Taiko: Too Loud for Words
By Tom Grotewohl and Martha Rigby
Taiko music in the United States has been accused of not really being Japanese. Whatever that means. Because Taiko ensembles first began after Western jazz was introduced in Japan during World War II, many assert that taiko ensemble drumming is just as American as it is Japanese. There is a lot of historical evidence to support this claim, but regardless of what nation “actually” has ownership of taiko, the music is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before.
As a serious musician myself, a player of guitar and piano, I have spent years casually studying how tones create emotion. Perhaps that is why taiko intrigues me the most: it is completely atonal, and yet the emotions I feel while listening to it are just as powerful as a full orchestra performing Mozart. I say “while listening to taiko,” but perhaps “while experiencing” is more accurate. The driving rhythms shake every cell in my body, even shaking the thoughts out of my head. Many of the first taiko ensembles were based after the martial arts, and so the movement of the performers in taiko is as important as the music. The movements channel energy through the body to keep the performer in balance and rhythm, setting them up to create the perfect hit. Many taiko ensembles have over twenty members, and to see them all drumming and dancing in unison is truly an unparalleled experience.
Whereas a classical Western composition progresses through different melodies, keys, and chords, taiko music changes in intensity, what the performers call the “dynamics” of the piece. For one section the piece may feel like a thunderstorm on the horizon, and in the next it may feel like being feet away from a lightning strike. Melodic pieces often create very definable emotions for me: major pieces make me happy, minor pieces make me sad, etc. But I am still unable to explain exactly how it is that taiko music makes me feel. Perhaps it is better that way, that the music is left nameless, because ultimately what I feel from taiko is more powerful than any words could describe.
This brings me back to the question of whether taiko ensemble drumming is American or Japanese. Many Japanese performers have complained that taiko in the United States isn’t “playing it the right way,” even though many of the performers are Japanese-Americans or Asian-Americans. Through my experience in studying taiko, I have come to believe that if a type of music makes you feel deeply, then it belongs to you. Taiko is a perfect example of how the exchange of two cultures can create a new art form that is profoundly significant to them both.