Susan Yang

Harry Tsai

Gary Yeh

我如何以台灣文化服務社區   Harry Tsai

The Drum is one of the traditional heritage instruments in Taiwan; many temples will use the drums to celebrate the festival of Taiwanese religious or culture. Amble of peoples will be attracted by the loudness of the drum, and watch them perform. The loudness often help the lion dance become more interesting, and the lion dance will follow the beat of the drum. In our culture, the lion dance and the drum and bring us the good luck and avoid the bad luck. The drum can be as simple as hitting the drum with beat, it could also be entertained by adding more fancy trick into the beat include throwing the stick and movement.

        Taiwanese School of Atlanta gives me a great opportunity to express the Taiwan culture. I have been in Taiwanese school of Atlanta since the summer of 2008. At first I was just a writing student at the school. But after few weeks, Mrs. Chen come up to me and asked me if I’m interested in learning playing drum at TSA. This is a big commitment to me, because I always have stage fright, but at the end I accepted the offer Mrs. Chen gave us and started the Drum Team. Taiwanese School of Atlanta’s Drum team is pretty popular and well known. I learn a lot of things in the drum team. One of the things that I realize is that the drum team might increase the popularity of TSA, but the main purpose is to spread the culture of drum to the world.

        Being part of the drum team can also learn a lot of things. We help each other to connect with each other. Each person will find a way to connect with other. The drum team can’t be performed solo, it’s a team work. We need to have great connection with every person in the team in order to have a great performance. Drum team also have a lot of difficulty. During the practice, we need to make sure that everyone remember the beat and also have to make sure we’re all together. Make sure no one is left out. For example, I can learn the new beat in 10 to 15 minute, while some people in the drum team learn slower. Another difficulty that we found during the practice is that everyone has different opinion toward the beat. Someone think that some beat is better than other. The hardest thing is to put the entire beat together to created the whole set of performance. I like to play drum because I think it’s special. I never thought that I will play drum, but I take it as a talent. Playing drum also help us prevent having memories lost, and developed our arm muscles.

        We went to a lot of performances in the past two years, and we’re always the opening of the event. I think the reason we are at the first program event is because we are the loudness and we can attract a lots of peoples’ attention. In 2009, we perform for the Chinese New Year celebration festival at Atlanta Chinese Culture Center for the opening, performing for the DeKalb county library for celebrating the Chinese New Year, Emory Chinese New Year night at Centennials Park, and performing for the North America Taiwanese Woman Association. The most memorable performance I had ever had is on April, 2009, the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company invited us to perform with their dancers at Gwinnett Civic Center Performing art Center. We created a set of beat that match their song and their choreography. I still remember that the entire center is full of peoples. There are approximately 600 people in the building, and we performed twice. It is the biggest performance I had ever performed, and I had a great time.

        After all the performance experience, I am ready to share with everyone. Share the feeling and the skill the next shift of people. Every Saturday, around 5 o’ clock, we will teach the little kids how to play drum and how to create their own beat. They are really enjoying the moment of learning drum. They want to challenge themselves. So sometime I will give them a new technique to learn. I am really happy to teach these little kids how to play drum. I am willing to teach them as long as they want to learn, this is a great opportunity to spread the culture of Drum and to let the culture keep spreading.   

大鼓是傳承一種名族技藝，很多廟會會利用大鼓來慶祝慶典。因為大鼓的聲音粉響亮，所以會吸引很多名眾圍觀。迎神賽會上少不了陣頭遊行，其中有花鼓陣和跳鼓陣都是以打鼓為陣頭。鼓的震撼足以引出獅陣來避凶，帶來吉祥的好兆頭。花鼓是其中一種演出。花鼓除了以震撼人心的鼓聲外，還結合了許多節奏像花俏的節奏或右旋律的拋甩鼓棒。花鼓都是以特技性質的方式來演出。

台美學校給了我很大的機會來發表台灣文化，我是在二零零八年的暑假認識台美學校的。一開始只是去上英文作文，後來是因為陳主任鼓勵我們來接任第三代鼓隊。台美學校鼓隊是非常有名的。第一次看到的時候都覺得他們好厲害，沒想到今天我也能變得跟他們一樣厲害。我進到這個鼓隊學到了很多台灣的文化的重要。我覺得鼓隊不但為台美學校增進知名度，並且宣傳這個鼓隊的文化給大家。

