All kids seem to enjoy rhythm, and they all seem to enjoy rhythm games. There are a plethora of percussion games available for teachers working with students of all ages. Clapping games, rhythm imitation, and rhythm challenges are just a few of the activities that can be used to teach the beat while having fun.
Patty-cake has been a favorite game of children all over the world since time immemorial. The rhythmic to-do includes finger snapping, palm slapping, and grabbing each other’s wrists for shakedowns. Some hand-clapping games have remained unchanged for generations, but each new generation of kids seems to invent their own, frequently involving singsongs, silly insults, and other wordplay that finds its way into the hand-crafted percussive games.
Even adults enjoy joining in the fun. By incorporating beats, pats, and strokes to puffed-out cheeks, bellies, and arms, a folk tradition known as hambone, which is derived from Haitian Djouba, takes body percussion games to the next level. Toe tapping and stomping add to the beat. When hambone players perform, they may establish a shared refrain in which all body percussionists follow the same rhythm, then allow each player to step out and solo in an attempt to outdo the others.
A variety of percussion games use call and response to teach the youngest children to count and follow a beat. The leader establishes a simple, rhythmic pattern with hand clapping, finger snapping, or toe tapping. The pattern must be repeated exactly by each player in turn. The rhythm can be repeated by the leader for each player to follow, or it can be passed from player to player, with the leader playing the rhythm after it has traveled around the room to see how well the percussionists followed it.
This game does not require the use of body percussion. Instead of or in addition to body beats, hand drums, bells, wood blocks, or other percussive music makers can be used. The rhythm challenge is a variation on percussion games.
The challenge is designed for more advanced drummers and percussionists. The challenger begins by presenting a relatively simple rhythm, which the challenger then repeats four times. The respondent plays the challenge four times, then adds a beat or two, subtly changes the interior rhythm, or both, and repeats the process four times. The challenger is now the respondent, and he or she must play the original pattern, the new pattern, and yet another version that either adds to or changes the new version, or both. The challenge goes back and forth until one of the percussionists loses the beat.