Lesson video

Hi there everyone.

Welcome to this lesson on layering our beatboxing vocal percussion sounds.

This is from our Playing Together unit where we are discovering different vocal timbres.

My name's Mr. Croughan, and I'm gonna be guiding you through today as we start to layer up our beatboxing sounds.

Here we go.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to say that you can begin to layer beatboxing vocal sounds.

Let's begin by looking at today's keywords.

We're gonna begin with texture.

And texture is that combination of different layers of sound.

Beatboxing, the use of the mouth and the voice to mimic sounds, such as a drum machine.

Then mimicry, imitating something, like the sound of an instrument, and then timbre, a description of the sound or tone of an instrument.

It's really important to warm up.

If we're gonna be using our voices, we want to do so safely.

We want to focus on our breathing.

We're gonna warm up our mouths, our tongues, we'll use some tongue twisters, gently stretching our vocal folds with our vocal exercises, and that's gonna keep our voices strong and healthy.

So I would like you to now make sure you have found a space and can follow these warmups so that you are ready to make some music.

Here we go.

<v ->Join in with this breathing warmup.

</v> Imagine we are blowing out candles on a birthday cake.

Take a deep breath in and blow.

Let's do that again.

Cuh.

<v ->Cuh.

</v> <v ->Cuh-cuh.

</v> <v ->Cuh-cuh.

</v> <v ->Tss.

</v> <v ->Tss.

</v> <v ->Tss-tss.

</v> <v ->Tss-tss.

</v> <v ->Tss-tss-tss.

</v> <v ->Tss-tss-tss.

</v> <v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->Mm.

</v> <v ->Vv.

</v> <v ->Vv.

</v> <v ->Ff.

</v> <v ->Ff.

</v> <v ->Cuh-puh-tuh.

</v> <v ->Cuh-puh-tuh.

</v> <v ->Fuh-fuh-fuh.

</v> <v ->Fuh-fuh-fuh.

</v> <v ->Mm-cuh!

</v> <v ->Mm-cuh!

</v> <v ->Vv-tuh!

</v> <v ->VV-tuh!

</v> <v ->Ff.

</v> <v ->Ff.

</v> <v Instructor>Repeat after me.

</v> Gobbledygook, gobbledygook.

Hobbledy wobbledy bobbledygook.

Jump up and down, all about town.

Round and around and around and around.

<v ->Wonderful stuff, well done.

</v> Now the song "Build Me Up" develops our understanding of texture, and it warms us up ready for our beatboxing.

Here's the two things you're gonna do.

Firstly, you'll practice part one, that is the spoken part.

Then I'll play the second part, and you're gonna join in with the sung part, which comes in midway through.

Okay, are we ready?

Here comes the spoken part.

Be ready to join in.

♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ch ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, ♪ ♪ Kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ch ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, ♪ ♪ Kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ch ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, ♪ ♪ Kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ch ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, ♪ ♪ Kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ <v ->Very good, now you're gonna join in with the sung part</v> as you listen.

This comes partway through, so if you still want to join in with the speaking part first, just be ready About 40 seconds in, you will start with the sung part.

Here it comes.

♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ch ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, ♪ ♪ Kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ch ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Ticka-Ticka ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, ♪ ♪ Kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ah-Ah ♪ ♪ Ah, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ch ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Ah-ah ♪ ♪ Ah-Ah, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Ah-ah ♪ ♪ Ah-Ah, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ch ♪ ♪ Boom, boom, kick ♪ ♪ Ah-ah ♪ ♪ Ah-Ah, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Kick, boom, boom ♪ ♪ Kick, kick, kick, kick, boom ♪ ♪ Ah-Ah ♪ ♪ Ah-Ah, oh yeah ♪ ♪ Ah-Ah ♪ ♪ Ah-Ah, oh yeah ♪ <v ->Wonderful, well done.

</v> Now we are ready to make some beatboxing sounds.

If your body's feeling relaxed, centered, and ready, your voice is a bit warmer than it was before, and you are feeling focused, then you are ready to press on.

The two learning cycles in today's lesson are as follows.

First, we're gonna learn some new beatboxing sounds.

Then we're gonna revisit the ones we've already learned and layer them up.

Let's begin with learning some new beatboxing sounds.

We're gonna watch Jason doing some beatboxing right now, and he mimics the sound of his drum machine and those percussion instruments using his mouth and voice.

Have a watch.

Love it.

So far we have explored the bass drum sound, the hi-hat, and the snare drum.

I would like you to join in making these vocal percussion sounds along with Jason.

Here it comes.

<v ->Okay, so this is the sound</v> of the three instruments altogether, the bass drum, the hi-hat, and the snare drum.

Now after four, we'll do it together.

One, two, three, four.

Well done.

<v ->Now an egg shaker is usually made from plastic</v> and filled with beads.

It's held in the palm of our hand and it sounds like this.

What we're going to do now is watch Jason mimic the sound of the egg shaker using his voice.

Have a careful listen.

<v ->So this is a sound of the shaker.

</v> It's a heavy percussion instrument and it sounds like this.

Ch.

Ch.

<v ->So, to make that egg shaker beatboxing sound,</v> you're going to move your lips forward and vocalize a ch sound.

Here comes a clip with Jason with space for you to mimic him.

Have a go.

<v ->So I'll do the shaker first,</v> and then it's your turn.

After four, one, two, three, four.

<v ->Brilliant, now a top tip from Andy,</v> he says, "Can you imagine and hear an egg shaker rattling?

" Sometimes visualizing it really helps us with that accurate sound.

Each beatboxing sound represents a different percussion instrument, and every percussion instrument has its own special timbre.

As Izzy reminds us, "The timbre describes the unique sound or tone of an instrument.

" Now in beatboxing, the voice is used in different ways to mimic the different instrumental timbres.

Claves, sometimes called claves, they are played by cradling one in the hand and using the other to strike it, and it sounds like this.

What we're going to do is have a listen to Jason mimic the sound of the clave with his voice.

Have a watch.

<v ->This is the sound of the clave.

</v> It's your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

<v ->So to make that clave beatboxing sound,</v> you click your tongue on the roof of your mouth.

So you put your tongue up on the roof of your mouth, on your hard palette, and then you sort of suck the air away and pull the tongue down like this.

Okay, follow along with Jason and give that a go yourselves.

<v ->So this is a clave pattern.

</v> I'll do it first and then we'll repeat it after four.

One, two, three, four.

<v ->And again, Sam reminds us</v> that visualization can really help that, imagining hearing the clave being struck.

So quick check then, which percussion instrument is this that Jason is mimicking?

Is it A, the clave, or B, egg shaker.

Have a listen, here it comes.

Did you get that one right?

I'm sure you did.

Was it A, the clave, or B, the egg shaker.

Point to the one you heard.

Well done, it was B, the egg shaker.

So which of these beatboxing vocalizations do we use to mimic the sound of the clave?

Is it A, the ch sound, B the kuh sound, C a buh sound, or D, the tongue click.

Which one have you been practicing?

Do you think it's A, B, C, or D for the clave?

You can point to the answer you think it is and I can reveal, you are absolutely right.

It is D, the tongue click.

Well done.

We're now going to focus on the different mouth shapes and the sounds for each of these beatboxing vocalizations.

There is a video for each one of Jason making those sounds for you to really hone and mimic as close as you can to really improve your sound of each.

So you'll have the clave sound, with that click with the tongue.

you'll have the boom of the bass drum, the ch-ch of the egg shaker, the tss of the hi-hat, and the kuh of the snare drum.

So pause here and work on each one of those in turn, and I'll see you when you're done.

Brilliant, very well done.

How was it?

How did you try and mimic the timbre of each of those instruments?

In the Oak Class, Aisha says, "I used different vocalizations of letter sounds.

" Laura says, "I was using my tongue, my lips, and my mouth in different ways to really mimic those instrument sounds.

" And Sophia said, "Well, I listened really carefully to the audio and tried to recreate that sound that I heard.

" Very well done.

Remember, practice is what's gonna help us improve each time and we can't get them all right immediately.

We're now going to move on to the second part of our learning, where we are going to layer up some beatboxing sounds.

Jason creates a thicker texture by layering beatboxing sounds.

Sophia reminds us that texture, that's the combination of different layers of sound.

So here is gonna be a video with both the bass drum and the snare drum layered together.

Have a listen.

Your turn then, we're gonna divide the class into two in a moment.

Group one will do the bass drum beatboxing, and group two will be the snare drum, and then you get to swap, so everyone has a go at each.

Here comes a video to guide you.

And you can of course pause and do that a couple of times and swap over so that each group gets to do both the snare drum and the bass drum.

Off you go.

Well done, good stuff.

Did you manage to hold your part against the other group, keeping to that steady pulse?

If you did, can you clearly hear the two layers coming together, and did you vocalize those beatboxing sounds clearly?

If you did, very well done.

In the next video we're going to see the hi-hat and the clave layered together.

Have a listen.

Cool, did you notice, if you were listening super carefully, that the fourth note of the clave comes in just before the fourth beat?

So if the steady beat's going one, two, three, four, the clave's going.

So it's slightly earlier.

What you're going to do now is divide the class into two groups again.

Group one's going to be the hi-hat tss sound.

The other group's going to be the clave beatboxing, and then you'll get to repeat and swap sounds.

Here comes the video so you can join in the first time, then you'll pause and swap over just like before.

Here it comes.

Brill, well done.

Now pause here and swap over so that everybody gets a go of both the hi-hat and the clave.

Off you go.

Now then, in this next clip, Jason will layer four beatboxing sounds together, the bass drum, the snare drum, the hi-hat and the clave.

You are going to pause, so I'll play the video once, so you can see it, and then you'll pause, and each time you replay the video, you are going to join in with a different sound.

So the first time, number one, when you play it, join me with the bass drum.

Second time joining the snare drum, then the hi-hat, then the claves.

Here comes the video and you'll see what I mean.

Brilliant, pause here and work through each of those four instruments each time you replay the video.

Off you go.

Great job, people, improving all the time.

Which is the musical element that describes that combination of different layers of sound?

Have a think and quietly to yourself, say in your head, which is the word, that musical element, that describes the combination of different layers of sound?

I'll give you a moment, and when you think you've got it, I'm going to reveal if you were right.

Do you want to tell me what it is?

Very good, yes, it is texture, as Jacob says.

Texture is that musical element describing the combination of layering up sound.

Your tasks, then.

The first one, which you're going to do is, in two groups, practicing the bass drum and the snare drum as an ensemble.

If you can see on the screen, there is a one and a two in a circle.

That's group one and group two.

Then you see the steady beat, that one, two, three, four written across the top.

What you're going to do, group one, is the bass drummer, and that's on beats one and three.

Group two is the snare drum, that's on beat two and four, so you can hear the each time, repeating it, keeping it steady, and then swap groups.

There's a video there to guide you if you need it.

I would like you to pause and work on that now.

Solid, well done.

Now the second part, you are practicing the hi-hat and the clave in your two groups.

So the third part that's that ts, ts, ts.

Happens on every beat, same as the tongue click for the on the claves on beats one, two, three, and four.

What's gonna help is feeling that steady pulse.

Hi-hat every beat.

That fourth note on the clave, remember it's ever so slightly earlier, there's a video there to guide you if you need it.

Work on that and I'll see you when you're done.

This is brilliant.

You've worked really hard to get to this stage and you are now absolutely ready for this.

You are going to divide into four groups.

Each group will make a different beatboxing sound that will come together to create a thicker texture.

And then you rotate each group, so that each group gets to perform a different instrument.

Okay, remember, in your groups, if you are in the bass drum group, you are on beats one and three.

If you are in the snare drum group, beats two and four.

If you are on the claves, it's every beat, just that last one comes a fraction earlier.

And then with the egg shaker, nice and evenly on each of the beats.

That thing that's gonna be your friend is feeling that steady pulse.

Remember, if you keep focused on the accuracy of the mimicry of that percussion, make those sounds as well as you can at the moment, even when that layering gets tricky.

And of course, 'cause you're doing it more than once, you get to practice and improve each time.

Pause here and work on that four layer ensemble in your group.

Off you go.

Amazing, brilliant work.

I think Jason will be super proud of you.

So then, just thinking about it, that first thing we did was layering the kick drum and the snare drum.

Did you keep that steady beat with the two sounds alternating?

That's gonna set you up well for the next part, layering up hi-hat and clave.

Did that tricky clave rhythm fit well?

So you got the steady hi-hat, but then the clave is the one, two, three, and it just comes in ever so slightly sooner.

And then the layering of all four beatboxing sounds together.

Could you hear four layers?

Did it sound like a beatboxing sound?

And did it have a steady beat?

If it did, fantastic, well done.

Remember, the more we practice, the more we improve.

That's all we have time for today.

So a quick summary of our learning.

We can use our voices to mimic different percussion instruments in a beatboxing style.

Beatboxing sounds are created using different mouth shapes and letter sounds.

Every percussion instrument has a unique timbre.

We mimic this unique timbre when we are beatboxing.

And two or more musical lines layered together create a musical texture, and the more lines, the thicker that texture is.

Fantastic work today, everyone, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

All the best, bye for now.