Activity: Mix it Up!

Whatever ages you’re teaching, you can help your students build confidence with creating rhythms if you scaffold well. I wrote the short poem “My Taiko Teacher” to help the students practice pulse in a 4th/5th grade virtual program I just finished. (The students LOVED the poem - never underestimate the power of making fun of yourself!)

The poem works great for practicing pulse. You can also use it in the following activity to help students take the first steps in creating their own rhythm patterns:

• Provide this link to your students (I put it in the chat for my virtual program; if you’re working in person, work with the classroom teacher to see how students can access a computer during your class. Alternately, you could ask the classroom teacher to have students print the slide out and bring it to class with you, and then change beats with markers.)

  • This is a “Make a Copy” link that will prompt students to each make their own copy of the slide that they can then work with. If you’re not familiar with this technique, I highly recommend Katie Wardrobe’s webinar Google Slides for Music Teachers. Actually, I highly recommend Katie Wardrobe, period. I’ve learned SO MUCH listening to her.

• If your students aren’t familiar with Google Slides, share your screen and show them how to click inside the green boxes and edit the text.

  • For my residency, I didn’t cover ka and kara because the students were all using rolled up towels as their playing surface . This is great for lowering barriers to participation, but not great for ka and kara.

• Give them a few seconds to change a note, and then have everyone play. If you’ve covered the idea of playing with a jiuchi, then play a ji, but if you haven’t, then play the poem with them without any changes. 

• Go through this process several more times until they’ve changed 4-8 of the notes.

You probably noticed that the poem makes liberal use of pickup beats. If your students are more advanced, point that out and talk about it. If they aren’t, then just tell them there’s a reason that “My” and “I” are in parentheses and leave it at that. Of course, explain if they ask, but my students didn’t.

Let me know if you try this with any of your students and how it goes. Happy teaching!

Activity: Fast Find!

Sometimes you need a quick activity to refocus a group, or to build a sense of fun into a new class. This simple activity for kids and playful adults works well on Zoom; I’ve never tried it in a live class (we created it for our virtual classes) but I’m pretty sure it will work there, too. It supports some skill development (focus and beat internalization) but mostly, it’s fun and active and helps students build a playful frame of mind, which is great for learning. And sometimes you just need a brain break!

Click to watch a demo of Fast Find!

This video shows us doing Fast Find! in one of our recent Kids Taiko Zooms. Start by playing 8 don in unison with the class. Rather than saying the kuchishoka, count the don (say “1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8” rather than “don don don don don don don don”). Play this count several times in a row until everyone has internalized the pulse. (I only do this once in the video because we’ve played the game before, so we only needed a quick review before jumping in.)  Next comes the game. First, say an object (a window, a door, something soft, etc.) then count everyone in. Students play the first note with you. During 2-7 YOU keep playing, saying the numbers out loud, and the students have to find and touch whatever object you’ve named. Their goal is to get back to their drums in time to play the 8th and final don with you. Since Kristin and I teach our online classes together, she plays the game with the students so they have an example to follow.

We usually play 4-5 rounds in our classes. It always gets energy up and puts a smile on people’s faces, which is no small thing in Month 11 of a global pandemic. If you have a particularly genki class, you’ll want to remind them that safety is more important than making getting back to their drums by the 8th don. 

Let me know if you try this game! I’d especially love to hear if you try it in an in-person class. Happy teaching!

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!

Teaching over Zoom: camera angles

Front cam

A teacher should make it as easy as possible for their students to learn. This can be tricky in Zoom classes. Chances are your students have a mix of visual processing styles, and you can (and should!) set them up for success by using multiple camera views. Kristin and I use a front cam and a sky cam in our Zoom classes, and recently added a foot cam as well. 

Sky cam

You don’t have to shell out for new webcams to do this. If you host your class meetings on a laptop, use the embedded webcam as your front cam, and your phone as your skycam. (Assuming you have a phone with a camera and wifi.) You’ll need to do a little creative problem solving to set up your skycam, but we’re teaching artists, we eat creative problem solving for breakfast! Kristin and I set ours up  by mounting a tripod cell phone attachment to a lamp extension arm, and then hooking that up to the top of a heavy percussion stand. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked!

