The small, hand-held cymbals called Chappa are often used in the taiko ensemble and invariably add tremendous vigour to a performance. However, players are sometimes confronted with taking on the Chappa role, but without any experience of how to play them! Even the basics of making a good, clean sound are challenging, let alone making the Chappa ‘your own’ by adding in easy, relaxed, flowing movement to enliven your performance… and take it up to the taiko!

In this series, Ryuji introduces you to the basic grip and how to care for your instrument. He then takes you through a series of musical exercises showing you how to make the fundamental sounds: open, buzz and muted. Ryuji finishes off with a performance of a section from Taikoz’s production Chi Udaka, which utilises all three techniques – with movement – in phrases based on South Indian rhythms.