Vocal percussion

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vocal percussion (from English vocal , “oral” or “vocal” and percussion “percussion”) describes in the narrower sense the realistic imitation of percussion rhythms with the vocal tract . In a broader sense, vocal percussion refers to all vocal music with sounds and rhythms reminiscent of percussion or other rhythm instruments . Synonymous terms are mouth-percussion (ger .:, mouth percussion ') and Mouth Drumming (ger .:, mouth drums', not to be confused with the Jew's harp ).

The transition from vocal percussion to conventional singing on the one hand and to other sound gestures on the other hand is sometimes fluid.

Vocal percussion traditions

Vocal percussion occurs in musical traditions around the world. Two forms here are especially noteworthy because of their strong expression, the one that in the South Indian Carnatic music -based Konnakol , one both rhythmic for didactic mediation structures used even with musical performances Chanting, the other consisting of the hip-hop originated Beatboxing that because Its great popularity is sometimes mistakenly synonymous with vocal percussion in general.

Vocal percussion techniques are used in various ritual and folk music , often in combination with other singing techniques, sound gestures or dance . For example, they can be found in the spoken chants intoned in the Indonesian Sanghyang Dedari and in the Balinese Kecak , in the performance practice of the classical Indian dance Kathak or in various traditional African music .

The Scat, which is rooted in jazz singing , imitates instrumental phrases and has elements of vocal percussion in its more rhythmic moments. The same applies to the spoken chant Puirt a beul , which is traditionally at home in the Gaelic- speaking area .

The vocal ensemble of the Doo Wop used in her pieces sometimes vocal percussion elements (for example, in Steamboat by The Drifters , The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens or One Kiss Led To Another by The Coasters ) and otherwise find vocal percussion techniques the pop music of the 1960s and 70s, occasionally use, for example in Come Together by the Beatles , in the Summertime by Mungo Jerry , Time of the Season of the Zombies or True Love Can be Beautiful by the Jackson 5 . In a broader sense, Little Richard's “Womp-bomp-a-loom-op-a-womp-bam-boom” (from Tutti Frutti ) can also be viewed as vocal percussion. In contemporary a cappella music, these forms are sometimes continued, although the beatboxing that emerged in the 1980s can also be used as an influence.

Various avant - garde currents use elements of vocal percussion. The so-called “Maulwerke” by composers of new music such as Dieter Schnebel or Helmut Lachenmann , which can be assigned to contemporary vocal music, should be emphasized . The sound poems ( e.g. of Dadaism and related currents) sometimes approach vocal percussion through their isolation, recombination, repetition and rhythmization of individual phonemes , examples of this are Kurt Schwitters ' Ursonate or the works of Ernst Jandl , Jaap Blonks or Christian Böks .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Konnakol.org: Konnakol - The Vocal Percussion of South India , accessed June 20, 2010.
  2. Deutschlandradio Kultur: Human Beatbox - A Long Night of Voice Experiments , accessed on June 20, 2010.
  3. Michael B. Bakan: Music of Death and New Creation: Experiences in the World of Balinese Gamelan Belanjur. University Of Chicago Press 1999, ISBN 0-226-03488-7 , p. 68. ( online )
  4. Carol E. Henderson: Culture and customs of India. Greenwood Press, Westport 2002, ISBN 0-313-30513-7 , p. 171. ( online )
  5. Humanbeatbox.com: The Pre-History of beatboxing , accessed on June 20 of 2010.
  6. ^ Krin Gabbard: Representing Jazz . Duke University Press, Durham 1995, ISBN 0-8223-1594-7 , p. 285.
  7. 6th Sound and Music Computing Conference: Accessing structure of Samba rhythms through cultural practices of vocal percussion (PDF; 244 kB), accessed on June 28, 2010.
  8. Beate Kutschke: Wild Thinking in New Music. , ISBN 3-8260-2243-2 , Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 2002, p. 262 f. ( online )
  9. UbuWeb Sound: Christian Bök , accessed on April 21, 2012.