Flute beatboxing (or ''fluteboxing'') is an

extended technique In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Expe ...

of the

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, or an extension in sound resonators for

beatbox Beatboxing (also beat boxing) is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines (typically a TR-808), using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice.

ing. Involving the production of distinct and stereoscopic flute tones (producing two separate sounds by

humming A hum is a sound made by producing a wordless tone with the mouth closed, forcing the sound to emerge from the nose. To hum is to produce such a sound, often with a melody. It is also associated with thoughtful absorption, 'hmm'. A hum has a ...

while blowing into the flute) combined with

vocal percussion Vocal percussion is the art of creating sounds with one's mouth that approximate, imitate, or otherwise serve the same purpose as a percussion instrument, whether in a group of singers, an instrumental ensemble, or solo. In Western music Recent ...

and aural

prestidigitation Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card f ...

(sleight-of-ear), flute beatboxing enables the use of the flute as a rhythmic instrument. RadioActive has been credited as the original flute-beatboxer (using a

pan flute A pan flute (also known as panpipes or syrinx) is a musical instrument based on the principle of the closed tube, consisting of multiple pipes of gradually increasing length (and occasionally girth). Multiple varieties of pan flutes have been ...

, and performing with the Spearhead around the world), and Tim Barsky with being an innovator on a classical Boehm system flute. Both artists came out of the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

hip-hop scene. The technique was shaped by Nathan "Flutebox" Lee and Chrys Pyro; Lee has performed with such groups as

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional l ...

Asian Dub Foundation Asian Dub Foundation (ADF) is an English electronic music band that combines musical styles including rap rock, dub, dancehall, ragga, and South Asian music. The group also includes traditional rock instruments such as electric bass and gui ...

, and his own band The Clinic.

Greg Pattillo Greg Pattillo (born July 1, 1977) is an American beatboxing flutist originally from Seattle, but now operating in Brooklyn, New York. He was lauded by ''The New York Times'' as "the best person in the world at what he does." His performance vi ...

developed a system of essentially traditional

notation In linguistics and semiotics, a notation is a system of graphics or symbols, characters and abbreviated expressions, used (for example) in artistic and scientific disciplines to represent technical facts and quantities by convention. Therefore, ...

for flute beatboxing, with one staff for the flute and another for the

percussive A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Excl ...

effects, the latter similar to that for

drum kit A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsti ...

s since beatboxing is based on the three sounds of the

hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock, pop, jazz, and blues. Hi-hats consist o ...

snare SNARE proteins – " SNAP REceptor" – are a large protein family consisting of at least 24 members in yeasts, more than 60 members in mammalian cells, and some numbers in plants. The primary role of SNARE proteins is to mediate vesicle fu ...

rimshot A rimshot is a percussion technique used to produce an accented snare drum backbeat. The sound is produced by simultaneously hitting the rim and head of a drum with a drum stick. The sound and various techniques The sound of rimshots can be ...

, and

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

. - In May 2010, Pattillo premiered a concerto for beatbox flute, composed by

Randall Woolf Randall Woolf (born August 23, 1959) is an American composer known for his diverse contemporary works for chamber orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo players, often combined with digital audio, turntables, and video. He studied composition priv ...

and performed with the UNCSA Symphony Orchestra. In India, Ashish Dadhich is the only Flute beatboxer who has been a winner of Josh World Famous App, 93.5 Red Fm's Tashanbaaz and he has also worked in netflix web series.

Sources

Music performance Side-blown flutes Beatboxing {{Hiphop-stub