This presentation will explore my continued involvement with teaching music (violin) to students in urban areas, in particular, Tokyo, Japan, and the lessons learned. The city plays a particularly important role in how students approach music and music education, and violin education. I will share experiences from the urban classroom.
This demonstrative presentation reveals how music educators and creative writers, and artists collaborated and designed an interdisciplinary music project around the theme of Vivaldi’s composition, “Spring,” in an urban educational setting. The project aimed to mix originally created, handmade “bamboo instruments” as well as standard Western instruments including keyboard, violin, and vocal art in the mixed instrumental ensemble setting. Moreover, the project aimed to add story, visual art and bodily movement on the theme of Vivaldi’s work. Mixture of different instruments and art form facilitated multiple perspective and effort to learn from each other in urban classroom settings.
About the presenterTaichi Akutsu
Taichi Akutsu, PhD is a Japanese violinist-teacher-researcher, former violinist of the New World Symphony in Miami. M.M. in Orchestral Performance at Manhattan School of Music; M.A.in Music Education at Lehman College, CUNY. Taichi has taught music in Harlem, New York, Miami, and Tokyo to apply theory into practice. Currently, he resides in Okayama City, Japan and serves as a full-time lecturer at Shujitsu University and pursuing his research on instrumental education, flow assessment and creativity.