ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

On a recent trip to Sado Island off the coast of Niigata Prefecture, I went to the Taiko Drum Center on the southwest corner of the island. Sado is the headquarters of the Kodo Drum Group, which is a world renown Japanese-style drum group. There is a large hall inside the building with many different types of drums to see. But the highlight was that they offered to give me a 1-hour private Taiko drum lesson for 2,000 yen. I was eager to try this, so I signed up for the lesson.

My teacher was full of both knowledge and energy; she carefully described the history of taiko and the differences in the sounds based on the age of the drum wood, the skin of the drum, and the angle that at which you hit the drum.

The teacher spoke only Japanese, so you will need to understand at least a bit of the language to understand the lesson. After the lesson the teacher took a few videos of me using the “big” drum. It was so much fun! There is also a small souvenir shop with in the center where you can buy t-shirts, CDs, books, etc. I would highly recommend to try this is you make it to Sado Island. I enjoyed it VERY MUCH!