The three icons used in this example are visual representations of the anatomy of the mouth.
Figure 3.1 – A Beatboxing Sound
The first icon represents two lips, one above the other pressed together. It is a plosive sound – i.e. a sound made by contact between two parts of the mouth, building up air pressure and releasing it suddenly; in this case two lips.
Technically it is called a bilabial plosive but do not worry about technical terms. Understand that the icon is a symbol for two lips that touch.
Figure 3.2 – A Bilabial Plosive
And here is the video representation of this Generator sound:
Video 3.3 – Bilabial Plosive Generator
The second icon is different. Notice how the two parts of the symbol are not touching. This is important. It shows you that it’s not a plosive but a fricative.
REMEMBER!
Touching = plosive
Not touching = fricative.
In a fricative, the sound is made by squeezing air through a gap between two parts of the anatomy of the mouth. The icon in the example represents a palatal fricative. Again, do not worry about the technical terms. Understand that it is a sound made by squeezing air through a gap. In this example, a palatal fricative is made by squeezing air between the top of the tongue and the hard part of the roof of the mouth.
Figure 3.5 – A Palatal Fricative
And here is the video that represents this palatal fricative Generator example:
The third icon in the example sound is an Effector. This particular Effector is an aspiration effector. i.e. using the lungs to breath out.
Figure 3.6 – Aspiration Effector
Do I really need to show you a video of someone breathing out? Okay, here it is…
Video 3.7 – Aspiration Effector
So, you see and hear what we get when we combine all three? We get a snare drum, typically expressed in SBN (Standard Beatbox Notation) as { ph }.
bilabial plosive Generator + palatal fricative Generator + aspiration effector
Here it is again:
Figure 3.8 – A Combination Beatboxing Sound
And here is the sound video:
