3. An Example Sound

The three icons used in this example are visual representations of the anatomy of the mouth.

Figure 3.1 – A Beatboxing Sound

3.1 The First Icon

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

3.2 The Second Icon

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:

3.3 The Third Icon

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

3.4 Combination Sound – { ph } Snare Drum

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: