Taiwan Today

Last January, Ju Percussion Group (JPG)—established by Ju Tzong-ching as Taiwan’s first percussion ensemble—celebrated its 25th anniversary with four concerts in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. Although Ju, who is now president of the Taipei National University of the Arts (TNUA), had not performed in Taiwan in five years, he also took part in the concerts, which included music tailored for the group by composers from home and abroad. All four concerts drew a full house, and the performances won standing ovations. “We’ve encountered many frustrations over the years,” the 57-year-old musician says. “But with the support and encouragement of audiences, we’ve made the impossible possible.”

It was a very different scene when JPG started out a quarter century ago, however. “Nowadays, you’d probably be laughed at if you’ve never attended one of Ju’s percussion performances, as JPG’s ‘jurisdiction’ ranges from national-level concert halls to temple courtyards and everything in between,” says choreographer Lin Hwai-min, who is the founder of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and an old friend of Ju’s. “But back then, for most people, percussion meant nothing more than a few drum beats toward the end of a symphony.” Lin credits the popularity of percussive music in Taiwan mostly to Ju and his team.

Born in 1954 in Daya Township, Taichung County (now Daya District, Taichung City), Ju had his first contact with music when he was chosen to play in the brass band of his local junior high school. He soon picked up the techniques for playing all the wind instruments in the band, but what really fascinated Ju were the percussive instruments that played the “supporting roles” in the group’s music. The happy band hours ended when Ju graduated from junior high school. After a semester at the local senior high school, Ju made up his mind to drop regular education and give music a try. “Learning music was for rich kids only and being a musician wasn’t exactly a ‘profession,’ as most people from a small rural town see it,” Ju says. “My family wasn’t rich, but fortunately my parents were very open-minded and supported me fully.”

So Ju entered the Department of Music at National Taiwan Academy of the Arts (now National Taiwan University of Arts). He had to settle for majoring in a wind instrument though, since percussion was not offered as a major at any of Taiwan’s music education institutions at the time. But while his classmates were devoted to “mainstream” instruments like violin and piano, Ju took every opportunity to practice his percussion techniques and learn from visiting international percussionists. Whenever the student orchestra performed, Ju always volunteered for the percussion part that no one else was interested in.

More for Me

Other people’s lack of interest in the field translated into fewer competitors for Ju. After graduation, he entered the Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (now National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra) as principal percussionist in 1978. At the time, that was literally the highest position a percussionist could attain in Taiwan, but Ju did not want to settle for “a few drum beats toward the end of a symphony” and decided to further his study of percussion. Since Taiwan lacked suitable schools, Ju entered the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts (now University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna) in 1979, this time to major in percussion. He received a diploma of music performance in percussion there in 1982 and returned to the Taiwan Symphony Orchestra as the principal percussionist.

Although trained in Western percussion, Ju believes that there is a high degree of compatibility between Western and Chinese percussion instruments. So after returning to Taiwan, he also started to learn how to play traditional instruments such as gongs and Chinese drums. “Drawing on traditional music can be a powerful resource when you’re attempting to promote [percussion] music locally, as well as a way of establishing Taiwan’s percussion music on the world stage,” he says.

In the following year, Ju left the orchestra again when he was offered a teaching job at the newly established National Institute of the Arts (now TNUA). “A teaching job that would help more people appreciate percussion was what I’d wanted to do all along,” he says. “In fact, I drew up a whole set of short-term, mid-term and long-term teaching programs when I was in Vienna.” But things did not quite go as planned when Ju started his teaching career in 1983, as no students in the music department were interested in studying percussion. For two years, Ju taught a handful of students from the dance department, where percussion served as an accompaniment to dances.

What encouraged Ju was that the students, though few, were more than enthusiastic about percussion. “They studied and practiced really hard,” Ju says. “For that alone, they deserved to be on stage—not as accompanists for performers of other arts, but as artists playing their own music.” On January 2, 1986, Ju and his students decided to set up JPG and five days later, the group staged their first concert at the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taipei City.

Taking It on the Road

Concerts in big cities, no matter how successful they are, only reach a small percentage of the population, however. To introduce percussion to a wider audience, Ju decided to take his crew out of urban concert halls. Since 1987, the group has also performed in temple courtyards, on school campuses and in rural townships for audiences that might never have the chance to attend a show at a concert hall. JPG received further exposure through television performances and issued their first album in 1988, creating another means of accessing their music. “For those who can’t come to us, we deliver to their door,” Ju says.

After countless miles on the road, JPG gradually changed people’s perception of percussion music. More listeners warmed to the idea that percussion can be pleasing to the ear, that it is a form of music itself rather than a small part of an orchestra and that percussion is easy and fun to learn. Music, for example, can be produced simply by striking a few bottles, bowls or plates. Different ways of clapping and patting various parts of the body can also create amazing effects. In fact, one of JPG’s most popular performance numbers is a track created this way. “Percussion is the earliest instrumental form in human history,” Ju says. “It’s close to the beating of the human heart, so anyone with a heartbeat should be able to relate to it.”

Since their first concert in 1986, JPG has held some 2,300 concerts in 24 countries. Audiences often notice that many of the tracks integrate traditional with modern music and Eastern with Western influences. In addition to the instruments, JPG combines their music with modern dance, vocal music, traditional operas and various other performing arts. The group has also commissioned local composers to write pieces for percussion. Over the years they have accumulated a large repertoire of works, some based on folk music and some on Peking opera or other traditional performing arts.

