Was there something you noticed about how taiko affected either this whole group or certain individuals?
| no. is really like to be part of a measured experiment but the staff are to busy. it’s just 40.minutes once a week, hard to know what difference it makes |
| Yes. Change in demeanour when playing. Change in self-confidence and self-worth over time. |
| Opens them up, smiles, makes them excited and can see they want to connect |
| yes, in some locations the audience got crazy and enthousiast about our performance |
| This one performance only had maybe eight people there, but they loved it. It was really neat. |
| The dull sounds give me more energy. You feel it throughout your body, also because most play with a group or group. Together we are stronger, and we pass on the power 😉. |
| We are rather close. |
| not enough to make me feel comfortable and make it worthwile |
| taiko players are wanting to be seen |
| The autistic children, otherwise sullen and withdrawn, really opened up. |
| A super happy group of people focusing on what they CAN do! |
| It spawned groups of friends |
| Made them smile. |
| I notice every time you teach something new to students (whoever they may be) that there’s such joy when they have this ‘lightbulb’ moment. And they are always proud to tell other people ‘look at what I learned!’ So much fun to see. |
| More joyful, playful and open people. Every single kid was interested! I was surprised. |
| I have had success with all my clients in building body awareness and attunement, sometimes through co-regulation. They have all been able to advocate for themselves more strongly afterwards. The piece we write using graphic notation is something special they take away with them to represent that part of their journey. People with PTSD often have had to shut down their senses as a survival strategy, and rythm helps to awaken these senses through sound, vibration and proprioception, as well as develop introspective intelligence. |
| One time playing in a park outside I noticed a young man pretty far distance away very excited. During our break and we were told that he was a deaf person and was so happy that he could feel the sound. It gave him great joy and asked too. |
| For seniors, I noticed a sense of empowerment. Like it might have taken 10 minutes to come up to the drum using their walker but one hit on the odaiko and they were like – whoah, I did that! Falling asleep in the middle of a performance – I’ve seen that more with kids but also older people. A Japanese member of our group explained it is a known effect of taiko and attributed to the similarity of the drumbeats to a mother’s heartbeat – soothing for the child. For the children at the school for the deaf, tons of curiosity and delight over feeling/”hearing” the big drums – plus one member brought his light up bachi so the fun of watching the drumstick light up on every hit was so great. One teacher really liked it and said they wanted to get some for the school. For Special Taiko, I’m new to the group, but for the veteran members I have observed confidence, feeling part of a group, mentoring by some members towards newer/less confident members – and when they perform they are so genki! Not knowing them before, I can’t be sure taiko is what had that impact on them. Many seem to be involved in a variety of sports and other group activities. |
| I love to be part of people experiencing taiko for the first time. Young or old, taiko speaks to them. |
| It seems to be that kids instantly plug in to taiko. The kids are the ones whose eyes are glued to the stage, or who hear the music and just HAVE to get up and dance in front of the stage. |
| When the student leaders buy in, everyone else buys in and we learn much faster. |
| A freedom of expression that they do not otherwise have. |
| Taiko gave the group the opportunity to own their space and voices. I love watching how everyone challenges themselves, how they gain a little in confidence with each beat. We had such fun together and the energy was amazing. Even though they have their disabilities, we were able to do simple things really well, to focus, to lead the group with kiai, to have some craic skipping people in Taiko Uno and let their personalities shine through. Taiko makes people feel empowered, it gives them pride, it really is a magical thing. |
| Everyone enjoyed it. |
| The sound of the taiko is very emotional for many people. Each person interprets the sounds or beats differently. |
| It moves people, emotionally. |
| When we play Taiko, I ask this particular lady I teach at home to stand up. Other time when she’s working with me, she’s sitting, so playing Taiko is a good refresh/stretch time for her. (We can’t communicate each other, but with her PCA, that’s how I feel and her PCA thinks it’s a good transition before doing other things with me.) |
| Promoted:Joy, curiosoity. |
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| It brought some sparkle back into their faces! |
| The power of rhythm is universal to human beings. With rhythm we can communicate and express in a way we cannot do in words. |
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| The kids always LOVED it |
| They were excited and impressed. |
| See previous answer |
| Mostly the audience became very quiet and payed attention to every detail, where as before the performance began they were very loud and listless. |
| I couldn’t see patterns, or regularities. Maybe also due to the fact I always tried to adapt the practice to the single situation. I can say I saw a variety of results, from total indifference to enthusiasm. One common thing is: taiko practice can reveal and show hidden stance, behaviors, insicurities and strenght |