Rhythmic and Body Percussion is a course that is currently being taught in all our partner Academies.
It is used to teach polyrhythmic orchestration in a very accessible and visceral way. But what is it, exactly?
Rhythmic and Body Percussion is the oldest form of music. It was used before stick met drum before string met wood when all man had was his body and voice to convey his musical story. Today the tradition continues with hand claps, thigh and chest slap being added to foot stomps and finger snaps. The whole performance, by one body, resembling a polyrhythmic orchestration of percussive sounds. The end result is a mesmerizing creation of music.
Many cultures have a tradition of Rhythmic and Body Percussion with some practices spanning centuries, and others just a few decades. It has been used as a tool for musical expression, and also political resistance. We see with the Gumboot dance of South Africa created during Apartheid. Mine workers forbidden from talking by mine managers created the dance as a means of communication and, eventually, entertainment. Rhythmic and Body Percussion can also be found in the swaying dance of Saman in Indonesia, the thigh-slapping of Pattin’ Juba in the USA, the clack of Flamenco taps in Spain, and on and on.
Rhythmic and Body Percussion is not an easy practice to achieve. The exercise involves a metaphorical splitting of one’s mind to allow each part of the body to move to a different rhythm. Drummers are a perfect example of this, with their feet pounding the bass drum while their hands beat different rhythms on the hi-hats, snare drum, tom-toms, and cymbals.
At Music Crossroads Academies, Rhythmic and Body Percussion is used as a tool to teach rhythmic independence. This allows you to tap your foot while doing a completely different rhythm with each hand, for instance.
The practice is begun with a single footstep and other movements are gradually built on it. In our program, the teacher does his best to distract his students by making them talk about the weather, or what they ate for breakfast, while they tap and clap. As students become more comfortable with the basics, more complex movements – like modulating from one meter to another while maintaining the rhythms being chanted or clapped – are added. The practice becomes even more interesting when done in groups where each participant can simultaneously articulate different rhythms in different meters. The resulting combination of rhythms is exciting and learning becomes more interesting and visceral.
Rhythmic and Body Percussion is a dynamic and engaging practice that provides students with an intimate experience of the components that make up rhythm and music. It is here that movement becomes music.
