Body percussion

Body percussion may be performed on its own or as an accompaniment to music and/or dance.[1] Examples of countries' folk traditions[2] that incorporate body percussion include Indonesian saman, Ethiopian armpit music, palmas in flamenco, and the hambone from the United States.[3] Body percussion is a subset of "body music".[4]

Body percussion sounds

Percussion instruments produce their sound when a player hits, scrapes, rubs or shakes them to produce vibrations. These techniques can also be applied to the human body. The body also presents several unique possibilities including the use of inhaled or exhaled air and vocal sounds.

Traditionally the four main body percussion sounds (in order from lowest pitch to highest in pitch) are:

  1. Stomping: Striking left, right, or both feet against the floor or other resonant surface
  2. Patting: Patting either the left, right, or both thighs or cheeks with hands
  3. Clapping hands together
  4. Snapping fingers

However, there are numerous other possibilities including: hitting the chest, whistling, slapping or flicking the cheeks with an open mouth, clicking with the tongue against the roof of the mouth, grunting, and hitting the buttocks.[5]

Variations of sound are possible through changing the playing technique. For example, clapping the hands in various positions will affect factors such as pitch and resonance.

Music education

Body percussion is used extensively in music education, because of its accessibility—the human body is the original musical instrument and the only instrument that every student possesses. Using the body in this manner gives students a direct experience of musical elements, such as beat, rhythm, and metre and helps a student internalise rhythmic skills. Certain approaches to music education, including Orff, Kodály and Bapne[6] make particular use of body percussion. Romero-Naranjo classifies body percussion into eleven typologies or areas: Didactic, Ethnographic - Ethno Musicological, Neuropsychological, Kinaesthetic, Socio-Emotional, Space and Architecture, Team Building, Historical, Rationale – Justification, Cross Learning and Entertainment.[7]

Performers

Body percussion may be performed solo or several performers may combine to create a musical ensemble. One of the most accomplished body percussion soloists is Keith Terry. Terry resides in San Francisco, California and in the 1980s he established Cross Pulse, a non-profit organization dedicated to the creation, performance and recording of rhythm-based, intercultural music and dance. Perhaps the most famous body percussion ensemble is the United Kingdom percussion group Stomp. Stomp perform in a musical genre known as trash percussion, which involves the use of non-traditional instruments combined with body percussion. In Brazil, the most well-known body percussion group is Barbatuques.

See also

References
  1. Romero-Naranjo, F. J. "Science & art of body percussion: A review". Journal of Human Sport & Excercise. Volume 8, Issue 2: 442–457 – via Scopus.
  2. Romero-Naranjo, F.J. "Percusión corporal en diferentes culturas (Body percussion in different cultures)". Música y Educación (Music and Education). Volume 76 - 2008: 46–96.
  3. Terry, Keith. "Body Music". World Arts West. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  4. Percussive Notes -1984 Volume 23 - Page 50 "Body music was probably the first music - before people began slapping rocks and hollowing logs for drums, they were probably stomping, clapping and grunting to express their musical ideas. There are many body musics still thriving today: in the United States hambone was popular at the turn of the century and is still in practice; some South Pacific island people create music by clapping and slapping the chest and thighs; in Morocco there is a version that involves beating the chest... These are only a few examples of a varied and vital body music scene...."
  5. Locklear, Scott (May 2006). "Body Percussion" (PDF). Drum!: 69–72. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  6. Bapne
  7. Romero-Naranjo, F.J. "Body Percussion in the Physical Education and Sports Sciences. An Approach to its Systematization According to the BAPNE Method". International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences. Volume 7, Issue 5: 421–431.
  • Romero-Naranjo, F.J. Percusión corporal y lateralidad. (Body percussion and laterality), 2012.
  • Dietrich Woehrlin. "Rhythmic & Body Percussion". Book/CD, Coda Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3940161-17-8
  • Romero-Naranjo, F.J. "Body Percussion in the Physical Education and Sports Sciences. An Approach to its Systematization According to the BAPNE Method". International Journal of Innovation and Research in Educational Sciences, 2020.
  • Romero-Naranjo, F.J. "Body percussion Basic". Book, Bodymusic-Bodypercussion Press, 2003.
  • Romero-Naranjo, F.J. "Cognitive Solfege". Book. Bodymusic-Bodypercussion Press, 2019.
  • Martin J. Junker. "Six Bagatells for Body Percussion Solo". Dinklage 2000 (Gretel-Verlag, Germany)
  • Romero-Naranjo, F.J. "Body Percussion and Team Building through the BAPNE Method". SHS Web of Conferences 26(3), 2016.
  • Romero-Naranjo, F.J. "Percusión Corporal en diferentes culturas" (Body percussion in different cultures). Música y Educación, 2008.
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