Page 64 - CJSeptember25

THE SCAT SINGING DIALECT: An Introduction to Vocal Improvisation

improvisation will sound jazz-authentic. If used skill- experimenting with and exploring unstructured cre-
fully, a singer’s scat syllable choices will model the style ative improvising with a recorded jazz accompaniment.
and articulation that is characteristic of their instru- All improvisers need time spent on this activity to build
mental counterparts. a comfort level with the process and to learn through
Second, jazz singers have a much greater need for trial and error in a safe climate (i.e., alone or in a sup-
advanced ear training than instrumentalists; they have portive classroom environment). The fear of making a
no button to push that will manufacture an altered mistake that is common to virtually all beginning-level
dominant scale. In other words, players can play things scatters melts away as familiarity and experience with
that stem from their cognitive understanding and tech- the art form increases.
nique, whereas the nature of a singer’s instrument re-
quires them to hear everything that they sing.
Third, there is some amount of debate about wheth- Group Activities
er jazz scat singers should universally try to model the
content and style of their instrumental counterparts, 1. Call-and-Response
or whether they should sing in a way that is most true The easiest way to introduce scat singing to a group
to the nature of their instrument—the voice. It is true is through call-and-response. No experience or special
that the traditional historical role for jazz singers has preparation is required—the practice is simply to lis-
been to sing the melody, not to improvise long lines of ten to phases sung by a recorded demo singer (on a
intricate, highly articulated melodic material woven designated call-and-response practice track) and re-
through fast tempo chord progressions. It is probable peat the singer after each phrase. Calland-response
that for some singers, an instrumental approach to im- is generally fun and pain free since no one is put on
provisation is not their forte. the spot to perform as a soloist, and there is usual-
There undoubtedly, however, exists a school of sing- ly a high success rate. Recordings are available that
ers (e.g., Darmon Meader from the New York Voices make the process as simple as pressing play and turn-
and Jon Hendricks from Lambert, Hendricks & Ross) ing up the volume. A variation in call-and-response
who are truly impressive in their ability to use an in- is to assign a qualified student (or several, one at a
strumental approach to improvisation. They use their time) to lead the calls. The leader of the calls should
voices with great control to execute the same highly keep ideas limited to one-, two-, or four-bar phrases.
chromatic melodic language as players, maintain con-
trol at fast tempos, and navigate the harmony with fan- 2. Exercises
tastic fluency, while spontaneously improvising melodic Most of the exercises presented in this article can
ideas. This illustrates that vocalists can be successful us- be easily applied to use with groups by having the
ing an instrumental approach to vocal improvisation if class or ensemble sing in unison. Rhythm and syllable
they choose and that the question of which approach a exercises, melodic exercises, and singing the chang-
singer should adopt is only a personal preference. es are all activities that work well in the classroom.

3. Transcribing
Scatting Overview Although the actual transcribing of a recorded solo
The first step in learning to improvise is to listen to may not be practical for your class, listening to and
improvising role models via recordings. More specifi- singing along with a recorded solo is. To facilitate this,
cally, saturate the ears with good role models to become have the group listen to approximately eight measures
intimately familiar with what the genre in its best form of a solo a day, repeating the passage as many times as
is supposed to sound like. The second step is to practice necessary until they can sing along with it confi dently.
exercises of various kinds repeatedly, essentially drilling On the next class day, review the previously learned
musical data that will be later recalled and reinvented eight bars then move on to the next eight. Eventually
in a creative way. The third step is to spend ample time the group will be able to sing with an entire solo.

62 CHORAL JOURNAL September 2025 Volume 66 Number 2