AUSTRALIAN "beat boxer" Joel Turner has made his way to Sheldon College to teach and share his talents with the senior musical students.
Joel, who was the world beat boxing champion from 2005 to 2009, said he had been teaching the students beat boxing, a form of vocal percussion, with some surprising results.
"They've picked it up really well, they're actually quite good at it. I'm really surprised at the girls too; they're sounding really good," Joel said.
Joel was invited to the school to teach the senior students after he was contacted via Facebook by a Sheldon College music teacher.
"I teach private lessons as well and I'm working on a new album at the moment, but teaching these kids is a lot of fun," Joel said.
He said beat boxing was "fairly straight forward" once the rhythm was established.
"Then you add the meat and veg ? layers of beats and sounds. Once that's all down you can do all the technical stuff," he said.
Joel said he started beat boxing at the age of seven when he made musical beats by grinding his teeth.
"It wasn't until I was about 11 when a friend told me I was actually beat boxing," he said.
"And these (Sheldon College) students are picking it up really fast. They're all quite good at singing too, so they're all sounding really great," he said.
Australian School of the Arts director Darren Harvey said the students were thoroughly enjoying their musical lessons with Joel.
"This is a part of the students' vocal, musical and theatre component of their studies," he said.
"He's working with the students to develop music tracks, and it's been great. He's also a really good singer and guitarist."
Joel will be guest teaching the senior Sheldon College students at the school for several months.