Once the phone is in place, you’ll host the meeting on your laptop, and also call in as a participant with the cell phone. When you want to use the skycam, turn off your computer video and sound, mute your computer, unmute the phone, turn on the phone video, and spotlight the phone. Reverse these steps to switch back to the front cam. Leave the phone muted with video off unless you’re sky cam-ing. VERY IMPORTANT: You need to plug headphones into the phone to avoid the echo/feedback issue you get when two devices in the same room are on the same Zoom call.  

If you have some money to invest, buy a webcam and some USB extension cables. Then, put your webcam in your skycam mount and use the cables to connect it to the hosting computer. It’s much easier to switch between cameras when they’re both plugged into the same device (there’s even a keyboard shortcut to do this in Zoom) and you don’t have to do all that unmute/mute business.

Foot cam

We’ve found that people LOVE the sky cam, particularly when we’re introducing new drills and songs. Just this week we added a foot cam for our naname class. This view shows the teacher from chest down, providing a visual reference for foot placement, leg engagement, and koshi integration. I highly recommend adding this view if you’re focusing on kata or introducing a style people aren’t very familiar with.

Drop me a line if you have questions or want to talk through using multiple camera angles in your classes. 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.

Taiko education as a tool for equity

As taiko players and teachers, we know how profoundly the art form changes people. The personal power, pride, and inner strength that can be found through taiko can fundamentally shift a life path. (I believe this is true of any arts education, but I'm a taiko person, so my focus is there.) 

But have you ever thought about WHO is benefitting from this opportunity for transformation? Overwhelmingly, it’s people with the money to pay for classes, or students who attend schools that can pay for a residency. This perpetuates systems of inequity present throughout the US. I challenge all of us to take a look at who can access our programs. Yes, we all need to make a living - but have you looked at how you might be able to bring in the same revenue by offering your classes on a sliding scale? Have you worked with under-resourced schools to help them obtain grant funding to bring in your program? Do you offer reduced residency rates for Title I schools? (A Title I school is one where 40% or more of the student body qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch.) 

If you’re able to answer yes to any of those questions, take your examination deeper. Do your lessons encourage students to explore and discover, or do they hold you up as the gateway to  specialized knowledge? Do you equip your students to investigate on their own, or do you mold your students to become your disciples? These questions reflect radically different attitudes towards teaching, and the difference between them is the difference between transforming a student life or replicating systems of oppression. 

Taiko education, done well, holds a key to changing our world for the better. Like-minded folks in the taikosphere, please contact me if you want to talk more about this. Let’s be the small, thoughtful group.

Kuchishoka Tool: Taiko Tiles

Most beginners age 12 and up quickly grasp kuchishoka. Grasping is step one; building fluency comes next. Along with the kuchishoka deck, I use Taiko Tiles to support that development. (Here’s the post on my kuchishoka deck and how to use it in the classroom.)

Both of these instructional aids are a huge help to visual learners. The western notation supports students familiar with that system and introduces it to kids who aren’t familiar with it. Having students arrange short patterns with the Tiles and post them on the board for everyone to play is a low-risk introduction to composition. If you’re following my preferred method for teaching new songs, the Taiko Tiles can be a Step 6 (posting them to reinforce what students just learned).  

Here’s a pdf of a basic Tile set. I print them out on colored paper, putting note families on similar colors (don and doko on dark blue and light blue paper, for example) and have them laminated for durability. Masking tape works great for posting, and if you laminate them, they’ll last for several years. (Most print shops can laminate, if you don’t have access to a laminator.)

If you use this resource, let me know! I first worked with these in Tucson, and Kristin and I have fine-honed them in the last few years. I’d love to hear about any further adaptations people come up with. Happy teaching!

Building Blocks for Improvisation: Call and Answer

Improvisation is a skill that can be scaffolded and taught. (Here’s a great explanation of what scaffolding means in education, for anyone not familiar with the term.) Call and Answer exercises are an excellent way to build this skill. They also build beat vocabulary, form and strike fundamentals, and a student’s musical ear. 

Start off call and answer by playing simple 4-beat phrases and having students echo you. Start with simple phrases, without much ma or syncopation, and gradually work up to more challenging phrases. If you have a small group and/or are working with adults, do this with the drums in a circle, but keep the drums in rows for groups larger than 12 or for kids under 15. Keep this up for a few minutes; it will be engaging to students longer than it’s engaging to you. 

