2025 NATC Workshop Application Categories

When applying for your workshops, you will be asked to select a category. This system will be used instead of a “beginner, intermediate, advanced” model to capture the diversity of ways that people learn and interact with taiko. However, it is useful for participants to know specifically what types of knowledge, skills, and experiences are expected to fully participate in the class. We ask that you provide this information descriptively for your workshops under the section that asks for prerequisite knowledge.

These four workshop categories will be considered when making workshop selection, and they will also be visible to participants during workshop selection. The categories should be used as guidelines for applications, as four separate prompts that will be evaluated during workshop selection. There are not hard quotas of acceptance by category. Organizers may ask for workshop to be represented by a different category if they feel it is a better fit.

Foundational: These workshops focus on the fundamentals of playing taiko, whether they be kata, musical technique, or mentality. Workshops that focus on specific styles of hitting or musicality are at home here, as are workshops that teach drills or other methods players can use to develop foundational skills.

Focus/Depth: These workshops dive deep into a particular set of skills or knowledge, which may require prerequisite knowledge of a repertoire or musical style. They can include “advanced” taiko classes, but may also be a good fit for unique general workshops. Workshops that focus on composition or improvisation are a good fit in this category.

Performance: Workshops that focus on teaching a specific, original repertoire should be included in this category, as well as workshops that focus on general aspects of performing. The goal of these classes should be to provide students with new material or methods that can be applied to their own performance.

Applied: These workshops focus on the ways that taiko can be applied outside of stage performance. This includes the ways in which taiko may be used in fields such as therapy, community wellness, and social justice. It also includes applied methods such as music recording, collaborating with artists outside of the taiko sphere, and taiko pedagogy. Workshops that expose students to the ways in which they can use taiko in other lines of work are a good fit here.

Workshops that fit the theme (above) of the conference will also be considered during workshop selection, as evaluated by the workshop description. Not all workshops need to be specifically tailored to the theme, and the committee will select for variety and balance of classes, as well.