How to do vocal percussion for an a cappella group

Vocal percussion (VP) is an a cappella group's drum kit, made with your mouth: a kick drum, a snare and a hi-hat, and anything else the song needs. In a group, the VP's job isn't to show off. It's to keep time so steadily that everyone else can relax into the groove.

Group VP and solo beatboxing share many sounds, but the jobs differ. A beatboxer is the whole show. A group's VP is one half of the rhythm section, with the bass, and plays for the song.

Three sounds are enough

Most grooves need only three sounds. Make each one quietly at first: in performance the volume comes from the mic, not from pushing harder.

1The kick drum

Close your lips and let a short burst of air pop them open, like a "b" or "p" with no vowel after it. Keep it short and low. The kick usually lands on the strong beats, often beats 1 and 3.

2The snare

The snare is the backbeat, usually on beats 2 and 4. Groups use a few versions of it:

• A "k" at the back of the tongue: quick, clean and easy to start with.
• A "pf": a tight "p" straight into a short "f", with your lower lip against your top teeth. It sounds bigger. Some use "psh" instead.
• An inward "k", made breathing in. It lets you take a breath while you keep playing (more on that below).

3The hi-hat

A short "t" or "ts", with the tip of your tongue just behind your top teeth. A closed hat is short; an open hat is a longer "tsss". The hats usually keep the steady count, on the "and" between each kick and snare.

4Put them together

Try the basic rock beat slowly: kick, hat, snare, hat, kick, hat, snare, hat. Say it as "b t k t b t k t", with the kick on 1 and 3 and the snare on 2 and 4. Set the free metronome to about 70 beats a minute and loop the pattern until it feels boring. Boring is good: it means it's steady. Then speed up a few beats a minute at a time.

Breathing while you play

This is the hardest part for most beginners. Nearly every sound pushes air out, and a groove has no rests. Ways to manage it:

• Breathe in on a sound. An inward snare or an inward hat takes air in and keeps the beat.
• Breathe through your nose in the gaps. Take quick sips of air through your nose between sounds, or on the hats.
• Plan your breaths. Mark where you breathe, as singers mark theirs, and take them in the same places every time.

If you feel dizzy, stop and breathe normally for a moment. It usually means you've taken in too much air, not too little.

Using a mic

Mouth percussion is quiet next to a group of singers, so in performance the VP is usually on a mic.

• Keep it close and steady, almost touching your lips, at the same distance all song.
• Point it straight at your mouth. Your kick is a burst of air, and the mic needs to catch it. If you're spitting into it, move it a little to the side of your mouth, still close.
• Take care with cupping. Many vocal percussionists cup a hand around the mic's head for a bigger kick, but it colours the sound and makes feedback more likely, so try it at a sound check first.

In rehearsal without a mic, don't force the sounds to be heard. A voiceless kick is too soft there, so try a voiced "dm" instead, keep the rest small, and let the group listen in to you.

Locking with the bass

The bass and the VP keep the group together. When the kick and the bass's notes start at the same moment, the whole group sounds tight.

• Stand where you can hear each other, ideally next to each other.
• Learn the bass line, and put your kicks where the bass starts its notes.
• Rehearse as a pair, with a metronome, before the rest of the group joins.

In Wade in the Water, the bass keeps the groove on "doom, ba-doom" all the way through: learn its bass part and you'll know where every kick goes. For the other half of the rhythm section, see the a cappella bass course.

When to stop playing

A good VP knows when not to play.

• Quiet songs often sound best with no drums at all, or with just a soft hat.
• Leave space for intros, solo lines and the big held chord at the end.
• Come in for a reason, like the first chorus, so the groove's arrival lifts the song.
• If the group drifts out of tune, play less, so everyone can hear the chords.

If you arrange for your group, write in where the VP plays and where it rests, and keep the bass simple where the drums are busy. The a cappella arranging guide covers the rest of the parts.

Practise with Stackapella

To be clear: Stackapella listens for pitch, so it can't check your drum sounds or tell you whether your beat is steady. What it can do:

• Keep you in time. The metronome clicks for your grooves, and tap tempo finds a song's speed.
• Rehearse with the parts. Learn a song's bass line part by part, so your kicks land with it.
• Stack a take. Record your groove as its own part in the studio, then sing the group's parts over it, all in time.