Slap Happy: How to Play World-Beat Rhythms with Just Your Body and a Buddy Paperback – April 1, 2002

Students like this a lot. I have hardly scratched the surface of the material in this book. I like how it's illustrated. As a music teacher I can teach and translate the 1 2 3 4 into note values as well. Keeps them active and learning about music.

I ordered this book to use as a prelude to teaching African drumming to my elementary students. Traditional African rhythms are introduced in order of difficulty. Each lesson includes several practice patterns related to a single rhythm. The patterns begin simply, and gradually get more complex.Directions in the book are presented concisely and clearly. The accompanying CD contains a recording of every rhythm presented in the book. The best part of the CD is the special extended recording of each rhythm, played on congas, djembes, and other traditional drums.My elementary students are thoroughly enjoying trying their hands at the Slap Happy rhythms. The real kick is keeping an entire class of 4th graders going with the extended CD tracks. We are having a ball! I'm convinced that when we move from body rhythms to actual drums, the patterns will be much more simple for my students to grasp and reproduce.The Slap Happy book states that it is "designed to embody the spirit of world rhythms and make people laugh." It does exactly that! It is one of the most delightful teaching tools I've discovered.

Given all the professional development I've taken, I was hoping this would enhance my music lessons. I didn't care for the lessons it presented or how it presented them. I returned it immediately and will continue with the materials I already have.

A little harder to figure out the directions than I thought it would be but very gratifying when I do. Wish it came with songs or chants to do with the motions - but to be honest, I haven't explored it throughly yet - they might actually be there and I haven't found them yet. Even if they are not, I'm pretty confident I can find some simple songs and rhymes to put them to on my own. Fun!