Lesson video

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Hello, my name's Dr.

Southall.

We're gonna be learning today about using different vocal timbres, so join me and let's see what we can learn and have lots of fun on the way.

In this lesson, we're going to be introducing beatboxing vocal percussion.

I can explore how to use my voice to create a range of different sounds.

There are four key terms for this lesson.

The first is texture, the combination of different layers of sounds.

The second is beatboxing, use of the mouth, and voice to mimic sounds such as a drum machine.

The third is art form, a recognized form of artistic composition, and the fourth is drum machine, an electronic instrument that creates drumbeats and percussive sounds.

There are three parts to this lesson.

The first one is a warmup, so that we are ready for music.

Let's start that now.

Before every music lesson, it's important to warm up our bodies and our voices, so we're ready to make music and use our voice just like Jacob.

Just like we like to stretch our muscles before we do exercise, we need to gently stretch our vocal cords before using our voice, and warming up will prevent injury and help us focus our listening.

Join in with this breathing warmup.

Imagine you are blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

Take a deep breath in and blow.

<v ->Join in with this breathing warmup.

</v> Let's imagine we are blowing candles out on a birthday cake.

Take a deep breath in and then blow.

(instructor breathing deeply) Let's try again.

(instructor breathing deeply) <v ->Now join in with this articulation warmup.

</v> Catch a consonant.

Echo these rhythms and consonant sounds.

<v ->K.

</v> <v ->K.

</v> <v ->K, K.

</v> <v ->T.

</v> <v ->T, T.

</v> <v ->T, T, T.

</v> <v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->V.

</v> <v ->F.

</v> <v ->K, P, T.

</v> <v ->F, F, F.

</v> <v ->Mm, K.

</v> <v ->V, T.

</v> <v ->F.

</v> <v ->Join in with this echo tongue twister.

</v> Aisha says, "Gobbledygook, gobbledygook, hobblede, wobblede, bobblede ****.

Jump up and down, all about town, round and around and around and around." Time for a quick check for understanding.

True or false.

We only warm up for a performance.

Well, that's false.

We warm up whenever we're making music, not just for a performance.

This prevents us from injuring our voice and it helps us to focus.

Listen to this warmup song.

It's called "Build Me Up".

(upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ ♪ Tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) <v ->How many vocal parts can you hear here?</v> Izzy can hear parts building up one at a time.

If you want to listen to it again, you can do.

I can hear two song parts and a spoken parts as Jacob as well as some instruments.

Well, we call this combination of different layers of sound the texture of a song.

Listen to "Build Me Up" again.

How does the song demonstrate texture? Now try performing part one, the spoken part.

Lucas has got a hint for us here.

He says, "Don't exaggerate or chant too loudly as we are warming up our voices gently." Remember this requires practice, so you might want to listen to it more than once and improve your performance each time.

(upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom, tick-a, tick-a ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ (upbeat percussive music) <v ->How did that song demonstrate texture?</v> Well, it had three different vocal parts.

The parts performed together in layers and those layers create a thick texture.

One line uses the speaking voice and the others use the singing voice.

What did you write? Okay, are we warmed up and are we ready for music? I hope so.

Jacob's ready.

His body feels relaxed, his throat is warm, and he is focused, and he is ready.

Now onto part two of this lesson, the art form of beatboxing.

A musical art form is a recognized type of music composition.

There are many different types of musical art forms. Jazz, for example.

Hip hop, pop, choral music, orchestral music, fusion, and, of course, beatboxing.

Did you come up with any other types? This is Jason Singh.

He's a bit of a hero.

Jason Singh is a beatboxer.

I am very envious and I would like to be a beatboxer myself, so let's see if we can learn some of his techniques.

Beatboxers use the mouth and voice to mimic sounds such as a drum machine.

Let's watch Jason perform and then we'll listen to Jason introduce himself.

(upbeat percussive music) (upbeat percussive music continues) <v ->Hi, my name's Jason Singh.

</v> I'm a beatboxer, sound artist, and DJ and composer.

I use my voice to recreate the sounds of instruments and bird song and wildlife, and this art form is called beatboxing.

<v ->Now let's hear him mimic the sounds of a drum machine</v> with his voice.

(upbeat percussive music) (upbeat percussive music continues) How cool was that? A drum machine is an electronic instrument that creates drum beats and percussion sounds, and it looks a bit like this.

The TR-808, this was the first electronic drum machine that had a realistic sounding percussion sound, and it was launched in 1980.

That was before I was born.

The TR-808 was significant because it allowed the user to be creative and build a percussion track from start to finish without having to use preset rhythms. These drum machines were known as beatboxes.

Some people started to imitate the sound of those beatboxes using only their voice, so they use their voice as if it were a drum kit.

This is how the beatboxing art form as we know it today, first developed.

Let's just check you are listening there.

Why was the creation of TR-808 drum machines so significant? Is it A, because it gave the user preset percussion tracks to save time when composing music? Or is it B, it's allowed the user to be creative and build their own percussion tracks rather than using preset patterns? Or is it C, it gave the user samples of all instruments, including string, brass, and woodwind to use when creating tracks? I think I know this one.

Excellent.

I got it right.

The answer is B, it's allowed the user to be creative and build their own precaution tracks rather than using preset patterns.

Hope you got that right too.

Okay, let's listen to some of the sounds of the TR-808 drum machine.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) Pretty cool sounds, I think.

I wonder if we could make any of those with our voices at some point.

We can try.

These are just a few of the other percussion sounds found on the TR-808 drum machine.

Claves, (claves clacking) maracas, (maracas rattling) a cowbell, (cowbell clanging) and a snare drum.

(snare drum thumping) Now you might have to look a bit closely at this picture.

Can you see the names of those percussion instruments? I can just about see them.

There's the snare drum.

There's the claves.

There's the maracas, and there's the cowbell.

Time for some independent practice.

Listen to the following clips and identify which of these TR-808 sounds are playing.

Claves, snare drum, maracas, hi-hat, cowbell, or bass drum.

Well, I hope you got those correct.

The first sample was a snare drum.

The second was playing a bass drum.

The third, maracas.

The fourth, claves, and the fifth hi-hat.

Onto the final part of today's lesson, learning initial beatboxing sounds.

This is the best bit.

We're gonna learn three beatboxing sounds, the bass drum, the hi-hat, and the snare.

These sounds use plosive consonants.

That means sounds made with a burst of breath after stopping the air.

The bass drum is sometimes called a kick drum.

It's the large drum in a drum kit, which is set on the floor and played with a pedal.

Let's have a look.

(upbeat music) I love a good drum kit.

Here's how to make the beatboxing sound of the bass drum.

We're can hear from Jason Singh, who is an expert.

Let's see what he does.

<v ->Okay, this is the sound of the bass drum</v> and it's locked in the letter B.

So B, B, B.

And you take a deep breath in and you push from the front of your lips.

<v ->That's so cool.

Shall we have a go?</v> Have a go and discover your beatboxing bass drum sound and see if it sounds like the real thing.

<v ->This is the sound of the bass drum.

</v> I'll do it first and then you repeat.

<v ->I reckon that sounded pretty good.

</v> Can you hear that the bass drum sound is locked in the letter B? Sounds like a B, doesn't it? Next then, the hi-hat has two cymbals which are either played together, closed or apart, open.

Let's have a look.

(upbeat music) I wish I could play the drums. Maybe I can do it with my mouth.

Let's see.

Here's how to make the beatboxing sound of the hi-hats.

Now Jason Singh's gonna show us again because he's very talented.

<v ->This is the sound of the hi-hat</v> and it's locked in the letter T, and it's the tip of the tongue at the top of your mouth.

And it sounds like this, ts, ts.

So it's T, T, ts, ts, ts.

<v ->Do you see what I mean? He's very good.

</v> Okay, we're gonna have a go.

See if you can discover your beatboxing hi-hat sound.

I will listen.

<v ->This is the sound of the hi-hat.

</v> I'll do it first and then you can repeat.

Ts.

<v ->Not bad, not bad.

</v> I think Jason does it a little bit better, but we can practice.

Can you hear that the hi-hat sound is locked in the letters ts? I can.

All right, last one.

The snare drum has a set of wires underneath the lower skin, which create a distinct rattling sound.

Let's have a look.

(upbeat music) Gosh, I wonder how we're gonna make that sound.

Well, fear not, Jason's gonna show us again.

Listen to how to make the beatboxing sound of the snare drum.

<v ->This is a sound of a snare drum.

</v> It comes on the back of your throat and it's locked in a letter K.

So K, K.

<v ->I love it.

</v> All right, let's see if we can do something similar.

And when I say we, I mean, you.

I'll have a quick listen.

<v ->This is the sound of the snare drum.

</v> I'll do it first and then you can repeat.

<v ->That was excellent.

Well done.

</v> Can you hear that the snare drum sound is locked in the letter K? K.

Like that.

See if you can match the beatboxing sound to its instruments.

We have three different sounds and each one is gonna be either the bass drum, the hi-hat, or the snare drum.

Can you tell which is which? Let's listen to A first, ts.

Now B, K.

Finally, C.

Well, A was a hi-hat.

B was our snare drum and C was our bass drum.

Hope you did really well there.

Last task for the lesson.

Listen and join in with these beatboxing sounds.

We're gonna hear the bass drum, the hi-hat, and the snare.

<v ->Okay, so this is the sound</v> of the three instruments altogether.

The bass drum, the hi-hat, and the snare drum.

B, ts, K.

Now after four, we'll do it together.

One, two, three, four.

B, ts, K.

Well done.

<v ->Let's see if you can improve your drum sounds.

</v> Make the B for boat sound with your lips closed.

Let the pressure build up.

Control the release of your lips just enough so they vibrate for a short amount of time.

Let's see if we can improve our hi-hat sound, ts.

Make the T as in hat sound.

Strengthen the consonant sound of T with a short burst of air, T.

Follow through with an S sound to create an open hi-hat effect.

Ts, ts.

Like that.

I could be a drum machine.

How to improve your snare K sound.

Strengthen the sound of with a burst of air.

Keep your cheeks relaxed.

Now rehearse all three drum kit sounds over this beatboxing track.

Repeat the sounds listening to the backing track and keeping in time to the steady pulse.

How did you know you were making the correct beatboxing sounds? Andeep created the B, ts, the B, ts, K consonant plosives.

Big words there, aren't they? With a short burst of air.

Aisha shut her lips before the B sound to shut off the air.

And Jun made the B, ts, K consonants powerful sounds.

Well, done everyone.

We've got right through to the end and I suspect you've made lots of interesting noises.

Hopefully, most of them sounded like a beatbox.

Remember, we warm up before music so that our bodies, minds, and voices are ready to learn.

Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion that uses the mouth, lips, tongue, and voice, and the art of beatboxing involves mimicry of sounds, including that of a drum machine.

Examples of sounds that are often imitated by beatboxers include bass drum, hi-hat, and snare drum.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

It's been a pleasure to teach you through this lesson, and I hope you've learned lots of new things about beatboxing.

Goodbye.

I've finished the video