making mucial sounds with your mouth.

November 16, 2005 10:55 AM

Is there a special word to describe the act of imitating musical instruments with your voice? Or failing that, a credible coinage?
posted by StickyCarpet to Media & Arts (16 answers total)

Scat singing? It's not necessarily imitating a specific instrument, but it's the closest I can think of.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:58 AM on November 16, 2005

Hilarious?
posted by jon_kill at 11:02 AM on November 16, 2005

In the contemporary a cappella world, most groups that do this kind of thing call themselves a "vocal band."
posted by sarahnade at 11:06 AM on November 16, 2005

Voice instrumental?
posted by Gator at 11:07 AM on November 16, 2005

Beat boxing?
posted by reverendX at 11:11 AM on November 16, 2005

link to above
posted by reverendX at 11:12 AM on November 16, 2005

Deedling, mouth music and eefing are all specific styles of this. Don't know if there's an overall term apart from a cappella.
posted by scruss at 11:26 AM on November 16, 2005

Indian music also has a form of imitating the beat of the tabla drums with vocals. I do not know what the correct term for this is, however.
posted by matildaben at 11:28 AM on November 16, 2005

Also known as eeping. The art of eeping contains of using the cheeks to make notes and such.
posted by wheelieman at 12:20 PM on November 16, 2005

This is called turluttage in Quebecois traditional music and you can hear examples of it in groups like La Bottine Souriante. Can't find a good example on the Web -- check out the samples on allmusic.com (Je voudrais changer d'chapeau -- snippet of it on track C'est dans Paris, but it's mixed in with instruments).
posted by Swack at 12:38 PM on November 16, 2005

One of my favorite examples of this is Petra Haden's recent album : Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out!

there's also that most awesome vocal guitar solo on Timothy Leary's Dead by the Pop O Pies.
posted by fishfucker at 12:50 PM on November 16, 2005

A mention should be made here regarding the awesome recordings of the late great Shooby Taylor -- The Human Horn.

Shooby was certainly a misunderstood artist in his time, but future generations are left with his grand body of work to groove upon.
posted by First Post at 12:53 PM on November 16, 2005

There's a Cuban group that does this exclusively. They "play" rumba, salsa, etc. with only their voices. Complete with "claves", "brass section", "piano", etc. They're called Vocal Sampling, which is as apt a term as any.
posted by hellomynameisphil at 2:23 PM on November 16, 2005

And don't forget the Mills Brothers.
posted by Scram at 5:22 PM on November 16, 2005

Not the answer, but have you checked out the Swingle Singers, an a capella group known for stuff like this (@ Amazon for more)?

As a result of their techniques, I've seen "swingle" used in the way you mean, although it probably shouldn't be.

This is a hard question to research, because there's so much overlap with beatboxing today.
posted by booksandlibretti at 5:27 PM on November 16, 2005

When the Mariahs and the Christinas break out their best dog-whistle imitations, that's melisma, baby!
posted by rob511 at 12:33 AM on November 17, 2005