Let's SCAT!

Name: Let's SCAT!
Rating: 4.8 (28 reviews)

Improvisation for (jazz) singers: just use your ears!

Highest Rated

Created byIlse Huizinga

Last updated 1/2021

English

What you'll learn

Learn to scat - the easy way. For singers of jazz.
Learn or refresh your jazz scat vocabulary
Get loads of ideas to vary rhythmically and melodically
Scat with Ilse: "trading fours"
No complex scales or instrument needed, just your ears!

Course content

7 sections • 10 lectures • 58m total length

Welcome to Let's SCAT!1:33
Welcome to Let's Scat! Great that you joined us! I look forward to helping you with loads of ideas for your improvisation.
I've been teaching vocal improvisation for over 20 years, and I always noticed that for singers, it's harder. We don't push buttons or play strings to know that we hit a certain chord or note.
That's why I designed Let's SCAT. I wanted to make it easier for you. No complicated scales Just imagine - no need to think: "Shall I sing a Mixolydian scale over G7b9, or shall I use a blues scale, but hey, what if I use a very dissonant Phrygian or Locrian... STOP!"
For this course, you can just rely on your ears. Yay!
In this video, I take you through the outline of Let's SCAT!
What do you need for this course?1:04
Handy: sheetmusic, the app iRealpro, a speakerbox, pen & notebook

Learn the basic melody3:31
Learning the basic melody and the lyrics is always my number one step for you, where ever you go, whatever you do.
In this video, I sing Gershwin's I Got Rhythm in the key of C, at tempo 120 bpm, style jazz swing.
The key in which I sing in this course, C, is a comfortable key for most female jazz singers.
If you're a male singer, try to sing the song in Eb or F, or any other key that works for you (Use the app iRealpro for that.)
I sing the basic melody without any personal artistic choices, so you get to know the tune the way it was written originally. After listening, replay and sing along with me, or sing it yourself with the subtitles I added in the extra chorus for you.
Learn or refresh your scat language7:21
In this video, you will learn or refresh your scat vocabulary. First, I take you thru a little ABC of scat language - you can copy me completely as we scat over a blues.
Then, we'll scat over the harmony of the song. I added subtitles for you, when you get to sing it.

Big Band Inspiration - Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin, Lena Horne18:16
Big Bands arrangements are masterpieces for you to study. Listen to them closely and 'steal' a few fragments that you like. Copy and adjust. (Of course, be aware of the key in which you sing)
I took some fragments of I Got Rhythm Big Band performances by Ella Fitzgerald, Bobby Darin and Lena Horne for you. Fasten your seatbelts!
(You can find the performances I took my inspiration from on Youtube, I added a shortlist for you to download)
If you want to further your skills in singing semitones, I added an extra exercise for you at the end of this lecture. Just sing along!

Trading fours, scat with Ilse5:53
Yes! Yay! It's just you and me. We will scat together. Trading fours. Four bars for me, four bars for you. Four bars for me, four bars for you... etc, etc.
Trading fours happens a lot in live situations. It's something you just have to do a LOT to become completely at ease with it. (I remember trembling myself the first time I dared doing it in public :))
So, in this lecture, we will be fooling around together. Have fun!

Congratulations!1:09
Fantastic! Woo-hoo! Congratulations on finishing my course Let's SCAT! Well done!
Keep an open ear for songs and improvisations you like, come back to the course now and then to practice, and keep on singing and scatting!
I added a list of songs for jazz singers, (taken from my Udemy course Sing Jazz For Beginners) - find it at downloadable materials.
These songs you can use to practice your new scatting skills. Practice your timing, take out notes from the melody, listen to Big Bands, steal, adjust and have FUN!
Lots of love, Ilse

Requirements

Interest in jazz singing
It's handy if you followed Sing Jazz For Beginners, but not necessary

Description

Remember Ella Fitzgerald's famous scat solo's? How did she DO it? Would you like to give scatting a try?

In Let's SCAT, jazz singer Ilse Huizinga shows you how to improvise in an easy way.

In this course, you will only need to use your ears. You don't need to play an instrument or learn complicated scales. Yay!

You'll get loads of ideas, that you can use for your improvisation to other songs and jazz standards too.

For singers, improvisation is a different ballgame than for instrumentalists. We don't push buttons, press keys, or play strings to play a certain chord or note. We do most learning with our ears.

That's why Ilse developed Let's SCAT. Tailored for singers who don't play an instrument or read chords quickly.

Let's SCAT is a short course of 1 hour, packed with opportunities to practice yourself. You will learn or refresh your scat language, Ilse will show you ways to vary your timing and how to play with the melody. You will also scat with Ilse, in the 'trading fours' section.

In all lectures, you can practice yourself, be it through singing along to Ilse's examples, or by scatting a chorus yourself.

Start expressing yourself freely!

Lots of shu-be-du-lya to you. Let's SCAT!

Who this course is for:

Singers who want to learn how to improvise, how to scat
without having to learn complicated scales, without playing an instrument, without reading music

Let's SCAT!

What you'll learn

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Course content

Welcome to Let's SCAT!2 lectures • 3min

Melody and Scat language2 lectures • 11min

Timing is everything1 lecture • 11min

Vary to the melody2 lectures • 9min

Big Band Inspiration - Big Band Hacks1 lecture • 18min

Scat with Ilse: Trading Fours1 lecture • 6min

You did it!1 lecture • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: