scatting
Bebop vocal technique
Scatting is a style of jazz singing that uses improvised nonsense syllables instead of words, allowing the voice to function like an instrument.
Singers like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong made scatting famous, riffing vocally over chord changes with syllables like "doo-ba-dee-dah." The term also refers to the act of leaving quickly or shooing something away: The cat went scatting across the yard when it heard the door slam.
Spontaneous, unplanned creation
- bebopFast, complex jazz style
- swingSuspended recreational seat
- vocaleseLyrics set to solos
- Louis ArmstrongPioneering jazz trumpeter, singer
Ella Fitzgerald · Cab Calloway · Sarah Vaughan · Dizzy Gillespie · vocal jazz · jam session · jazz standard · jazz club
Units of pronunciation
- nonsenseMeaningless words or actions
- doo-wopFifties vocal harmony genre
- voiceSound from throat
- melismaMulti-note syllable singing
falsetto · vibrato · tone · timbre · resonance · pitch · articulation · phrasing
Without prescribed technique
- spontaneityActing without forethought
- ad-libUnscripted speech or remark
- extemporizeSpeak without preparation
- impromptuWithout advance preparation
unscripted · off-the-cuff · unrehearsed · on-the-spot · inventiveness · improvisation · spontaneous · unplanned
Rhythmic pulse or strike
- tempoRate of musical performance
- syncopationStressed unexpected beats
- grooveNarrow cut or routine
- swingSuspended recreational seat
pulse · polyrhythm · backbeat · downbeat · upbeat · percussion · meter · time signature
improvisation
Spontaneous, unplanned creation
Ella Fitzgerald · Louis Armstrong · Cab Calloway · Sarah Vaughan · Dizzy Gillespie · vocal jazz · jam session · jazz standard · jazz club · syncopation
syllables
Units of pronunciation
melisma · falsetto · vibrato · tone · timbre · resonance · pitch · articulation · phrasing · intonation
freestyle
Without prescribed technique
- spontaneityActing without forethought
- ad-libUnscripted speech or remark
- extemporizeSpeak without preparation
impromptu · unscripted · off-the-cuff · unrehearsed · on-the-spot · inventiveness · improvisation · spontaneous · unplanned
beat
Rhythmic pulse or strike
- tempoRate of musical performance
- syncopationStressed unexpected beats
- grooveNarrow cut or routine
swing · pulse · polyrhythm · backbeat · downbeat · upbeat · percussion · meter · time signature · staccato
escape
Flight from captivity
evade · elude · abscond · flee · hightail · skedaddle · decamp · run off · take flight · vamoose
- singingsoprano, lead vocals, vocalist, alto, backing vocals
- Roaring Twentiesflappers, Charleston, speakeasies, jazz age, Prohibition
- singing termsduet, aria, hum, alto, soprano
- vocalizationsspeak, speaking, talking, whisper, shout
- jazz educationjazz composition, ear training, sight reading, jazz standards, jazz history
- jazz techniquesbebop, blue notes, comping, improvisation, licks
scattingcrooning
Singing softly, sentimentally
recitative · spoken word · rapping · chanting · vocalese
scatter, scat, scattering, scatterbrain, scatterbrained, scatted, scats, scatterplot, scattergun