VOCAL DEPERSONALIZATION IN SCAT SINGING

Authors

  • Luiza ZAN PhD Student, Transilvania University of Brasov (Faculty of Music), E-mail: maria.zan@unitbv.ro
  • Stela DRĂGULIN University Professor PhD Habil, Transilvania University of Brasov (Faculty of Music), E-mail: steladragulin@yahoo.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4814-1705

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24193/subbmusica.2022.1.13

Keywords:

scat, improvisation, jazz, vocalists

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to question the amount of personal investment in exploring the voice as an impersonal sound, in scat singing. Jazz singers and jazz voice teachers follow vocal practices that aim to control and distort the vocal timbre, to master microtonal intervals, to push and eventually overcome the voice’s limits. In scat singing, the boundaries of gender are subdued to the impulse of improvisation, thus, even though the timbre is a biological and a physical memory, influenced by the singer’s culture and experiences, the gender encoding can be reshaped inside the licks and patterns of the improvisation section. The current paper aims to prove that scat singing is the neutral ground where aspects of the voice can blend and disappear into one another: voice gender, vocal timber, technique, individual materiality, experimentation.

REZUMAT. DEPERSONALIZAREA VOCALĂ ÎN IMPROVIZAŢIA VOCALĂ DE TIP SCAT. Scopul acestei lucrări este să verifice în ce măsură investim în explorarea vocii ca sunet impersonal, atunci când improvizăm în scat. Vocaliştii de jazz şi pedagogii de jazz vocal urmează tehnici vocale care urmăresc controlul asupra timbrului vocal, precum şi transformarea acestuia, cu scopul de a excela în controlul intervalelor microtonale, de a împinge şi a doborî limitele vocii. În improvizaţia de tip scat, limitele impuse de diferenţele de gen sunt subjugate impulsului improvizatoric, de aceea, deşi timbrul aparţine memoriei fizice şi biologice, şi este influenţat de cultura şi experienţele vocalistului, codificarea genului poate fi remodelată în cadrul motivelor scurte şi lungi din interiorul secţiunii improvizatorice. Prezentul articol îşi propune să dovedească faptul că improvizaţia de tip scat este terenul neutru, pe care diferitele aspecte ale vocii (genul vocal, timbrul vocal, tehnica vocală, materialitatea individuală, nevoia de experimentare) se pot întrepătrunde şi disipa unele între altele.

Cuvinte cheie: scat, improvizație, jazz, vocalist

References

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www.pianostreet.com/blog/piano-news/breaking-news-mysterious-mozart-cadenza-identified-5925/

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Published

2022-06-30

How to Cite

ZAN, L., & DRĂGULIN, S. (2022). VOCAL DEPERSONALIZATION IN SCAT SINGING. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Musica, 67(1), 195–212. https://doi.org/10.24193/subbmusica.2022.1.13

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