Beatboxing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The vocal art form involves producing rhythmic sounds, percussion, and musical notes using one's mouth
2. This creative expression encompasses imitating drums, creating melodies, and layering sounds without instruments
3. It refers to the practice of generating music through vocal techniques, including rhythm, melody, and sound effects produced by the mouth

Etymology: Beatboxing is a compound of "beat" and "box," and its literal parts point to a drum machine. The "beat" is the rhythm, and the "box" is the electronic drum machine, the kind of hardware that produced rhythms in hip-hop and electronic music from the 1970s onward. Someone who vocalized those drum patterns, mimicking kick, snare and hi-hat with the mouth, was in effect doing the work of a box, which is how the name arose. The compound "beatbox" is the base form, and "beatboxing" is its present participle and gerund, meaning the act of doing this vocal percussion. The word carries the record of the instrument it imitates, so the name describes the sound source rather than the performer's mouth or any single technique.

Synonyms: vocal percussion, mouth drumming