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Vocal percussion is the art of creating sounds with one's mouth
Mouth

The mouth, buccal cavity, or oral cavity is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and begins digestion by mechanically breaking up the solid food particles into smaller pieces and mixing them with saliva....
 that approximate, imitate, or otherwise serve the same purpose as a percussion instrument
Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration....
, whether in a group of singers, an instrumental ensemble, or solo.

The term "beatboxing
Beatboxing

File:Beatboxset1_pepouni.oggBeatboxing is a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and more....
" is often used as a synonym for vocal percussion, but in fact is just one tradition of vocal percussion, originating in hip-hop
Hip hop music

Hip hop music is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rapping which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans....
 music and often used to accompany rapping
Rapping

Rapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry. Rapping is a primary ingredient in Hip Hop music, but the phenomenon predates Hip Hop culture by centuries....
.

The vocal percussion used by most college and professional a cappella
A cappella

Acappella music is vocal music or singing without musical instrument accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance music polyphony and Baroque concertato style....
 groups attempts a more complete facsimile of the pop music
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
 that these groups primarily perform.






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Vocal percussion is the art of creating sounds with one's mouth
Mouth

The mouth, buccal cavity, or oral cavity is the first portion of the alimentary canal that receives food and begins digestion by mechanically breaking up the solid food particles into smaller pieces and mixing them with saliva....
 that approximate, imitate, or otherwise serve the same purpose as a percussion instrument
Percussion instrument

A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound by being hit with an implement, shaken, rubbed, scraped, or by any other action which sets the object into vibration....
, whether in a group of singers, an instrumental ensemble, or solo.

The term "beatboxing
Beatboxing

File:Beatboxset1_pepouni.oggBeatboxing is a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and more....
" is often used as a synonym for vocal percussion, but in fact is just one tradition of vocal percussion, originating in hip-hop
Hip hop music

Hip hop music is a music genre typically consisting of a rhythmic vocal style called rapping which is accompanied with backing beats. Hip hop music is part of hip hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly among African Americans and Latino Americans....
 music and often used to accompany rapping
Rapping

Rapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry. Rapping is a primary ingredient in Hip Hop music, but the phenomenon predates Hip Hop culture by centuries....
.

The vocal percussion used by most college and professional a cappella
A cappella

Acappella music is vocal music or singing without musical instrument accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance music polyphony and Baroque concertato style....
 groups attempts a more complete facsimile of the pop music
Pop music

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hook , a mainstream style and a conventional structure.The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" , but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternat...
 that these groups primarily perform. It is not necessary for vocal percussionists to attempt to imitate real instruments; in fact, vocal percussion often encompasses sounds not found on a drum set
Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and sometimes other percussion instruments, such as cowbell s, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single drummer....
. When it is used to imitate drumset music, however, vocal percussionists use three basic sounds: bass drum
Bass drum

A bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch . There are three general classifications of bass drums: the concert bass drum, the kick' drum, and the pitched bass drum....
, snare drum
Snare drum

The snare drum is a drum with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or catgut cords stretched across the a drumhead, typically the bottom....
, and cymbal
Cymbal

Cymbals are a modern percussion instrument. Cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various cymbal alloys; see cymbal making for a discussion of their manufacture....
. Variations on these sounds can be used to approximate other elements of a drum kit. A pitched bass drum is used to replace a floor tom; cymbal sounds can either be made short like a high hat (employing a sharp ts-ts-ts sound) or long like a crash or ride cymbal (attacked with a psh or a ksh sound). When used in a cappella music, vocal percussion is used to keep time for the members of the ensemble. It is sometimes the only rhythm that can be heard by the audience, and works as a compliment to the music director's conducting.

Vocal percussion is also an integral part of many world music
World music

The term world music includes Traditional music of any culture that are created and played by indigenous musicians or that are "closely informed or guided by indigenous music of the regions of their origin," including Western World music ....
 traditions, most notably in the traditions of North India
North India

Northern India is a loosely defined region in the northern part of India. The exact meaning of the term varies by usage. The dominant geographical features of northern India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from Tibet and Central Asia....
 (bols) and South India
South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the Union territories of India of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of area....
 (solkattu). Syllables are used to learn percussion compositions, and each syllable signifies what stroke or combination of strokes the percussionist must use.

The art of speaking these syllables is called konnakol
Konnakol

Konnakol is the Carnatic music - South Indian classical - performance art of vocal percussion. It is also a comprehensive language of rhythm which allows the composition, performance or communication of rhythms in any style or tradition of music from anywhere in the world....
 in South India, and traditional dance ensembles sometimes have a dedicated konnakol singer, although this practice is now waning. At one time it was a very respected art form, with many masters and singers.

In North India, the practice of reciting bols is usually limited to the percussionist reciting the composition about to be played, often in the context of a longer solo. These recitations are also sometimes spoken by a Kathak
Kathak

Kathak is one of the eight forms of Classical Indian dance, originated from North India. This dance form traces its origins to the the nomadic bards of ancient northern India, known as Kathaks, or story tellers....
 dancer.

See also

  • Kouji
    Kouji

    Kouji , which can be translated literally as "mouth skill" or "skill of mouth" is a vocal mimicry performance art which utilizes the larynx to mimic the sounds of everyday life....


External links


  • - Bringing the Art and Technology of Indian Music to the World.