Taiko Drumming for years 5 & 6 – The biggest drums ever!

By Lauren & Emily

On Friday 13^th July 2012 year 5 & 6 were able to drum, drum, drum!

First we had to warm up, which was painful because we had to do circles with our arms out 30 times.  Then we had to go and get our drumsticks which were like claves but twice the size in length and thickness.  We were really eager to get started and we got to choose our own drum.  There were 14 drums, four were tin barrel and we had three massive drums (Chinese dragon drums), then five little drums and two cylinder type drums.

We had to learn a routine, “Always start with your right hand” said our teacher Miss West.  The routines were compelling and could be heard right across the school.

“The feeling of the air moving as you entered the school hall was incredible, and it made my kidneys rattle!” said Mr Rundle, a year 3 teacher who regretted taking a short cut through the hall.

We also learnt about Kodo which is a Japanese drumming band (see link) and they are a group of university aged young men who have to train for 8 hours each day and start at 4.50am each day and have to do a 10km run in under 2 hours, then come back to scrub the floors whilst balancing on one leg.  In addition they have to lay on their backs to play the drums too.  Incredible!  Some of the boys were put off by this as a career ambition.

Thank you very much to Mrs Wright for organising this for us – it was awesome!