Activity: Pop Tarts Ducky Face (Nonsense song)

Nonsense songs are a great way to introduce the concept of syllables corresponding to rhythms, the way they do with kuchishoka. We’ve created several for our kid’s Taiko Zooms, and my favorite is Pop Tarts Ducky Face. It’s good for ages 4 - 8(ish), depending on how you use it. It’s written out here in kuchishoka and western notation, and I demonstrate it twice in the video. First, I show how it works on drums, then I show one way it can be done with body percussion if you and/or your students can’t access instruments. 

To introduce this to 4-6 year olds, the script goes something like this:

Now we’re going to learn a fun new song! Everybody listen. (Do the song) Ok, that was it. Listen again, and pay attention to what I do with my bachi and hands when I say Quack. (Do the song) Did you notice? This next time, do that movement with me. (Do the song, kids copy your movement) Great job! Now, this next time, do that movement with me and say Quack when I say it. (Do the song) Way to go! Okay - this last time, do the Quack with me and also do the Boom! (Do the song) Nice work everybody!

This takes about 2 minutes, which is an attention-span friendly amount of time for these ages. Next class, do it again, and encourage kids to play or clap along, or to say more of the words. You can come back to it for many classes, building on it each time, but don’t spend more than a couple of minutes on it in a class. 

With kids age 7-8, you can spend 5-10 minutes on an activity before it’s time to move on; your first step is to demo the whole thing, then follow the “First me/Now you” method to teach it. Once students have it, play it all together a few times. You can have them rotate between drums in between repetitions if they need more challenge. With especially advanced groups, teach them the body percussion version, and then have them build their own body percussion phrases to go along with the words. 

Kids LOVE this activity, and it works in both virtual and in-person classes. Let me know if you try it - I’d especially love to hear about any modifications you make! - and happy teaching!

Activity: Body percussion: Hand Warmer, Taiko Player, Heart Warmer

Body percussion is a great way to help students maintain rhythm chops in your #taikozoom classes (as many of us have figured out!). This original (?) percussion style exists in folk traditions all over the world: palmas in flamenco, step in American Black culture, folks traditions in south Africa...the list goes on and on. If you want to take a deep dive into your own body percussion training, Antwan Davis is an Oakland-based body percussionist and stepper who has some fun videos on YouTube.

You can do more with body percussion than play your existing rep and drills! Kristin has created a rep of body percussion phrases of various difficulty levels for our classes. Here are 3 that are beginner-friendly and the way we’ve introduced and used them:

1. Show the phrase name and beats written down on a piece of paper.

2. Hold that paper up to your webcam and give students a moment to read it. (Your visual learners need this.) For example, we notate Hand Warmer as “slide snapsnap.”

3. Demo the full phrase 1-2 times SLOWLY, saying whatever you wrote on the paper.

4. Invite students to join you. 

When you’ve introduced more than one phrase, link them together. For example, Hand Warmer and Taiko Player both fit in the ma (rests) in Heart Warmer. For an extra challenge, add stepping on the beats. (We demo both of those in the video, follow the links in the previous sentence to see.) If you’re lucky enough to be sheltering in place with you co-teacher, you can each choose one pattern and do it several times in a row and have the students choose which of you to follow.

 As the pandemic continues, we hope you’re all doing okay. We’re grateful so many of you are attending our Taiko Zooms - it keeps us connected to our artform and artistic community. If you’re feeling isolated or missing taiko, please join us! If your schedule doesn’t allow you to attend, but you want to build and practice songs and skills, kaDon is an AMAZING resource and you should check them out.

Happy Zooming!

The Critical First Day: Taiko Fundamentals Gr 4-5

With older students, the taiko fundamental I start with is staying together as an ensemble on a shared pulse. Again, it’s easier to scaffold this using voices and bodies before drums. Two music vocabulary words come up in this activity: ostinato (a repeating pattern) and polyrhythm (combining two or more different rhythms simultaneously).

My current 4/5 residency is 8 weeks of 30 minute classes - only 4 hours of instructional time! - so I move through things FAST. Here’s what I did on the first day to get them started on this skill:

1. Have students clap and sing the alphabet with you. Clap on every syllable.

2. Clap without singing.

3. Teach the ostinato.

4. Define ostinato.

5. Split them into two groups and have each group do one of the parts.

6. Define polyrhythm.

The students in the video speed up, which is pretty normal. In the second class, we return to this activity and I add a straight beat jiuchi to help them keep a steady tempo. The week after that, students translate the beats to drums. They play “don” instead of clapping the alphabet and the ostinato becomes “don don ka su.” Students learn kuchishoka in Week 4,  use the kuchishoka deck to create solos or duets (their choice) in Week 5, learn a song structure in Week 6 and voilà- a polyrhythmic taiko song with solos, all from the clapping alphabet! I first got this activity from my Orff training and have adapted it over the years.

Questions? Hit me up. Until next time, happy teaching!