Vocal Percussion - in Western Music

In Western Music

The term "beatboxing" is often used as a synonym for vocal percussion, but in fact is just one tradition of vocal percussion, originating in hip-hop music and often used to accompany rapping. Recent musicological research points at Brazilian songwriter and musician Marcos Valle as a pioneer of vocal percussion. In the track "Mentira" from his 1973 album "Previsao do Tempo", Valle emulates a drum kit with his voice by performing one repeating pattern and one fill.

The vocal percussion used by most college and professional a cappella groups attempts a more complete facsimile of the pop music 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. When it is used to imitate drumset music, however, vocal percussionists use three basic sounds: bass drum, snare drum, and cymbal. 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 percussion that can be heard by the audience, and works as a complement to the music director's conducting.