| Hip-Hop: Mix Rhymes and Beats
Vocal Activity
Add a Vocal Part
- Listen to rap
example 2 again. Pay close attention to the sung vocal part, which
enters at 0:53. Hip-hop music often combines sung vocals with rapped
verses.
- The vocal part is a 4-measure part with improvised
melodic ideas, or "riffs," in measures 2 and 4. The part could be notated
in the following way.
- Play rap
example 2 again and sing along with the sung vocal part. When the
four-measure structure repeats, add your own improvised riffs to measures
2 and 4, using pitches from the G minor pentatonic scale.
- Optional: Perform your vocal part for others.
Become a Human Beatbox
- Listen to the medium
track again. Notice how the vocal part at the beginning of the audio
file sounds like a drum part. Hip-hop artists often use their voices
to sound like a drum kit (or drum machine, sometimes called a "beatbox").
This performance style is called beatbox singing.
- Listen to beatbox
examples, which feature complex variations of this technique. Practice
making your own beatbox sounds with your mouth. Some sounds are assisted
by the use of a microphone but can be approximated without one.
- Play your chosen accompaniment track and practice
beatbox singing along with it.
- Optional: Perform your beatbox variations
for others.
Advanced Vocal Activity
- Listen to the mellow
track and notice the different chordal harmonies, called "changes,"
at 0:43 in a four-bar pattern. The changes are:
- Create a melody by connecting different chord tones.
For example:
- Sing your melody along with rap
example 1 at 0:43. When you are comfortable, try improvising variations.
Improvising can be challenging, because all the chords don't belong
to the same key center. For example, the D
major 7th chord contains a D
and an A, while
the B major 7th
chord contains a D and an A.
Web
Links Extension
http://www.redhotjazz.com/cooke.html
Although it is a popular musical style, hip-hop is not the first example
of words spoken in a musical manner over music. Visit this site to read
about Doc Cooke, an early jazz musician. Then click on "Doc Cooke and
his 14 Doctors of Syncopation" and listen to "I Got Worry." The spoken
verses are recited in a musical style. The words are not exactly sung,
but there is a melodic quality to the pitch of the voice.
When you have a feel for the musical way in which the
verses are rapped, go back to your chosen hip-hop track. Rap your verses
in the older, melodic style you heard on the Doc Cooke recording.
You may now choose another Performance Activity.
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