NATC 2025 Phoenix

Discussion with Sumie Kaneko. Details forthcoming.

"Kachidoki/Victory" is one of many compositions by Hatanaka Kenzo and is a cornerstone of the Fushicho Daiko Dojo. This delightful, 4 part song is sure to become a staple of your dojo's repertoire as well! Including the rhythms indigenous to the Ehime Prefecture/Matsuyama area of Shikoku, "Kachidoki" incorporates chu daiko, shime, odaiko and chappa parts to create dynamic and complex rhythms that interplay within the song, demanding close listening skills and collaboration. Kachidoki can be played by as little as 3 performers and up to 40+ (performances in Japan can include 80+). This three workshop series will cover: History and significance of the song and area, backbeat and groove, rhythms, accents, and dynamics.

All 4 parts will be taught
Friday: History, backbeat, dynamics, Chu Daiko
Saturday: Chu finish and Odaiko, intro Shime
Monday: shime + chappa, review all and play all parts together, switch parts.

The goal: confidence in remembering, applying knowledge and performing parts so you are ready to take it back to your dojo and share it!

Included: written music (western notation), tutorial videos.

Eileen Morgan has taught this song to students throughout Arizona for over 25 years, in addition to performances and continuing study in Matsuyama, Japan with students and colleagues of Hatanaka Kenzo.

Prerequisites:
Intermediate - advanced skills and knowledge: dynamics/accents, confident kata, shime, chu and odaiko
experience.
Bachi: shime (maple, tappered)
Chu: hard maple or Japanese white oak
Odaiko: hard maple (anything softer will dent because of fuchi strikes). Eileen will have a few sets to
borrow or purchase.

For your more freedom musical express, “Chappa” will be became the best partner for you.
It will make you to moving around on stage and adding some of another color for your team numbers.
Contrary of seems, it is very difficult to handle for making good sound.

A famous Chappa player can control different over 200 sounds.
Ringtaro introduces the most essential 7 sounds in this workshop.
After workshop, you may create your original sound illimitably with your sensibility!

Prerequisite/What to bring: Please bring your Chappa if you have it.

This workshop offers participants a comprehensive introduction to the foundational techniques of the Odaiko including grip, stance, and mechanics.

In addition to technique, attendees will develop a deeper understanding of Odaiko performance through practice methods for continued development beyond NATC, and repertoire that can be performed with their own ensembles.

Whether you are approaching the Odaiko for the first time or are a seasoned player seeking to refine your fundamentals, I hope this workshop has something to offer you.

Prerequisite/What to bring: Odaiko bachi

Good shime daiko technique will improve your technique on all sized taiko. This class will concentrate on the intricate shime daiko techniques and patterns found in the lively festival music of Edo Bayashi (Tokyo festival music). This technique is quite refined and has applications to all of your repertoire . Emphasis will be on timing, playing with precision, grip, sound, nori (groove), and relaxing.

Prerequisite/What to bring: Bring a pair of shime daiko made from Hiroki or similar soft wood. Ideally Edo Bayashi type shime bachi (made from hinoki, 12 and 5/8 inches long and 5/8 inches in diameter). It's fine If the bachi are slightly longer or made from a medium-soft wood.

Whether you’re new to soloing and don’t know where to start, struggling to come up with new ideas, or just stuck playing the same solos over and over, this is the workshop for you! We’ll ease into improvisation with simple drills, then cover different aspects of improv as it pertains to taiko and show you a world of possibilities to explore! We’ll also cover best practices for crafting a solo using the tools we learned in this workshop. This workshop is best for those with at least a little bit of soloing experience, but all are welcome!

Prerequisite/What to bring: 1 pair regular bachi

This workshop introduces San Jose Taiko’s stylistic approach to katsugi okedo. Tools will be provided to help embrace the mobile nature of this instrument based on SJT’s focus on movement. This workshop is ideally for players who have played on a katsugi okedo before and would like to experience a different approach to the instrument.

Prerequisite/What to bring: Participant has established a preference on strap length and overall fit of the katsugi okedo on body, calluses built up on hands from performance/practice :)

In this workshop participants will learn the basic taiko strokes and different drills and exercises that will build bachi control and facility. Participants will learn how to ‘listen’ to their bachi and develop good touch and feel with their bachi. By the end of this workshop series participants will have a new appreciation for their bachi and understand how to practice in a way where the bachi will become a natural extension of their body.

Prerequisite/What to bring: None

We taiko players need to be more sensitive!  While taiko is designed for raw power and volume, we play too loud for too long.  While kuchishoga is an amazing tool for learning, we've let it reduce our subtlety and tonal range.

Fortunately, we all possess a well of sensitivity that can guide our playing: our sense of touch. We can train our musicality with the emotional wisdom in our bodies. This workshop maps our sense of touch onto the drum to answer questions like, "How loud?... for how long?... and what next?"

