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Plenty of Columbians are contributing their knowledge and skills to the wider world, but a few are also doing the reverse -- bringing the fruits of their outside adventures back to the campus for others to enjoy.
Janet Youngblood is one such example. Five years ago, while studying for a doctorate in adult education at Teacher's College (TC), she founded the Teacher's College Taiko Society, a welcome addition, she hoped, to Columbia as well as the wider New York City community.
Taiko, Japanese for "big or fat drum," refers to not only the Japanese traditional instrument but also the art of playing it. The Japanese imported taiko from China by way of Korea around 1,000 years ago and adapted it to their culture. Soon taiko became a standard feature at local festivals and religious ceremonies, as well as in formal performances of theater (Noh and kabuki) and courtly music.
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Taiko master Hiro Kurashima teaches all of the classes.
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In the past 40 years, taiko has enjoyed a revival in Japan, where, having picked up elements of modern jazz, it has reemerged as a hip performance art -- a kind of hybrid of music and the martial arts.
Youngblood first encountered the sport in San Francisco, relatively late in life, at age 49; her background in percussion and ballet made her a perfect match for the art, she says. After moving to the East Coast, she really missed taiko, particularly when she began experiencing the stress of graduate student life.
"Taiko, when practiced regularly, becomes a form of meditation," Youngblood explains. "It's similar to Zen, only Zen involves an emptying out of the self, while taiko drum involves a filling up of the spirit."
She could have contented herself with taking the occasional workshop at Lincoln Center under taiko master Hiro Kurashima had she not developed the ambition to introduce taiko to other Columbians.
As a result of her efforts, Kurashima teaches taiko to children and adults every weekend at TC. Occasionally, he also forms groups of students to give performances on campus and in the New York City area. Recent gigs include a Columbia Business School function, a Chinese New Year celebration in Staten Island and a diversity assembly at Ward Melville High School in Long Island.
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The lessons provide enormous benefit to children, teaching them focus, balance, stamina, spirit and cooperation.
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"All taiko involves listening to each other and focusing on the quality of the group expression as an ensemble," Kurushima explains. "There is no ranking within, no prima donnas."
Looking back on the five years since she started the society, Youngblood admits she has one more ambition: to solve the problem of limited space. The TC classroom can accommodate no more than 15 students. With the TC's Student Activity Board and Columbia's Japan Club supporting her, she hopes to affiliate next with the University's music department, which would give students a larger space to practice and store the drums. She also foresees the day when, following the example of Stanford and UCLA, the classes will be open to students for credit and to people in the community.
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