A musical story with taiko, performed by Odaiko Sonora and students
of DeGrazia Elementary:
| Long,
long ago, a young girl named Asako lived in a small Japanese
village. Asako loved two things. She loved to go up into
the hills and watch the animals, and she loved to play the
giant taiko drums with her friends.
Right: DeGrazia 3rd
GradeTaiko Drummers |
|
One day, Asako was up in the hills,
watching the birds and squirrels. There was a small earthquake.
Asako didn’t worry about the earthquake. After all,
small earthquakes happen all the time in Japan. |
| Below:
Odaiko Sonora performs "Jishin" or earthquake
|
After the earthquake,
the air felt heavy and dark. Asako noticed that the animals
were acting strangely. They were climbing as high as they
could into the trees, and running high up into the hills.
Asako had never seen them act like this before, and it scared
her. She ran to tell an adult in the village what the animals
were doing.
She soon found Saijo-san, the oldest, wisest person
in the village. As soon as she was finished telling him
what she’d seen, Saijo-san got very worried. “We
have to get everyone up into the hills right away!”
he yelled. |
Asako knew the taiko would get everyone’s
attention, fast. She called her friends together, and they
played a song to get everyone’s attention.
Below: Odaiko Sonora
performers play |
|
|
Soon the whole village was gathered.
Saijo-san told them what Asako had seen. He told everyone
a Tsunami was coming, and they had to get to high ground
right away. The villagers didn’t have time to pack
anything. They ran for the hills with only the clothes on
their backs. As they ran, they could hear the giant wave
crashing ashore.
Below: 6th Grade classes
perform a song about the ocean. |
|
|
|
|
Everyone in the village made it up
to safety in the hills. They watched the giant wave sweep
into the village. Their homes, their food—everything
was washed away out to sea. But the villagers were not sad.
In fact, they were happy, because they had all survived.
They played the taiko to celebrate the fact that all of
them were still alive.
Below: 6th graders
narrated, and5th Grade classes perform a festival song... |
|
|
| ... while others dance. |
|
|
| They also knew that Asako had saved
them. They played a special flute song to thank Asako for
saving them. |
|
Left: Rome and Karen
perform Nanatsu no Ko
A few weeks after the Tsunami, the
villagers were rebuilding their homes. They were getting
worried. Although they had all survived the Tsunami, the
giant wave had washed away all of their food. They weren’t
sure they had enough food to feed everyone for the coming
winter.
Asako was worried, too. She knew
one of the best things to do when she was worried was
to play a happy taiko song. It always made her feel better.
|
|
Left: Odaiko Sonora
plays Korekara
After playing taiko, Asako felt better. She decided
to go up into the hills and watch the animals. She climbed
high, higher than she had every climbed before. Suddenly,
she saw a field full of rice! There was enough rice to feed
her entire village! She ran back to tell Saijo-san.
|
| The villagers were very
happy when they heard about the hidden rice field in the
hills. They harvested that rice, and knew they’d have
enough rice to eat until the next harvest. They celebrated
by playing taiko.
Below: 4th Graders
perform a harvest festival tune. |
 |
 |
| The villagers realized
that Asako had saved them once again. They played her favorite
taiko song to thank this young hero! |
 |
Left: Odaiko Sonora wraps up the
play with a rousing taiko song. |