在鼓隊裡也可以學到很多東西，像互相合作和同心協力。每個人會互相想辦法配合大家。鼓隊不是一個人的演出，一定要大家一起打才算是一個鼓隊。鼓隊的每一個人都要配合一起演出。打鼓的困難度有很多。在學打鼓得過程中有些人記鼓的節奏筆某些人還快，所以有時候就要等到大家都會打為止。還有一點就是大家的意見有時會不同，有些人覺得這個節奏比較好。最難的是把全部的節奏和在一起變成一個表演。我喜歡打鼓因為我覺得打鼓很特別，我以前從來都沒有想過要打鼓，但是學一種特技也是好處。還有一點我覺得打鼓很有趣，就是我們會一起創作節奏。打鼓有好處，打鼓可以讓我們練手臂的肌肉，還有防止我們的老人癡呆症，因為我們要一直記鼓的節奏，要想下一個要打什麼節奏。

我們去過了很多地方表演，而且每次我們都是第一個表演。因為我們的鼓聲很大聲，可以吸引很多人來欣賞我們的表演。我們去過了很多表演，為台灣商會開場，新年在亞特蘭大僑教中心開場，在DeKalb County Library 為了慶祝新年，在Gwinnett place mall表演，還有為北美台灣婦女會年會開場。令我最深刻的表演是我們被Atlanta Chinese Dance Company 邀請跟她們一起配合演出。因為那次的表演是我在最多人的面前表演，場面大概有五百人以上的演出。非常大型的表演。　

經過這麼多次的表演經驗，我想跟大家分享打鼓的樂趣，所以我們開始培養下一代比我們更年輕的小朋友來打鼓。我們每個禮拜六花半小時的時間來培訓這些小朋友。一開始大家都很害羞，但隨著對鼓的熟悉每個小朋友都樂在其中。我很高興祂們很喜歡打鼓。有些小孩甚至還想學更多高難度的東西。當然只要他們願意學，我們就願意交。這樣台灣的文化＂鼓隊＂就可以繼續發展。　

我如何以台灣文化服務社區 Gary Yeh

       在台灣廟會最常見的打擊樂器是鼓。鼓聲可以製造現場熱鬧氣氛，像跳鼓陣 花鼓陣和獅陣都有用到鼓,鼓聲會讓人覺得有活力，然後聽到了鼓聲會覺得很激動。鼓是一個很好樂器，因為打鼓可以幫助你的節奏感。

我一開始在台美學校學打鼓，以為打鼓是很難學的，差不多學了五到六個星期，經過每一個星期六的練習後，我就慢慢的學會了。我喜歡打鼓因為我可以跟我的朋友一起創作節奏，然後如果我的心情不好得時候，我可以把我的憤怒放在打鼓上，把那個氣變成好處。

打鼓對我有很多好處，因為我可以去很多地方表演，也可以看到很多表演像是歌唱舞蹈和別的表演。然後打鼓完的時候，人家會給你拍拍手，會讓你覺得你有表演的很好，然後會讓你想要在一直繼續打鼓。還有打鼓可以幫助我的節奏感。我第一次要表演的時候，我是非常的緊張，因為這是我第一次。我真的很擔心我會不會把節奏弄亂，或我跟每一個人打不同的音，但我覺得我表現的很好。我覺得我變得更有自信，我從小以前都會怕在舞台上時候面對很多人，可是現在我比較不會怕了，因為在台上有五到六個人。

在鼓隊的每一個人都會創作不同的音樂，然後他們就會教我要怎樣打那一個音。過了五六個音我們就會一起練習，然後我們會看誰不會打，然後我們就會一直教他，到他會的時後我們會在重練一次。每個禮拜我們都會創作三到四個新的音樂，我們現在我們應該有三套不同的音樂，所以我們會改別套看看有多少人。有時候打鼓完我們會出去外面吃飯，然後我可以點我喜歡吃的東西。表演有時候是在晚上，所以我就可以去外面玩就不在家無聊。因為我們表演都是第一個出場表演，所以很快就表演完了。

在台美學校這兩年的練習鼓，我認為我自己變成一個更有自信的人，當我打鼓時，也和在舞台上時候。我的朋友都會教我這麼打鼓和最重要的是如何跟別人打的一樣。鼓是一個很好的樂器，如果我可以的話我會叫每個人去台美學校練打鼓。

In Taiwan drums are used in places like temples because drums are used to make loud sounds and to attract people to the temple. When the audience hears the sound of the drum it makes them feel more alive and wants to dance to the beat. Drums are a very good instrument to practice teamwork and your hand coordination.