Next, pair students up, and have them choose someone to be A (the other person is B). Count everybody in; all As play a 4-beat phrase at the same time, and all Bs answer at the same time. Give them a “So-re” to reset and then all Bs play a phrase at the same time and all As answer at the same time. Do several rounds of this. If they get good at it, take out the “So-re” and just have them trade call and answer patterns continuously.

This gets tricky, because students really have to focus to hear the pattern their partner is playing. The advantage is that everyone is playing at the same time, so students feel quite safe in playing an improvised 4 beat pattern.

Finally, go back to large group call and answer, but this time, have students call instead of you. One student calls, everyone answers; the next student calls, everyone answers; and so on. If you have a small group and/or adults, do this in a circle. If you’re working with a group that doesn’t do well in a circle, keep them in rows and pass the call up and down the rows.

You can do these exercises in a row, or one each class, or repeat them all regularly. If you use them, let me know. Happy teaching!

Taiko Camp Part 3: Tanko Bushi & Putting it all together

Having a unifying concept makes an educational program cohesive. For my taiko camp, I chose Obon as the unifying concept because of the time of year (summer camp, summer festival), the ties between obon and taiko, and the cultural significance of the holiday both in Japan and in Japanese American communities in the US. 

That unifying concept pulled together learning taiko, making a papier-maché chochin, learning Tanko Bushi, and holding a mini-Obon on the final day. If you don’t know Tanko Bushi, a Google search will yield thousands of videos from which you can learn it. You should know the context of the song/dance before teaching it, and the Wikipedia entry on Tanko Bushi is pretty comprehensive. The best part about this dance is that it’s simple, so kids can easily build enough mastery to teach the dance at their mini-Obon, giving them a strong sense of accomplishment and pride. 

My Taiko Camp: Full Curriculum lays out exactly how I fit the Chochin, Matsuri, and Tanko Bushi activities together day-by-day. It’s a step-by-step guide to leading your first taiko camp. If you use it, I’d love to hear about it. Happy teaching camping!

Taiko Camp Part 2: Teaching a Song

It wouldn’t be a taiko camp if the kids didn’t play taiko! I recommend teaching a song that combines unison playing with soloing so students get to experience both of these elements of our art form.

In my most recent camp, I taught Matsuri, arranged to include short duets the kids wrote themselves. I broke the process down over the 5 days of camp as outlined here. By the last day the kids were ready to perform the song for their mini-obon.

Happy teaching camping!

Landing your first residency

In-school residencies can be a welcome source of revenue for a group or an individual teaching artist. Like any line of work, it can be hard to break into, but once you do, it becomes easier to get more of it. Here are some tips:

1. Develop a one-pager.

   This doc should explain how your program will benefit the students and the school receiving the residency. Keep it to one page and make sure there’s lots of “air” on the page. Bulleted lists and 2-3 paragraphs with spaces in between them are good; a solid wall of text is not. The Americans for the Arts has a TON of research on the benefits of arts education and is a good starting point. This one-pager should guide the conversation in meetings with teachers and principals, and you should leave a copy with them at the end of the meeting.

2. Leverage your existing network.

   When I was a taiko newbie, my group performed at an elementary school where a member’s granddaughter was a student. Her teacher LOVED the performance. The following year, I approached that teacher about a residency and she was immediately an advocate. She convinced the rest of the teachers at her grade level and the principal, and we did a residency there the following year.

   I landed my first residency after moving to the Bay Area when a taiko friend mentioned that another friend had just passed on a residency. The first friend connected me with the person booking the residency and they booked me right away because I came to them through a recommendation.

   The lesson here: be social. Make friends. Hang out with them. Go to events. Let people in your orbit know you’re looking for residency work.

3. Find your own funding.

   Schools rarely have the money to fully fund an artist-in-residence program. Many states have a statewide arts agency that offers partial grants to help cover the cost, but schools don’t always know about this resource. Do your research beforehand, and bring at least one grant opportunity to the school to help cover your fee. Some states require that the school be the applicant, so it’s very helpful to the school if you can provide grant language they’ll need to put together a proposal.

