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Describe the atmosphere and live music at a local pub, restaurant, festival, church or temple, club night.... inspire other people to check it out!
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Musician: Val Forsyth
Location: Glasgow
Instruments: taiko drums
Music: Japanese taiko drumming
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HOW I CAME TO THIS MUSICÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýWHERE I PLAYÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýA FAVOURITE SONG |
  
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 ÌýÌýListen (2'50) to 'Sister Drum', performed by Val Forsyth and Psycho Taiko from Cleveden Secondary School.
ÌýÌýListen (2'30) to Val Forsyth and her students talk about their music
'I get a lot of inner peace when I play the music, which is ironic because it's the loudest thing short of a Boeing 747 taking off!'
How I came to this music:
About three and a half years ago I saw an advert in the local paper for Japanese taiko drumming workshops. These were going to be led by Mugenkyo, who are Europe's only professional taiko group. I'm into all types of world music - I've done some gamelan and some West African drumming and I thought, 'Well this is something new', so I thought I'd go along. It was a six-session course and after five minutes I was totally hooked. It was just the most amazing thing I'd ever seen in my life and it took off from there really!
The thing I like most about taiko is it's so… dramatic. It's a cross between drumming and a martial art. It's very important the way you stand, the way you approach the drum and the way you strike the drum - you've got to respect the drum really. Although it's very funky and groovy, it's also very rich in tradition and respect. It's very Japanese.
 I get a lot of inner peace when I play the music, which is ironic because it's the loudest thing short of a Boeing 747 taking off! I think it's just that whole motion of getting rid of energy in your body by hitting something. I think some stress leaves your body and the whole flow of energy is very very good for you.
I trained as a music teacher in Aberdeen for 4 years and since then I've come back to Glasgow and worked in a couple of schools. In an extra-curricular kind of way, I've encouraged everybody to play music beyond Scottish roots and beyond the roots of the UK. I've encouraged people to play in world styles, like samba, salsa, gamelan, West African drumming, things like that.
When I did the first taiko workshops, I basically came into school and started talking to the pupils about it and I thought, 'I'll just teach them what Mugenkyo taught me' - and that's how it all started. I had a beginners group of 4 people playing floor toms, and breaking skins, bashing sticks, and just having a great laugh. Since then it's developed into something much bigger. I mean, now we have our own drums and it's just fantastic!
The students love it. They really really love it. They turn up early for rehearsals, they come and practise in their free periods or after school when no-one's looking, and they're so helpful as well. They've even been writing their own pieces, and putting in their own material. This is a great development because it makes it very organic, and it makes it very group-led instead of sensei [teacher]-led.
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