        At the first day of Taiwanese School of Atlanta I thought it would be hard to learn at first because I haven’t been near instruments for about seven to eight year period. But since I decided to join the drum team we practice every Saturday for about an hour and a half each week. Everyone on the team makes up certain beats for our performances by making random beats. Then we get that person to play it for us for the rest of us to learn. After we learn five or six different beats we all practice and try to play it at the same tempo as we move on to each different beat. Playing drums with each other can develop my team building skills for later on in college or my future job.

        I really like playing drums because I can talk to my friends and have fun with each other when we are trying to make new beats for our performances. I also like drums because whenever we have performances it’s either for charity or for a big event, which includes other performances like dancing, singing and solo performances with the piano. Playing with drums has helped me with the rhythm of the drum. At first it was really hard to learn the beats everyone made up, but as time passed I started learning the beats in three to five minutes. The most difficult part of playing the drums was getting the timing and how to work as a team. In the beginning it took me three or four weeks just to learn five or six beats, but as time went on my learning rate increased by a lot which got me ready for my first day of performance. At my first performance I was really nervous because it was my first time and I was really worried about messing up the beat or not playing the same tempo as the others. But on my performance I did really well and the rest of my performances were really good and I became more confident and I was never frighten on the stage when I was going to play drums again.

        In this two years of playing drums I think I have became a more confident person when I play the drums and when I’m on stage. And most of my friends have helped me on how to play the drums and most importantly how to play together as one. Drum is a good instrument to play if you are an interactive person like me; you get to know at least five or six people in your group or more.

我如何以台灣文化服務社區   Susan Yang

        大鼓是從很久以前就開始傳承一代又一代的。它的聲音可以震撼人們的心，和讓人們的心充滿活力。因為它對人群特殊影響，所以大鼓可以在很多熱鬧的場面聽到，像是廟會、迎神會、或是舞龍舞獅。有些地方在台灣有用花鼓陣的演出來吸引民眾，花鼓陣的特色是有多種多色的花樣，像是甩鼓棒、翻滾、跳躍等特色 。花鼓陣很像我們台美學校演出的形式，我們的鼓隊有旋轉、踢、甩鼓棒。

        我去上亞特蘭大的台美學校的中文課，我是在那時候第一次看到他們的鼓隊。我對他們的印象是他們鼓隊雄勇的鼓聲，讓我很想要跳上台上加入他們。後來在兩年前，我終於加入了鼓隊。這個鼓隊對我來說很重要，我的鼓隊非常活潑又很快樂。這個鼓隊像一個很緊密的家庭，雖然我們有時候會遇上困難，但是我們最後還是會一起解決。

我很喜歡當我們一起創造新的節奏和動作，我們會想出一大堆新鮮的表演。我們的默契很好，所以我們常常有說有笑的一起練習。最困難的是我們每個禮拜的練習，我們要一直練習，直到我們能夠完美的演出。跟我的鼓隊在一起，對我有很多好處，像是擁有很多可以依靠的好友，有很多美好的回憶，和鍛鍊身體。

         我們年輕又有活力的鼓隊，常常被邀到很多場合去表演。我們有在小學、大學、百貨公司、和很多有關亞洲文化的場面表演。每次表演完，都會有很多聽眾跑來恭喜我們出色的演出。當我們在表演很棒的時候，我們都會變的興奮過度， 讓我們想要一直打下去。每次打鼓最難忘的是：當我們結束的時候，我們蹲在地上時，享受觀眾給我們的熱烈掌聲。我們會對看，然後一起笑，因為我們那時想法都會是一模一樣，不管是好或是壞，我們都是一個團體。

      我們去很多地方表演，宣傳我們的台灣文化。我們有教很多人關於我們傳承的台灣文化。我們將我們的文化經由娛樂和新的知識帶給每個看過我們的表演的人。跟我們聊過的人都說：當我們介紹台灣的鼓－有學到新的文化。

The drum is a culture art that has been passing down from generation to generation. Its volume can shake the crowd’s heart and let the crowd feel very energetic. Because of its effects on the crowd, a lot of places can see a lot of appearance of drums to increase the fierceness of the situation like temple festival, welcoming of gods festival, or the dragon and lion dance. There are some places in Taiwan that use the drum performance to attract more audiences. The characteristics of the drum performance techniques vary greatly, such as throwing the sticks, spinning, jumping, and etc… Our school’s drum performance is similar to this; we also spin, kick, and throw our sticks.

        I’ve been going to classes in the Taiwanese School of Atlanta ever since I immigrated to America. That was when I first saw the drum team. Their sound was so exciting and thunderous that it made me want to jump on the stage to join them. Then two years ago, I joined the drum team, and this drum team became very important to me. My teammates are all very energetic and happy because this team is like a tight family. Even though we would meet problems but we would solve them by the end of the day. I really enjoy creating new beats and movement with my drum team, they always can create fresh idea and routine. Our team gets along really well together so we always have fun even when we have to practice. The hardest part of the drum team is the weekly practice, because we have to practice a lot till we can present a perfect performance. Being a part of the drum team gave me many advantages, like having a group that I can count on, lots of fun memories, and train my body.

        Our drum team usually gets invited to many places to perform because we are young and full of surprises. We’ve performed in many places, from elementary school, universities, major events, mall, and many other performances that involved the Taiwanese culture. Every time after a performance, there would be audiences members that come and congratulates us of our performance. When we have a great performance, we would all become charged with energy that makes us want to continue playing. The deepest impression of playing the drum is the time when we kneel on the ground, absorbing in the crowd’s adulation. Then we would all look at each other and smile because we only have one single thought then, no matter if it’s good or bad, we are a team.

        We spread our Taiwanese culture by going to many places to perform. We go to various places to teach other people what the Taiwanese people have inherited from their culture. We serve our community by bringing entertainment and new knowledge to people in the drum performance we do. People who we talked to all have the same response on learning something new when we told them the Taiwanese culture behind the drum.

我如何以台灣文化服務社區 – 符佩馨

在台灣,大鼓是用來慶祝聖典與節慶。 大鼓用它響亮的聲音來吸引觀眾。 他可以配合在我們熟悉的舞龍舞獅, 划龍舟, 和一些特別的廟會慶典。 打鼓有很多技巧像我們鼓隊的人就會利用身體的部位來展現完整的演出, 像是踢腳 ,旋轉,丟鼓棒,和敲打鼓棒。

        在2008年的暑假, 我的朋友問我想不想跟他一起上SAT 的課， 而我也坦然的接受了。 當時我只是個需要加強SAT輔導的學生。 幾個星期後, 陳主任詢問我有沒有興趣加入鼓隊。 當時的我不知道要如何回答她, 所以我尋求我媽媽的同意。 而我媽媽鼓勵我加入鼓隊。 我告訴陳主任我可以加入鼓隊, 而且我發現我有兩個教會的朋友也跟我一樣有這個機會加入鼓隊。 我不認為我會是個好的鼓手因為大鼓是我第一個接觸的樂器。 在第一次的練習, 教鼓的老師教我們一些基礎的節拍。 剛開始我覺得很難, 但經過幾次的練習後我變得更容易上手。 現在得我可以自己創造一些節奏加進表演中。 加入鼓隊幫助我學習很多事情, 像是手腳協調, 聽力, 和團隊合作。 我們鼓隊在每個星期六SAT課程結束以後通常會練習兩個小時或者直到我們進步一些為止。

        我們的鼓隊曾經在很多地方表演。我們受Emory 大學 的邀請在2009, 2010, 和 2011 年為他們表演。 在2009年, 我們為台灣婦女協會的晚宴表演。 在2010 年 我們為一個公益團體表演來幫當時需要大家幫忙的海地災民做募款表演。 我們還未Gwinnett Place Mall 表演過幾次像是體驗亞洲文化節。 我們也在2009跟2011年僑教中心所舉辦的農曆新年園遊會。 在2011年 我們為Emory China Care 在FOX theatre的晚宴表演。 我很高興為他們表演因為我想要讓大家知道台美學校鼓隊的利害。

        我已經加入台美學校鼓隊3年了, 我變得比以前更有自信了。 我告訴我自己只要你不放棄的練習就會成功。 更多的練習讓我變得更好。 同時我也學習到不要放棄你所喜歡的東西， 因為只要你成功了你就不會後悔。 台美學校是一個可以讓我學到很多東西的地方。 

Taiwanese Cultural Scholarship – Christina Fu

In Taiwan, drums are used to energize the audience for events and ceremonies. The drum makes a loud sound that draws the audience attention. Drums can be seen in lion dances, dragon dances, special events, ceremonies, and temples. There are a variety of techniques that the drum members use such as kicking, spinning, throwing the sticks, and hitting the sticks. In my drum team, we also do the same things.

        In the summer of 2008, one of my friends asked me if I wanted to attend her SAT class and I agreed. That time I was just a normal SAT student that wants to be tutored. A couple weeks later, Mrs. Chen, the assistant principal of the Taiwanese School of Atlanta asked me if I wanted to join the school’s drum team. At first, I didn’t know how to reply to her so I asked my mom first and my mom said I can join the team. I told Mrs. Chen that I could join and I realized that two of my church friends are also going to join the drum team like me. I knew I wasn’t going to be a good drummer because the drum is the first musical instrument I have ever played. The first day of practice, the drum teacher taught us what kind of drum beats we needed to learn. At first it was really hard. But once I got the hang of it, it became easier and easier. Now I can make my own beat by myself and put them in performances. Being in the drum team helped me learn a lot of things such as cooperation, listening, and teamwork. My drum team practice every Saturday after SAT class is over. We usually practice for two hours or until we have improved a little.

        My drum team has performed in many places. We played for Emory University in 2009, 2010, and 2011 for their events. In 2009, we played for NAACP for their Inaugural banquet. In 2010, we played for an event called “Asians for Haitians charity” event. We also played for Gwinnett place mall a couple of times such as the taste of Asia and Kidgits Carnival. We performed in the 2009 and 2011 Chinese New Year festival at the Chinese Cultural Center (CCC) in Chinatown. In 2011, we performed at the FOX Theatre for Emory China Care Annual Banquet. We have also performed in the 5^th Annual Who’s Who Award Ceremony for Asian American Communities. I enjoy playing drums at any kind of performance because I want people to know what the Taiwanese School of Atlanta drum team has to offer.

        I have been in the Taiwanese School of Atlanta drum team for 3 years. I feel like I have become a more confident person than I was before I joined the drum team. I have taught myself that once you practice something you love, you can accomplish it. The more I practice, the better I have become. I also learned not to give up on the things you love to do because once you have achieved, you will not regret what you have accomplished. The Taiwanese School of Atlanta is a place for me to do what I love to do, and that is playing the drums.

我如何以台灣文化來服務社區­ –王昭明

在台美學校鼓隊中, 我學到了很多經驗和傳播台灣文化到世界各地。我是在2008年加入鼓隊的， 在鼓隊不只讓我變得一個更有能力的領導人但也讓我變成了一個很好的隊友。

經過許多的表演經驗讓我交到了很多朋友也讓我更了解他們。這些人讓我學習了很多,，也讓我學習了傳承台灣文化的重要。我真的很享受在巨大的舞台和我的朋友一起表演。大鼓是一個很多人都不熟悉的台灣文化。它創造了一個精彩的演出呈現在大家眼中，而且這是一個需要傳承下去的傳統。 表演大鼓是一種很傳承文化的一個方式也透過表演在這個環境來增加它對大家的印象。

        打鼓不是一件簡單的事也不是一個很簡單的樂器。因為當一個人創造出新的旋律後，我們還要想辦法把它融入在我們的隊形理。 它需要很大的注意集中力和團隊的精神來完成一個完美的表演。 大家踴躍的出新方法對我們來說也很重要，我們也不要怕分享心的方法。我們總是想新的招術和新的節奏還增加表演的精彩度而這就是我喜歡鼓隊的其中一個原因。 我相信鼓隊是一個文化讓我們青少年認識新朋友和創造另一個奇蹟。

        在過去的幾年中， 我們到很多地方表演。 大鼓不只是一個文化，也逮給大家許多的驚喜和歡樂。我們在農曆新年過年的時候有到中華文化中心參加他們一年一度的農曆新年園遊會。我們頭時也受邀到DEKALB市圖書館來慶祝農曆新年的活動為他們打鼓， EMORY大學農曆新年晚會的表演。我們也在GWINNETT MALL 理受邀表演了好幾次。讓我印象最深刻的表演是在GWINNETT PERFORMANCE ART CENTER 中為一個頒獎典禮的開場秀。觀賞人數應該有超過1500人。 另一個很大的演出也是在GWINNETT PERFORMANCE ART CENTER受亞特蘭大中華舞蹈社的邀請來合作一手工夫的表演，舞蹈和大鼓的結合創造了意想不到的驚喜。 這些表演讓我印象深刻，而至今還在我的腦海中徘徊。

        我們的目標是繼續幫助傳承大鼓也幫其他來傳播台灣文化。我們利用每個星期六下午一個小時的時間來培養一群對打鼓有熱情的小孩，她們學習的速度遠超越我們以前學習的速度。這也讓我們有更多的機會打我們所學的技巧教給他們。 我們現階段正積極的培養這些小孩鼓隊來創造台美學校的另一個奇蹟。當我們這些青年漸漸的因上大學而離去，我希望打這個文化繼續傳承下去來增加他們的領導能力而且繼續的打這個文化傳承下去。

Taiwanese school of Atlanta – Taiwanese Cultural Scholarship – Justin Wang

As a member of the Taiwanese American Drum Team, I have had many good experiences about serving my community and spreading the word about Taiwanese culture. To start off, I became a member of the TSA drum team back in my freshman year of 2008 and have been a committed member with many memories to remember. Being in the drum team has not only helped me become a better leader, but has helped me become a better teammate as well.

        Through my experience as a drum team member, I have made many new friends that have come and gone throughout the years. These people have helped me become a better person and have helped me learn the importance of spreading Taiwanese culture. I truly enjoy performing with my drum team in front of a large audience. Drums are an important part of Taiwanese culture that many people don’t know about. It helps create a kind of entertainment that has been passed down through the centuries as an old tradition. Performing is an amazing way to spread this tradition to others and to enhance the cultural awareness of our community.

        Drumming is not always an easy thing to do. Once someone creates a beat that everyone likes, everyone else must learn it together and in synch. It takes a lot of concentration and teamwork in order for us to form a successful beat to add to our performance. Everyone’s contributions are always important too us and we never feel left out or too scared to share our ideas. We are always open to sharing and embracing new tricks and beats and that is why I believe that the Drum team is an important tradition that brings friends together, forms new friends, creates new experiences, and helps spread the word of Taiwanese culture.

        In the past few years, our drum team performed at many different places. The drums are not only full of culture, but full of entertainment as well. We have performed at the Chinese Culture Center (CCC) for the past few years for their popular Chinese New Years event, the DeKalb county library for Chinese New Year, the Lunar New year festival for Emory, Emory’s China Care event, Asian Culture events at Gwinnett Mall, and many more places as well. One of our biggest performances was for the “Who’s whose” event at the Gwinnett Civic Center Performing art Center. We had also performed at the same place for the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company a while back. The room was full of people and we were the opening act. It was a great success and the experience still lingers in my mind.

        Our goal is to continue the tradition of drums and to help others take the opportunity to spread the Taiwanese culture as well. There is currently a children’s group that we teach every Saturday and they are learning very quickly. When my drum team graduates from TSA, we want to leave the tradition of drum team to continue so that there will always be an increasing amount of leadership and tradition to spread around our great community.

我如何以台灣文化服務社區    - 魏雅淳

 
    大鼓是中華文化中最有特色的傳統之一。 大鼓通常會出現在廟會、新年、慶典、甚至是在迎神會中，因為大鼓的聲音很大所以可以吸引很多人的注目，因此，大鼓成為大部分民俗活動的主角。 在臺灣的民間各地有很多不同種鼓的表演，包括：花鼓陣、跳鼓陣和車鼓陣﹒﹒﹒等等； 跳鼓陣是早期農業社會對宗教信仰而產生的陣頭；車鼓陣則是台灣最早的民間藝陣；而花鼓陣是早期社會在農閒時所炒熱氣氛的一種表演活動，有些在台灣的地方用花鼓陣的形式演出來吸引民眾，花鼓陣是用一些技巧性的動作組成的，而且花鼓陣跟我們台美學校的演出方式很像，例如：旋轉、甩鼓棒、敲打。

    初次見到大鼓是在台灣的時候。還記得那天，爺爺帶我去參加廟會的活動，那時年幼的我就深深被它那震撼人心並且充滿活力的演出所吸引了！ 而藉著來台美學校上SAT課程的空餘時間，陳主任首次讓我接觸了這氣勢磅礡的大鼓，並且加入台美學校的打鼓隊。 我第一次看到台美學校打鼓隊的表演是在僑教中心所舉辦的農曆新年園遊會上，當時我覺得他們的表演好專業、好厲害，而我多麼希望我也可以像他們一樣受邀到各地演出，代表著台美學校站在舞台上打鼓，並且宣傳大鼓的文化給更多人知道，而想不到的是我現在也成為他們的一份子了！！
    在台美學校練習打鼓的這些日子，雖然很短，但我很喜歡團員們之間氣氛與默契，我們總是一起學習、互相成長、互相鼓勵，在這段期間中，我們有笑也有淚，但我們總是一起解決問題、一起度過困難，也因為如此，我很期待每個星期六來台美學校跟大家一起打鼓的時光，也因為星期六的到來而感到格外的興奮。 還記得剛加入台美學校鼓隊的時候，因為是第一次來到台美學校上課，所以對大家都很陌生，是鼓隊的大家充滿了陽光般的笑容、熱心的問候和歡樂的氣氛拉近了我與大家之間的距離和那份不熟悉的感覺。  經過一次次的練習之後，我變得更加有節奏感，也要一直記得下一個要打什麼，但同時我也學習到了團隊的合作。

藉由這次Emory China Care的邀請讓我有機會在眾人面前表演我努力學習來的鼓藝。 這是我第一次在大家面前打鼓，雖然我經驗和鼓藝沒有像其他團員那麼地熟練與精湛，但我還是會很認真的練習，一次又一次、不停反覆的練習，這都要感謝那幾位教我打鼓的同學們，謝謝他們認真細心而且總是不放棄的教導我，每當我有不對拍或著是跟不上節奏的時候，他們都會慢慢一拍一拍得數而且反覆的陪著我打，讓我更加抓得住拍子，更加熟練。 我想憑藉這個表演來展現台灣傳統文化的優美來傳達我們對台灣傳統的熱愛。 在這個鼓隊裡，讓我能夠參予很多不同的亞洲活動和學習到更多關於台灣的新資料，所以謝謝在亞特蘭大的台美學校鼓隊給了我一個機會能夠讓我去表演和參加很多不同的演出。

Taiwanese Cultural Scholarship Essay – Wendy Wei

Drumming is one of the most traditional attractions in Asian culture. Drums are mostly seem at temple festival, new year celebration, or any kind of festivals because of the massive volume the drums created can attract many people’s attention, therefore, drums became a huge part of the festival’s main attraction. In Taiwan’s culture, there is a variety performance, like some kind was a program developed by the agricultural society as a religious belief, or is Taiwan’s earliest folk performance, and another was also developed by the agricultural society as an entertainment to increase the crowd’s atmosphere. This is used most of the time for performance to attract audience’s attention, it use combination of special techniques and movement to stand out in the performances. This style of the drums is most similar with Taiwanese School of Atlanta’s drum team, such as the twirling, stick spinning, and playing beats with the sticks.

The first time I saw drums performance was when I was still in Taiwan. I still remember that day, when grandpa took me to a temple’s festival. Ever since that day, the young I was attracted to the trembling energetic sound of the drums. I finally got the opportunity to interact with it when I came to Taiwanese school of Atlanta’s SAT class, because of teacher Chen, I contacted with this traditional drum at the first time, and also joined the Taiwanese School of Atlanta Drum Team. The first time I saw the Taiwanese School of Atlanta Drum Team’s performance was on the Chinese New Year Festival at Culture Center of Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Atlanta. At that time, I felt their performance was very professional and awesome, and I wish I can perform in many places like them, representing Taiwanese School of Atlanta Drum Team on stage and spread the culture of the drum to more people. I cannot believe now I am one of them.

