Activity: Videos and See, Think, Wonder

I’m doing a 4-week residency at a STEAM Summer School right now, working with 7th graders for 2 hours every weekday. Most of them hadn’t seen much taiko, so we’ve been watching videos to build familiarity with and reduce the (intimidating) mystery around taiko performance. Don’t underestimate the power of this kind of referencing! It’s also been helpful because this age just can’t spend 2 hours in a row on the drum, so I’ve needed lots of other activities to support their learning.

I’m teaching Matsuri Daiko, so I’ve included several videos of that song. For convenience, here are the videos I’ve show:

Soh Daiko (s/o to Tamiko and some great MC’ing)

Senryu Taiko (this one’s great because the song structure is relatively simple, so my students could pick out the body easily)

World Music Students, San Francisco School for the Arts (this one’s great because the performers aren’t much older than the kids I’m working with now)

(I’m open to suggestions, please let me know if you know of other versions I should show!)

I’m using Harvard Project Zero’s See Think Wonder to help my students to engage more deeply with the videos. See, Think, Wonder requires multiple viewings of the video. For longer videos, I show the whole thing during step 1, but only an excerpt for steps 2 and 3. Here’s how it works.

1. Show the video. While students watch, they write down things they see. They only write down what they can directly observe. For example, “I see people with smiles on their faces” rather than “I see happy people.”

2. Show the video again. This time, students write down what they think about what they’ve observed. For example, “I think the people performing are happy.”

3. Show the video a third time, and this time, students write down what they wonder. For example, “I wonder how long it took them to learn this song.”

This routine is a great way to promote thoughtful engagement and I highly recommend it. It’s been cool to watch my students progress from “I wonder how long it took them to learn this song” to “I wonder how they decided who would play their solo first.”  It’s textbook arts integration (literally) and can be applied to almost any subject, arts or academic. Let me know if you try it, and happy teaching

Activity: Using poems to teach pulse, the middle and high school version

Using poems to build rhythm skills is good for students of all ages! Last time, I shared a (fairly silly) poem I use with younger students and young-at-heart adults. For middle and high-school age students, I’ve used the first three stanzas of “Caged Bird” (aka “I know why the caged bird sings”) by Maya Angelou. This moving work has a strong pulse, was written by an important Black American author, poet, and civil rights activist, and powerfully conveys the despair and rage of the “caged bird.”  If you’re working in an arts integration environment, it connects seamlessly with English/Language Arts (ELA), US history, and social justice topics. This entire activity works well in person and over Zoom. 

Start by spending an entire class session (45-50 minutes) on the poem. Put it up on a smartboard or shared screen and have students take turns reading it aloud, stanza by stanza. Next, put students into small groups to discuss the meaning of the poem. (Hint: it’s not actually about birds. There are good resources online that dive into the meaning; Google is your friend if you’re not familiar with this work or need ideas for discussion questions.) After 5-10 minutes in small groups, bring everyone back together to share out.  

In your next class, go into the music of the poem. First, read it aloud while tapping the pulse on your body. Next, have students say the poem aloud with you while tapping the pulse on their bodies. Do this several times until they have it. Finally, put them in groups of 2-3 to explore saying the poem while playing the pulse on body percussion, taiko, classroom instruments, or whatever they have access to. If time allows, have a few groups demonstrate their work.

You can do this in person or in a Zoom class using breakout rooms and bringing everyone back together for the share out. You will probably need to practice reading the poem aloud and emphasizing pulse without making it sound like a nursery rhyme. This is time well spent. I’d love to hear about it if you try this in your classes, and any adaptations you make! Until then, happy teaching.

Practicing Kuchishoka: Kuchishoka Cards

When they’re first learning, students need steady practice with kuchishoka to build fluency. The more fun that practice is, the more likely they are to fully engage with it, which results in better understanding, which makes the practice more fun, making them more likely to engage fully, which results in better understanding, which makes it more fun, making them more likely to engage...you get the idea.

My wonderful life and business partner Kristin helped me create this set of kuchishoka cards, and below are 2 games that use the cards. The cards incorporate western notation and Japanese lettering, allowing for easy and natural connections to general music classes and lessons on Japanese language and culture. There are lots of ways to use these in support of your state and national standards while also building skills for taiko.

Students love these games! They’re good for kids ages 7 and up - even adults get into them. Download and print the deck and try these out. The composition extension is a fun challenge for more advanced students. Good luck, and let me know how it goes!

Kuchishoka Karuta

I first encountered Karuta in my Japanese language classes, where teachers used it as a way of practicing hiragana and katakana. For Kuchishoka Karuta, the teacher breaks students into groups of 2-3 and gives each group one set of kuchishoka cards. Students sit on the floor and spread the full deck of cards face up on the floor in between them. The teacher plays a single note and students look for the card with that note. When they find it, they slap it. Whoever slaps it first gets to keep it.

For example, if you play don, students search for a don card. When they find one, they slap their hand down on it. The deck has multiples of each card, so it’s possible for everyone playing to wind up with a card. You can make it harder by removing duplicates, or make the game last longer by giving each group two sets of cards.

Continue until all cards have been picked up.

Composition Extension: Guide students in creating a short pattern using the cards they won during the game. Have students rotate to other groups and try playing the patterns other students created. If time allows, have the class work together to put all patterns together into a song.

Kuchishoka Go Fish

Just like regular Go Fish, the goal is to make a book (a complete set) of a type of note (i.e., all of the don, all of the doko, etc.)

Divide students into pairs and give each pair a deck of kuchishoka cards. Students deal out 2 hands of 7 cards each, with the remaining cards going face down in a pile in the middle. Students play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who goes first.

The first student plays a note on their drum of a card they’re seeking. They must have at least one of that type of card in their hand to ask for it. For example, if Michelle has two don and wants to know if her partner Mia has any, she plays a don on her drum. If Mia has any don cards, she gives those cards to Michelle. If Mia doesn’t have any don, she says “Go fish!” and Michelle draws the top card from the pile. If she draws a “don,” she gets to go again. If she doesn’t, it becomes Mia’s turn to ask.

Once a student has collected all of the cards of one type, they put those cards together in a small pile face up in front of them.

The game continues until all cards have been collected into books.

You can play the game in groups of 3 as well; in that case, only deal out 4 cards to each student.

Links

Kuchishoka Cards (PDF)

Want to discuss how to incorporate these in your classroom or integrate lessons with your state/national standards? I can help! Email me to set up a video or in-person session.

Interested in ordering the fancy version of Kuchishoka Cards (seen in the picture with this post) for yourself or your classroom? They’re available at our South Bay Beat Institute Store.