Rhythm Anywhere, Anytime!

So I’ve been using my body as a rhythmic playground the past couple days. Clapping and stomping, throwing various rhythms over rhythms, walking around expanding my brain. Not sure what’s come over me. Rhythm rocks! So much to learn and unlearn. You’ve got to check out this body percussion group! The best singers are the ones who understand rhythm and have the freedom to step in, out and between the beats!

African music is known for it’s incredible rhythmic layers. I was at a guitarist friend’s house the other day having a music jam and was delightfully and mind-bendingly challenged by a bunch of new rhythmic ideas he was sharing. I got to play a really great shaker instrument called a Kayamb. It was a full body experience playing this thing! I felt like I was inside, in the center of the music. You can see Danyel Waro playing a Kayamb on YouTube.

Rhythm can be so easily thrown into our day in the in between moments and it can make for some fun discoveries. Try tapping a rhythm standing in a long line, washing the dishes, or walking somewhere. Look for the spaces in a rhythm that already exist, like the space between the sound of your turn signal, and click your tongue in between the beats. Have fun, it’s impossible not to. -A