Our skills class is back this fall!
Shime Daiko
About this class
This 8-week class focuses on helping you develop your taiko mojo! Want to broaden the range of what you can express through taiko? Ready to expand your taiko abilities? Then this is the class for you!
This series is focused on the small but mighty shime daiko! The shime is most often found keeping a ji – the base rhythm that the melody of a taiko piece builds upon – and it’s one of the most challenging and essential skills in any taiko player’s toolbox. There’s nothing like working on your shime skills to improve your all-around taiko playing and to help you understand the songs in your personal taiko repertoire inside and out!
We’ll be working on three primary skills for playing shime in this series:
- Keeping a ji
Ji playing requires specific techniques for getting the right sound out of the shime, keeping the rhythm focused and consistent, and “steering” the song using that rhythm. We’ll work on straight ji, swing ji, and horsebeat ji throughout the series.
- Improving bachi control
We’ll do a variety of exercises that will help with understanding different types of hits, training up your non-dominant hand, and working on evenness. We’ll also learn the shime solo from Mark H’s version of “Kashmir” to develop our bachi control!
- Increasing speed
We all have to practice hard and build our skills if we want to play faster … and also play well! We’ll work on drills and exercises designed to help you build speed and stamina, and we’ll apply those skills by learning the exciting Tamaire part from “Chichibu Yatai Bayashi”!
Please note that this is NOT a beginners’ class. The pacing will be faster and the expectations higher than in Rec Class. Whether you are relatively new to shime playing or you’ve already got some experience, we guarantee you’ll find this class both fun and challenging!
Prerequisite: Instructor’s permission needed – please ask Mark H if this class is a good fit for you BEFORE registering for this class series! At least 2 Rec Class series (or 1 year of taiko experience) and an introductory shime workshop (such as the All-Levels Shime Workshop recently taught by Otoha Asano) are a good starting point for this series, and you’ll also need a solid sense of timing and body awareness.
When:
Sundays: 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Sept 24; Oct 1, 8, 15, 22, 29; Nov 5, 12
(Plus Mark H Taiko School Recital on Nov 19, 7pm!)
Where:
Dance Exchange
7117 Maple Ave, Takoma Park, MD
Cost:
$250 for class series (8 sessions)
Ready to sign up?
Spots are limited! Don’t miss out!
Max number of participants = 20
Register early – this is a popular class and regularly fills up! If the class is already sold out, contact Mark H to get onto the waitlist.
This class is for ages 16 & up. Please see our registration and cancellation policies.
NEW MARK H TAIKO PROTOCOLS FOR FALL 2023
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been carefully following protocols for the safety and comfort of our students and instructors.
- Beginning in Fall 2023, masks will be OPTIONAL in our workshops and classes
- This is subject to change based on community COVID levels
- Instructors are fully vaccinated and will stay up-to-date with boosters as available