4. Residencies attract more residencies.

   Just like performances attract more performances, completing even one successful residency is a strong indicator that more will come your way. Kids talk to parents, parents talk to neighbors and co-workers, teachers talk to peers at other schools. This word of mouth is likely to bring you more work.

Don’t give up if it takes months or even a year or two to land your first residency - more will almost certainly follow. Of course, the stronger your program, the easier it will be to find additional work. I can help - contact me for support in creating a great in-school residency. Happy teaching!

Questions a taiko teacher should ask

If you’ll be teaching more than one session in a school, you’ll probably have a planning meeting with the teachers you’ll be working with. The principal may attend too. Below are 11 questions you should definitely ask. These aren’t necessarily in order of importance, so ask them all! The answers will help you successfully launch your classes.

1. How big is the room where I’ll be teaching? What else is this room used for?

You want to make sure they’re not putting you in an unused classroom that’s full of desks. If it’s a room that’s used for other activities, you want to make sure your drums will be safe when you’re not there. Ask if you can see the room after the meeting ends.

2. Are there any adjacent classrooms?

If a school plans to put you in a room with an adjacent classroom, make sure they understand how loud taiko can be.

3. Is there secure storage? Can I see it?

Note, secure doesn’t HAVE to mean locked. In many schools, the stage in the cafeteria is a very low-traffic area and a safe place to store drums.

4. What time does the school day start and end?

Most school parking lots are bedlam during drop-off and pick-up (about 10 minutes before and after beginning and end of the school day). Do yourself a favor by avoiding these times.

5. Are there English Language Learners in the classes?

As taiko teachers, we’re lucky that kids can succeed in our classes without understanding every single word we say. Still, I find it’s helpful to know if there are a lot of ELL students so I can be sure to physically demonstrate a lot and talk as little as possible.

6. Are there special needs students in the classes? If so, what accommodations do they need?

Make sure you can provide these accommodations and be up front if you can’t. It’s a good idea for students with sound sensitivities to wear their headphones to class.

7. How many students are there in each class?

I’ve had 23-32 students in a class, which translates to enormously different equipment and space needs.

8. How much in-school music instruction have the students had before now?

I’ve had answers ranging from “none” to “multiple years,” which greatly affects my lesson planning.

9. Will the classroom teachers be staying in the room with me and their students? If so, will they be participating?

If you’re not certified, the classroom teacher will usually stay in the room with you, but not always. Even if they stay in the room, they may take advantage of the opportunity to catch up with grading or other tasks. It’s important to know the school’s expectation is of their teachers.

10. Are any of the following scheduled during the residency: fire drills, field trips, assemblies, or other special programs that might affect the schedule?

Schools schedule these kinds of things months in advance, but often don’t think to mention them to a teaching artist. It’s up to you to ask!

11. Do you have a method you use in your classroom for student participation or behavior?

Some teachers use popsicle sticks with student names on them to promote participation, or marbles in a jar as a behavior incentive, or other classroom management techniques. It’s useful to know these beforehand so you can fold them into your classroom management. (See this post for more detail.)

If you have questions or need advice on planning a successful taiko education program, drop me a line. I can help. Happy teaching!

Introducing a jiuchi: 4th and 5th grade

The hardest part about teaching by yourself is holding the jiuchi. If you play it, students will try to copy you; if you don’t play it, then the group as a whole will have trouble staying on the same pulse.

Below is my method for introducing a jiuchi to 4th and 5th graders (here’s the post about doing this with younger students). The alphabet/ostinato activity is from my original Orff training, and I developed the taiko extension.

This activity takes 20-30 minutes, longer if you have to do Step 9. The three parts are written out here for reference.

1. Teach the alphabet body percussion exercise described here.

2. Point out that you have two elements going: a melody and an ostinato.
   NOTE: “melody” isn’t exactly the right word, since clapping isn’t pitched, but it’s close, and it’s a word they’re likely to recognize, so I go with it.

3. Have students do the alphabet body percussion with the ostinato again.

4. There is a 99.9999% chance that they will speed up. Point out that they did. (If they didn’t, congratulate them on that, and say that groups usually do.)

5. Define tempo. Discuss how faster isn’t always better, and that what you’re usually going for in music is a steady tempo and a shared pulse.

