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Seiichi Tanaka & San Francisco Taiko Dojo Discipline

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Seiichi Tanaka & San Francisco Taiko Dojo Discipline EDUCATOR GUIDE Story Theme: Percussion Subject: Seiichi Tanaka & San Francisco Taiko Dojo Discipline: Music SECTION I - OVERVIEW ......................................................................................................................2 EPISODE THEME SUBJECT CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS OBJECTIVE STORY SYNOPSIS INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES EQUIPMENT NEEDED MATERIALS NEEDED INTELLIGENCES ADDRESSED SECTION II – CONTENT/CONTEXT ..................................................................................................3 CONTENT OVERVIEW THE BIG PICTURE RESOURCES – TEXTS RESOURCES – WEB SITES VIDEO RESOURCES BAY AREA FIELD TRIPS SECTION III – VOCABULARY.............................................................................................................8 SECTION IV – ENGAGING WITH SPARK ...................................................................................... 10 Seiichi Tanaka in rehearsal with his group San Francisco Taiko Dojo. Still image from SPARK story, March 2005. SECTION I - OVERVIEW To reveal the philosophy and history behind the EPISODE THEME tradition of Taiko Percussion To inspire students to consider how folk traditions can be combined with contemporary traditions SUBJECT to create something entirely new Taiko Dojo To encourage students to look within their own communities for inspiration and tradition, and GRADE RANGES know that they, too, can participate K-12 and Post-Secondary CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS EQUIPMENT NEEDED TV & VCR with SPARK story “Percussion”, about Music composer and master drummer Seiichi Tanaka OBJECTIVE Computer with Internet access, navigation software, speakers and a sound card, printer To introduce students and educators to the ancient Cassette player, CD player, or computer audio tradition of Taiko drumming and Sensei Seiichi program Tanaka, the man who began the phenomenon of its North American popularity in the 1960’s MATERIALS NEEDED STORY SYNOPSIS Access to libraries with up-to-date collections of Since coming to the United States over 30 years ago, periodicals, books, research papers and videos Sensei Seiichi Tanaka has worked tirelessly to Different examples of Taiko drumming (see continue the ancient art of Taiko drumming, Resource section) creating San Francisco Taiko Dojo and infusing his Pens, Pencils, Paper work with his own signature style. Spark follows th Tanaka and Taiko Dojo as they prepare for the 36 INTELLIGENCES ADDRESSED annual International Taiko Festival at Berkeley’s Logical-Mathematical – the ability to detect patterns, Zellerbach Hall. reason deductively and think logically Spatial Intelligence – the ability to manipulate and INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES create mental images in order to solve problems Musical – the ability to read, understand and • Individual and group research compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms • Individual and group exercises Bodily-Kinesthetic - the ability to use one’s mind to • Written research materials control one’s bodily movements • Group oral discussion, review and analysis Interpersonal – the ability to understand the feelings and motivations of others Intrapersonal – the ability to understand one’s own INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES feelings and motivations To introduce students to the Japanese art of Taiko To inspire students to consider the creative capacities of drums See more information on Multiple Intelligences at www.kqed.org/spark/education. 2 SPARK Educator Guide – Seiichi Tanaka & San Francisco Taiko Dojo SECTION II – CONTENT/CONTEXT CONTENT OVERVIEW For centuries, the art of Taiko drumming has The San Francisco Taiko Dojo is comprised of occupied a sacred place in Japanese culture… and approximately two hundred students, encompassing now… it’s taking America by storm a range of ages, ethnicities and skill levels. The first and oldest Taiko studio in America, the San Francisco When Grandmaster Seiichi Tanaka founded the San Taiko Dojo enjoys worldwide recognition. In Francisco Taiko Dojo in 1968, he brought to American addition, the music of Grand Master Tanaka and San shores an art form more than 4000 years old. Tanaka Francisco Taiko Dojo has been featured in four major now has a devoted following that studies this ancient motion picture movies -- Phillip Kaufman’s “The style of Japanese drumming three nights a week, Right Stuff,” “Rising Sun,” George Lucas’s “Return of fifty-two weeks a year. SPARK checks in on Tanaka’s the Jedi”, and Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse world-renowned studio as his students prepare for Now.” the year's biggest event -- the International Taiko Festival held at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. In