, taiko is more fun with friends.

So, last Saturday, March 20, 2010, Joe Small, Elizabeth McDonald, and I met at my apartment at 5:30AM. After some water and nourishment, we strapped on katsugi okedo, filled a backpack with chappa and chan chiki, and headed out to lay claim to a street corner.

It was the morning of the Sun Trust National Marathon, and what good place to make noise! The crowd was not large, so we had no trouble finding a spot. As far as what to play... well, the 3 of us had never played together before, and we definitely had our struggles. But, the experimentation & great weather made for a fun 2.5 hours together.

Some of you know that I love to layer rhythmic patterns and, most recently, I've been thinking a lot about taking one polyrhythm and breaking it apart or combining it with a different polyrhythm. So, I played 3 against 4 while Joe played 2 against 3 on top if it, double time. I think it turned out pretty cool, but let me know your thoughts in the comments!



You can hear a breakdown of each polyrhythm we used on the Polyrhythm entry on Wikipedia.

And, here's an ATT drill on polyrhythms, including a fun Extension for groups!

Part 61, 2 Against 3