Turntablism

This lesson is part of the Electronic Music & Sound Production category.

Objectives

• Students will become familiar with the role and techniques of live DJs.
• Students will become familiar with the techniques and processes of turntablism.

Resources

Readings

• White, "The Phonograph Turntable and Performance Practice in Hip Hop Music"
• Wikipedia: "Turntablism"

Listening or Videos

• Doug Pray, Scratch (2002)
• DJ Angelo, Turntable Tutorial:

• • "Getting started in Turntablism"
  • "Scratching Basics 1"
  • "Scratching Basics 2"
  • "Tear"
  • "Fading & Cutting"
  • "Stab"
  • "Transformer"
  • "Chirp"
  • "One Click Flare Orbit"
  • "Two Click Flare Orbit"
  • "Crab"
  • "Beat Juggling Basics 1"
  • "Beat Juggling Basics 2"
  • "Beat Juggling Using Loops"
  • "Beat Juggling With Pauses"
  • "Beat Juggling — Chasing/Strobing"
  • "Trick Mixing"

Tools

• You.dj

Class Activities

• Discussion of the origins and characteristics of DJing
• Analysis of different types of turntable mixes
• Discussion and demonstration of turntablism
• Improvisation on a turntable

Assignments

• Analysis of turntable techniques in recorded music
• Composition of a scratched phrased using turntable notation