DrumZout 2009 DISCUSSION

Zenova wrote:

ongchinkai wrote:

HareHareYukai wrote:
CURRENT TEAM MEMBERS:
1. blyx
2. yuu
3. gepi(Please? we can't do without you)
4. chinkai
5. -PENDING-

Uh, how come my name is there??? I'm not sure if I can do this actually...

aiya u sure can la, ur standard so pro... >< hmmm, can i be -PENDING-?

Have you met or play taiko with chinkai before? Pardon me but you kinda sound sarcastic to me in that sentence of yours. o.O
Also, I thought you self proclaim that you can't make it due to the MOECO camp event in June?

HareHareYukai wrote:
CURRENT UPDATES[prioritized]:
1. We will have a meeting session for team members/ pioneering members of taikodojo on a date after 15th February 09. This has to be confirmed asap. Team members/ pioneering members please state prefable dates and times.


Our current schedule(prioritized):
1. Finalise Team Members (5, probably)
2. Finalise Instrument(s) used
3. Finalise piece played.
4. Finalise Method of borrowing/or usage of Selected Instruments in practice.

Plan B:
Assuming we have no way of obtaining drums at all, no possible practice location.
We go for stomp.
1. Finalise instruments used.
2. Finalise Piece Played.

Mixture of the 3 versions of Taiko Ranbu should be quite presentable (we don't really need to follow note by note according to the original game play but at least have to be quite similar to the original one)

Besides this mixture of Fire, Water, Wind Taiko Ranbu, is there other songs that we can play to sound more "solid" and make it our set piece? **ponders**

actually,i'm really busybody by putting my reply,but...can't help it...
well...i dun mind joining,but i think my skills not that good...
and with regards to the score,perhaps we do an adaptation of something on you tube?
cuz i found some videos of performances,so i thought we could do an adaptation of their performances...
as for the usage of taiko drums,is it possible to rent some? afterall,i tried asking co people regarding the drums and they came up with their regular to king sized reasons...
1(from regular members))we can't lend it to u,its not ours.
2(the exec com))we can't lend it to you because...(hesitate)...we don't really call the shots.
3(the chairman))i know that we are very good friends,and that i would do anything to help you(i blink) but (i blink rapidly) the taiko isn't easy to handle.
4(after the promise of a deposit))well...still cannot lah,later co members know then i die le...
end of story...
so i suppose we can try renting from a japanese club?
or...maybe...we could use different drums...note,we do need a tempo-changer,i notice that that fella is a staple in all performances...

Actually what I meant was that I really don't think I'm skilled enough to take part in a competition as yet - the only experience I can talk about is that I've started playing TnT since September last year, and that's not even proper training.

Now I really didn't want to dampen everyone's enthusiasm on this, but how confident are we of going far? Because if we want to use this as a platform to launch ourselves, then it won't help if we go out early, right? The point gepi brought up about there being so short notice until the competition itself is valid, and so is the one yuu mentioned about equipment. If logistics is already a concern for us, do you think we'll even have time to practice?

However, I'm not saying that we can't do this. In fact, given the talent we have, we can definitely do something, BUT we'll need time and resources, and more importantly, we have to set a realistic timeline for ourselves. If you ask me, we won't be able to make it in time for this year's competition, but if we start getting together to practice, we'll make it for next year's.

Maybe it's just me, but I look at things pragmatically, and everything is telling me that taking part isn't very viable right now. Nevertheless, I won't mind if someone else proves me wrong in this.

actually, by this june it's actually tangible. provided that the drums are available. and there's the siao on chiong sua spirit. and willing to spend x hours with the metronome. after all 2 months is enough for my band to change choice piece and yet still get gold.
I reiterate that the most I'll do will be giving comments(dynamics intonation blahblahbleahbleahmehmeh) and act as an unqualified coach(and possibly scream at you people for whatever mistakes that you made) but getting me on stage, and going as far as to say that even kidnapping my sandshrew to get me on stage, is an absolute please-carry-on-and-dream-about-it thing. for some reasons.

