- Title of piece: Hand Clapping
- Performer(s): Students from Kenyan Connect School
- Culture of Origin: Kenya
- Instrumentation: Voice and Body Percussion
The video that I chose for this week is a a series of clapping games from Kenya that are performed by students from the Kenyan Connect School. There are five different hand clapping games shown in the video clip. The selected games show the importance of play as well as the role of socialization and working together. Play is said to be a cultural "cause and effect" in the simplest form, culture and play each contribute to the other (Campbell & Lew, 2005). Based on this video, I believe that this captures what Campbell and Lew were discussing in the reading this week. The video clip shows the connection between culture and play in the Kenyan community. In order to be successful and meet their common goal, these children must work together to preform the hand clapping games. They are also working on developing their musical skills. All of the hand clapping games include chants. They are also using body percussion to accompany the chants and are having to use a high level of coordination to follow the rules of each hand clapping game.
I enjoyed watching all of the hand clapping games in this video, however I found the third clip interesting because it took your traditional hand clap and turned it into a game. In the third clip, one of the circle games involves turn taking and an elimination aspect. The children stand in a circle and pass the clap around the circle. At the end, two children are then trying to hit the other child's hand. They have three tries to do it, if they do not succeed they are out. If they do, the other child is out.
Campbell, P. S., & Lew, J. C. (2005) Children's natural and necessary musical play: Global contexts, local application. Music Educators Journal, 91(5), 57-62.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and watching your video this week on the hand clapping games from Kenya. I think you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned how this video in particular shows the "cause and effect" of play in socialization between the children. The culture and connection are clearly shown while the children engage in the musical (chant) hand clapping games. The third clip where it was the circle game with elimination was very interesting! I seem to recall some similar circle games here when I was a part of girl scouts growing up, though I don't recall the chance to hit the other child's hand. It seems to be more fair in this aspect, giving the child a chance to stay in the game if they manage to succeed in hitting the other child's hand once the chanting has ceased. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and your post this week!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThis video is a great example of student's play that helps to build so many skills and benefit them in the long run. Like you stated, they are learning about rhythm and tempo, using their voices to do chants and are using social and somewhat of political skills to have certain kids be eliminated from the game. To them at the time I am sure that they are just having fun, but students can learn so much, and maybe even more when they do not even realize that they are doing so. Great example for this week and thanks for sharing!