Listen to Flute Beatboxing

Q: Are you overdubbing, looping, or using a drum machine?
A: Nope. On solo tracks, it's just my mouth, a mike and a flute in real time.

Q: How did you learn?
A: Well I was living in Providence Rhode Island, and going to school, and I started working for an theatre company called the Providence Black Repertory Company that hosted a weekly hip-hop open mike called Round Midnight. I used to run sound for them some nights. Man, back in the day that place would be packed at 2 am with MCs, b-girls, graf writers, poets, drug dealers, college kids…. It was really amazing. But one January it was super cold, and so for about three weeks it was just me and the DJ. So I pulled out my flute, and every friday night we would trade fours for about 6 hours. At some point we started trying to imitate each other. I was looking at the window at the snow while we played. And it just came to me. I was, like, man, you could beatbox on a flute. I mean, it could be done. That was the start. Then i studied with a ton of beatboxers (Infinite, MC Raidge, Kid Beyond, Each, Kid Lucky, Process and many others), and over a period of several years, started to develop the technique and theory.

Q: How do you do it?
A: In order to beatbox on a flute, you have to be able to be breathing and moving your fingers polyrhythmically- playing one rhythm with your fingers, and another one with your articulation. You use beatboxing techniques (link to beatboxing.co.uk) to create percussive sound. Then you add in a bassline or keyboard line that you hum- using your vocal chords while you’re still blowing into the flute to produce a range of sounds. Then you can also add a range of vocal FX that imitate the sounds created by turntables, synthesizers and samplers. You regulate 3 streams of air- one through your mouth, and one through each nostril. By applying different airflows through the nose, mouth, nasal resonators, and chest cavity, it is possible to create an illusion of tandem instruments- a “bass” line that is separate from the “drum” or the “high-hat”, and vice versa (This is basic beatboxing- the innovation comes in integrating the flute). And you have to do it while maintaining proper embochure and air pressure for the flute.
Once you’ve done all of this, you’re ready to start playing melodies on the flute. A solo line can be played over the top of the beatbox. And by overblowing through the flute, and using alternate fingerings, you can create “chords”- playing several notes at once solely on the flute. The keys can also be slapped percussively in the way that bass strings are plucked. And the flute itself can be turned upside down and played with a trumpet embochure.
The problem is that when you blow into a flute, you create a column of air. That column of air vibrates, producing sound. The length of the column of air changes depending on your fingering, which in turn effects the pitch of the sound. Every different fingering has a different set of resonant frequencies which are called an overtone series. When you beatbox or hum into flute, you create a column of air inside your body. The frequency of the noise created must be in tune with the overtone series for the flute, which changes depending on the fingering. If it is not, the column of air inside the flute, and the column of air inside your body go out of phase- they cancel each other out and you either get no beatbox noise, or no flute tone. Since your fingering changes all the time as you play different notes, it’s necessary to learn how to subtly alter the harmonic qualities of your beatbox in real time. To really do it, you have to work out the full series for all 12 Keys, with all the possible fingerings, and all the different combinations of mouth and vocal sounds.
It helps to have pretty good technique. I still practice classical and jazz exercises every day, as well as a bunch of klezmer technique. You need to sound tight just playing the flute in the ordinary way, or the beatbox will be fuzzy, and your tone will go to shit.
Got it? OK, now just add a microphone and a soundsystem, and you’re ready to battle.

Q: Did you do it by yourself?
A: Hell no. I’m standing on the shoulders of giants. I mean just historically speaking, it’s the innovations of great players like Rashan Roland Kirk, Herbie Mann, Ian Anderson, Yusef Lateef, & Eric Dolphy that have enabled me to get anywhere. Listening to these flutists shaped my sound, and helped me to develop my technique. Everything I do is based on what they pioneered.
I’ve also had great teachers, for flute and for beatboxing. Fishel Bresler was my mentor for flute. He trained with Andy Statman, who trained with Dave Tarras, a hereditary klezmer musician, and one of the greatest Jewish musicians of this century. It’s a musical heritage that stretches back unbroken for over 2000 years, and I draw from it heavily. I also had great teachers at Brown University and the Berklee School of music, without whom I never would have gained the skills I needed in order to be a woodwind percussionist.
I think of myself as a flutist who beatboxes. And everything I know about beatboxing I learned from others, who gave generously of their skill. Beatboxers like Infinite, Soulati, MC Raidge, and Process taught me the basic technique, and helped me to grow as a mouth percussionist. I have so much respect for beatboxers, because what they do- creating a whole orchestra with their mouth- is just so godamn hard. What I do has really been adapted from their thing. Beatboxing comes from urban communities of color, and I’m a jew from the suburbs. I’m always aware when I play hip-hop that I’m a guest in someone else’s house. I’m very grateful for the chance to do it with respect, and to bring my own thing to the table.

Q:What is a battle flutist?
A: a battle flutist is a flutist who can do five things:
1.) rock a dancefloor on their own with just a flute and a mike
2.) integrate with other musicians in a variety of roles
3.) create stereoscopic rhythms and lines on a flute
4.) be down with the 5 elements of hip-hop and the peoples that live them
5.) battle other flutists and knock ‘em out good.