@CK,
According to what gepi has said, by this june is actually quite okay imo.
It's the spirit that counts and how many hours you want to put in to get it right.
For almost 2 whole weeks, I spend almost every single day from afternoon till the community club closes, just for practicing the damn piece that i'm arrowed to play a 木琴 solo with the whole orchestra. And that 木琴, i have never ever touched one in my life. I have to ask my conductor which is the exact note that are on number-type music scores in comparison to the 木琴 itself. He showed me once and that's it. First number on this music score is = to that note on the 木琴, that is all i need to figure out the rest for myself.
Concert is only 2 weeks away from the day my conductor showed me the first 木琴 note and i need to play the freaking solo. I almost give up.
Somehow, i have the "siao on chiong sua" spirit that time. The "wtf-i-don't-believe-i-cannot-do-this-shit" kind of spirit brings me through.
So concert date arrived. I went through the solo smoothly and that cause my conductor to look at me differently from then onwards.


So if you need someone to prove you wrong, i hope gepi's band and my example should be able to do it. It's all in the mind. =D

gepi wrote:actually, by this june it's actually tangible. provided that the drums are available. and there's the siao on chiong sua spirit. and willing to spend x hours with the metronome. after all 2 months is enough for my band to change choice piece and yet still get gold.
I reiterate that the most I'll do will be giving comments(dynamics intonation blahblahbleahbleahmehmeh) and act as an unqualified coach(and possibly scream at you people for whatever mistakes that you made) but getting me on stage, and going as far as to say that even kidnapping my sandshrew to get me on stage, is an absolute please-carry-on-and-dream-about-it thing. for some reasons.

Nobody ask you to get in front of the stage. You can always position yourself behind us and play. =p

Yuu, I have no doubt that in a band or orchestra, we'll have no such issues, but I can point out a few points.

In gepi's scenario, it's a school-based band we're talking about, in which everyone has common time-slots to sit down, or rather, be forced to sit down and practice.

In your scenario, you're playing solo, so you didn't have to worry about coordinating with other people.

My point here is that we're not an organized group, so it's highly unlikely that we can find a common time-slot where five people can sit down and practice.

it MIGHT be possible to rent the taiko machine from zone x. but i'm sure about the costs involved and everything.

http://www.zonex.com.sg/biz_opportunity/

Rubyrain wrote:it MIGHT be possible to rent the taiko machine from zone x. but i'm sure about the costs involved and everything.

http://www.zonex.com.sg/biz_opportunity/

Eh.. We're talking about the real drum competition thingy, not the game. haha

@Ck,
Oh, so it's all about common time slot for the 5 ppl.
I get what you mean now. =3
Brain not working in the wee hours of the night especially you got to rush an essay, so misread your post, haha paiseh, paiseh.. xD

Actually I wasn't sure whether to post what I thought, because it's good that everyone is so keen on this, and I do see the benefits of our taking part in the event. What I don't want to see is that we realize how bad things look and only then decide to give up - it amounts to a lot of time and resources lost, not to mention the much bigger dent in morale.

ongchinkai wrote:Actually I wasn't sure whether to post what I thought, because it's good that everyone is so keen on this, and I do see the benefits of our taking part in the event. What I don't want to see is that we realize how bad things look and only then decide to give up - it amounts to a lot of time and resources lost, not to mention the much bigger dent in morale.

Nahz, don't worry. =)
Cos' even if we need to give up in the end due to lack for people/time/resources, sure, we will lose a big chance to let be known in singapore. But it's good to speak up here and have different views where it's mature enough and worth to think about. =D

For example, TaikoDojo does NOT solely exist for gossips, to bitch about others nor for those who have this "i'm-betta-than-you-in-this-that-so-i-can-do-whatever-i-like" mentality, nor "you-break-my-scores-so-I-kick-up-big-fuss-and-whine-like-a-kid" nor "wa-you-say-me-okay-la-sorry-lor-emo-but-i-know-i'm-better-that-you" kind of mentality. And definitely not a place just to show off without maturity.

We can't prevent those things so TaikoDojo definitely need more constructive comments than those. If you get what i mean. =3

ok. I'm severely guilty about the last part.
actually my school band was so siao on that time that we started practice at 6a.m to 7.30a.m(and therefore skip assembly. whee.) and we petitioned for saturday practice(story quite long. in short our band has a f-ed up teacher-in-charge). though it's a bit siao in this current scenario as we live in different parts of this sunny island(gawd please start raining.) and my seniors are really imba people who really push for whatever practice time that we can have.plus we don't want to lose to choir.
I still strongly believe that every saturday about 5 hours of chiong sua should be enough to co-ord 5 people to whack a taiko ranbu of a substantial standard out.

[This is Mint making a post on CK's account]

I think, at this point, we should consider a few things if we still want to take part. The following is simply my opinion (a rather realistic & practical one, I might add) on what we, as a forum group, or at least the few of those who expressed interest in the competition, should be seriously considering.

1. Do we have enough people to participate? If I'm not mistaken I don't think we have the minimum 5 members yet.

2. Suppose we have enough members.
What do we want to achieve in this competition? I believe that our main aim is to increase the profile of taiko, as well as our forum and (the game) in Singapore. Which stage of the competition do we need to reach in order to achieve this aim? Does this group have the ability to do that, judging from various experiences with taiko or having music background? Do we need to be in the finals or even Top 3 in order to get a write-up in the newspapers/newsletters that cover the event/organizer's website?

3. Suppose we have enough members and is confident that we can reach the minimum stage in the competition required for the amount of publicity we want.
(a) Are we going to source for drums for rental? Where can we possibly rent them from? How much will the rental cost, and are we willing to foot the bill out of our own pockets? And assuming we are able to rent the drums, how often do we want to rent them in order to practice?
(b) If rental is impossible, what are we going to improvise the drums with? How are we going to procure the various materials then? Are we going to make anything? Or get stuff from Salvation Army? How much time can we fork out on this part of the project? Are we going to enlist more people to help in this part so that we can save time?

4. Suppose we have enough members and procured the instruments. Are the people involved in performing able to set aside (quoting gepi) "every saturday about 5 hours of chiong sua"? People might have other commitments that they might not be able to shirk from, plus this is not a CCA that "forces" people to sit down for 5 hours straight to practice, failure to do so will result in the loss of CCA points etc etc. I think this project requires some hardcore commitment even though people are participating because of their interest in . And since no one here has performed with each other yet (playing together on Taiko doesn't really count, IMO), don't we need time to 培养默契, get used to each other's timings etc, since this is a group performance?

5. And now suppose all the above is all settled and done and we achieved what we set out to do, received the desired publicity etc etc. How are we going to keep whatever publicity hype we have ongoing? Are we going to use that as a point to back our group up if we want to approach zone-x or NAMCO for talks regarding hosting a competition? Or are we going to take the competition idea slow and focus instead on publicizing ourselves in terms of posters, flyers, online ads, (and assuming we do win some $$$) getting a booth at the next Gaming Convention in Singapore?

@Mint:

Answers to your part:
1) We don't have 5 people yet. Best if have people who are experienced to help but doubt so since this is purely hobby. Gepi can do it and is capable but he doesn't want to take part to perform, so we lose a person who has performances experiences (though having stage fright)

2) According to what i heard from blyx, it's just audition Finals.
So if it's so lucky that we get through audition, it should be all right. Even if we're not the top, i think there's banner or something which blyx had mentioned somewhere which the organizer is able to help us make one during the performance. At least it may gets some little notice rather than no notice if we don't try? xD

3) Instruments are the big problems here. I'm not sure how blyx gonna solve it though. Unless we join as alternatives and try to make the pitch as close to the don and kat. (maybe 1kg milo metal tin stuff with 85% cloth can make a reasonable kat and a salted-veggies huge container can do with the don??)

