It was a participatory show event designed for children with hearing impairments, ranging in age from 2 to 17.
There were approximately 20 children in total
(4 lower elementary school students, 4 kindergarten children, 1 upper elementary student, and 1 junior/high school student), and including parents, the total number of participants was around 40.
The program consisted of a participatory percussion workshop using tambourines, followed by a group session ensemble performed by everyone together at the end.
The essential lesson content required for the final presentation was completed within the first 20 minutes. The rhythms were kept intentionally simple—such as backbeats or lightly tapping two beats as vocal accents—so that all children could participate comfortably.
After that, to help younger kindergarten children maintain focus and ease their tension, we incorporated interactive activities such as a “rhythm message game,” where rhythms were tapped on someone’s back and passed along, as well as assigning a child to act as the “teacher,” sending out a rhythm for everyone else to respond to together.
By the end, the children were all smiling and even climbing up to me one after another. I believe this also achieved the goal of creating a moment where children and parents could separate naturally, allowing adults to communicate with one another as well.
Thank you very much for this wonderful opportunity.
Yaname
