Beat boxing singing percussively vocables etc...

[extra-solar]

I saw a pbs show about music and it had a segment about a guy who wanted to learn drumming from a guru. The teacher instructed him only by singing the drum parts/patterns, never on an instument, as I recall. When I first heard this I was shocked. I thought, how in the world would someone learn that way. Long story short that bit of info changed my life and my perspective on drumming and percussion and music.

So anywho, any thoughts advice or tips etc on this Beat boxing singing percussively vocables etc...

[djp132]

Being able to sing a rhythm will bring you much closer to playing the rhythm. Just a simple vocalization is sometimes all the brain needs to understand the pattern and have the hands/feet play it. I do this with my students all the time, but I never make it more important than the drums themselves.

I learned how to do it in drumline. "CHUT digga-dut CHUT digga-dut" (flam drags)

It's not an absolute must but its fun and it does help, so why not?

[Fett2oo5]

I do it and I would suggest learing how to do it. To me it's another tool for learning how to create sounds and in what order. Let me explain.....
If I hear a pretty sweet solo or fill, but I am not exactly sure how it was done or perhaps I can't remember it exactly later when I am on the drumset (which happens a lot, I have a really tough time remembering things) If I can replicate that fill or solo with my mouth, when I hear it, then I am able to to repeat it over and over. For me this accomplishes two things; It allows me to repeat it over and over, so I will be more likely to remember it later. But also if I can replicate it with my mouth then I can slow it down so I can learn it at a slower tempo when I am at the drumset later on.

[MEL]

I've studied West African and Afro-Brazilian drumming with teachers who teach the traditional way, all with spoken syllables. I think it's partly because they come from oral cultures, and their oral memories are much more developed than your typical North American or European's. Their method certainly helps to learn to play with the right swing and feel, as some of the concepts inherent in their music, like note displacement, are hard to show with traditional notation (although I usually cheated and made some rhythm tabs after class if I didn't have a recording). An Indian musician told me once that they studied vocalizations for a year or so before touching the drums. If I remember right, the idea was so that they would internalize the rhythmic vocabulary and develop their creativity without being limited by technique.

The late Baba Olatunje had a whole system where different syllables represented different strokes with either the right or the left hand, but nobody I've studied with is all that precise. However, they all said things like the previous posters, along the lines of "if you can say it, you can play it," because it's a great way to internalize the rhythms.