Several years ago Andrea and I saw the musical, Stomp, while on a trip to San Francisco. While we were familiar with Stomp, it wasn’t until we witnessed it live that we realized just how cool the percussion-based performance truly was.
Needless to say, when we returned home, I had the urge to break out into drumming solos every time I swept the garage or took out the garbage. For those of you unfamiliar with Stomp, brooms and garbage can lids are a big part of their “orchestra”.
Despite seeming Stomp seventeen years ago, it was only a few years ago that Andrea and I started to think seriously about including unique rhythmic experiences into our piano exercises and resources. As it turns out, our delayed timing was perfect, because body percussion is all the rage these days!
In today’s post we want to inspire you and your students to embrace body percussion as a rhythm training exercise by sharing three pretty awesome Youtube videos. After checking out the videos, keep reading as we share a resource that can help you bring this unique rhythm training approach to your studio.
3 Videos That Prove Rhythm Training Can Rock
When it comes to rhythm training, are clap backs one of the few tools in your bag of teaching tricks? If so, after finding inspiration in the videos below, you’re probably going to want to kick clap backs to the curb!
Body percussion is very “in” at the moment… and this is great news for piano teachers. Why? Because learning rhythm as a full-body experience is much more memorable than simply counting and clapping. When movement is involved, and when there is an aspect of creativity, your piano students will learn to truly feel rhythm and pulse instead of simply being able to count it. Not only will they be more engaged in the process, but you’ll likely find that they master difficult rhythms more quickly (I know many of you discovered this when using our Good King’s Groove Rhythm Activity!)
Before watching, keep in mind that these videos are simply inspiration. We don’t expect you and your students to perform a percussion-based dance number every time it’s time to reinforce rhythm! But if they do pique your interest, check out the resource after the videos.
Video 1
Since I’ve been talking about Stomp, it seemed natural to kick off this video series with… Stomp. The video below is a long one but it’s worth watching!
Video 2
If you’re flying solo you can still perform some pretty impressive body percussion. Check out what this performer managed to create below.
Video 3
This duo seems to make a living out of body percussion. Check out this artsy performance:
A Resource To Take Your Rhythm Training To The Next Level
If you want to ramp up your rhythm training, then you have to check out our piano-based rhythm book, Lap Tap Clap Revolution. This level 3 teen piano book contains powerful piano solos accompanied by percussion-based body beats (a provided rhythm of lap slapping, clapping, tapping, and snapping) to create a groundbreaking rhythmic learning experience for your students.
Listen to a sample below:
If you want your teens to embrace rhythm training then head on over to Amazon and get Lap Tap Clap Revolution today.
4 am on a snowing night in Nebraska, I’m awake watching your rhythm videos and listening to the sound files. And thinking I can hardly wait to see the little class of 5th grade orchestra kids who just recently “got” the difference between beat and rhythm and they’ll go nuts seeing these,,