Last year I was awarded a grant to purchase Taiko Drums for my middle school music program. Here you see a large drum stand that was designed and built by my father-in-law. I was getting ready to stain the wood in August.
Wood stained.
We are only in the third week of drumming. These pictures don't really show what the kids are capable of. They just look like they are flailing. I am spending a lot of time on how to move, how to stand, how to hold their sticks, arms and torsos. I suspect these kids have never been involved with something so precisely physical. But we are having a ball. We make a lot of decibels and have great focus. Friday's class and Monday's class were able to play two rhythms together, while I played a part called the base note. I was having so much fun I was grinning the whole time.
We have a long way to go for them to be looking good as well as sounding good, but hey- they are just beginners. And so am I. I wish I could channel Moko's spirit and energy and just a teensey bit of her many years of Taiko teaching experience.
Thank you Ujeni Foundation, Ed Dawson, Gary Buchner, Robert Ploss and Denny Millspaugh for making this dream happen! These guys are a bunch of woodworkers who donated their time and talent to make the drum stands and sticks for us!
Domo Arigato Gozaimasu!
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