Kodo : I want to play drum, now!!

I am here on the teacher's, that I am subbing for, chair. Sitting and typing on my laptop. A hand-me-down 6 year old Apple laptop. I am substituting a music teacher. I have limited knowledge on music, but I can rap if I try harder. Does that count?

According to the lesson plan I need to follow is to watch DVD on Kodo: a professional taiko drumming troupe ( There, I did the googling for you). I was warned by the teacher that this class is a tough class.   He was concerned that they'd make fun of the video because the drummers are wearing diaper look alike coverups. So he instructed me to stay on top of my game.

I was nervous. Ain't gonna lie. 8th graders can be tough to deal with. In their minds they are already in high school, but they feel trapped in the middle school. And middle school sucks for them. I don't know why, because middle school was fun for me.

I began the class by asking the students, how different I am from them, physically. Because our physical appearances are the base of people making judgements. Don't lie, you do too. Of course, they were confused. I gave them couple of examples; I have dark hair, dark skin, short, tiny and have a bit of accent ( guys find it sexy). Then I pointed out to one of the girl: you are tall, have blond hair, fair skin, blue eyes and beautiful voice. Am I better than you are? is my skin color better than yours? Are your blue eyes a better color than my browns?

The answer was NO-collectively. That made me proud and happy. We watched the movie for a while, then I started hearing boys chatting. It got louder. I paused the movie, and asked them to share their conversation with the class. I heard what they were talking about, and thought it was surprisingly interesting that they had the exact same thought I did; we were paying more attention to the drummers muscles more than their diapers.

I initiated the discussion by asking about which part that they are interested in? All of them were wondering if drumming would be such ripped muscles. One of the boys commented, " They have six pack on their backs" 

I am a fan of muscles. I am working on mine. I was wondering if that is the case? They play drum all the time, their arms, back and whole body, in fact, look so great. And perhaps sushi help, too. 

The kids and I had such a wonderful discussion. I told them I will give an A+ report to their teacher. They thank me for letting them appreciate music through different perspectives. Who knew playing music can ( possibly) make one's look like an athlete.