Help Special Need Kids/Siblings Learn From Groups

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Totally blind student learns taiko drums

-The warm applause from the audience encourages him

          Brother Chen is a totally blind student with  autistic spectrum disorder(ASD). His life is filled with many different sounds, and he was so curious about each sound; he likes the pots, pans, furniture, walls, etc. and he uses his hands to explore by knocking them all the time. The sound of ding-ding-dong-dong he knocked sound quite rhythmic. Although Brother Chen has learned piano, playing and percussion are quite different. So we went try taiko drums.

          The first time I played taiko drums, I thought it would be easy-just

      followed the teacher's drumming After that, I found that it was different from what I thought. In addition to drum music and rhythm, playing taiko drums requires the coordination of body, all muscles, and limbs. Brother Chen has low muscle tone in his lower limbs since he was a child, and lacked core muscle strength. Therefore, when there were squatting movements required during warm-up exercises, he would hunch over and lean forward, unable to squat. His legs would feel weak and trembling. I told him: "Don't be afraid, mom is behind you, you should squat as low as possible." After a long period of practice, his posture has improved and his spine can be straighter when squatting now.

          Of course, to play taiko drums, you need to know what the instrument looks like. Brother Chen touches it with his hands and figure out the barrel-shaped drumthe drum is flat in the middle and is surrounded by the rim, the drum stand, and the drum sticks. The teacher told us how to hold the drum sticks, leaving a small section at the end, but how long is the small section? So I put a circle of tape on the drum sticks as a positioning point. He held the drum sticks at the right position by touching the tape marks.

         When playing the drum, Brother Chen heard only the sound “dong”and "ka". How he differentiated right hand or left hand first? Or both hands together? He also couldn’t tell either crossed hands or lift up? Full of questions. I was Brother Chen's eyes at this time. I helped him “see” the teacher's posture, and I held his hands to play along with the drums.

     Next, when playing taiko drums, one should be concentrated. If you are not focused enough, you will not be able to follow the teacher’s beating. I used to recite the chant near his ear to increase his familiarity and memory of the drum music.

          Now Brother Chen taking taiko drum lessons, I stand next to him as his eyes, paying attention to the changes in the teacher's instructions, and he gradually adapts and follows everyone's pace. When warming up and playing the drums, he could confirm the drum position with his hands, and listen to the sonorous and powerful drum beats with his ears. He listened intently to sway his body following the drum music rhythmically and enjoys with it completely.

          Brother Chen could remember the drum music after practicing over and over again. Since his hearing is extremely sensitive, when I guided the wrong way, he will say: "Wrong." ah! I'm sorry, kid, but I'm very happy that you realized what was wrong. So when the teacher teaches new tunes. I only need to help him a few times to let him knows the sequence and structure, then he could do it by himself.

          Brother Chen likes to participate in performances. As long as there is an opportunity to go on stage, it will definitely encourage him to practice harder. Public display allows children to accumulate experience, and on the other hand, it gives the children a stage. The applause from the audience are the biggest power for Brother Chen to persist learning.

                                  1121117 Chen’s Mom

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