ancient Japan, Taiko was considered a sacred representation of the voice of Buddha. It was employed in a variety of rituals, including those used to drive away evil spirits from crops, in sending samurai into battle, and in defining the boundaries of a village. Its thunderous pounding was also believed to incite the clouds to begin to rain. While Taiko finds its roots in these folk traditions, the modern version has evolved into a powerful Seiichi Tanaka performing with members of San Francisco Taiko sophisticated synthesis of rhythm, harmony and Dojo at Zellerbach Hall at the University of California, Berkeley. choreography. Tanaka, who has performed with such Still image from SPARK story, March 2005. jazz luminaries as Art Blakey, Max Roach, and Tito Puente, has crafted his own style of Taiko, which combines traditional songs with Western jazz and Latin rhythms. THE BIG PICTURE The history of Japanese Taiko drumming is both At the International Taiko Festival, the San Francisco ancient and recent. The name “Taiko” is a general Taiko Dojo performs a series of works including term meaning “fat drum”, and physical evidence Tanaka's most famous composition, “Tsunami” -- a places its existence as far back as 1400 years, although roaring, energetic piece that makes ample use of there are theories that it dates back even farther, as Taiko’s most difficult instrument, the mammoth O- long ago as 4000 years. For millennia the drum has Daiko drum. Fashioned of ancient hardwood and been used for many different purposes. Often cow's hide, the O-Daiko weighs in at 700-pounds and considered to have spiritual qualities, it was used in stands over 12-feet high. It is the highlight of the courts and temples to communicate with the gods or Taiko performance and played only by Tanaka’s most embody the voice of Buddha, as well as to send seasoned students. signals between villages, to summon the rains to fall, or to lead samurai warriors into battle. 3 SPARK Educator Guide – Seiichi Tanaka & San Francisco Taiko Dojo traditional Taiko rhythms and syncopated jazz rhythms, creating a thunderous, swinging presentation, as visually stunning as sonically awesome. The new kumi-daiko was an instant success and in 1958 the first official Taiko organization, Hokuriku Taiko Association, (from the Hokuriku region in Japan) was formed. Following quickly on its heels came several more groups, each based on a slightly different regional or Seiichi Tanaka and members of San Francisco Taiko Dojo temple style. Considered the first professional Taiko performing. Still image from SPARK story, March 2005. group, Oedo Sukeroku Daiko developed a style that combined classical Japanese music with martial arts Taiko comes in many different sizes, but basically it is and dance to create a high-powered, energetic, dance- a barrel-bodied drum with stretched cow-hide heads. like performance. It is this style which is When referring to one specifically, a compound word predominantly emanated by the groups today in is created in which the “t” in “Taiko” turns into a “d”. North America, thanks almost solely to the man who In other words, a nagado drum is nagado-daiko and introduced it to the United States, Seiichi Tanaka. a shime drum is shime-daiko. Also, to distinguish an ensemble from a particular city, temple or shrine, one Taiko drums existed in the U.S. since the early 1900’s, would indicate the name of the location first, such as but with World War II and the Japanese internment Tokyo-daiko or Miya-daiko. camps, much of traditional Japanese culture was suppressed until the 1960’s. The current popular form of Taiko, called “kumi- daiko” (meaning ensemble drumming), is credited to Upon coming to the U.S. in1967 and hearing no Taiko a man named Daihachi Oguchi. In the 1950’s Oguchi at the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco, (in was a jazz drummer who heard the Taiko in the Japan, a festival with no Taiko is strange) Tanaka context of its more realized there was a niche waiting to be filled. He returned the following year to be the only Taiko drummer at the festival. That same year he founded traditional role in courts and sacred temples. He was the San Francisco Taiko Dojo (dojo refers to martial inspired by the sounds of the drums and decided to arts such as judo, karate, or kendo). try a new arrangement for a traditional temple music score found in a relative’s storehouse. The drums Tanaka’s unique style developed after years of were usually played individually and not diligent study of several traditional Japanese art simultaneously, but he combined the drums together forms and martial arts such as Hogaku (traditional and assigned different roles to each of them stage music for Kabuki dance and Noh drama), the according to their sounds, much like on a trap set. martial arts of Shorinji Kenpo (second degree black For instance, to a drum with a higher sound such as belt); Nihonden Kenpo (second
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