Taiko Drum Line 1
by Rick Bures
Title
Taiko Drum Line 1
Artist
Rick Bures
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Taiko Drum Line 1. In this vertical composition taken at the Skosh Japanese Festival in Gresham, Oregon, a line of taiko drummers perform their art. The angle of the shot has us looking down the line of drums, the nearest drum in sharp focus, the depth of field narrow enough that the last drum is well out of focus and the background even more so, giving a good impression of distance despite the foreshortened perspective of the telephoto lens. The even light aids the rendering of detail and highlights the red tones of the wood of the taiko, in contrast with the greens of the grass. The shutter speed is controlled such that the sticks (bachi) and hands of the drummers are easily discernible, but so that the motion of the drummers is quite apparent. See my other shot of this drum line. Originally an ancient style of Japanese drumming, the word taiko means literally “big drum” or “fat drum”, and refers both to the art form and the drum. When used in a compound word with a modifier, the T sound becomes a D sound, for example kumi-daiko, which refers to the modern form of taiko. There are a variety of taiko, descending from ancient taiko used in Japan 2000 years ago. Byou-daiko (or byou uchi-daiko) are traditionally carved from a single log, though in the United States wine barrels are sometimes used. The head is stretched over the end and is held in place with tacks, and as such the drum can not be tuned once it is constructed. The nagado-daiko, or long-bodied taiko, belongs to this class of taiko, as do the odaiko, which are typically over 3 feet in diameter, and the hira-daiko, which are shallow drums used in orchestral music. In contrast with the byou-daiko are the shime-daiko, which have drum heads that are tuneable and tensioned, traditionally with ropes, but in modern times also with bolts or turnbuckles. This group, often referred to as simply shime, includes small drums made from single pieces of word up to the larger and more heavily-constructed tsukeshime-daiko, typically between 3 and 6 feet in diameter (or larger, like the 10 foot okedaiko), which are often made from staves of wood. The sticks used to strike the taiko are called bachi. While taiko as an art form is ancient, the modern kumi-daiko drum ensembles originated in 1951 with the Japanese jazz drummer, Daihachi Oguchi, the founder of Osuwa Daiko. See my many other photos of taiko drums. This photo was taken at the Skosh (“little”) Japanese Festival in Gresham Main City Park, Oregon, August 8th, 2015. The event was sponsored by the Gresham-Ebetsu Sister City Association.
Uploaded
August 2nd, 2017
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