At our September meeting we welcomed musician Sophie Fishwick for a Body Percussion session. She taught us to make musical sounds without an instrument in sight! We started with an imaginary wander through a tropical
rainforest (we called it the Beeston Jungle) – a self made sound bath if you will – making sounds of a slight breeze
rustling through the trees to it whipping up (running palms together slowly then faster), then small rain drops by
slow clicking, then heavier rain with faster clicking, then a downpour slapping our legs, then thunder by stomping with our feet before bringing it slowly back down by doing the reverse. We started doing it all together but then did it in a round so one person started then the next joined in etc. there were some suspicious monkey/parrot noises thrown in for good measure.
Next some of us tried Stand up percussion, starting with either side steps and back (all ladies were meant to be
going in the same direction but there were soon people going in EVERY direction…cue lots of confusion and
laughter). Then some of us had a go at beat boxing. Apparently all it takes to become a beat boxer is to say “boots and cats and boots and cats” over and over whilst also stomping and clapping!! Sophie had us making mouth noises—raspberries, lip buzzes, cheek pops— Wendy then (stupidly) whispered to Jenny that she could do an imitation of the bagpipes, so of course Jenny ratted her out and she performed to the circle’s amazement and laughter.
We then tackled complex body percussion, stomping and clapping contrasting beats that descended into glorious chaos until we finally nailed it for 20 rounds….and just when we thought Wendy would close us out with her bagpipes she didn’t! So we requested an encore from Wendy (which was filmed and sent globally only to reveal that her distant relatives share the exact same talent). See the video on our Hive members’ Facebook page, it’s a real talent! We wrapped up with the “Beeston Jungle sound bath” with many more noises this time – and we’re pretty sure we heard a whale!
The whole session was a great exercise in teamwork and concentration and it definitely challenged the old grey
matter…Imagine an hour of trying to pat your head and rub your tummy. You go great until someone throws in
another instruction. It was relaxing (yet exhausting), enjoyable, playful and hilarious in equal measures, often with fits of infectious giggles spontaneously breaking out around the circle.
At the meeting we had a visitor and a new member in attendance, and 15ish members, the majority of whom were wearing elements of purple for the 111th WI anniversary. Hopefully we made a good impression with our fresh, warm cakes. Delicious! We were also grateful for Ruth sharing her bounty of pears, and to Chris who told us about her amazing wing walk (see page 3 for a writeup about her adventure).
