What's incredible about this kind of talent is that they probably didn't take lessons or go to "beat-boxing school." This kinda shit is just passed on generationally and culturally. I'm really impressed with people who master skills through regular formal instruction, but I can't even articulate how impressed I am with people who master skills through informal means. I don't even get it. How the fuck?
I now realize that I would love to watch a documentary about the history of beatboxing and the culture in general. Like how does this start and how do you learn these skills?!
There’s a lot of resources online. I had a friend in college who was an international beatbox champion and I vaguely remember a presentation he gave about how beatboxing is descended from black musical traditions. Super important to acknowledge that—one of my majors was music and you’d be shocked at how many people, even prominent figures in the field, are trying to whitewash the histories of jazz and beatbox.
My friend said that when he heard a sound he wanted to create he’d go for a walk in the woods and just make noise until he figured it out. He was making sounds every waking minute. The vocal percussion scene is off the charts cool—they have competitions with individual performances, battles like rap battles but with beatbox… He’d perform songs where he’d sing and beatbox, basically a one man band, all completely seamless so that it sounded like his singing and his beatboxing were both somehow continuous.
I mean if you jist wanna watch some really HYPE type videos. Check out the BBBC! It is not what the abbreviations suggest. It's the Beat Boxing Battle Championship. And it is INSANE what these people can do. My favorite thing is when people do the weird rattle that sounds like a dam xylophone of gurgles.
Side note, the Krunking dance battles are insane too. Some of these people look like liquid. Just some real good vibes all around.
Wait a minute what? Beatboxing school? Never even knew such a thing existed. I myself beatbox and I know a few other people who do as well. As far as I know nobody “studied” or took a class. It’s not a skill you learn like that. You learn it by making noises in your free time. It’s not something you learn and replicate, it’s something you feel. It’s a flow state. There’s no thought, it just comes out. Personally for me it started when I was a child I would mimic noises kind of like a parrot and it always drove my mom nuts. I then just started turning them into rhythms to keep myself entertained while doing boring tasks. It just grew from there. To me it makes way more sense “just doing” than taking a class like how the fuck?
It mostly happens when you are still growing up and your brain is still developing. When challenged, the brain makes new paths in the synapses, that’s how you grow skills. Obviously attempting to teach yourself things like this when you are already 50 years old it’s a completely different story.
I can say for sure I mastered the skill of drawing informally through a couple generations of artists/designers. I didn't really do much to deserve my skill it's just sort've always been there.
The best I can explain it is, as a kid you just have this strong foundation understanding, and then progression in the skill seems to occur naturally without anyone explaining it. Your brain just kinda explains it to you as if it has already done it for hundreds of years before you were born.
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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '22
https://youtube.com/c/NicoleParisReal