Tips and Techniques

Bass drum sounds

B – Heavy bass drum

b – Soft bass drum

U – Techno bass drum

Hi-hat sounds

T – ‘Ts’: a short, sharp sound

S – ‘Tssssss’: an open cymbal sound

t – a closed hi-hat sound

tk – sound both letters, spaced evenly and repeating to make a continuous hi-hat rhythm

Snare sounds

K – a rim-shot snare sound

C – add air, as in ‘cup’, for a basic snare sound

P – ‘Pf’ or ‘psh’, a more open snare sound

G – a techno snare sound

Other Sounds

zk = suspended cymbal

pv = brush

thp, ds = instant rimshot

Basic Start up Beat

Begin by saying the phrase "Boots Cats"

Slowly remove all the vowel sounds so that you are only left with the sounds of B ts K ts

Creating Beats

Using a combination of the different sounds, you can create a beat. It is helpful to notate the beats and either place them in a measure or two beat measure pattern.

Bear in mind that you can double sounds that end up making your eight-beats sound even more interesting.

There are three ways to notate. First start by placing down the numbers 1-4. The dash between the notes shows the eight note placement between quarter notes. The pattern is said like the following = 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and.

Example B Ts K Ts BB Ts K Ts

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 -

OR you can use a drum set style of notation. The bottom line would be designated for bass drum sounds, the middle line would be designated for snare sounds, and the top line for hi-hat sounds.

Example

| - Ts - Ts - Ts - Ts |

| - - K - - - K - |

| B - - - BB - - - |

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 -

The last way of notating would involve the placements of notes on a percussion staff. The following is an example of how notes may be placed on a drum kit staff.

in Choral Music

Beatboxing