A hugely ambitious project working with eight different schools in the Stoke area over the course of 3 months, culminating in a final performance at the Victoria Halls in Stoke-on-Trent.

Each of the eight groups of youngsters aged 6-15 learned a different piece, with each piece following a theme, for example, one school performed "Ninja Daiko" accompanied by Ninja style movements and another school interspersed Japanese children's games with the taiko drumming.

The students practiced on school instruments in between our visits, making costumes, masks and flags. The final concert at the 1300 capacity Victoria Halls was a very special event: 450 students performing Japanese songs, story-telling and dragon dances, and 8 dynamic and energetic taiko drum pieces, composed especially for the event.