4) For me, to say the truth, I can last up tilll whole day of choing sua in this just to practice and make it right, but still, as you mentioned, i'm not sure if anyone will be so keen to do that since they have their commitments.
Since those in band/orchestra does have experiences on playing as a whole group and perform, me and gepi should be okay with the 默契. Since gepi is a metronome follower, there shouldn't any problem. 2 down and 3 to go. BUT
Then again, the band-experienced-background gepi doesn't wanna be on the stage. In another words, we'll gonna lose out on a very valuable person who can chiong-sua-and-siao-on-taiko till he improve so tremendously and getting fantastic results in taiko in a short amount of time, despite he has no drumming background. All we need is this kind of people for competition sia. xD

5) Things come and go. We can do whatever we can within the period of the hype and try our best to get a competition going if possible.

Thanks for your answers, yuu. I figured that if you guys really want to participate the competition, serious discussion/work should commence soon, and like CK I was just trying to put things into perspective (in the form of a To-Do List)... putting the bits and pieces together so the bigger picture is visible.

Hopefully no one gets offended reading my post =/ I apologize in advance if anyone thinks I'm unkind to make such remarks, or takes offense.

Mint wrote:Thanks for your answers, yuu. I figured that if you guys really want to participate the competition, serious discussion/work should commence soon, and like CK I was just trying to put things into perspective (in the form of a To-Do List)... putting the bits and pieces together so the bigger picture is visible.

Hopefully no one gets offended reading my post =/ I apologize in advance if anyone thinks I'm unkind to make such remarks, or takes offense.

Why will anyone take offense?? *scratch head*
As compared to some posts i've read here, there are even more offensive ones which the people don't even bother to apologize and believe they are right. =S

And i'm glad that there's still some mature, sensible and constructive comments around compared to some. Lolz~ i believe you have seen some wth-is-this kind? ;P

yuu_yuki wrote:

Zenova wrote:

ongchinkai wrote:

HareHareYukai wrote:
CURRENT TEAM MEMBERS:
1. blyx
2. yuu
3. gepi(Please? we can't do without you)
4. chinkai
5. -PENDING-

Uh, how come my name is there??? I'm not sure if I can do this actually...

aiya u sure can la, ur standard so pro... >< hmmm, can i be -PENDING-?

Have you met or play taiko with chinkai before? Pardon me but you kinda sound sarcastic to me in that sentence of yours. o.O
Also, I thought you self proclaim that you can't make it due to the MOECO camp event in June?

yeah i've played with him... and i'm not being sarcastic, sorry to have given u that impression >< i really think chinkai is good =) sry again for the sarcastic impression i really meant what i said

lol hmmm.... i dunno, they never give any exact dates... just hope it will not clash ><
btw what happens if u register someone but later he/she realises that he/she cannot go?

Zenova wrote:
yeah i've played with him... and i'm not being sarcastic, sorry to have given u that impression >< i really think chinkai is good =) sry again for the sarcastic impression i really meant what i said

lol hmmm.... i dunno, they never give any exact dates... just hope it will not clash ><
btw what happens if u register someone but later he/she realises that he/she cannot go?

You have to check out with blyx though. =)

gepi wrote:ok. I'm severely guilty about the last part.
actually my school band was so siao on that time that we started practice at 6a.m to 7.30a.m(and therefore skip assembly. whee.) and we petitioned for saturday practice(story quite long. in short our band has a f-ed up teacher-in-charge). though it's a bit siao in this current scenario as we live in different parts of this sunny island(gawd please start raining.) and my seniors are really imba people who really push for whatever practice time that we can have.plus we don't want to lose to choir.
I still strongly believe that every saturday about 5 hours of chiong sua should be enough to co-ord 5 people to whack a taiko ranbu of a substantial standard out.

omg gepi for once you said something motivational. (: i agree!!!!!!!!! TO A LARGE EXTENT XD

yuu_yuki wrote:

ongchinkai wrote:Actually I wasn't sure whether to post what I thought, because it's good that everyone is so keen on this, and I do see the benefits of our taking part in the event. What I don't want to see is that we realize how bad things look and only then decide to give up - it amounts to a lot of time and resources lost, not to mention the much bigger dent in morale.