6. Explain that in taiko, we use a jiuchi to help keep a steady tempo and shared pulse and that this rhythm pattern usually happens on a shime.

7. Demonstrate the pulse for the body percussion exercise they just did.

8. Have them do the exercise again using body percussion while you play a jiuchi on a shime.

9. If students haven’t yet played drums in your class yet, spend some time describing how to play the drum safely, respectfully, and musically.

10. Have students transfer the body percussion to the drums as outlined in the pdf.

In my experience most 4th and 5th graders do well with this method. A few get confused, but they usually figure it out by watching their classmates. Notice, there’s more talking/explaining with students this age than with younger kids.

Let me know if you try this method and how it works for you. Happy teaching!

Introducing a jiuchi: K-3

A big challenge when teaching by yourself is the jiuchi. If you play it, many students will copy you rather than playing their part; if you don’t play it, then the group as a whole will have trouble staying on the same pulse.

I’ve developed two methods for introducing the jiuchi, teaching students how to pay attention to it without copying it exactly. The method varies from K-3 to 4th/5th; here’s how I do it with the little ones.

1. Introduce a Play 4 Step 4 pattern.

2. Gradually build in more Play 4 Step 4 patterns until they can do 4-5 in a row.

3. Have them to do Play 4 Step 4 the whole way around (i.e., each student plays every drum and winds up back at their original drum).

4. Introduce bachi (covered in a later post).

5. Repeat steps 1-3 with bachi.

6. Gradually introduce jiuchi.

Basically, I play in unison with them for several rounds of a simple pattern they’re comfortable with, and then phase in the jiuchi. When they stop, I ask them if I was playing the same thing as them the whole time. Most of them have noticed that I wasn’t (but stayed with their pattern even when I switched).

This takes place in Week 2, and I return to it in Week 4. With those two introductions, students usually have the understanding they need to listen to and be on beat with the jiuchi without copying it exactly.

Send me an email if you have questions, and happy teaching!

The Critical First Day: Taiko Fundamentals Gr 1-3

The first taiko fundamental I address is an awareness of pulse and the ability to play from that awareness. This skill (also known as a sense of rhythm) CAN be taught! I’ve found it works best when you scaffold it using voices and bodies before using drums, no matter what age you’re working with. The ability to follow a pulse is woven throughout most Music Ed standards, so spending time on it is a great way to teach taiko and helps kids meet state standards.

To build this skill in 1st-3rd grade, I echo teach a simple introduction chant that includes an experiential understanding of pulse. The steps are below and illustrated in the video. The whole thing takes 10-20 minutes, depending on how many kids get a turn in Step 5.

1. Preview the full chant while finger tapping on the pulse.

2. Echo teach the chant. Keep the finger taps.

3. Demonstrate call and answer at the end of the chant.

4. Choose a few kids to do their name as a call and answer at the end of the chant.

5. Have as many kids do this as time allows.

6. Explain how the finger taps show pulse, and how tapping pulse isn’t the same as tapping every note. (NOTE: the audio quality on the video drops here - my mic died - so you might have to turn it up to hear me.)

Since the kids are copying me exactly while I teach the chant, they’re showing the pulse with finger taps the whole time. With this experiential understanding, they’re ready for the term “pulse” when I cover it in Step 6. That, by the way, is an essential element of the Orff method: build experiential understanding before introducing terminology.

This great activity is from my original Orff training and I’ve used it for years. It’s written out here in western notation. Along with experiential understanding of pulse, it also addresses foundational skills for improvisation and call and answer. Lastly, it helps kids practice copying, which is a key skill in my classes for this age.

Students won’t build a perfect understanding of pulse this first day. Include some pulse practice in every session, though, and they’ll really be getting it by the end of your classes.

Questions? Let me know! Until next time, happy teaching!

The Critical First Day: Establishing Expectations, Pt 2.

One size does not fit all! You can't treat 4th and 5th graders the same way you treat K-3 students. This post continues the discussion I started last week on setting your students (and yourself) up for a successful residency.

With 5th graders, I ask them about their classroom or school rules, and then say that those rules apply in the taiko classroom too. The video on the right shows me holding this conversation with a 5th grade class I started working with recently. Bonus, it also includes the system I use for randomly selecting kids to participate. More detail in a future post, but it’s much more effective than asking for volunteers to answer questions! (4th and 5th graders tend to know what number they are in their classroom.)

