Korean Drumming and Creative Music Ensemble and Taiko Japanese Drumming Ensemble Fall Concert

Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 4:00pm
World Music Hall

Free

Wesleyan students, faculty, and staff can RSVP on WesNest.

A concert by beginning and advanced students of the Korean Drumming and Creative Music Ensemble, directed by Jin Hi Kim, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Music, will be followed by a performance from Wesleyan’s Taiko Japanese Drumming Ensemble under the direction of Fumi Tanakadate, Visiting Instructor in Music.

Beginning and advanced students of the Korean Drumming and Creative Music Ensemble play new arrangements of samulnori (percussion quartet) repertoire, performed on two-headed drums (janggu), barrel drums (buk), hand gong (kwenggari), and a suspended gong (jing). The ensemble plays a variety of mesmerizing janggu rhythmic patterns, and also creates new pieces, discovering the sounds that are possible through imaginative explorations on their instruments.

Wesleyan’s Taiko Japanese Drumming Ensemble introduces students to the fundamentals of this Japanese style of drumming, with an emphasis on kumidaiko (ensemble drumming), as well as the philosophies and the cultural context (focusing on diasporic contexts). Students learn basic form and technique and have the opportunity to perform thunderous and thrilling rhythms that engage several dynamic and exciting styles from traditional and contemporary Taiko repertoire.