Pitchforks Beatboxer ~ Josh Kalejaye
Exhibit: Captivating Voices
Referenced Sounds
Josh's sample of beatboxing here serves as the launchpad from which the rest of the project takes form. The uninterrupted rhythms illuminate Josh's brilliant ability to smoothly and sneakily incorporate breaths into his work. His vocal flexibility and wide range of sounds reflect Josh's seemingly flawless shifts from engaging different parts of his mouth. Each time this clip is played the listener could selectively hear different elements and pay attention to different details. With that in mind, the text coupled with the other clips aims to breakdown the elaborateness of this primary recording.
To provide consistency to the structure of his beatboxing, Josh builds around four basic sounds - that of a base drum, a snare, a high hat, and a rim tap. The deep base drum sound is roughly 50-80% of any given song. Stylistically, Josh said he aggressively says the letter "b" to produce the base drum sound. He produces a "pff" sound to mimic the snare drum, but prefers the sharper, brighter "pfsh" sound. To copy a high hat, Josh articulates a repetitive "ts" pattern. It's challenging to describe the strategy in generating a rim tap, but he suggests it might be helpful to think of a glottal stop combined with a click (as if you are trying to clear your throat). The rim tap is the X-factor; it can either sound really good or really bad, and Josh said it is the hardest one for him to control. As far as the order of the core four sounds, tempo, volume, and rhythms, it is up to Josh. Each performance is another opportunity for improvisation.
The first half of this recording features the Pitchfork's with Josh singing their rendition of Labelle's Lady Marmalade; the second half has the Pitchfork's singing the same part of the song but without Josh. Besides the lead singer snapping his fingers, Josh's role is integral in the group's dynamic because it places a baseline on which the other singers can situate their own voices. With Josh, the song sounds full and grounded with identifiable down beats. He makes use of his four basic sounds and helps dictate the group's tempo. To get into the song, the first three seconds seem to build but then at 0:04s, the tempo slows. At 0:13s, he vibrates his lips. His part occupies a register that blends well and does not overpower the other singers. The Pitchforks are able to maintain their vocal integrity in the second half of the clip without Josh, but their singing is naked and exposed. If the Pitchforks were not as vocally talented, the group's control, balance, and organization may be compromised in Josh's absence.
The first six seconds of the clip opens with Air Traffic playing percussion instruments immediatley followed by Josh's percussive impression. He breaks his sounds down into syllables - making the sounds that correspond with the letters "d" and "b". The rapid base drum rhythm at the very beginning is best recreated with a rapid alternation between "d" and "b". Josh suggests that had he chosen other syllables or said "d" and "b" in a different order, it would not have worked. Another element he has to take into account is the speed with which the consonants are delivered. When thinking about speed, he gives the example of being able to say "duh, duh, duh, duh" more quickly than "bah, bah, bah, bah" because of the way his lips make shapes. While his part is often improvised, that does not mean it is entirely random; there is structure, strategy, and a keen ear behind his syllabic decisions. In contrast to my previous understanding of a cappella, Josh is not merely handed a part to sing; he designs his own part through an intricate, personalized arrangement process.
At first, I thought Camille Bertault singing John Coltrane's tenor saxophone solo in Giant Steps was a similar concept to Josh's singing percussive instruments, but he provided some insight into how they are actually two different processes. The big difference is that Camille is still singing as opposed to Josh is using vocal percussion. Whereas vocal percussion just uses consonants and harsher sounds to mimic drums, she is still singing notes but using the syllables she sings them on to mimic an instrument. This is actually a big thing in modern a capella. While things started off with a focus on harmonizing on lyrics and very simple backgrounds (Doo-wop for example with nonsense syllables, simple beats and lyrics, and little to no instrumentation), nowadays groups experiment with syllables. A lot of times, certain syllables are chosen to mimic an instrument sound. A good example might be the Pitchforks' version of Hysteria where a "jeh" sound is used as a stand in for electric guitar.
Greg Pattillo's playing of the Inspector Gadget Theme song on the flute actually lends itself to beatboxing simultaneously quite easily. The way you blow into a flute is less restricting than say a saxophone or a trumpet, so he is essentially beatboxing normally while playing the notes - beatboxing is pretty much just pushing out air with different positions of the mouth/tongue/lips. The two-in-one (instrumentalist-vocalist hybrid) technique is manageable and works well on the flute. This clip reminds me of our class discussion where we talked about engaging different parts of our mouth and throat in order to produce different sounds. Each sound was characterized by a different location - front, middle, back - of our mouths/tongues. In Pattillo's case, his tone comes from all three locations based on which percussive instrument he decides to mimic while the flute's tone comes from the tip of his tongue; he is exhaling and directing a constant flow of air and his beatboxing sounds (the same as Josh's four basic sounds) toward the flute's embouchure hole. To be successful, Josh and Greg emphasize the importance of practice and repetition with air and breath control.