For consequences in 5th grade, I just calmly name rule breaking if I see it. (“You’re talking to your neighbor while I’m talking. That’s disrespectful.”) I’ve had good luck with students changing behavior when I do that. Mind you, they’re not happy for a few minutes, but they almost always come around and act more appropriately in the future. This doesn’t require any particular introduction on the First Day, just do it when it happens. Take note: you erode student confidence and trust in you if you show frustration at moments like this, so work on your poker face.

With unruly classes, I’ll use a Check/X system to give them a visual reference for how they’re doing. They get a green check on the board when they’re meeting behavioral expectations, and a red X when they don’t. It’s basically the same as the happy face/sad face system I use with K-3, but adapted for older kids.

Fourth grade is a wild card. Less mature classes thrive under the chant/happy/sad face system, and more mature classes will roll their eyes at it. I usually start with the 5th grade strategy in 4th grade. If that doesn’t work, I switch to to the K-3 strategy.

Middle school is an entirely different ball game. Email me if you teach middle school and want some tips. Until then, happy teaching!

The Critical First Day: Establishing Expectations

I started two residencies this week, and it reminded me how “make or break” the First Day is. A good First Day lays the foundation for a successful residency; a bad one truly sets you back. In honor of my newest residencies, I’m starting a series of posts about building a First Day that will set you up for a successful taiko class.

Three critical things happen on the first day. This post talks about #1: the students learn your behavioral expectations. I talk about K-3 strategies here and will talk about higher grades next time.

The winning strategy with all grades is to set clear expectations and be consistent and immediate with consequences AND with reinforcement when kids do well. With K-3 students, I teach a rules chant on the first day. The video shows me introducing these rules as a chant to a new 2nd grade class.  

(Note, these rules work for me, but if they don’t feel like a fit for you, Google “music classroom rules” for literally thousands of examples.)

I introduce the chant on the First Day, and then it becomes our focusing activity for the rest of the residency. At my schools, students walk from their regular classroom to the room where I’m teaching. Never underestimate how completely a walk across the school campus can derail a kid! They absolutely need an activity like this to focus when they get to you. These kids will say the chant every week at the beginning of class, and they’ll have it perfect by Week 4.

Rules aren’t effective unless there’s a consequence for breaking and positive reinforcement for following. For my K-3 classes, I draw a happy face and a sad face on the whiteboard. When the majority of the class follows a rule (i.e., everyone listens the whole time I’m giving directions) I put a check under the happy face. When a rule is broken, I put a check under the sad face. At the end of class, I make a big deal of having the happy face checks cancel out the sad face checks. I introduce this system in the latter part of this video. Kids this age really respond to this approach!

Lots of classroom teachers have some kind of behavior reward system in their classrooms. (For example, they put marbles in jar when the class shows good behavior. When the jar is full, the class gets a pizza party or something). See if the teachers you’re working with have a system like this and if they’re willing to tie behavior in taiko class to their existing system (i.e., they put a marble in the jar if the class has more happy face checks than sad face checks in a day, and take one out if the reverse if true).  

That’s it! Next time I’ll talk about establishing expectations with older students. Although my focus is on in-school taiko programs, this approach can be easily adapted for out-of-school programs. Contact me if you want some suggestions for that. Until then, happy teaching!

Taiko Games: Read My Mind

I first encountered this game in my Orff training and adapted it for taiko. It’s an excellent way to review songs, but can also be adapted to give students low-risk practice in making up 8-beat rhythm patterns. It’s great for students in grades 1-5 (roughly ages 6-11). Adults and playful high schoolers can have fun with it too, but it’s not a good fit for the middle school set (roughly ages 12-14).

The set-up

Choose a piece of a song you’re working on in class, but don’t tell the students what it is. For example, if your students are learning Matsuri, choose a line from that song (i.e., don don don kara ka ka).

Ask the students if any of them can read minds. (A few will raise their hands.) Tell them you’re thinking of a part of a taiko song and you want to see if they can read your mind. For beginning or younger students (1st-3rd grade), tell them which song. For more advanced or older students (4th grade and older), don’t tell them which song. For all ages, DO tell them how many beats long the part is.

