You can say any Kiai that you want. As we mentioned, the Kiai are meant to help with flow of energy (ki) and is an essential part of playing taiko in SJT’s style.
Kiai means “meeting of energy” and is used in martial arts often. Typical taiko Kiai are SA, YO, HO, HAI, HUP but really you can say anything if it feels like it helps you move energy through you.
Drill for PRC Song (based on lines 3 & 4)
The Kuchishoka (taiko vocabulary) for these lines are:
DON DON tsuku tsuku / DORO DORO “Can” “Do” (cresendo/get louder on the DORO DORO)
Today we talked about finding different words for Can Do. So Franco is experimenting in the video. We can try out some new ones next week.
You can put your arms straight up or out to the sides diagonally like Franco is doing.
It turns out that the height of our taiko in the studio is approximately 26 inches if that helps with your set-ups.
Sydney Shiroyama (our consulting OT) and Barbara from our PRC class wrote an article together for the WPC Blog. You can read it here if interested, it’s called Flow vs. Freeze: The Healing Power of Taiko.
Sonya’s share, the squirrel obstacle course - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZFjoX2cGg