Different Drummers

By Elizabeth Pollock

Snapshot of Emeryville Taiko
They strike barrel-sized drums, wielding sticks as thick as broom handles. They stretch, shout, lunge, leap. The sound vibrates and thumps like a primal heartbeat.

This is taiko, an ancient form of Japanese drumming. It's a typical Saturday-morning practice at Emeryville Taiko.

The Participants
Students at Emeryville Taiko are ages six to 74, men and women, black, white, Asian, and Hispanic.

They say they're drawn to taiko for different reasons. Good exercise. Spiritual healing. Feminist empowerment. Connection to a fading Japanese heritage. One girl says she feels the drum is "alive."

"Taiko is healing, spiritually and physically. You focus, you forget everything else."
-- Anna Wong, an elementary-school teacher from Berkeley.

"I do taiko to express my political empowerment as a woman. I can dance, move, be loud, strong, and empowered."
-- Tess Ouellette, a social worker from Oakland.

"I'm half Japanese, and I always felt like I should do something more Japanese."
--Clare Hess, an environmental engineer from El Cerrito.

A Brief History of Taiko
Taiko (pronounced TIE-ko) literally means "big drum" or "fat drum." The Japanese originally used these drums in war to frighten enemies and boom out directions to troops. The powerful sound of taiko drums is associated with the gods, and the drums have long played an important part in village festivals and religious ceremonies.

In the 1950s, influenced by jazz, taiko developed into a performance style of group drumming, complete with dramatic choreography. This swept the country, and Japan now has more than 5,000 taiko groups. The first U.S. taiko group was formed in 1968 in San Francisco, and America now has more than 100 taiko groups.

Sensei Story
Susan Horn, 49, is the sensei (teacher) at Emeryville Taiko. She learned taiko on Sado Island, a tiny remote island in northern Japan where the famous Kodo taiko group lives and practices.

"Here I am, this white Russian lady from Jersey, with these no-body-fat 18-year-old Japanese men," she remembers. "I started at 36-that's their retirement age."

She was drilled with military precision.

"No matter how hard you work, you're always told you're terrible and not worthy of the presence of the drum," she says.

Many U.S. taiko groups are run with a similar philosophy. But Horn wants to make taiko more approachable and calls her group "high-energy and fun-oriented."

Dojo and Drums
Classes meet in a 3,000-square-foot Emeryville warehouse turned into a dojo (practice space). The school has about 20 drums, hand-built by the group from oak wine barrels and cowhide.