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Pre history...

The history of Beatboxing is blurry. It appears, like graffiti, to have begun it's life as an urban art form.

The beginnings of hip-hop are well known - DJs spinning the breakbeats in records with MCs rapping

over the top. When MCs starting to rap over drum machine (beat box) beats, in the ghettos such as the

Bronx, drum machines and synthesisers could not be afforded (samplers were at this time well out of

the reach of even well-paid musicians). Necessity is the mother of invention, and without machine-

supplied beats to rap over, a new instrument was created - the mouth - and thus human beatboxing was

born.

Travelling right back, we uncover the troubadours (poet-musicians) of Southern France the 1200 and

1300s. These were travelling French minstrels who would roam the streets singing either

unaccompanied or with only the accompaniment of a lute, the precursor to the modern acoustic guitar.

Their music seemed to try and be different and featured courtly lyrics or religious themes. By the late

1400 and 1500s, groups would sing together, much like barbershop, harmonising to one single voice. To

give their music depth, they would interchange short sharp notes, call and responsive in the melodies,

making it sound like a whole band was playing with them. These French gypsies, were in fact the earliest

recorded signs of vocal percussion in history.

As medieval became baroque, baroque became classical, classical became romantic, human percussion

was lost momentarily. As music swung towards Bach and Beethoven with oratorios and symphonies

comprising dozens of violins and violas, the use for the human voice lost all but one purpose, to sing.

However, more recent composers such as Medtner and Rachmaninov used wordless 'vocalised' sounds

in their classical compositions. For example, Rachmaninov's composition for voice and piano called

'Vocalise', written in 1912, features a pure melody that unfolds over gently changing wordless vocal

harmonies.

Beat boxing in Indian music

North Indian music has for centuries (and perhaps millennia) used something called 'vocal bols' that

sound very similar to the sounds played on percussive instruments such as the tabla. The most common

bols are Dha, Dhi/Dhin, Ti/Tin, Ra, Ki, Ta, Na, Tin, and Te. Bols are combined and arranged in 4-beat

patterns called thekas to provide the rhythm or tal. For example, "Ta Dhin Dhin Dha". These are still

used today by a wide range of artists and bands such as Alms For Shanti on their track SuperBol (spot

the pun?). Although not a direct ancestor of modern beatboxing, this parallel will no doubt find itself

fused with beatboxing in the future.

From Africa to America

African ritualistic music had traditionally used body sounds to maintain rhythm, such as clapping and

stamping. Loud in-and-out breathing called 'over breathing' was also used as both a two-beat rhythm

and to induce a trance like state in the performers. Vocal percussion patterns were also used such as,

"hup, hup, hup, hup" and "Ch Ka Ch Ch". Today, West African music still uses techniques such as giving

the voice an intentionally raspy or buzzy quality as well as featuring glissandos, bends, and swoops.In

the 17th Century, African slaves were taken to plantations in Jamaica and the Americas where the

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African music was blended with European folk and brass band music to spawn new forms of music -

namely jazz and blues.

Independent artists

In the late 1880s, black groups (usually quartets) would sing a capella, that is, using only their

harmonized voices to make music. They would hold long, low notes that resemble what we hear as bass

sounds in modern beatboxing. Vocal percussion was used by these quartets to help their music keeptime, such as clicks of the tongue and taking a sharp breath in. Yes, more then a hundred years before

Kenny Muhammad, black barbershop singers mastered the inward snare. Even though vocal percussion

was only the background to this style of music, it no doubt set the stage for the oncoming craze of

scatting and bass humming in the wave of jazz, blues, and swing music that was just a few years away.

Blues and Vocal Percussion

When blues was brought about by black slaves telling the heart ache of life, there wasnt usually

instruments at hand. Musicians would improvise with what little they had, their body and their voices.

Claps and clicks became the drums, and low hums became the double bass; the two back bones of blues

and jazz music. One would hum, one would clap, click and hit things as the drums, and one would sing.

This would eventually evolve into imitating many sounds, such as the 'shhchh' of a soft snare and the

'tssa' of the hi-hat being played with brushes. Blues groups found a way to make their music with

nothing but their voices. As blues became more and more mainstream, scatting and bass humming

became well known. Higher range singers would wail long, joined notes, taking the place of the trumpet

in solos. Immediately, this form of vocal percussion became a staple of urban culture, that is, culture of

the street. Poor artists would roam the streets, or gather on street corners, imitating trumpets and

saxophones outside jazz halls.

Today

Today, beatboxing and vocal percussion is as alive as ever. One only needs to lend an ear to the

Australian charts to hear Joel Turner using beatboxing as the drums to an entire album. Joel has since

claimed national glory, and multimillion dollar record deal and mainstream exposure. The formation of

such groups as the Beatbox Alliance, who has major corporate backing, makes us realise beatboxing is

now a card carrying member of the hip-hop community. In 2000, Rahzel made beatboxing famous in the

mainstream by covering the now deceased Aaliyahs song 'If Your Girl Only Knew'. Rahzel has since been

credited as the first person to conquer the art of simultaneously singing and beatboxing at the same

time, a feat that has become a staple of the beatbox community

World records

According to the Guinness World Records, the current record for the largest human beatbox ensemble

involved 1,246 participants and was achieved by Vineeth Vincent and Christ University (India) in

Bangalore, Karnataka, India, on 5 February 2011.

This record was beaten by Google Employees on November 14, 2011 in Dublin with 2081 people

participating. It was achieved by Shlomo and Testament.

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Beatbox machines used

Wurlitzer Sideman

Used with kind permission The Keyboard Museum

The first time beat box was used to refer directly to a rhythm machine was in the 1970s with the ELI

CompuRhythm CR-7030 Beat Box.

ELI CR-7030

Used with kind permission The Keyboard Museum

And here is the staple of hip-hop music, the coveted Roland TR-808 drum machine released in 1982.

Roland TR-808

Used with kind permission The Keyboard Museum