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Shoo-be-doo-be-doo-wop, Scat-a-tat-tat
Folks have been doing the verbal two-step with scat singing for a hundred years. The creativity and virtuosity that scat allows a singer to display within the confines of any song make it a popular medium. And some of the most fun songs take scat to a new level, making an entire tune of nonsense sounds and creating a scaffold for vocal expression. Even slower, more bluesy songs are lifted out of the ordinary by the judicious application of a little (or a lot of) scat.
Along the way, vocal copies of instruments included percussion. While at first glance beatboxing may not have much in common with its jazzier cousin, scat singing, in reality they follow very similar paths. Both are difficult to do, both are impressive when done well, and both are a part of the musical history of people playing with song.
I'm a fan of scat singing. I also enjoy fun and frivolous nonsense songs. On this lens, I'm going to try to bring together examples of scat from across the decades, from such greats as Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald and from modern performers like Dianne Reeves and Dee Dee Bridgewater. I'll also include modern beatbox performances. Please let me know what you think of scat singing and beatbox, and share your favorites, as well.
What Is Scat?
Not just animal droppings! Scat is a style of singing using nonsense syllables instead of words, often following the melody of a piece but sometimes simply improvised as a sort of vocal solo. Check out the videos below for some examples.
Music Videos for Scat and Nonsense Songs
I've included Bobby McFerrin here, although his amazing talents stretch beyond even the generous boundaries of scat singing. In this video, though, both men do some scat as well as other improvised music. I included the Shooby Taylor song purely for entertainment value. I wish the sound quality on Hikky-Burr were better, but you can get a good sense of it from this video.
Scat Singing Is Hard
At its most basic, scat singing consists of using your voice as an instrument rather than a speaking medium. While you can easily imitate the nonsense sounds of someone's scat solo, improvising this way presents a major challenge for vocalists. Consider scat gymnastics for your voice. Copying the routines of others will help you stretch and tone your creative verbal muscles, but making up your own choreography impresses the judges.
Familiarity with, and a love for, the song help you improvise a scat solo, but you really have to know music to stay on tune. That's what makes the scat greats so impressive - they pull trills, runs, and chords out of the air, staying with the basics of a song while making up words. Singers like Ella Fitzgerald can make up a five-minute vocal solo on the spot and stay on key, on tune, and within the sense of the song the entire time. Try it sometime for yourself, with an instrumental song or during a solo portion of a song you know well. You'll gain much appreciation for this seemingly-silly art.
Ella Fitzgerald: The Queen of Scat
Scat Singing at It's Best
Ella & Duke at the Côte D'Azur
Amazon Price: $22.98 (as of 12/31/2009)
Not only do you get Ella Fitzgerald, with her amazing voice performing acrobatics all over the stage, but Duke Ellington throws in a scat or two here himself. You can almost see these two jazz legends throwing themselves into the music and having a great time doing it. This two-CD set pulls the best of this concert series into a single, scat-arrific package.
Proof of Ella Fitzgerald's Scat Royalty
This video is quite silly, as it's just a bunch of trains, but this was the only one I could find for this (my favorite) version of Take the "A" Train. While Ella recorded this song many times (several of them with Duke Ellington), this is just about the longest and definitely the wildest of the ones I've heard.
Is Beatboxing Scat? Judge for Yourself.
Most of these examples are more nonsense than song. Does beatbox count as scat? I don't know, but these folks are impressive. I know that they've mastered a musical talent that requires them to use sounds and syllables to create the songs that they perform. Jazz and scat purists may dismiss this as gimmickery, but you can't help but respect someone who diplays this much talent regardless of the label you put on it. Try the Naturally 7 video, where you've got a band that consists entirely of human voices, before you make up your mind.
Female Beatbox Allstars @ Beatbox Battle Convention - Part 1/4
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Sample Scat, Beatbox, and Nonsense Songs
Louis Armstrong, Ike and Tina Turner, and Sarah Vaughn
Who's Your Favorite Scat Master or Beatbox Bruiser?
Do you love jazzier scat or modern beatboxing? Did I miss anyone who deserves to be highlighted? Share with me!
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Reply
- RinchenChodron RinchenChodron Aug 6, 2009 @ 1:41 pm
- I enjoyed your improvements and additions - 5 stars and a Fav
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- RinchenChodron RinchenChodron Feb 9, 2009 @ 3:53 pm
- I love scat! Nice lens.
Other Jazz and Blues Lenses, with Bonus Scat
Hungry for more? Squidoo is a musical buffet!-
Women with the Blues Video Showcase
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When listing the great blues musicians, the seminal artists of the genre, most often only men come to mind. Women, however, have been getting and singing the blues for just as long as their male counterparts have. Here you'll find videos of fantastic...
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Shirley Bassey Video Showcase
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Wales-born Shirley Bassey has been the singing heart of glitz and glam for fifty years. Her first hit, The Banana Boat Song (Day-O), came in 1957 and her powerful voice began appearing in James Bond films with the movie Goldfinger in 1964. Bassey's v...
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Ella Fitzgerald Video Showcase
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Ella Fitzgerald was deservedly the most well-known and well-loved jazz singer of the twentieth century. Her career spanned decades and spawned a million imitators. Few could match the power and range of Fitzgerald's distinctive voice or the joyous pe...
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Mack the Knife: A Swingin' Standard
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For a complete explanation of where Mack the Knife came from (and why you ought not be too taken with the scoundrel), check The Straight Dope. This lens picks up at the point where Louis Armstrong recorded the smash hit swing version of the song in 1...
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One Note Samba: A Bossa Nova Standard
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Antonio Carlos (or Tom) Jobim wrote the music--and translated Newton Mendonca's Portuguese lyrics into English--for Samba Uma Nota So, or One Note Samba, but the song was first recorded by Stan Getz for his 1962 album "Jazz Samba". The song went on t...
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