Prerequisites: Open to players of all levels. Musical curiosity required. Workshop will involve self-touch and optional touch of others' hands, arms, shoulders, and heads.

For the first time, PJ will present an immersive experience for Beginners an seasoned players of Ei Ja Nai Ka (EJNK) based on her creative initiative “TaikoPeace” (acronym: Taiko Partnerships, Empathy, And Creative Empowerment). Along with learning the basic components of EJNK—the dance, taiko rhythms, chant—PJ will give a deeper understanding to how EJNK ripples the kinetic energy, spiritual vibration, and pure joy of taiko drumming for positive social change and a peaceful world. She will share a dynamic exercise, she calls “Embodied Storytelling”, that helps promote group bonding and community building.

Please Bring:
-Open mind, Open heart
-#7-#8 bachi for chudaiko
-Journal, pen/pencil

Ever wanted to perform and experience a hundred-year-old obon song? Taiko, fue, singing and dancing will energize you as you learn “Fukushima Ondo”. The song from the Fukushima region was brought to Maui by Japanese immigrants who worked on sugar plantations. Kay Fukumoto, a fifty-year performer of the song and a fourth-generation family member continuing the tradition, along with Maui Taiko assistants, will help participants to bring the song together. Participants will be sent links to learn the different elements and encouraged to learn them prior to the workshop. (Note: if this is possible - The song will be performed by participants at the Sunday recital with other conference attendees dancing.)

Prerequisite/What to bring: Knowing drumming for "Matsuri" will be helpful but not required. Equipment: kumidaiko & shime bachi

‘Shiawase no Kyoku’ composed by Sascha Molina, is an energetic piece which can be translated to ‘The Happy Song!’ This piece was written with chu daiko (beta), shime daiko and shinobue in mind, but, has been performed with various equipment combinations.

All levels of taiko knowledge welcome!


Please Bring:
Bachi for chu daiko and shime.

There is a Shinobue part to this song, if you have a shinobue and want to learn that section, please bring it to the workshop!

This is a short panel about Brazilian Taiko History.
Brazilian Taiko started in the 70´s and for a lot of reasons, it developed differently from North America. We will explain those differences and how it became what it is today.

Prerequisite/What to bring: None

About the Exadon Workshops: Connect Through Rhythm
These two-hour workshops offer an immersive and inclusive experience that anyone can enjoy. Through a variety of activities, participants will deepen their understanding of one another while exploring the power of taiko drumming.

The goal is to create a harmonious sound by actively listening and working together. By fostering cooperation and awareness, participants will rediscover essential elements of taiko performance—including listening, expression, and posture.

Beyond performance, these workshops offer insight into the broader potential of taiko. Taiko as a community builder. Taiko as a means of connection. Whether on stage or in everyday life, the rhythmic energy of taiko can inspire new ways to engage with others.
Come experience it for yourself!

Who Is It For?
● Taiko players and leaders looking to contribute to their community through drumming.
● Anyone who wants to experience a welcoming and inclusive taiko workshop.
● Those seeking to rediscover the essential elements of taiko performance.

Exercises promoting spontaneity, self expression, and creativity through rhythm, words and sounds will be explored. Small groups will be formed based on common interests to create a written piece (poetry/rap/story). The written works will become the basis for a taiko piece: recited and transformed into rhythmic patterns for taiko; juxtaposed within a taiko piece; or…?

Basics for performing on the 'big drum' will include stance, grip, hitting techniques, training tips, maximizing sounds, and relaxing. Traditional Kabuki patterns on the odaiko will also be introduced. A practice odaiko piece, Odaiko Kakeai Kihon Kyoku (an open source piece), will be taught focusing on fundamentals, simple improvisation, base beat patterns, and becoming more comfortable and dynamic at performing the odaiko.

Prerequisite/What to bring: Bring a pair of Odaiko bachi which can be made of hinoki (or similar soft wood) pine (or similar medium hardness) or oak (kashi) or similar hard wood. The bachi can be sized for what you normally play in your group. The corners of the bachi should be slightly rounded off to protect the skins (often new bachi have a sharp corner which can tear the skins).

Participants will learn the movements of Wakayama Ryu Edo Kotobuki Jishi, the traditional celebratory shishimai (lion dance) of Tokyo, more in depths to have better understanding on how it will be done in a performance setting.

Prerequisite/What to bring: Participants should have taken one or more lessons/workshops in the past, in Wakayama Ryu style.

This is a special workshop being offered by visiting artists from Hiroshima, Japan, who have an ongoing relationship with taiko groups in the Phoenix area. This is part of a series of workshops being offered by groups that have deep connections to taiko in Phoenix through relationships with Esther Vandecar, who studied with these groups in Japan and become a pioneer of the taiko community in Phoenix.

Hiroshima Hozonkai will share music from their region and their approach to taiko.

After a long weekend of taiko, we'll finish off our time together with a closing ceremony.

(Taiko Voices?)
We will close the program with NATC Ondo, performed by members of the workshops who learned the piece.