Body percussion for kids: patterns to try

Body percussion is music made with the body alone: stamps, pats, claps, and snaps. It needs no equipment, and it works in a kitchen, a classroom, or a line at the store. This page gives the four basic sounds and twelve patterns, in order from easy to tricky.

The four sounds

Sound	How to make it	Pitch
Stamp	One foot on the floor	Lowest
Pat	Flat hands on the thighs	Low
Clap	Hands together	High
Snap	Thumb and middle finger	Highest

The four sounds climb the body, from the feet to the fingers, and the pitch climbs with them. Orff teachers use the same four sounds in class. Read Orff Schulwerk explained for parents.

A child who cannot snap yet can tap two fingers on the palm of the other hand.

More sounds to add later: a soft thump on the chest, a tongue click, and hands rubbed together.

How to read the patterns

Each pattern has four counts. A dash is a rest, so make no sound on that count. Two sounds joined by a hyphen share one count. Repeat each pattern four times with no gap.

Patterns 1 to 5: one sound on each count

Pattern	1	2	3	4
1	Stamp	Clap	Stamp	Clap
2	Pat	Pat	Clap	-
3	Stamp	Stamp	Clap	-
4	Stamp	Pat	Clap	Snap
5	Snap	Clap	Pat	Stamp

Pattern 4 climbs from the lowest sound to the highest. Pattern 5 comes back down.

Patterns 6 to 9: two sounds on one count

Pattern	1	2	3	4
6	Pat-pat	Clap	Pat-pat	Clap
7	Stamp	Clap-clap	Stamp	Clap
8	Clap	Pat-pat	Clap	Stamp
9	Pat-pat	Pat-pat	Clap	-

A sound that fills a count is a quarter note. Two sounds that share a count are eighth notes. Read rhythm names explained for parents.

Patterns 10 to 12: tricky ones

10. The waltz. This pattern has three counts: stamp, clap, clap. It fits music with three beats in a bar, such as The Blue Danube. Read time signatures explained.

11. Crossed pats. Pat the right hand on the left thigh. Pat the left hand on the right thigh. Clap. Snap.

12. The double stamp. Stamp, clap, stamp-stamp, clap. This is one of the first beats in bucket drumming.

A rainstorm for a group

The group sits in a ring. The leader starts each sound, and it passes around the ring one person at a time, so the sound grows.

1. Rub the hands together.
2. Snap the fingers, or tap two fingers on a palm.
3. Pat the thighs.
4. Pat the thighs and stamp the feet.
5. Go back through the steps in reverse order, until the room is silent.

The storm gets louder and then softer. The music words for that are crescendo and diminuendo. Read dynamics in music. Beethoven wrote a storm for a whole orchestra in his Pastoral Symphony.

Play along with music

• Radetzky March, by Johann Strauss Sr. Pattern 1 fits the march. At the Vienna New Year’s Concert, the audience claps along, soft in the quiet parts and loud in the loud ones.
• The Blue Danube, by Johann Strauss II. Use the waltz pattern.
• The gallop from the William Tell Overture, by Rossini. Pat the gallop on the thighs: two quick pats and one longer one, over and over.
• “Clapping Music,” by Steve Reich. Two people perform this piece with their hands alone. Both clap one pattern. One of them shifts it by a single note at a time, until the two match again.

Make up a pattern

1. Choose four sounds for four counts.
2. Swap one sound for a rest.
3. Double one sound, so that two share a count.
4. Repeat the pattern four times.
5. Write it down as a row of four words, and teach it to someone.

Games for a group

• Echo. The leader performs a pattern. The group copies it.
• Canon. Two groups perform the same pattern. The second group starts four counts after the first. Read what is a canon and a round.
• Layers. Half the group keeps pattern 1 going. The other half adds pattern 6 on top.
• Pass it on. Send a pattern around a ring, one count for each person.

Which patterns for which age

Age	Patterns
3 to 5	Patterns 1 to 3, and the rainstorm
6 to 8	Patterns 1 to 10
9 to 12	All twelve, with canons and layers

Print and play

Print the rhythm cards and perform each card with one sound. For more games with no equipment, read music games for kids with no equipment and rhythm games for kids. For a method built on moving to music, read Dalcroze eurhythmics explained for parents.