Welcome to the 2020 Virtual Collegiate Taiko Intensive

This page contains a lot of information that will be helpful for this weekend. Please read through this entire page and make sure you’ve done all the necessary pre-CTI prep.

The entirety of CTI will be taking place via Zoom. If you don’t already have the Zoom app downloaded on your computer/tablet, be sure to do so. For the majority of the playing portions of the weekend, we’ll ask that all the participants be muted, but there will be times we’ll ask you unmute to join in on discussion topics as well as possibly to play something so that everyone can hear. If we ask you to unmute and play, you will need to change some audio settings (otherwise Zoom will think that you playing is background noise and try to mute you). To do this, you will need to go into the Zoom Preferences -> Audio -> Advanced -> Disable Suppress Persistent Background Noise and Disable Suppress Intermittent Background Noise. We’ll also be using the chat both for you to ask questions during the instructional sessions as well as possibly to solicit for questions about different topics during the weekend.

We will be playing naname, shime and kane meaning you will need those instruments (or at-home versions) ready to go. Below you can see examples of what our performing members have done to create at-home versions of those three set-ups.

Naname setup using a pillow, chair and cardboard box. The box allows you to have a different sound for playing “ka’s”

Naname setup using a pillow, chair and cardboard box. The box allows you to have a different sound for playing “ka’s”

Shime setup using a stool and a cushion. The belt is attached to keep the cushion in place while playing.

Shime setup using a stool and a cushion. The belt is attached to keep the cushion in place while playing.

Kane and shumoku using a disposable chopsticks and a small plastic container. The wrapper of the chopsticks is attached to the chopsticks with a rubberband.

Kane and shumoku using a disposable chopsticks and a small plastic container. The wrapper of the chopsticks is attached to the chopsticks with a rubberband.

If you need more ideas of at-home drum set-ups, you can visit www.taikoconservatory.org/drumsetup or contact Artistic Staff Member, Geoff Noone at geoff@taiko.org.

You’ll want to make sure the space you’re in has plenty of space so that your entire body can be in frame when playing during the CTI sessions. Due to the nature of the virtual environment, all the participants will be muted while playing so the main feedback the San Jose Taiko instructional staff will be giving will be related to your kata. The more of your body we’re able to see while you’re playing (San Jose Taiko focuses a lot on our lower body and foot activation), the more feedback we’ll be able to give you. You’ll also obviously want to make sure you have plenty of space around you when playing naname so that you don’t hit anything.

There may be times we ask you to play to a metronome. If you don’t have a metronome (or metronome app), you can find a simple metronome by Googling “metronome” or you can download an SJT performer favorite, Pro Metronome, for iOS or Android.

We will be teaching you all the piece, Balance, written by Geoff Noone in 2019. While we don’t expect you to learn the piece before the weekend, if you would like to familiarize yourself with the piece, you can check out the Balance resource page. There you can find videos of the song being performed as well as each instrument being played individually. There is also downloadable kuchishoka notation for all three parts.

Please be sure to pay the $75 registration fee before CTI begins. If you require financial assistance to cover the registration fee, please contact Franco at franco@taiko.org.