THE ‘SOUND’ OF HUMAN BODY!
Bharat Verma, India’s first body percussionist, talks about the art of producing sounds using one’s own body, it’s usage to elevate one’s dynamics with his or her body and an emerging trend of body jamming sessions…
A distinct form of dance and rhythm, body percussion is principally performed in two ways: either by sitting at one place and using your body as drum or in the form of dance by moving around. Explaining the concept further, Bharat says, “Percussion in itself means creating musical rhythms and beats on instruments with the help of hands or sticks. Body percussion uses the same principle of creating rhythmic sounds, but the instruments become our own body parts such as the hands, legs, chests, arms etc. Anyone can beat their body parts and create sounds, but the difficult part comes in creating rhythms in a perfect tempo.”
A South African form of musical communication, body percussion was originally used by slaves to pass on the messages through a combination of bodily vibrations such as stomps and slaps. The art comes with its set of benefits though. It stimulates control of movement, muscle strength, coordination, balance and helps in improving mental acumen by enhancing concentration, memory and perception.
The enriching attributes of body percussion make it for an ideal workout choice on its own or in combination with other techniques. Informs Bharat, “As per medical science, problems like blood pressure, eye weakness, and headaches can be controlled by pressing different parts of your palm. While doing Body Percussion one uses his/her palm mostly, and the pressure exerted henceforth increases blood circulation.”
Besides regulating many diseases, body percussion, according to Bharat can be immensely therapeutic. Speaking on which, he says, “Many of my body percussion sets for instance involve portrayal of negative emotions, which have helped me to not only cope with them, but also overcome them after seeing things from different perspectives”.
The beauty of any art is that it is bereft of boundaries. And, that quality of it provides a fertile base for cross-pollination of ideas and multi-disciplinary collaborations. Body percussion, for instance, can be coupled with several dance forms be it Salsa, Tap or Bharatnatyam. Its well-timed rhythms can complement an array of musical instruments too. Bharat feels that the rhythmic sound of body percussion can act as a backbone to any genre of musical piece. He adds, “Body percussion can be played solo or in group with or without music. If one wants to give variations then he or she can fuse music into it to make it more beautiful.”
Bharat intends to explore collaborative aspect of body percussion by joining forces with a rapper, beat boxer and drummer. He tells me that one can even sing with body percussion and use human body as replacement of drum.
When I ask him about the trend of Human Jamming session, which basically, is group of people (body musicians) jamming to ‘body percussion’, he feels, “Body Percussion if performed in group would bring people closer and create an atmosphere of harmony and happiness. I am seeing that of late corporates are looking to explore such sessions to build up a healthy team environment.”
Well, the beauty of body percussion is it can be done by people of all age groups from four to eighty. So, if you love music, dance, just go for it! Your body will thank you for this.