Body Percussion as a Music Class in Japan

Through a mix of clapping, stomping and knee-slapping, a teacher in Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, has pioneered for decades teaching non-instrumental “body percussion” to students. Now, he plans to bring the subject to Britain in the hope of turning it into a global educational phenomenon.

Professor Toshiyuki Yamada from Kyushu Otani Junior College and a team of about 30 others will go to Britain’s Oxford University in March 2023 for a research presentation and performance of Body Percussion: Making Percussion Music Through Maneuvers such as clapping, stomping, and knee slapping .

They will perform around 10 songs, including Yamada’s composition “Hanabi” (Fireworks), inspired by the annual Chikugo River Fireworks Festival that lights up the skies of Kurume each summer. During the presentation, Yamada will offer teaching tips, explain its impact, and extol its virtues as a way for people to have fun together regardless of disability.

Yamada began teaching body percussion over 30 years ago, during his days as an elementary school teacher in Kurume. It started when he had students who were having trouble concentrating in class clap along to the songs. He continued to develop methods for teaching the subject while practicing it with elementary school and special needs students in the city.

“Kids enjoy being able to make music without instruments, just using their movements and the feeling of accomplishment when they manage to keep up with their peers. Also people with hearing problems can follow the game by watching the instructor’s movements and feeling the rhythm.

Yamada’s body percussion compositions have received wide recognition and have become part of the music education curriculum in elementary and special needs schools. The songs have been performed together with the NHK Symphony Orchestra. They have been taught in Cambodia and have previously been demonstrated at other famous venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York and the Wiener Staatsoper in Vienna, Austria.

The team going to Oxford includes students and staff from Kurume and beyond, from teenagers to people in their 60s. Participating institutions include Fukuoka Prefectural Meizen High School in Kurume, Tokyo Kunitachi College of Music, and Fukuoka Jo-Gakuin University in Fukuoka City.

“Body percussion can be performed alone or in combination with various genres of music. It originated in the educational field and was developed by children. I want it to be known as a way for children of all backgrounds to participate in an activity together,” Yamada continued, further emphasizing the theme’s potential for wider appeal.