Exercises for groups
Beatbox exercises you can try right away
Games, warm-ups and rhythm exercises for classes, choirs and groups. No instruments, no preparation, no prior knowledge.
Rhythm is hard to explain and easy to play. What follows comes from our work with groups since 2006 — in schools, in choirs, in teacher training and at music universities. Everything is written so you can use it in your next session.
Beatbox connects things that usually stay separate in music teaching: speech, breathing, movement and rhythm. And it needs nothing but the mouth — every participant carries the instrument with them.
We show the individual sounds in the free course videos — no sign-up, and fine to play to a group.
The exercises
Six steps from words to a beat, one game for the whole group — and the mistake almost everyone makes at the start.
From the class metronome to the beat robot: games that drill rhythm without looking like drills.
The same three sounds with chest, fingers and hands — for groups that need to move.
Write a story and score it. Links rhythm with language, from primary school upwards.
A notation system that needs no staves. If you can count to four, you can read it.
Where the exercises come from
The teaching concept behind these exercises was developed jointly by Thomas Rieder and Werner David Wiechenthaler — a beatbox champion and an educator. It was tested in workshops in schools, in teacher training and at the University of Music in Graz.
It also produced ”The Real Beatbox School”, published by Doblinger Musikverlag Vienna.
Recommended by the Austrian Ministry of Education
The book was recommended in 2012 by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture for inclusion in the official school book lists — for lower and upper secondary schools and for colleges of kindergarten and social pedagogy, in the subject of music education.
This work is particularly well suited to the current demands of active music-making in the classroom. The material itself is clearly laid out and vividly presented.
From the assessment by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, Vienna 2012
What teachers say
Pedagogical and practical expertise of the highest order meet here. An asset to any lesson and, thanks to its clear structure, easy to use even for teachers with no beatbox experience.
Silvia Kappler, BG BRG NMS Klusemannstraße, Graz
Since 2009 we have run the beatbox workshops in our school every year with several classes, and for good reason. It is a real gain for the students.
Regina Heinrich, Bundesgymnasium und Sportrealgymnasium HIB Saalfelden
Workshops
If you would rather bring someone in: we have been running beatbox workshops in schools, choirs and teacher training since 2006. See the workshops.