Scion of NLP

Posts Tagged ‘Simon Shlomo Kahn’

I’ve always believed that you can tell a lot about a person by the role models they choose. With that in mind I’d like to share a very unique source of inspiration of my own … a human beatbox artist from the UK by the name of Shlomo (Click here to check out his Wikipedia article). Now, many people don’t know this but when I’m working, although I do like to listen to Jazz & Blues music, I often listen to electronic & techno dance music from Europe ( Digitally Imported FM Radio) on my computer.

For anyone who doesn’t know what beatboxing is, it’s a form of vocal percussion which primarily involves the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one’s mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and more. Occasionally it may also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntablism, the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments. Beatboxing is mainly connected with hip hop culture although it is not limited to hip hop music — in fact, Shlomo (BTW, his full name is Simon Shlomo Kahn) has pushed the boundaries of beatboxing by using his vocal skills as a way to collaborate with a whole range of artists from different backgrounds.

Here’s a quick 2 minute example of Shlomo beatboxing …

So, you might wonder why I feel Shlomo is such an amazing role model — well, it comes from one of the most phenomenal experiences of my life. When I did my NLP Trainers Training at NLPU in Santa Cruz back in 2004, one of the events all 100+ students did was an enormous drumming circle. During the process we, as a group, each contributed played a small percussion instrument and together we created our very own unique song. It was so incredibly moving and spiritually awakening that I’ve never been the same since — before that I always thought of myself seperate and apart from other people in the world … and after that experience I have a whole new way of relating to everyone around me.

Shlomo does the same type of thing with his Vocal Orchestra. Individually they each add one small piece of beatboxing and together they make the most astounding music …

Although that is wonderful and I do hope that one day I too can bring people together like that, it’s not the main reason I aspire to be the Shlomo of the NLP community. You see, during my training at NLPU, Robert Dilts explained an idea to us which has always helped drive me towards improving myself and my abilities. He explained is in a metaphor about an expert guitarist — first you need to learn the basics about holding a guitar and playing the scales … you need to learn to read music and play different songs … in time you learn different ways of playing the same tunes … you experience mistakes that teach you how to play better and more unique … eventually you have so much knoweldge and experience with playing the guitar that you can simply pick up the instrament anywhere at any time and simply play … no song, no music … just play and the song will create itself — and that’s exactly how I want to be with my NLP!

Dilts showed us a video which demonstrated what happens when two people who are expert musicians — one with a guitar and one with a violin — and when they got together and just played they were able to naturally flow with one another and make a unique and powerful piece of music that simply “happened” … no plan … no rehersal … just an unspoken connection through the music. That’s the way Shlomo is with his beatboxing — he can collaborate with another musician or singer easily and effortlessly … (remember that ALL the music in this video is made only by the beatboxers — no actual instraments are used!)

Finally, this last video is what I consider the epitome of how I want to be able to teach with other instructors (NLPer and/or professional trainers in other fields) … so natural … so smooth … so elegant … and as the audience I was left astounded and speechless …

Shlomo — YOU ROCK!