In this project, "Swansea year of Taiko" we will bring to Swansea some of the best and most inspiring taiko drummers/teachers available in the UK to give workshops to the general public and to our group in the course of a year, starting 30th January 2016. We would like to offer the community best quality taiko tuition at an affordable price. Anybody who saw a taiko performance and always wanted to
try, who likes rhythm and dance, who would like to be physically active, meet new people or challenge themselves - could attend these workshops. Workshops will target young people 11-18, parent and child 5-11, adult beginners and adult improvers. Sessions will start with the basics - stance, playing style, movements and rhythms as well as the aspect of group playing and team work to achieve a musical performance pleasing to ear and eye. We will learn new pieces or drills. Workshops will take place at St Paul's church in Sketty. We used this venue before for workshops. It is accessible for both people and drums. We are the first taiko group in Swansea. Without professional taiko drummers around we lack the mentoring and teaching that groups who play with a ‘sensei’ (experienced drummer) enjoy. Inviting teachers will enable us to make this art form and its many benefits accessible to a wide audience and allow us to improve our artistic level. We would like to see more people playing and enjoying taiko, joining our practices and performing with us. Playing taiko has many benefits for players: improve confidence and self esteem, concentration and coordination, communication and trust; give opportunities for self expression, improve fitness and well being, increase inclusion. Our own experience shows that it makes us happy, expands out social network, gives us a tremendous sense of achievement and especially allows us to enjoy making music and performing it to inspire others. This project is about taking part in a group activity. It’s about being involved and trying to achieve a common musical goal with others. It’s about learning something new and overcoming difficulties in a supportive environment.