Nahz, don't worry. =)
Cos' even if we need to give up in the end due to lack for people/time/resources, sure, we will lose a big chance to let be known in singapore. But it's good to speak up here and have different views where it's mature enough and worth to think about. =D

For example, TaikoDojo does NOT solely exist for gossips, to bitch about others nor for those who have this "i'm-betta-than-you-in-this-that-so-i-can-do-whatever-i-like" mentality, nor "you-break-my-scores-so-I-kick-up-big-fuss-and-whine-like-a-kid" nor "wa-you-say-me-okay-la-sorry-lor-emo-but-i-know-i'm-better-that-you" kind of mentality. And definitely not a place just to show off without maturity.

We can't prevent those things so TaikoDojo definitely need more constructive comments than those. If you get what i mean. =3

even if we do miss it this year due to all these.. there's always next year. and by then. hehe. we'll be all prepared to rock the stage. everything's a learning lesson bah. besides its good to raise such points early so yeah.

in life we wont expect everything to go smoothly as planned cause plans still fail. so we just learn from it and seize the next best opportunity lor (:

ongchinkai wrote:[This is Mint making a post on CK's account]

I think, at this point, we should consider a few things if we still want to take part. The following is simply my opinion (a rather realistic & practical one, I might add) on what we, as a forum group, or at least the few of those who expressed interest in the competition, should be seriously considering.

1. Do we have enough people to participate? If I'm not mistaken I don't think we have the minimum 5 members yet.

This is something we're working on now. finalising the 5 members. and emphasized: THESE FIVE PEOPLE HAVE TO BE RECOGNIZED AS A WHOLE BY THE TAIKODOJO COMMUNITY BECAUSE THEY'RE REPRESENTING US.

ongchinkai wrote:2. Suppose we have enough members.
What do we want to achieve in this competition? I believe that our main aim is to increase the profile of taiko, as well as our forum and (the game) in Singapore. Which stage of the competition do we need to reach in order to achieve this aim? Does this group have the ability to do that, judging from various experiences with taiko or having music background? Do we need to be in the finals or even Top 3 in order to get a write-up in the newspapers/newsletters that cover the event/organizer's website?

What we want to achieve is to increase the awareness of taiko and add publicity. And yes. Not just publicity. Lots of publicity regarding taikodojo so we can have a bigger community of other drum lovers coming together to enjoy the game, and this will work a long way to ensure the stability of taikodojo in the future. Many things can be achieved when a forum is highly active, with a GREAT VARIETY OF PEOPLE giving their opinions and views, getting involved. I suppose we all know that bah. The benefits that come.

There's only the auditions and the grand finals. You get pass the auditions its good enough to show Singapore what you can do.
As gepi and yuu and myself have reinforced a few times in this thread.. It's possible even though we have NO music background because those of us who can manage to play oni 9* or 10* or even 8* etc will SURELY have some sort of rhythmic sense, musical sense to be able to differentiate notes, to give yourself the ability to grasp the timing in playing the real thing.
We hope for more. always. but still we'll just have to try our best to try to get a higher level of publicity. A poster will be set up etc. our community name will be publicized if we get into the grand finals immediately. It's quite a platform to show your ability. People will recognize, we will get our publicity. The publicity will spread by word from person to person.

If we can we'll aim for top 3 as much as we can. That will boost our publicity even more. We'll just see how much we can get.

ongchinkai wrote:
3. Suppose we have enough members and is confident that we can reach the minimum stage in the competition required for the amount of publicity we want.
(a) Are we going to source for drums for rental? Where can we possibly rent them from? How much will the rental cost, and are we willing to foot the bill out of our own pockets? And assuming we are able to rent the drums, how often do we want to rent them in order to practice?

5 hours + a week should be fine. gepi had past experiences and i trust him so yeah. regarding bills. for me. why not? i'm willing to do something for this community. this community has done so much for my taiko experience and im willing to help out as well.
Yes we'll source drums for rental. Where we get it is still a question unsolved until now. but many views are being shown now so i hope we'll get a conclusion soon.

ongchinkai wrote:
(b) If rental is impossible, what are we going to improvise the drums with? How are we going to procure the various materials then? Are we going to make anything? Or get stuff from Salvation Army? How much time can we fork out on this part of the project? Are we going to enlist more people to help in this part so that we can save time?

