CASA - The Contemporary A Capella Society

Lip Buzz has been a part of beatboxing for twenty plus years, dating
back at least as far as the stylings of multi-platinum
rapper/beatboxer, Doug E. Fresh. But the art of lip buzzing has begun
taking a new role in contemporary a cappella in the last decade. Where,
in the late eighties and nineties, vocal percussion went viral until it
became a mainstay of almost all contemporary a cappella groups, so too
do we see lip-buzz beginning to propagate now.

Like vocal percussion, lip buzzing is tricky to master,
requiring many odd-sounding saliva-projecting hours of practice. But,
also like VP, once the LB production becomes reliable (and sufficiently
amplified) it can literally turn heads. That may be an understatement.
It's jaw-droppingly holy-expletive evocative. It wows audiences the way
that vocal percussion once universally did, and still often does. The
way that vocal trumpet and guitar once did and now sometimes do.
Perhaps the way that scat once did for vocal jazzers and now
infrequently does.

In 2006, LB remains a new sound, strongly reminiscent of the synth
basses of dance, trance and electronica and it adds an octave or more
on even the most impressive low notes of all but the genetically
engineered uber basses. LB's typical range adds a visceral harmonic
richness and amazingly, it can be performed by either gender, giving
women's groups who are willing to put in the practice the rare
opportunity to leapfrog ahead in what remains, for the time being, a
male-dominated art-form.

There aren't many lip-buzzers out there, mostly VPs and beatboxers
incorporating another tone color here and there. There are even fewer
LBs with the skill to precisely intonate the buzz. Perhaps only two or
three LBs can lip buzz well enough to reliably provide an LB bass for
tightly locked chords. But the day is coming when that number will
grow. It promises to be a feature of masterclasses at the East Coast A
cappella Summit this year and into the future. Look for greater
representation on recordings and then in concerts.

I'm looking forward to the day when groups show off their LBs as a matter of course.