Activities
One suggested scope and sequence of this eResource is to work through the pieces in the following order, from simplest activities to the most rhythmically complex:
- Hana Hachijo
- Become
- Morf
- Pearl
Hana Hachijo
Hana Hachijo is an arrangement based on that style in which two performers play a single drum, casting sound in waves across the instrument. Like the different flowers that bloom from season to season, never the same twice, this composition evolves in tandem with the relationship of the performers and their respective spirits.
View activities – Hana HachijoBecome
'Become' was inspired by the thought of "becoming the other side of you". By challenging yourself, undertaking a difficult task, or putting yourself in extreme situations you can access or ‘become’ that other side.
View activities – BecomeMorf
This solo is essentially an exploration in sound and texture rather than rhythm, hearing how many different sounds that could be made by moving the bachi over different areas of the cow-skin’s surface, tuning the shimedaiko to an extremely high pitch and employing multiple-bounce effects.
Pearl
Pearl was originally composed in 2004 to celebrate Synergy Percussion's 30th anniversary, using a sextet of odaiko. The visual image of six grand drums lined up in a row evokes the horizon, which is a foundation concept of The Beauty Of 8. Playing the large odaiko is both musically and physically challenging, and the sense of struggle and transformation through performing the work is a perfect metaphor for the second part of The Beauty Of 8.
View activities – Pearl