Become a Vocal Percussionist Here and Now

In this week’s blog, we give you a free, 100% portable drum set. No assembly required.  The drum set is contained in your own mouth, lips, lungs, and voice; and with the following information, and some perseverance, you learn to lay down a beat anytime, anywhere, at a moment’s notice.

In the video, you can learn the basics from vocal percussionist Cameron Schiessl.  And I assure you, my attempts at vocal percussion will make you feel exceedingly more confident about your own abilities. In the interview, you can read more about what vocal percussion is, how it differs from beat boxing, and what it’s like to be a vocal percussionist. To learn more about Cameron’s a cappella group and how they use vocal percussion, Rhapsody n' Rhythm, you can find them on Facebook.

Interview

Tashina: What is vocal percussion?

Cameron: This is an interesting question, because really it all depends on which way you’re looking at it.  Vocal percussion, in the entire, encompassing word, is just anything that’s imitating a drum or any sort of rhythmic instrument with your voice. Whereas in the professional world, we tend to make vocal percussion as the more realistic form of mimicking the drum set. Whereas beat boxing, which is also technically a form of vocal percussion, is actually not as realistic, and it’s used for rap and hip-hop, and that kind of stuff.  Basically, it’s creating drum noises with your voice, or with air pressure in your mouth—depending on which way you do it.

Tashina: When did you first start getting involved in vocal percussion?

Cameron: I was in 7^th grade, and there was this group, called InPulse, they used to tour the Midwest a lot.  They’ve actually recently disbanded.  But they were together for quite a long time.  Their first vocal percussionist they had in their group was actually the guy that invented vocal percussion, the way it is used in an a cappella today.  So he was basically the best at the time.  He came, and he was showing off what he did.  And I was like, “That’s really cool.”  And so I started teaching myself, and by about junior year, I had gotten pretty good. So my choir teacher said, “Hey, you should do vocal percussion with the jazz choir.”  And so I did that, and then me and my band instructor—whose name is Erik—we started an a cappella group my senior year, with two of my other friends from school.  And now we tour around North Dakota and Montana.

Tashina: Do people pay you?

Cameron: Yeah.  We haven’t had a lot of paying gigs, because we’re trying to get our name out.  We’re not super-big yet.  We did a competition and were able to perform in Medora. Which I’m sure you’ve never heard of, but it’s like the biggest tourist town in North Dakota.  They have this thing called the “Medora Musical,” which is like a Vegas-style show.  And we got to open for them because we won this contest.  So that really got our name out and stuff.  We’ve already got a few people that have asked us to do gigs this summer.  So it’s looking pretty good.

Tashina: What’s the name of your group?

Cameron: Rhapsody n' Rhythm. We’re on Facebook, if you want to look us up.

Tashina: What kinds of percussion sounds can you make?

Cameron: I have a relatively wide range.  But really, it’s all based off of three basic sounds, which are the kick drum, the snare drum, and the cymbal, which is most often used as a high hat.  But then you can take variations of those, like you pitch the kick drum to make toms.  And then you can lengthen the cymbal to create crash cymbals, and whatnot. And the snare, there’s like 20 billion variations of the snare, because each person kind of has their own way of doing it.  But you basically have your loud snare hit, then sort of like a softer hit, and a rattle, and a rim tap, and synthesized sounds.  It’s pretty interesting.  Once you learn the three basic ones, you can really go off and do a lot of different stuff. 

Tashina: Do vocal percussionists typically use a microphone when they perform?

Cameron: Most of the time we do, but depending on the situation, I don’t have to. The microphone really helps just in the fact that it amplifies.  I can do less work and not strain my face as much.  And so it really helps doing multiple shows really quickly if I’m using a microphone, but I can do it just fine without.  To make the kick drum and stuff loud enough… I can technically do it without my vocal chords at all… but when I’m not using a microphone, I want to make it louder and more full, because the way I do it with a microphone, it isn’t as full. So, I end up using my vocal chords when I’m not doing it with a microphone, it actually it strains my throat and my face a lot more.  So I do like using a microphone, but I don’t have to.  Though most of the time we do [use microphones] in our concerts.

Tashina: What's your favorite thing about being a vocal percussionist?

Cameron: Probably the fact that even though it’s getting really popular, it’s still really unique.  Anyone can learn how to do it, but most people haven’t even really heard of it.  

Tashina: Like me.

Cameron: Yeah.  A lot of people are like, “What’s vocal percussion?”  It’s getting a lot more popular.  Unfortunately here at SUU, there’s not an a cappella group, but most colleges around the country actually have an a cappella group as part of the college.  And I’d love to start one down here.  I might do that next year, I don’t know.  I just think it be awesome having a cool college a cappella group.

I just really enjoy it.  It’s unique.  It’s fun.  It keeps me entertained.  Everyone I know hates it, because when I get bored, I’ll just start doing vocal percussion, percussing as we’ve nicknamed it.  When I’m driving and I’m listening to music—you know Michael Jackson, Journey, whatever—I’ll just starting drumming along with it.  It’s entertaining.  And I’m constantly striving to get better, because there’s always more that I could do.  I’ll listen to other vocal percussionists, and I’ll hear a sound that they can do, and I’ll be like, “Oh my gosh, I want to do that.” And I’ll just try to teaching myself how to do it.  So it’s just like a never ending, expanding thing of drums.