As a member of RAW’s community group, I took part in a big important maintenance ritual that happens every decade or so, by assisting with re-skinning of the Taiko drums and caring for the drum stands. With expert guidance from David, we simultaneously learned and engaged in a series of very unique techniques to do so.Took the opportunity, while the old drum heads were removed, to clean up the wood rims of the drums with a router, as they had been imprecisely built from old wine barrels and had never had even edges.Soaking hides in special mixture of water and vinegar to make them malleable, and not degrade in the processCutting out the new drum skinsCutting out slits for mimis (pegs) to go intoMimis are inserted Ratchet straps and rope are used to pull and stretch the hide evenly around the drum. A rigorous process of stretching out the hide by stomping on it with body weight, then tightening the ratchet straps, then repeating for hours.Byou (tacks) are hammered into pre-drilled holes to fasten the new, fully tensioned hides onto the drums.Testing sound, making micro adjustments... a true labour of love.
2023
Studio RAW, Toronto
Thanks to RAW and David Cheetham for the guidance and the chance to learn & support.