Your Weekly Listen for 10/7/15 is a video from the Africa Heartwood Project featuring three African children’s clapping games.
Virtually all cultures around the world have clapping songs and games played by children. In all likelihood, musical and rhythmic clapping games date back to prehistoric times, and have been found in the folklore of ancient Rome, Britain, Africa, Asia, Australia and many other regions around the world. In North America, familiar clapping games include “Pat-a-Cake”, “Miss Mary Mack”, “Pease Porridge Hot” to name just a few.
According to a study by Dr. Idit Sulkin and Dr. Warren Brodsky at Ben Gurion University in Israel, hand clapping songs improve children’s cognitive skills. “There’s no doubt [hand clapping games] train the brain and influence development in other areas,” said Brodsky. Read more about this study here:
Hand Clapping Games Improve Child Cognitive Skills
African music is characterized by complex polyrhythms so it’s not surprising to find complicated rhythmic sequences even in children’s musical games from Africa.
