International Arts Consortium 2001-2

Taiko Drumming with Kim Alessi

In January 2002, Kim Alessi, a member of the performing ensemble Northwest Taiko and music teacher at The Perkins School, presented a month-long residency for all JSIS students in taiko, a Japanese style of drumming. Parents helped prepare for the residency by making sets of bachi (the sticks with which taiko are played), and Kim devised a technique for using plastic tubs of various sizes to substitute for the wooden taiko, which are too expensive for most schools. Different sizes of tubs produced different tones, simulating those produced by the shime (small), jozuke (medium), and odaiko (large) drums, and the larger tubs, garbage-can-sized, could be fit over the backs of chairs in the music room, at the right slant for playing taiko.

Residency activities included a broad introduction to Japanese music, to key cultural and arts vocabulary, and to basic taiko beats. Younger students read the picturebook, The Drums of Noto Hanto, a true story of Japanese villagers who frightened off invaders with their masks and taiko drumming. They also learned the folk songs, OkinaKuri No Ki No Shitade (Under the Big Chestnut Tree) and Musunde, Hiraite (Close it, Open it) with Japanese teacher Mihoko Tsang. Kim demonstrated for students that, as an art form, taiko incorporates martial arts movements as well as music: students learned the drummer's stance, feet wide apart and weight well balanced, and extended their arms to strike the hara (the belly or center of the drum) cleanly and firmly, as they practiced the song, Eisa. Students also learned ki ai, the shouts that taiko drummers use to channel ki (energy), keep time, and encourage each other. With all this ki unleashed, parent and community volunteers played a valuable role, by insuring that bachi were directed toward the drum heads, not toward the eyes or cheeks of fellow students!

Kim also introduced older students to kuchi-showa, the oral, phonetic system used to teach and learn taiko. Students understood the truth of the saying, "If you can say it, you can play it!" Each sound the drums play has a different syllable (DON or KA or TSU, for example): that syllable tells the drummer how to hit the drum (loudly or softly), where to hit the drum (in the center or on the edge or rim), and the timing for each beat.

On the evening of January 29th, the entire JSIS school community gathered to celebrate student learning about Japanese folk arts. Arts Education Advocates (the JSIS parent art volunteers) mounted the paintings and calligraphy that students had produced in their work with residency artist Midori Kono Thiel for a "gallery walk." Younger students presented their songs, and performed, with members of Northwest Taiko, the piece Ii Ja Nai Ka (loosely translated, Don't Worry, Be Happy): the K-1 students used odori (creative movement techniques), while the second and third graders used taiko beats. After a short history and demonstration of taiko techniques, rotating groups of fourth and fifth graders performed Eisa with members of the professional ensemble. Principal Karen Kodama made her debut as a taiko artist; her performance was received with wild enthusiasm. The musical portion of the evening concluded with Northwest Taiko's performance of Hayashi. Fourth and fifth graders then presented stories using kamishibai cards, a storytelling technique they learned in an autumn residency with Cathy Spagnoli.

Thanks to Florence Knowles, JSIS music specialist, who hosted Kim's residency during her instructional time and documented the project, and to classroom volunteers who monitored safety. Thanks also to: JSIS Arts Education Advocates, led by Tami Oki and Jeanne McKinnon, for creating the gallery and publicizing the event; to International Arts Consortium staff representative Nani Castor-Peck for residency scheduling; to Sue Ranney for Website work on behalf of the International Arts Consortium at JSIS. Very special thanks to The Perkins School and its director, Jane Ruidl, who arranged flexible hours for Kim during January, to allow her to present this residency at JSIS. And thanks to members of Northwest Taiko, including Kim Alessi, who worked so flexibly and diligently with JSIS students.

The International Arts Consortium is a partnership of John Stanford International School and Hamilton International Middle School with a variety of arts organizations, individual artists, arts consultants, and community representatives, led by Seattle International Children's Festival. Major funding for the Consortium comes from the Washington State Arts Commission Community Consortia Grant program, with matching funds and services from Seattle International Children's Festival, the PTSAs at JSIS and HIMS, and other grant funding. Funding for the taiko residency supplies came from The Freeman Foundation.

Thanks to Florence Knowles for the pictures on this page.