Lyons Tames Lips to Perfect Beat-Boxing Style

Author: Chris Grosso

Beat-boxing, a relatively new hip-hop art form, rapidly emerged in the music industry right around the time that Rahzel popularized this style in the late 90s. His use of merely lips, cheeks, gums and throat to create fascinating rhythms has stretched the limits of vocal creativity.

At Middlebury College, Blake Lyons '05, a native of New Haven, Conn., has spotlighted the beat-box at the College.

Identified as a vocal percussionist and informally as a human recorder, Mr. Laid-Back and Modest Lyons has made an indelible impact on the music scene on campus. He also happens to be a member of the Dissipated 8. His mockery of instruments and sounds leaves audiences wondering - is he for real?

It seemed only fitting that The Middlebury Campus track down this very talented beat-boxer and ask him a few questions. Last week I got to chat with Blake and learn about his appreciation and passion for the art of making music.

The Campus: I know you're probably asked this all the time: How did you learn to beat-box?

Blake Lyons: Back at the end of sophomore year of high school I was watching a hip-hop special on MTV. In a commercial, they showed a trumpet and drum-set, but nobody was playing them. Rahzel was sitting on a stool nearby, making the sounds with his mouth. I saw that commercial, and I realized that was something I'd like to do. I began imitating the sounds and adding a little percussion. The next fall Rahzel's album "Making the Music 2000" came out. I bought that album and then everything started to click.

T.C.: You must be musically inclined to pick up sounds from an album. How'd you go about learning?

B.L.: The first step is to study other beat-boxers' styles and how they do stuff. Basically, it's trial and error. I study their technique and see if I can do it. So I tried my hardest to recreate Rahzel's sounds, and I was obsessed for a while - about a year. I beat-boxed almost every day. After that, I started listening to Bobby McFerrin and other music, and I tried to be creative with it. Rahzel got me hooked. He impressed me to the point where I wanted to beat-box all time. Kenny Muhammad has influenced my style more than Rahzel, though he's not as diverse as Rahzel. His style is a lot more inhaling and exhaling; he utilizes breath much better than Rahzel. He makes a more intense sound, and he's very loud because he's breathing a lot.

T.C.: When you hear a new sound, how do you adopt it?

B.L.: It's shameless trial and error. You've got to start somewhere. Basically you just want to do it all the time. It's a lot of practice. It's about honing your skill on one specific sound and making that sound as close as possible to the instrument. Then you take a bunch of sounds and bring them together to make beats and rhythms. It's about losing yourself to the music. You've got to be shameless with it, but it's great.

T.C.: Beat-boxing is sometimes perceived as amusing. Do you view it as a novelty?

B.L.: It's both an art and a novelty. Part of the reason it doesn't have a lot of respect yet is because it comes across as a novelty - a mouth is making a sound a mouth shouldn't be making and that's funny. When people hear beat-boxing they laugh sometimes. They think it's cool and that side of it's fun. But I think beat-boxing should be more of an art form. Rahzel and McFerrin are definitely changing how it's perceived.

T.C.: What inspires you to beat-box? Or what is the source of your creativity?

B.L.: I feel there are two aspects to beat-boxing. I want to be innovative, and I want be innovative with the way I use sounds. When I beat-box, I try to first imitate the sound perfectly. At the same time I want to make sounds that are real, new and appealing to the ear. They can be organic, weird alien sounds, sounds not typical of the mouth or sounds like Michael Winslow from "Police Academy."

T.C.: I know your signature is the five elements. What's your favorite sound that you can produce?

BL: Yeah, the four elements were actually from the hidden track on the end of Kenny Muhammad and Rahzel's album. They won the competition against two DJs with earth, fire, wind and water. It blew my mind. When I hear something like that I want to learn it immediately. I picked up the four elements from them and then I added the fifth: the love element. It's a very provocative beat. Those are my favorite to perform. They are slightly different than Rahzel's and Kenny's. I added my own little twist.

T.C.: Trying to perfectly imitate sounds can be frustrating, right?

B.L.: Yeah, whatever inspires, I try to go after it. Trying to match McFerrin's voice is pretty difficult. His voice is so incredible and at a level that not many can match. Beat-boxing is about trying to push your capabilities and seeing how far you can go. It's fun as hell. The most frustrating has been Rahzel's, "If Your Mother Only Knew." There are no signs of trickery in what he's actually doing. It's an illusion. Singing and beat-boxing at the same time is definitely the hardest thing to pull off.

T.C.: You've performed once at Middlebury College as a soloist.

B.L.: I don't perform that often. I definitely like the smaller settings. Sometimes getting up on stage can be daunting. I'm more for hanging out with my friends and just jamming. We each add our own beat or noise and that's where the real music is created.

T.C.: Do you a have memorable experience as an artist that stands out?

B.L.: When Rahzel came to campus, I got to sit down with him and hang out. It was like meeting the master and beat-boxing for him. He thought it was cool, too.

Rahzel gave me some advice. That was a spectacular moment for me. It was enormously influential and inspirational. I remember not being able to go to bed until 4 a.m. that night.

T.C.: Well, thank you very much, Blake. We look forward to your next performance.

B.L.: Thanks, man.