Taiko is the craft and art of Japanese drumming, rhythm and movement. It features ritual, festival and modern compositions, weaving many traditions together in new contexts with improvised solo and ensemble performance.
We Perform, to better organize and measure our energies and skills, to promote familiarity and understanding of taiko to audiences across our community, and to participate in the Japanese song traditions from which we take inspiration.
We Educate to foster the fundamental movement, discipline, and musical skills and repertoire of new generations of taiko players through our classes, seminars and workshops.
We Explore the frontiers of taiko by crafting our own instruments, working to understand other Japanese arts and instruments, and expand our understanding of our traditional practices by traveling to study with other groups and teachers in Japan and around the world.
We Perform, to better organize and measure our energies and skills, to promote familiarity and understanding of taiko to audiences across our community, and to participate in the Japanese song traditions from which we take inspiration.
We Educate to foster the fundamental movement, discipline, and musical skills and repertoire of new generations of taiko players through our classes, seminars and workshops.
We Explore the frontiers of taiko by crafting our own instruments, working to understand other Japanese arts and instruments, and expand our understanding of our traditional practices by traveling to study with other groups and teachers in Japan and around the world.
Performance
Santa Fe Wadaiko is Santa Fe's taiko performing group. The traditions supporting our repertoire span centuries from all over Japan and the worldwide taiko community.
In all of our pieces we work to embrace the tradition of each song within the context of our evolving skills, our ability to have fun with it, and the accessibility of taiko music to audiences of all ages.
In all of our pieces we work to embrace the tradition of each song within the context of our evolving skills, our ability to have fun with it, and the accessibility of taiko music to audiences of all ages.
Education
We offer taiko classes and workshops to our community. We welcome prospective taiko players at all levels. Taiko is a craft, and there is always something new to learn.
The diversity of music we can make on our drums emerges out of our relationship to each unique drum and our abilities to understand and apply the core movement fundamentals that can produce energetic and engaging play.
The diversity of music we can make on our drums emerges out of our relationship to each unique drum and our abilities to understand and apply the core movement fundamentals that can produce energetic and engaging play.
Craft
Our performing group builds most of our own drums. Since our relationship to the drum is one of the bases of our performing crafts, we study drum building to form a deeper respect for drum-making culture, materials and processes, and understanding of this in the context of storage, transport, stagecraft and maintenance.
Advanced students are encouraged to study making their own taiko.
Advanced students are encouraged to study making their own taiko.