Do women play Taiko in Japan?
In ancient times women were not allowed to play Taiko, because they were considered too polluted to play the sacred instrument! However this is no longer the case, and since the 1950’s there has been a huge growth in the number of women playing Taiko. Now there are many all-women’s groups and mixed groups, in fact there are probably just as many female Taiko players as male. Do you ad-lib in your playing? Yes. We were very fortunate to learn the Hokuriku style, which is one of the few areas in Japan where improvising is part of traditional Taiko. In other areas of the country Taiko is far more rigid. Once we learned the traditional patterns, then we were given permission to mix them around – so this is a form of ad-lib within the structures of Taiko. Do you use western musical notation? Taiko is traditionally taught using verbal notation: for example “Don Kara Ka Su Don Don”. In Mugenkyo we still learn rhythms verbally, as we believe that chanting rhythms enable you to feel the rhythm