Running a professional performing group, meanwhile, takes a lot more than the passion of musicians and composers. So in 1989, the Ju Percussion Group Foundation was formed to handle JPG’s administrative work as well as to “make music universal and readily accessible to the public, and to enhance the performance, composition and research of percussive arts in Taiwan,” Ju says. In addition to this “mission,” the foundation is also responsible for many of the “chores” associated with staging performances. When putting on an outdoor show in a rural township, for example, one of the foundation’s jobs is to make sure the environment surrounding the stage is tidy and the restrooms are clean. As Ju sees it, JPG is a performing group and the JPG foundation is in the service sector. “While the artists give their best on stage, the foundation takes care of everything off stage,” he says. “We make sure that the audience can enjoy the best music in the best environment—whether it’s a national-level concert hall or a temple courtyard.”

The right music promoted in the right way has gained JPG a solid reputation not only at home but also overseas. In 1990, it was invited by the US-based Percussive Arts Society (PAS)—a group that was founded in 1961 and today is the world’s largest percussion music organization—to tour the United States. JPG won tremendous popularity with their performance for PAS’s international convention held at the Lincoln Center in New York City. “Seeing all the world’s top percussion groups and performing among them on one program was something special,” Ju recalls. “I kept thinking how great it would be if I could bring them all to Taiwan to share their music with audiences at home.”

Putting words into action, Ju organized the first Taipei International Percussion Convention in 1993. Held tri-annually, a special requirement for the event is that each participating group—foreign or local—needs to adopt a piece by a Taiwanese composer into its program. “It’s not just about bringing the world to Taiwan,” Ju says. “It’s also about Taiwan reaching out to the world.”

To create more opportunities for local percussion students, Ju also organized the annual Taipei International Percussion Summer Camp in 2000. The 10-day intensive training focuses on students who have studied percussion for at least five years. In addition to Western percussion classes, percussion specific to other cultures including tribal and indigenous cultures plays an important part in the curriculum. The camp also features guest percussionists from around the world so that students can learn about various percussion traditions first hand and compare the differences between Eastern and Western music cultures. “Multiculturalism is the main theme of the summer camp,” Ju says.

From the 1970s on, thanks to Taiwan’s booming economy and maturing cultural scene, more people began to appreciate music and sent—or forced—their children to learn a musical instrument. Ju noticed that learning music somehow became “twisted,” however. “Kids by nature enjoy music, but it seemed that there was more pain than fun in the learning process,” Ju says. “Perhaps it’d be better for kids to begin with relatively simple percussion instruments that have the unique feature of giving an instant response. That enhances a kid’s sense of achievement.” He thinks while “playing around,” children not only pick up a sense of rhythm, but also develop an ear for music and begin to pay attention to the sounds around them.

No Stress

To provide a stress-free environment for children to learn music, he set up the Ju Percussion Music School in 1992. Currently, there are 27 classrooms in Taiwan, two in mainland China and one in Australia that offer up to six years of stress-free courses for children starting from age three. Choreographer Lin Hwai-min thinks that with the easy classroom atmosphere and an almost instant sense of achievement, percussion has become the most important “first musical contact for children from middle-class families.” Since its establishment, more than 80,000 children have learned percussion at Ju’s music school. “It’s not our goal to train a lot of professional percussionists or musicians,” Ju says. “But we’d certainly like to see every kid from here grow to enjoy music.”

After completing the curriculum at Ju’s music school, those who are truly interested in percussion and have performed well in previous courses can join the Jumping Percussion Group. From there, the most talented students can go on to JPG II, which was established in 2003. JPG II holds about 50 shows a year, most of which focus on concerts for children and their parents. “Percussion music doesn’t just belong to music professionals and adult audiences,” Ju says. “It’s something the whole family can enjoy together.”

In addition to its educational function, the music school also plays the role of supporting JPG financially. Ju notes that JPG holds around 100 shows a year. Although all enjoy satisfactory box office returns, there is no way that the group can support itself from ticket sales alone. A large part of its finances, therefore, comes from the income from the music school. Lin Hwai-min says all local performing groups face similar financial difficulties, but the music school solves that problem for JPG. In addition, the school ensures a constant supply of talented musicians. “Many performing groups have problems in finding new blood, but JPG has a long line of talented young people waiting to join,” Lin says. “Unlike many other performing-arts groups that operate on impulse or ‘inspiration,’ JPG is more like a corporation that makes every move with discipline and detailed planning.”

‘Taiwanese-Style’ Percussion

By integrating the traditional with the modern, as well as Eastern and Western influences, JPG’s “Taiwanese-style” percussion has made it one of the world’s top ensembles. Over the years, it has received accolades from fans and critics throughout Taiwan and abroad. Ju himself has also been honored numerous times for promoting percussion education and popularizing the music style. In 2000, he was honored with the National Award for Arts, which is Taiwan’s highest honor for artists. In 2009, he received a lifetime achievement award from PAS, which is considered the highest honor in the world for percussion music.

But Ju likes to call himself “a happy little drummer from a rural town in central Taiwan who is eager to share his music.” In January, Ju was on the stage of the National Concert Hall once more, only this time with a few extra pounds and more wrinkles than during JPG’s first performance some two decades ago. The no-longer-little drummer once again beat out rhythms of the musical form to which he has devoted his life, and this time a full house of percussion music enthusiasts were there to share that passion.

Write to Jim Hwang at jim@mail.gio.gov.tw