   During the days of drum practice at Taiwanese School of Atlanta, I love being with everyone in the group members even though it wasn’t as long as I wanted to be. During this short period of time, we learned from each other and encouraged each other to get better at drums. And we always solve the problem and though the hard time together. Because of that, I was excited come to Taiwanese School of Atlanta and played drum with anybody on Saturday and extreme hope Saturday coming. I remember the beginning when I joined the Taiwanese School of Atlanta Drum Team, because that was the first time I came to the school and I did not know anybody in the school, so I felt very strange to everyone. But everyone in the team was full of sunny smiles, enthusiastic greetings, and happiness moods that closer the distance between them and me, also the strange feel. After plenty of practice, I can now follow the beat and know what to hit next beat. And I learn how to be united with the team.

Peter Lin

       As an American born Taiwanese Christian male, my family has raised me up around Taiwanese culture and I have definitely grown to appreciate what has been given to me over the past years of my life from my Taiwanese community. The past couple years , I have been learning and performing drums with the Taiwanese School Of Atlanta. Along with several other Taiwanese drum team members , I have learned to grow with my community and I have given back and shown my culture all around the Metro Atlanta area by performing my Taiwanese heritage. It is truly a life changing experience to not only be in the Taiwanese community but also participate in it. Helping with community service and playing Taiwanese drums is really something that I am proud of doing and the fun, the new friends, and memories that come out of it, is really unfathomable to appreciate. The struggles and tiring practices with my drum peers have definitely been worth the experience, this is something that I will always remember for the rest of my life. Furthermore, I have also been a part of the Leo community service club and have danced several times at talent shows for Chinese new year, school,  Leo club, and my church. I learned a lot by performing and it was the most fun when I inspired or motivated other potential dancers to learn and develop their own talent to be made known in this community. I currently go to Atlanta Chinese Christian Church North and I attend youth group with other Asian peers. I learn more about the gospel and what it means to be a true Christian.  As a Taiwanese Christian, I not only try to spread my culture in the Asian community and school but also my Christian faith.

Dominique 

Prior joining the Taiwanese School of Atlanta's drum team, I had little knowledge of Taiwanese culture. My friend, Justin Wang, occasionally brought up some facts about Taiwan, but I knew nothing other bubble tea and oyster omelets. Seeing as justin was a member of the Taiwanese School of Atlanta drum team, I decided to tag along to practice and see what Taiwanese culture was like. Having little expectations, I was in for a treat.

Learing how to play the traditional Taiwanese drum was not an easy feat. I had difficulty with learning the beats and I had to learn how to sync up with the rest of the team. I began by learning simple beats and rhythms. Slowly but surely, I began to catch on and learn how to play more and more complex rhythms. Harry Tsai was the choreographer for the performances we were to give. As a traince, I tagged along to drum performances before getting a piece of the action.

My first performance with the group was earlier last year. Having never performed before, I lacked the confidence that the others had gained from years of experience. While not shy on stage. I was afraid that I would either forget or mess up the drum beats. One false move is easily detectable from the audience's point of view. Words of consolation were not enough to placate the feeling that ran rampart through my gut.

Finally, it was show time. We arranged the drums into lines and began with slow introductory beat. Blood began to course faster through my veins and I could feel the eyes of the audience trained on our group, and this made me feel like ant being inspected by a magnifying glass. Every one of my action was subject to inspection. I was not sure where to look at and found myself starting down at drum for a majority of the performance. I made numerous mistakes and could feel myself turning red with embarrassment. After the final beat was drummed, we bowed and made our exit.

My first drum performance left an impression on me. Having experienced firsthand the thrills emanating from the sounds of the drums, I learned to enjoy the performing Taiwanese drums. With each subsequent performance,my confidence rose. Praises were met with explanations and a sharing of culture. Drumming in different areas allowed for us to spread the word about Taiwanese culture and I was deeply overjoyed with this. I formed a connection with the Taiwanese School of Atlanta and have since helped them at events such as Chinese New Year. It is these experiences that help shape who I am, and I am glad that I have had the experience to help participate and facilitate the awareness of Taiwanese culture.