Slap Happy: How to Play World-Beat Rhythms with Just Your Body and a Buddy - Reseña

Latin Beat Magazine, May, 2002 by Gil Rivera

By Alan Dworsky and Betsy Sansby 72 pages/1 Play-Along CDs Dancing Hands Music/ISBN 0-9638801-7-9

This instructional music book for kids of all ages, as well as adults, introduces a method of playing and enjoying world-beat drum rhythms without the presence of any drum. By simply using your body through clapping, slapping and thumping your feet, Slap Happy will teach you how to play traditional rhythms from West Africa and the Caribbean: Kuku from Guinea, Sunguru Bani from Mali, Kpegisu from Ghana, Bomba from Puerto Rico, and Conga from Cuba. The rhythms in the book can be performed individually, in pairs or in groups, indoors or outdoors, at home or at school. Without any previous musical training, anyone can perform the rhythms in Slap Happy. The great thing about the book is that teachers can use Slap Happy in the classroom or the school-yard to give their students a hands-on experience of world rhythms without having to buy any musical instruments. Performing the rhythms in the book will aid in building coordination, concentration, and cooperation. After spending a few minutes learning to read a simple box chart of symbols which indicate the different moves involved in Slap Happy (like C = clap, S = slap, P = patty, and T = thigh, among others), you are ready to start having fun through the six lessons included in the book. Together with the slap-along CD that's included with the book, you can listen to samples of every pattern described in the lessons. It's actually a very creative way to bring music to the home, the classroom or any organization.