This is music composed by the Kongo Gumi class to accompany the Setsubun portion of the Hoshimatsuri Service at the Northern California Koyasan Buddhist Temple (Keigenji). This practice does not have full costume, but will accompany an oni that the congregation will throw soybeans (or peanuts) at to ward off.
Many people today know taiko as stage-performance music, but taiko ensembles also provide important accompanying music for festivals and functions in the social and religious lives of Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese/Nikkei communities. In this case, we were asked to provide accompaniment for mamemaki (bean throwing), in which beans are thrown at an oni (ogre) to symbolically wish away bad luck and welcome in good luck.
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For this ceremony, there was not a specific musical arrangement to perform, so we composed music using the following method as an exercise during our ensemble practice time.
1) Identify and describe the musical movements of the piece based on the story arc of the dancer (oni). You can draw out a conceptual timeline of the story and box off sections of the story to be musical movements. Arrange instrumentation based on this initial vision, but be open to change.
2) Improvise the first section based on its description, stopping briefly to identify and discuss what musical elements worked in conveying the intended mood and how different instruments will interact. Iterate repetitions of the first section, focusing on quick resets that allow for discussion but prioritize time spent in-music. When it feels right, take note of each part's cues. At this point, the instrumentation will stay mostly the same for the next sections, though some players may be able to switch.
3) Discuss shape of next section and how transition will work and be recognized. As transition settles, begin previous step again for the this movement, resetting to this transition instead of the start of the song. As this section settles and takes shape, you can try resetting to the top of the piece and working the movements together through their transition.
4) Repeat this process for each of the movements, focusing first and developing the movement in question by resetting to its introductory transition. As it takes shape, you can reset further back in the piece to smooth transitions and to look for musical connections with earlier sections.
5) Rehearse the full arrangement including the movement element, giving now fuller consideration to the whole scope of the piece and how sections may be cued or be adjusted based on the movement of the dancer. Pay attention to how these cues are articulated and communicated between players. Allow time for questions, clarification, and group problem-solving.
6) Lastly, check the work against the initial assignment and make sure that the music does what it needs to do. In our case, we checked with Rev. Mimatsu to make sure it fit the vision and spirit of the ceremony. You might also check it against your initial vision. From here, you can take the piece to other processes of composition or refinement, or you can use it, like we will with this piece!
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I wanted to share this method for other taiko players who might want to play or create functionary music. When it comes to "folk music," I think the traditionality or antiquity of music is often uncritically foregrounded, but I would like to suggest that the music's functionality with living traditions is equally important. Depending on the context, it might be best to learn and replicate a specific style or song as closely as possible. But in some cases, it may be mutually enriching to develop formats and arrangement to fill the lives of everyday people through improvisation and group-composition (musicking together).