GHi people,

Today, I will talk about a few things that Taiko Drummers or broadly all drummers have to suffer. Things range from blisters and self care to actual equipment. You see even though drumming was discovered as early as the Stone Age, there are still a lot of problems.

1. Blisters

One thing that deters us from drumming hard for a duration of time are annoying blisters. If you don’t know the science between blisters, they happen when skin rubs against something causing friction. In order to prevent further irritating the skin, either water or plasma floods underneath the skin to protect it. That is not a problem, but when it breaks or pops it causes pain and stinging since the new skin is exposed. The best thing to do in order to prevent the new skin to peal, is to put a bandaid or tape on it or even before you start playing. Another thing you can do is use exercising gloves since they cover the area that is most sensitive.

2. Transportation of equipment

Another problem is transporting equipment.

-Imagine this, your friend asks you to do a Taiko gig and you have to transport all your equipment.

Now that isn’t a problem if the drums weren’t so heavy. A drum that has a diameter of 1 foot and 3 inches on Taiko Center of Kyoto can weigh about 30 pounds. Now some groups use drums of a bigger diameter, so poor taiko groups.

Some groups use carts to carry their drums, but if it is a long distance from your loading zone, that’s a problem.

3. Finding places to practice

I’ll explain this as easily as I can. Taiko drums are loud! This means that there will always be a person complaining when you play that you are too loud and it is irritating. Something you can do is ask people if you can use their space to practice or instal sound blocking foam which works pretty well.

Stick around for part 2