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Taiko. Those who are not familiar with taiko would probably
have not known about the existence of a taiko community. I sure
was unaware of the plethora of respected taiko groups from all
over the world until I attended the 2001 Taiko Conference at
the JACCC as a Getty Intern. Although I started my internship
simply completing menial tasks such as typing and filing, I was
suddenly thrown into the world of the taiko community when I
inherited the responsibilities of coordinating all of the volunteers
that would help out during the conference. As I gathered information
about each volunteer, I realized that large portions of the participants
were out of state and even out of the country. In fact, it seemed
as if the majority of the participants were not Southern California
residents as wrongfully thought. It was then that I became fully
aware of exactly how far across taiko has reached and the extent
of the impact it had on people from around the world.
But nothing compared to the experience I gained by attending
the actual Taiko Conference itself. I have rarely met so many
people gathered at the JACCC who shared a common interest and
bond with such enthusiasm as the people who shared the love of
taiko. Sure, I have been to conventions such as the Auto show
and sports cards and collectible shows, but it is totally different
from people gathering with the intentions of increasing their
materialistic possessions, as is the prominent reason for these
conventions and the people gathering for this conference in
attempts to unify the taiko community and gain more useful knowledge
about the history through discussions, further techniques to
enhance their performances from workshops, and the aid to the
advancement of taiko during various sessions. They also had an
amazing and earnest interest in attempting to develop a way to
make taiko more publicly known and reach a different audience
on a grander scale. It was truly exciting to see so many people,
and not only of Japanese descent, play, learn, perform, and socialize
together about taiko and its future.
In fact, after gathering the evaluations of the 2001 Taiko Conference
from many of the participants, seeing old friends and making
new ones, while sharing the energy for the love of taiko was
their favorite parts of the conference. They also loved learning
from the "outstanding teachers and performers" and
attending the many workshops and discussions that were held throughout
the three-day event. In addition, the "welcoming and warm
atmosphere" of the event was noted in the comment portion
and many people seemed to agree with it. Even though I did not
have knowledge of Taiko, many workshop leaders and participants
were very nice to me and I was very much interested in what they
had to say about taiko, among other topics. By the end of the
conference, I had gained a great interest in playing taiko and
during the Morning Plaza Taiko Jam Session on Sunday, I even
played taiko -- with the help of several nice players who showed
me how to play on the spot. Even for a non taiko individual like
myself and despite all of the hard work and long days I put in
during the conference, the conference was a memorable experience
that provided me with a newly found interest in the great traditional
Japanese drum known as taiko.
Anne Masuda is a 2001 Getty summer intern at the JACCC
and was the Volunteer Coordinator for the 2001 Taiko Conference,
which took place at the JACCC from June 29 through July 1, 2001.
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