Distant Thunder: Taiko Drums #1
This is a project that I have wanted to bring to life in SL for some time, a Taiko drum ensemble.
Taiko is the Japanese word for 'big-' or 'great- drum', and is a musical instrument whose history goes back to ancient Japan. Taiko is more than just a musical instrument and it involves more than just striking a drum skin. It is also an art, a fusion of movement/rhythm/philosophy and form whose history has been an important part of the everyday lives of the Japanese people for some 2000 years, therefore it is important that we treat it with the greatest respect.
It has gone through an amazing evolution in arriving at the way it is played and used today. For example, it has been played on the battlefields to threaten and frighten and as a form of communication to signal orders. It has also became a familiar sound in daily village life. It has been heard in festivals going way back in history and has been associated with religious celebrations.
Only relatively recently has taiko evolved into a powerful performing art, as seen in this YouTube clip:
Taiko in Second Life.
There are a number of considerations and features that I would like include when bringing a taiko ensemble to Second Life, for example I would like to ensure original, interesting and authentic sounding audio-files are created (written to work sequentially and overlaid to form numerous rhythmic combinations); I would like to include a sense of progression in the musical performance, so that it grows over time; I am keen to include avatar to avatar & avatar to music synchronized animation so that this is a visual experience too;
- all of which means that this will not be a project that is completed quickly, but it is coming...
More to follow
Taiko is the Japanese word for 'big-' or 'great- drum', and is a musical instrument whose history goes back to ancient Japan. Taiko is more than just a musical instrument and it involves more than just striking a drum skin. It is also an art, a fusion of movement/rhythm/philosophy and form whose history has been an important part of the everyday lives of the Japanese people for some 2000 years, therefore it is important that we treat it with the greatest respect.
It has gone through an amazing evolution in arriving at the way it is played and used today. For example, it has been played on the battlefields to threaten and frighten and as a form of communication to signal orders. It has also became a familiar sound in daily village life. It has been heard in festivals going way back in history and has been associated with religious celebrations.
Only relatively recently has taiko evolved into a powerful performing art, as seen in this YouTube clip:
Taiko in Second Life.
There are a number of considerations and features that I would like include when bringing a taiko ensemble to Second Life, for example I would like to ensure original, interesting and authentic sounding audio-files are created (written to work sequentially and overlaid to form numerous rhythmic combinations); I would like to include a sense of progression in the musical performance, so that it grows over time; I am keen to include avatar to avatar & avatar to music synchronized animation so that this is a visual experience too;
- all of which means that this will not be a project that is completed quickly, but it is coming...
More to follow
posted by AKA Robbie Dingo at Thursday, August 24, 2006
2 Comments:
Hiya,
Great idea and i'm looking forward to see this completed.
Menno
Cool!
Can it be far away that we have the SL equivalent to Photek--I think some of your drum kits had drum 'n' bass loops?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggeu5vhbueo
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