How to Beatbox on a Tuba
It is a little known fact that all of John Phillip Sousa's original marching scores were intended to be played along with someone beatboxing through a tuba. Sure, historians and musicologists may disagree with this fact, but what do they know? The art of beatboxing (or using the mouth to imitate the sound of drums) may have been popularized by b-boys like Doug E. Fresh during the 1980s, but with some practice, soon everyone will be calling you LL Cool T: Ladies Love Cool Tuba-guy.
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Instructions
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Begin with a tight embouchure, as you would to play a normal note. Press your mouth against the mouthpiece and let a short, controlled breath of air through. This will give you a short note which will have a tonality dependent on the type of tuba you are playing. Think of this standard note as the bass drum for your beatbox.
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2
Loosen your embouchure and let a staccato burst of air through, as though you were saying "toot." Because of your loosened embouchure, this will not create a tonal note, but will make a percussive blast pass through the tuba. This sharp, staccato sound will act as the snare drum.
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3
Tighten your embouchure again, but allow your mouth to open slightly into a small oval. Tap your tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathe through the mouthpiece to create a tinny, "tst" sound. Like the snare sound, this will not produce a tonal note due to your embouchure remaining open, but will generate a sound like a hi-hat as it passes through the tuba's pipes.
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Using the three previous steps, intersperse the three sounds to generate a percussive rhythm through the tuba. Standard drum beats are in 4/4 time (meaning there are four beats per measure, and each beat takes up 1/4th of that measure) and feature the snare sound on specific beats per measure, depending on the type you would like to make.
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Tips & Warnings
*Try using the bass on the 1 and the 2, and the snare on the 3 of the measure to generate a standard hip-hop style beat. The hi-hat sound can be interspersed between these beats.
*For a back-beat, emphasize the snare on the 2 and the 4 of each measure.
*Try practicing beatboxing without the tuba first to get a general handle on the rhythm and feel of the beats.
Remember: you're playing this through a tuba. As cool as beatboxing is, you have to be pretty good at it to counteract the inherent un-coolness of a tuba.
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