In learning, or sometimes practicing, a piece, Kyodo Taiko members practice "air bachi." To air bachi, one must imagine that there is a drum in front of them, and play on that drum. This practice helps with one's form and technique. Often times, air bachi-ing is accompanied by a practice known as "kuchi shooga." Each type of drum hit is assigned a certain sound that can be made using the mouth, or "kuchi." Because the players hit air during "air bachi-ing," they add "kuchi shooga" to imitate the sound that their imaginary drum would make.

Here, players are practicing in the lounge area of the John Wooden Center at UCLA while waiting for the Dynasty Room to become available. Once free, they will be able to retreive the drums from the storage room and go to their performance.

This is a common Kyodo past time :)

[Kyodo Taiko at UCLA was the first collegiate taiko group to form in North America, founded under UCLA's Nikkei Student Union. Striving to live up to the group’s name, Kyodo Taiko functions as a family, sharing the joy and spirit of taiko with more and more of the surrounding community each year.]