Chickering Elementary Students Bang The Drums

For the fifth graders at the Chickering Elementary School this morning was all about making as much noise as possible.

Over 100 students gathered in the gymnasium Monday morning for a performance that featured students playing Japanese Taiko drums.

“This is the first time it’s ever been done in the school and I think a lot of kids were very nervous. But given that most of what you heard today was their own composition; it’s what fifth grade compositions do. So I’m very pleased actually,” said Ida Pappas General Music and Chorus Director at the Chickering School. “Very brave souls,” she said.

The music department was looking for a way to incorporate Japanese culture into their curriculum.

“As a music department Dover-Sherborn K-12 we had talked in the summer about having a unit on Japanese music and quite honestly this is the only Japanese music that I had experienced and I really thought it would speak to fifth graders as something that they could do with great depth and there were opportunities for them to do their own composition,” Pappas said.

The students played on 22 drums made out of 55 gallon and 65 gallon barrels, buckets and other supplies. 

“I made them by myself. That was what I did instead of enjoying my Thanksgiving dinner. I was outside trying to figure out how I was going to cut them with a saws-all,” Pappas said.

The kids played in a gym packed with parents, teachers, and other students. Each fifth grade class had their own performance with the drums.