Mark Su is a musician from Singapore who runs SG Beatbox, a music company that specializes in beatboxing. In this interview he talks about his love for music, his projects, and the music industry in Southeast Asia.
Music has been your passion for a long time. How did it start?
Beatbox came much later during my teenage days. It all started when I was introduced to a musical instrument called the recorder during my childhood school days. Ever since then, I started to explore and understand music theory. It was tough at first, however it slowly got easier as I spent more time on it. When I realized that I could apply this music theory knowledge to other musical instruments as well, that was when my passion formusic got ignited. Initially I was practicing a lot on the piano for the first couple of years, until I found beatboxing.
How would you define your music style and who influenced you the most?
I think I do not have any specific style of music. But for both my beatboxing and other musical instruments, I play mainly pop music, which are mostly songs that I hear from radio. Particularly there is not one singer or musician who influenced me. So it actually depends on what is on the latest hit list at the moment of time. Sometimes I just remember the song without knowing who the original artist is.
What is beatboxing and how did you start SG BeatBox?
I started off in year 2007. I was doing a diploma course in Singapore Polytechnic. As part of the non-academic curriculum, I opted for a new interest group, which is for beatboxing. It took a couple of months before the Singapore Polytechnic beatbox club was finally formed. It started out with 3 beatboxers. Months go by, and slowly more and more beatboxers and interested students who were keen to learn beatbox came. Our members of the Singapore Beatbox club went from 3 members to 15 beatboxers. Subsequently we graduated after 3 years. However we still had lots of request of beatbox performances. That is when we decided to form SG Beatbox as a company in Singapore.
What’s your mission at SG BeatBox?
The mission of SG Beatbox is to create a platform for all beatboxers in Singapore to come together. This includes non-beatboxers which are keen in learning beatbox. As beatboxing consist of only a small community, SG Beatbox aims to bring forth all the beatbox happenings in Singapore, such as competition details, workshops, gatherings and events. We want to educate everyone that everyone is able to learn beatbox. There is no such thing as I am not suitable for beatboxing.
Who can benefit from your services?
The three main things we do in SG Beatbox are beatbox performance, beatbox workshop and beatbox 1 to 1 class. We have beatboxers that performs in various events such as weddings, road shows, company openings, and at company’s dinner and dance parties. Mainly companies would look for us. Our workshops are mostly crash courses which consists of not more than 5 days. We conduct such lessons in school, and sometimes privately organized. Our beatbox 1 to 1 classes are meant for anyone who is interested in beatboxing.
What three tips would you give to an indie musician who’s just starting out?
Practice makes perfect. Probably you have heard this phrase over and over many times. Secondly, it is perfectly fine to start off by copying other artist’s musical style at the beginning before finding your own style. Last but not least, find a community. It is always fun to know other musicians, especially musicians who do not play the same musical instrument as you. This way you can collaborate and jam together.
How popular is beatboxing in Singapore? How about Southeast Asia?
I would say the scene of beatbox community in Singapore is definitely nowhere near others such as piano, guitar, or any other instruments. Likewise, within Southeast Asia, the scene is a smaller ratio compared to other hobbies. But it is growing fast. I meet new faces of beatboxers in every gathering.