How to play

1. Arrange the taiko in a circle so all students can see each other. Include a shime.

2. Teacher begins playing a jiuchi on the shime.The students begin playing phrases, trying to guess what phrase the Teacher is thinking of.

3. When a student plays the phrase the Teacher is thinking of, Teacher says “1 person is reading my mind!”

4. The other students then use deductive reasoning to figure out who’s “reading the Teacher’s mind.”

5. As more and more kids figure out the correct pattern, the Teacher keeps giving updates. “Now 2 people are reading my mind! Now 3!”

The game continues until everyone is “reading the Teacher’s mind.”

Variations

1. Instead of a phrase from a song, think of an original 8-beat rhythm pattern and see if any of the students can figure it out. (Sometimes I start a round with no particular pattern in mind. When a kid plays one I like, I decide that’s the one.)

2. Let a student lead this activity. Advanced/older students can try playing shime while they have their mind read.

3. If your kids need to get some wiggles out, play this as a movement game. You play a song or rhythmically regular pattern on the taiko and think of a SIMPLE movement that could be used to show the pulse of that pattern. (Tapping head, patting knees, jumping jacks, the floss, etc.) The class tries to figure out that movement.

Try this in your class next time you’re working on a new song and the students need a brain break. It gives them a rest AND reinforces the patterns. Happy teaching!

Taiko Games: Taiko Tag

You can never have too many games! They can be a sanity-saving brain break (for students and teacher alike!) in longer classes, and closing class with a game is a great way to reward good behavior.

I found Dance Tag when I was first looking for activities for taiko residencies and adapted it for my classes. I used it for years in Tucson and still use it today. It’s a huge hit with grades 1-4, and students never realize how much they’re reinforcing rhythm and pulse. If you have a mixed age group, older students will enjoy the musician role described under “Adaptations.” Try it in your next class and let me know how it goes!

RULES

1. This is a dancing game, not a running game. If a student runs, they’re out.

2. If a student peeks while the “Its” are being chosen, they’re out.

3. (Optional): If the room you’re playing in is very large, designate a portion of it as out of bounds. If students go out of bounds, they’re out. (For example, if you’re playing on a full-size basketball court, restrict game play to one half of the court or less.)

HOW TO PLAY

1. Have the students stand in a circle. The teacher stands in the middle of the circle.

2. Once students are in a circle, have them turn to face the outside of the circle (so they can’t see the teacher). Then, have them close their eyes and put their hands over their eyes.

3. The teacher chooses two students to be “It” by laying a hand on the chosen student’s shoulders. Only the teacher and these students know who’s been chosen.

4. Once the “It” students have been chosen, the teacher moves outside the circle and tells students to open their eyes and spread out.

5. The teacher begins playing a song on a taiko and students - including those chosen to be “It” - begin dancing to the song. They can move freely around the play space while they dance.

6. Students who are “It” tag classmates while dancing. If a student gets tagged, they’re out, and they go sit down at the edge of the play space.

7. The game continues until 4 students are still dancing - the 2 who were “It” and 2 students who haven’t been tagged. The 2 who weren’t tagged are the winners of that round!

ADAPTATIONS

1. If you have a large group of kids or older students, have some act as musicians, joining the teacher in playing the song.

2. When students get out, have them become musicians, playing taiko, narimono, clicking a pair of bachi, etc.

Another Song for Beginners: Sanae Swing

Many beginning students have trouble feeling a swing jiuchi. This is especially true for new players who don’t have music or dance training before coming to taiko. I created Sanae Swing as an entry-level piece to help these players build facility with swing ji and with creating and playing solos.

Structurally, the song is very simple. It’s just an Intro/Outro pattern, a tag, and places for players to plug in solos (or duets, if they’re not comfortable soloing yet). The kuchishoka deck is a great tool for students who are new to creating solos. I highly recommend printing one (or more) and using it (them)!

The video above shows our community class playing a short arrangement of Sanae Swing. They opted for duets rather than solos and used the kuchishoka decks to create them. The kuchishoka and western notation are here. If you teach this song, please post video and let me know! I’d love to see where people go with it.

Happy teaching!