There is no need to enlist more people to help in this part just to save time. Personally, I believe we have to be TRULY taikodojo-ers in order to represent taikodojo, do the work. do the planning, do the performance.
improvisation is until now, a second option. this second option will be decided only if the first plan fails.
the rest of the questions cannot be answered until we decide what we're going to do.

ongchinkai wrote:
4. Suppose we have enough members and procured the instruments. Are the people involved in performing able to set aside (quoting gepi) "every saturday about 5 hours of chiong sua"? People might have other commitments that they might not be able to shirk from, plus this is not a CCA that "forces" people to sit down for 5 hours straight to practice, failure to do so will result in the loss of CCA points etc etc. I think this project requires some hardcore commitment even though people are participating because of their interest in . And since no one here has performed with each other yet (playing together on Taiko doesn't really count, IMO), don't we need time to 培养默契, get used to each other's timings etc, since this is a group performance?

It's all about whether you're willing to put in that amount of commitment. The five people will have to work together as a team well. To increase their chemistry between people, thats one thing that practicing does. So in the process of practicing we'll get used to each other and play as a team.
we need time. but i believe if we have a team that aspires and is determined to work this out. it'll work out.

ongchinkai wrote:5. And now suppose all the above is all settled and done and we achieved what we set out to do, received the desired publicity etc etc. How are we going to keep whatever publicity hype we have ongoing? Are we going to use that as a point to back our group up if we want to approach zone-x or NAMCO for talks regarding hosting a competition? Or are we going to take the competition idea slow and focus instead on publicizing ourselves in terms of posters, flyers, online ads, (and assuming we do win some $$$) getting a booth at the next Gaming Convention in Singapore?

That's thinking a bit too far, though its good to settle thoughts and see what our main aim and future aim is.
But all these will have to wait until after we settle this. It will be the post-drumzout2009 discussion lol. if we do complete that.

So now how? What's the verdict?

yuu_yuki wrote:

Mint wrote:Thanks for your answers, yuu. I figured that if you guys really want to participate the competition, serious discussion/work should commence soon, and like CK I was just trying to put things into perspective (in the form of a To-Do List)... putting the bits and pieces together so the bigger picture is visible.

Hopefully no one gets offended reading my post =/ I apologize in advance if anyone thinks I'm unkind to make such remarks, or takes offense.

Why will anyone take offense?? *scratch head*
As compared to some posts i've read here, there are even more offensive ones which the people don't even bother to apologize and believe they are right. =S

And i'm glad that there's still some mature, sensible and constructive comments around compared to some. Lolz~ i believe you have seen some wth-is-this kind? ;P

lol no one takes it to heart. they aren't even offensive or anything. you're just expressing your views, no hidden meanings, with the intention of letting us see the bigger picture. should be thanking you somemore. lol (:

yuu_yuki wrote:

Zenova wrote:
yeah i've played with him... and i'm not being sarcastic, sorry to have given u that impression >< i really think chinkai is good =) sry again for the sarcastic impression i really meant what i said

lol hmmm.... i dunno, they never give any exact dates... just hope it will not clash ><
btw what happens if u register someone but later he/she realises that he/she cannot go?

You have to check out with blyx though. =)

Please Please Please Don't give me this type of problems zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
There is no such thing as "between yes and no" here. It's either a yes or a no.

If you say yes, you will have full commitment in this and we expect you to exact that responsibility. Not to sound agressive or offensive, but it's just like that.

If you say no, then you still have a right to decide if you want to join later but you cannot be between yes and no. we need a firm answer.

a firm solid answer. thanks.

and here's a word to anyone who wants to join: please make sure you are ready to commit yourself to this before you just say you want to join. As much as we hate to say that we lack people, there's no point in telling us you want to join but yet not put in the commitment required. thanks (: