While earning my first master’s degree I met a truly inspiring
flutist. This student helped me to loosen
up, chill out (if you will), in rehearsals and as a musician. This same student introduced me to a whole new world of
flute playing. He shook up the whole
studio by learning Greg Pattillo’s Three Beats for Beatbox Flute. It was so cool! And secretly, I wanted to be able to beatbox
too. But as with all new things, I was
extremely hesitant to even try. For
years, I pushed it away, making excuses for why I couldn’t learn how to do
it. Did you catch that? Couldn’t.
I thought I did not possess the ability to learn what my friend
had. Why? Well, it is despairingly simple. I was scared.
There was nothing to stop me from learning. I could have asked my friend to give me
pointers, but I didn’t. I wasted a
perfectly good opportunity. Furthermore,
I wasted five years of growth potential on fear. I was so scared of failure and embarrassment. There
are so many quotes I can throw in here about how people who are successful
weren’t afraid to fail because it would lead to success or how the only
difference between successful people and unsuccessful people is the willingness
to prepare, to put in the hard work. But
I don’t need to, because undoubtably you have heard them all before.
And here’s the thing, once I decided that I was going to do
it, that I was going to learn how to beatbox, I took off. I watched countless instructional videos
about how to beatbox (I will share some of my favorites at the bottom of this
post), and they helped a little bit. But
at the end of the day, I learn by experience.
I started incorporating beatboxing syllables into my warm-ups, for
example scales, and I purchased beatboxing etude books and pieces. Now I know what you are thinking – there are
beatboxing etudes?! Yes, yes there
are. I will share the books I purchased
with you in the following paragraphs as I compare them and detail what worked
for me. Let me say this, I don’t think I
am as good of a beatboxer as my friend who so inspired me, but I do hope to
have the opportunity to jam with him in the future. I was so honored and, yes, inspired (theme of
the post much?) watching my friend grow as a flutist and I can only hope that
if he heard me beatboxing he would be proud of me.
Shall we get down to it?
The book that helped me, hands down, the most in learning beatboxing was Flute Beatboxing: Studies& Pieces by Tilmann Dehnhard. Dehnhard has another amazing
extended technique book that I may have to do an entire entry on in the future
called The New Flute: Workbook & DVD. In his beatboxing book, Dehnhard explains how
to make each sound and then goes on to give focused etudes on each individual
sound in progressively more challenging levels.
Level 1 is Bronze followed by Silver, Gold, and Platinum. In the first three levels, the Ts, K, and B
sound are taught on their own. Then, in
the Platinum level, the final etude is a mix of K and B. Furthermore, there are concert studies which
integrate all three sounds. Finally, he gives students “Beatbox Classics” which
are familiar tunes with added beatbox sounds.
I should note that Dehnhard notates the B (bass drum) sound as P in his
music and Ts as T. You will see in this blog that
composers notate beatboxing differently.
Isolating each sound and placing them in a more traditional learning
setting solidified my ability to process and master each sound. Technology is great and I loved listening to
Pattillo demonstrate each sound, but this book gave me a physical goal. I guess I am truly old school.
I had also previously purchased The Art of Beatboxing
by Brandy Hudelson
which is also an etude book. I bought it
because I was working on her piece Wild Nightingale. Wild
Nightingale was my first goal in beatboxing. I was staying clear of Three Beats, again due to fear, and wanted a piece that I could
perform. For the record, I have since
worked on, although not performed, Three
Beats. Hudelson’s book was not accessible
to me when I was in the beginning stages of learning to beatbox. She introduces a lot of beatboxing syllables,
each with a detailed description on how to produce the sound, and incorporates
them with complex rhythms and sometimes compounds them with other extended
techniques. Having worked through
Dehnhard’s book and worked on/performed Wild
Nightingale, I think this book is more accessible to me now. I would not recommend this book to learn the
basics. What this book does do that is
fantastic is in the chapters leading up to the etudes, Hudelson discusses how
to improvise with beatboxing and how to compose with the technique. I arrange music for my students and for flute
ensemble often and I think it would be fun to incorporate beatboxing into a future
project. Below the sample notation is a recording of my dress rehearsal for a performance of Wild Nightingale (consider it proof that an old dog can learn new tricks).
The final etude book that I had purchased early on was Four Etudes for Beatbox Flute by Greg Pattillo. This book was also a bit much for me,
personally, in the beginning. I felt
like I was just thrown into the deep end.
To be fair, remember that Pattillo has multiple videos and a summer camp
in which you can learn to beatbox from the pro himself. For me, the videos didn’t engage me the way I
need in order to learn. Physical etudes
hold me accountable. Pattillo, like every
composer I have encountered who uses beatboxing, provides instructions in the
book on how to produce the sound. You
will see, again, that Pattillo notates differently than the previous two
composers. What is neat about this book
is that the tunes are not only familiar to a musician, but also to those who do
not study music. The tunes are from popular
culture and are transcriptions of some of Pattillo’s popular videos. Again, I think I would be more successful
with this book now than I was a year ago when I started this venture.
In a future post, I plan to discuss a super neat flute composer
whose compositions I have been obsessed with of late: Nicole Chamberlain. Chamberlain is a composer who has given the
flute literature world a plethora of cool pieces for solo flute, duets, trios,
flute choir, and mixed chamber ensembles incorporating beatboxing and other
techniques. No surprise here, Chamberlain
notates the beatboxing technique differently from the aforementioned flutist-composers. For now, I will leave you with a couple of the
instructional beatboxing YouTube videos:
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