TCNJ Taiko

The Beginnings

Over the summer of 2007, Matthew Tom-Wolverton trained with friend Chris Fajardo from Stanford Taiko in the ways of North American Taiko drumming. Chris had trained all year with Stanford University’s Stanford Taiko group, and graciously shared his experiences and knowledge. By the end of the summer, Matthew had decided he wanted to bring Taiko to the TCNJ campus, since no such ensemble existed at the time.

Fall 2007

TCNJ Taiko was started in the Fall of 2007. Initially the group had only 5 members, who met in the Pan-Asian Room weekly to learn about the art. Practicing on Chinese festival drums and chairs as stands, we dreamed of having real drums to play on. Soon we learned basic technique and Renshu, and performed at the college’s Thanksgiving Remix. Through the fall semester and over winter break, we made drum stands to facilitate practicing, and made our own bachi.

Spring 2008

In the spring, the group continued to learn about Taiko, adding Matsuri on to our repotoire, and signing up for Mystique, the Asian American Association’s annual cultural show. We ordered a fue, atarigane, and 2 shime-daiko for the act – our first real drums! We performed at a number of smaller events in the Spring, including ONEify, Chinese New Year, and Accepted Students Day. After practicing and performing our way through the semester, we performed at the biggest event yet, AAA’s Mystique of the East: Asia Bound! We performed two pieces – a medley of traditional songs Renshu and Matsuri, and Kenji - our first original piece, written by our own Chris Leone. In late April, we were asked to perform at TCNJ’s Student Leadership Awards, our first time performing in the Mayo Concert Hall in the Music Building.

Fall 2008

Being our first full year in existence we spent the beginning half of this semester recruiting for new members, and running our first ever interest sessions, workshops, and auditions!  We presented to TCNJ’s Student Government Association and became officially recognized as a club on Oct. 1st!  In addition to our previous repertoire, we began learning Modori, a song written by David Wells of Stanford Taiko, and one that was taught to some of us at Invitationals.   We performed at a handful of events this semester, including CCC’s Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, AAA’s Experience Asia Opening Ceremonies, UL’s Explosion Latina, TCNJ’s International Students Week, and Thanksgiving Remix.  When we weren’t practicing or performing, we were raising money to finance the building of our own drums through writing reviews for local businesses and bake sales.

Spring 2009

TCNJ Taiko continued their first official year with performances around and off campus. Our spring performances included such venues as InterNATIONAL M.I.S.S.I.O.N.S DAY and TCNJ Globalpalooza. While we weren’t performing, we began working on building our own drums. TCNJ Taiko wrapped up their first official year with a performance at Mystique of the East, TCNJ’s Asian American Association’s annual culture show where they debuted two new and original songs: “Seito” written by Tim Falcone and “Sanrenpu” written by Matt Tom-Wolverton.

Summer 2009

A few of our members attended the 15th annual Intercollegiate Taiko Invitational hosted by the University of California, Irvine and Jodaiko. During the Invitational, we attended workshops taught by professionals such as Kenny Endo and Kristofer Bergstrom as well as getting a chance to meet with other Taiko players from around the country.

Future

Over the summer and into next year, we have a number of goals, including expanding our membership, expanding our repertoire, and getting/making real chu-daiko.

Past Performances, Events, etc

• 2007-2008
  • 11/31/07 – Performance at Thanksgiving Remix
  • 12/5/07 – Taiko workshop at AAA!
  • 1/12/07 – Stand making party!
  • 2/8/08 – Performance at ONEify!
  • 2/21/08 – CCC/AAA Chinese New Year Celebration
  • 3/30/08 – Performance at TCNJ’s Accepted Students Day
  • 4/5/08-4/6/08 – 2008 Mystique of the East: Asia Bound!
  • 4/27/08 – Performance at TCNJ’s Student Leadership Award!
  • 5/23/08-5/25/08 – 14th Annual Taiko Invitational @ Stanford!
• 2008-2009
  • 9/23/08 – CCC Mid-Autumn Moon Festival
  • 10/29/08 – AAA’s Experience Asia Opening Ceremonies / Multicultural Buffet
  • 11/07/08 – UL’s Explosion Latina!
  • 11/20/08 – TCNJ International Education Week
  • 11/24/08 – TCNJ Thanksgiving Remix
  • 2/22/09 – InterNATIONAL M.I.S.S.I.O.N.S DAY [facebook event]
  • 4/5/09 – TCNJ Globalpalooza!
  • 4/24, 4/25 – AAA Mystique of the East 2009!
  • 5/22/09 – 5/25/09 – 15th Annual Collegiate Taiko Invitational @ UCI

• 2009 -2010

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