Our residents at Yio Chu Kang participated in a fun and interesting activity, Taiko drumming. Taiko drumming lessons conducted by Mangrove Learning, a social enterprise, was done with the intention to improve the psychomotor skills of our residents, giving them more strength and confidence when performing day to day activities. The lessons stretched over 10 weeks with the difficulty of each session increased from the previous one.
These sessions conducted were done in conjunction with student researchers from the National University of Singapore, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The aim of their research was to find out the best ways elderlies could learn drumming were and the mental and emotional benefits of Taiko drumming. Damien Chan, one of two of the student researchers found a great improvement in their psychomotor skills, in particular, their ability to control their movements when going about their daily activities. He also noticed that residents who took part in the sessions had an increased responsiveness when being interacted with.
It was a delight to witness the change and see the coordination growth over a span of 10 lessons. From uncoordinated individuals to a coordinated assembly of drummers!
