Shaping a global art form: How UK-based players engage with the international landscape of taiko practice

This thesis explores how taiko players based in the United Kingdom engage with and contribute to the international landscape of taiko practice (LoTP). I offer a unique contribution to the extant body of taiko literature by analysing the ‘adoption’ of the art form by White players. I draw upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted on three continents and undertake quantitative analysis of large-scale data sets. I also bring into play my experiences as a performing member of Tsuchigumo Daiko – a Glasgow-based ensemble – and design and employ a bespoke notation system to identify how social processes are manifested musically and choreographically.

The research design elicited recurring themes within the landscape which are arranged into five substantive chapters: the global circulation of the artform; its utility as a tool to bring about social change; the role of leaders within the community; the impact of international gatherings upon social and musical practices; and the development of distinctive, localised ensemble ‘styles’. I consider these phenomena through a theoretical framework encompassing communities/landscapes of practice and arts impacts, and I develop and apply two novel models – taiko leadership and musical cosmopolitan sociability – to account for processes enacted by players.

While UK-based taiko artists may belong to local communities of taiko practice (CoTP) (e.g. through group membership), my research illustrates that engagement with the ‘taiko community’ is thereafter inherently international; any boundaries between UK-based players and artists in other countries – particularly Europe and North America – are porous. I identify a core group of British actors who have exerted profound influence on the art form and taiko community at large – principally by directing events, composing, teaching and performing. My main conclusion, however, highlights that these players direct sound and social structures within the LoTP to empower and support others – both within and beyond CoTPs.